Top 10 Biggest Misconceptions About Islam

Considering the modern world, with the increased trend of diversity between religions being accepted, unfortunately Islam is being portrayed as a religion of extremists, cruel and a religion of militants. The occasions of 9/11 changed everything. After that day, many minds converged to the idea of Islam being something much more evil and suspicious. However, reality signals towards the opposite of such beliefs about Islam. To show the real and true face of Islam, We have listed the 10 biggest misconceptions about Islam you were told or portrayed regarding Islam by the media and the extremists who in fact for the purpose of hiding their own faces, start blaming other religions to gain their own superiority.

To understand the media misconceptions about Islam that you were usually told, first of all it should be clear in your view regarding the meaning of Islam. Islam in a nutshell is a religion of peace, sovereignty and equal rights for all. With the following rundown, it shall be clear to my readers what Islam is really about:

10-Sharia

Misconceptions About Islam sharia and law — Image Source: islam.ru

When mentioning the word, Sharia, you might have heard this word being used when mentioning the atrocities of terrorist groups like ISIS on the radio or television. However, this word isn’t related to any of the atrocities at all. It simply means “legal reasoning”. This clarifies that Islamic law is based on legal reasoning. Let’s take the example of restriction in Islam on the drinking of wine. There’s a genuine reason linking to it and that’s regarding intoxication overcoming an individual which often causes harm to others like the regular road accidents that occur due to excessive drinking often taking innocent lives. Therefore, Sharia isn’t what you thought before. It’s the name of a very well established and well-reasoned Islamic law which regards the rights of everyone.

9-Islam is Religion of Extremists

To clarify this point, first of all, understand the meaning of the word “Islam”. It means “peace”. It means submitting yourself to the Will and Word of God to gain a good place in Hereafter. Islam connects huge and awesome significance to peace. Indeed, Islam encourages scholarly improvement, character building, social welfare and healthy exercises in the community all of which can’t be gained unless there’s peace, harmony and concordance in the society.

8-Islam is Religion of WAR

As it is evident throughout the Islamic history, Islam never encouraged war rather always promoted peace by discussion perspective. Taking the example of the siege of Makkah in Holy Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) era, it’s clearly evident how much war was avoided and even at the time of victory of gaining the holy city of Makkah back, Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) announced general amnesty for everyone who surrendered. This example is enough to clarify the real point of view and a big misconception about Islam and its preaching.

7-Modern era Scientists Discovered Science, Maths and Medicine

This is a very general assumption in our modern world that Islam and Muslims had no part in the modern discoveries in medicine, science and math. However, this assumption is false. Going back to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, we find renowned names like Ibn Sina who created “The Canon of Medicine” which was used till 17th century for Europe’s technological and medicinal advancement. On the other hand, works for medical science of al-Kindi, ibn al-Haytham, or al-Farabi gave exceedingly imperative benefactors to present day considering optics, material science, mechanics, and space science.

6-Muslims and Islam doesn’t Respect Jesus

For many Muslims, Jesus is a nearby second just to Muhammad and equal in honor, and Jesus is accepted to be the al-Masih (the Messiah) who will come back again to introduce the end of times. He is prominently alluded to as Ruh-e-Allah, the Spirit of God.

5-Islam Hampers the Legal Rights of Women

This is one of the most common lie about Islam that is falsely portrayed by the world. In Islam there’s equality between men and women regarding the relationship to Allah. Both will be equally weighed for their bad and good deeds. In Arab era before Islam, women were treated as objects of pleasure and female children were seen as elements of disgrace thus were often buried alive. Islam was the revolution during this times which ensured that women got their deserved rights. Islam always has regarded women which is evident by the given example. In Islam a lady is a totally free identity. She can make any agreement or estate in her own particular name. She is qualified for acquiring anything in her position as mother, as spouse, as sister and as little girl. She has flawless freedom to pick her better half. In Islam a lady is a totally free identity for both men and women.

4-Islam Promotes Racism

Racism is one of the key elements that are strictly prohibited in Islam in the preaching of Holy Quran. Had Islam promoted racism, it wouldn’t have introduced a wonderful element of Hajj held annually. In Hajj, regardless of race, sect and financial stature, everyone wears a unified white cloth for equality in front of Allah and this shows the real ideology of Islam for avoiding race, sect and social statures.

3-Islam Puts Excessive Restrictions on Women

Islam do restricts women from certain things and that’s due to the legal reasoning being provided through Sharia. If a woman is asked to cover herself totally, it’s for the reason to protect her respect, identity and keep her as a gem for her direct relatives. Does it look good for a woman to uncover specific body parts in public and walk around shamelessly? Is woman an “object” like the Arabs considered? Therefore, for the self-respect of a woman, Islam protects a woman through any acts of lust and sin.

2-Islam is Very Cruel About Punishments

Being one of the top misconceptions about Islam, to answer this profound belief, there’s a deep explanation to remove this thick cloud in minds. Is it good to punish a criminal of e.g. murder leniently and let others in the community perform those barbaric acts knowing that the punishment is lenient? What I think, every answer would be a big NO! Using an analogy, if a poisonous plant is growing somewhere, you don’t leniently cut the leaves of the plant to let it grow again. You would rather cut the stem or directly pull the roots off to avoid the poison being spread to other plants. That’s how Islam instructs humans. Islam aims at strict and severe punishments to avoid others repeating such barbaric acts of theft, murder etc.

1-Islam is Very Loath—Filled About Non-Muslims

The top amongst the various different misconceptions about Islam is the belief that Islam asks the Muslims to hate the West or in short, non-Muslims. The answer to this is given by a survey conducted between 2001 and 2007 of almost 50,000 Muslims from 35 nations. The most profound and most thorough focal finding was that the way of thinking that Muslims overall feel overwhelmingly negative toward the Western world is totally false. It likewise demonstrated that the two angles that Muslims most respected about the West were its innovation and popular government.