Answer
Salam (Peace) Vipul,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
I am sorry to tell you that your allegations against Islam are founded on misunderstandings arising from misinformation. It is true that there are among Muslims, people who indulge in illegal or immoral activities; but this is true of the followers of other religions too.
For, all religions face the same problem of reckoning with followers who defy the explicit teachings of their religion. But your statement that “Muslims always believed in cheating and killing anyone belonging to another faith” is extreme and untrue.
You know that in India, immediately after Partition, thousands of Muslims as well as Hindus were killed in riots. And afterwards there were several riots in different parts of India aimed at the massacre of Muslims.
And following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi (1984), thousands of Sikhs were killed. In a country where all these happened, is it reasonable to assume that only one community is responsible for all this?
You have also cited from history the example of a son killing a father or brother for the throne, as though the Religion of Islam were responsible for it. Another charge is that a Muslim man can ‘legally’ marry “numerous women”!
Islam permits polygamy under certain strict conditions; and it is an exception as the rule is monogamy. Indeed the permission for polygamy was first given for the explicit purpose of looking after poor widows and orphans. (See Quran 4:3).
It is valid also in the context in society of the number of women exceeding men. And one important condition, among others, is that the man who marries more than one woman must be able to look after his wives and treat them equally.
The provision for polygamy gives poor women the opportunity, if she wishes, to acquire the status of a legally wedded wife and the happiness of family life as well as the security of a home.
You have also mentioned forcible conversion to Islam by Muslims. In fact, Islam does not permit the use of any sort of force or compulsion in the propagation of it. God says in the Quran:
{Say, “The truth is from your Lord”: Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it).} (Quran 18:29)
And,
{Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error […]} (Quran 2:256)
This means that no Muslim can use force in the preaching of Islam; and if anyone – whether a king or military commander or ordinary person – used force for converting a non-Muslim to Islam, he acted against Islam’s teachings and Islam has nothing to do with it.
The acts of terrorism are all politically motivated acts; but the media present them as acts of pure “Islamic terrorism” without any cause. But no act of terrorism can be justified from the Islamic point of view, whether it is done by Muslims or non-Muslims.
The media have the habit of highlighting the sensational and the spectacular, without going to the background of how or why a particular event happened.
Very often the initial reports are contradicted by the facts that come to light in due course. But the first sensational reports are drummed into the psyche of the vulnerable public most emphatically and repeatedly to such an extent that a calm and reasoned analysis of such events is made almost impossible.
Even if some agency or authority brings forth a report of the undercurrents or the true story, people have no patience to read it or examine it. Meanwhile the vested interests have a field day, and the “official” version is widely accepted without a question.
Consequently, stereotypes are made such as the typical “Islamic terrorist” with a beard and a turban. One forgets that the image of the terrorist published in the media is the everyday dress of the ordinary people of Afghanistan or Pakistan.
This image also is flashed into the minds of the TV viewers ad infinitum, so much so that anyone who belongs to a different culture instinctively takes a turban-wearing bearded person as a terrorist.
Similarly, any terror incident as soon as it happens is attributed to “Islamic terrorists” by default. And even after it has been proved to be otherwise, no one is bothered to correct their perception. This has been happening all over the world for some time.
In India itself, there were a number of cases like the Mecca Masjid explosions, the Samjhauta Express bomb, and the Malegav incident, which have been proven to be carried out by Hindutva terrorists. But the media, the police, and the ministers are afraid to use the “T” word when it comes to the question of Hindutva extremists.
As you live in India, you ought to know this. And there, since independence, the secular governments that came to power has been trying to bring about communal harmony and national integration. But who thwarted all those efforts? Who killed Gandhi, the Father of the Nation? And who demolished Babari Masjid, which existed as the symbol of India’s tolerance towards its minorities?
As for underworld and illegal activities, the media always highlight Muslim names involved in them. Even if people hear the names of others, they tend to forget them soon. And some of them are leaders of political parties or influential persons; so their terror tactics or illegal activities are not considered illegal.
The one person who colluded in the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 is all set to become the next Prime Minister of India! Educated people ought to be balanced and objective in their analysis and evaluation of national and international events.
I hope this helps answer your question.
Salam and please keep in touch.
This response is from About Islam’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.
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