‘Seeking knowledge is an obligation for every Muslim man and woman,’ said the Prophet. Muslims have not always been looked upon as backward people; but now after seeing so much poverty and lack of education in the Muslim countries, many people have inferred that all Muslims are backwards, which is not true. Many people also believe that almost all the Muslim population is settled in Arabia and that most Muslims are Arabs. Only 15-20 percent of the Muslim population is actually Arabs and they did not choose to be in those conditions either, but with the lack of a proper government that does not provide sufficient education, the people are left with no choice. Crucial systems such as algebra, the Arabic numerals, and also the concept of zero (important to the advancement of mathematics); instruments such as the astrolabe, the quadrant, and good navigational maps were all transferred to medieval Europe from Islam.
A Muslim woman is always supposed to wear a veil, she is forced to stay at home all day unless escorted out by a man, and is forbidden to drive a vehicle; these are some of the most common images that come to mind whenever a Muslim woman is mentioned and this pattern can be seen throughout the world. It is not the religion that forces a Muslim women to dress as so, but it is the country they are living in which forces that culture and gender inequality. There is a great difference in having to follow a culture and a religion. Islam sees women, whether single or married, as an individual having her own rights, with the right to own and dispose of her property and earnings. Both men and women are expected to dress in a way that is modest and dignified, but no standard is set out for them to follow. The Prophet has said, “The most perfect in faith amongst believers is he who is best in manner and kindest to his wife.” Violence of any kind towards women and forcing them against their own will is not allowed. Though divorce is not common, it is allowed for both men and women. The rights that were given to Islamic women 1400 years ago had just recently opened up for European and American women in the 1900’s. "If any do deeds of righteousness - be they male or female - and have faith, they will enter Paradise, and not the least injustice will be done to them."(Quran, 4:124) Now many people ask, why are Muslim men allowed to have a total of four wives? Islam does not promote having multiple wives. In reality, this law came into action because many men would have up to 10 wives or more, considering them as his property. Islam formed this law to limit the amounts of wives the men would have and also there are conditions to having these four wives. The man must be able to provide a separate home for each wife, provide sufficient amounts of money for each wife and treat each and everyone fairly. Polygamy is neither mandatory, nor encouraged, but merely permitted. Polygamy had only been encouraged in compassion for widows and orphans as the Prophet had done it, not for mere satisfaction of passion. “It is both honest and accurate to say that is it Islam that regulated this practice, limited it, made it more humane and instituted equal rights and status for all wives. The religion of Islam was revealed for all societies and all times and so accommodates widely differing social requirements, which is why laws such as these were needed to be formed.
Another misconception people have of Islam is that they worship a different God and people have also heard that Muslims worship Muhammad and hate Jesus. Islam calls for people to submit to the One True God and to worship him alone. Also, according to Islamic beliefs, Muhammad was the last Messenger of God. Just as were Noah, Moses, and Jesus; Muhammad was also only a human being. The assumption of Muhammad being worshiped is common in Christians because they have formulated an idea that because they worship Jesus, Muslims probably worship Muhammad. That is also one of the reasons Muslims were called “Mohammedans” for many years throughout history. Muhammad, like Jesus never claimed divine status and continuously emphasized on his humanity so that people would not go into the same error that Christians did in regards to Jesus. Muslims have always loved and respected Muhammad because he was the highest moral character and he brought the Truth from God, which is the Pure Monotheism of Islam. Jesus to Muslims was one of the greatest messengers of God and Muslims are taught to love Jesus. A person cannot be a Muslim without believing in the virgin birth and miracles of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. Muslims do not believe these things about Jesus because they may live in a Christian majority society or because the Bible says sp, but because the Holy Quran says it. Many Muslims do not believe that Jesus is the son of god because the Quran says that God has no son; neither allegorically, physically, metaphorically, and metaphysically. It should be clarified that when Muslims criticize the Bible or the teachings of Christianity, they are not attacking Gods words or Jesus Christ. From a Muslims point of view, they are defending Gods word and Jesus, which they have in form of the Quran.
Muslims use the Quran as their way of life. Though it is up to the person on how to interpret it, there are a few that take it to an extreme, known as extremists. Those few extremists are not the only one at fault though, Americans don’t not have enough knowledge of the religion to know what it teaches and worst of all, the media and government, who should be educated enough and should know to think before they speak, exploit the religion and its people without thinking of what the consequences may be. Yes, there are a few Muslims that cause problems, but what is one race or religion that does not have someone that has committed a crime before? Why is it that when there is a bombing or shoot out at a school it isn’t the Christian or Catholic boy that did it, why does it have to be the young depressed, troubled child; but when a Muslim does something it all gets blamed on the faith? The American government has been at war for almost two years to give rights to the people of Iraq, but how much of a difference can they actually make when their own people don’t get proper rights? They say the people have freedom of speech, religion, and etc…but in reality they have nothing. If the government wanted unity between the people than they would create a better understand on a situation rather than turning citizens against each other. A recent example of how much the American government ‘cares’ for the rights of the people is shown through the pictures they found of the prisons are being taken care of in Iraq. Many misconceptions of religion, culture, and just people on a whole would be cleared if the government and media did not exploit them for their own advantage.
