Thabet
Let me start off by saying all Muslims are terrorists. Florida Pastor Terry Jones was right when he said “Islam is of the devil.” Also, Jones was right when he said it’s not silly to try to start a day where everyone burns the Quran, Islam’s holy book.
Dick Morris, former adviser to President Bill Clinton, was on track when he said building a mosque at Ground Zero only will establish “a command center for terrorism right at the 9/11 site.”
The Islamic people are just a bunch of women-stoning suicide bombers … right?
Before I continue listing off things that aren’t true about Muslims and making more heartless people happy, let’s stop for a second and be honest: What do you really know about Muslims?
Is it the stereotype that we, Muslims, are countless oil billionaires who own gas stations and/or are sheiks, religious fanatics, belly dancers or, dare I say, terrorists?
Do you even know what being a Muslim really means?
A Muslim literally means, “One who submits.” Muslims are followers of Islam. There are more than 1 billion Muslims in the world. The religion of Islam literally means, “Submission to God.”
Despite the acts of some extremist groups and contrary to public image, Islam is not a religion of hate or violence.
Believe it or not, Islam is based on the same basic principle as Judaism and Christianity: good over evil.
The myth Muslims hate Americans is not true. Hate is such a strong word that a true Muslim would not use lightly. We also believe the Bible and the Torah are both books of God.
Muslims believe in Jesus and a lot of his teachings. We also emphasize the Ten Commandments to the younger generation — especially, “Thou shall not kill.”
Yet the world as a whole still kills, even though our beliefs and teachings tell us otherwise.
Another misunderstanding: All Muslims are not Arabs. As stated in the paragraph before, there are more than 1 billion Muslims in the world. Only about 12 percent of that population is Arab.
There are currently 47 Muslim-majority countries in the world. That means there are Pakistani Muslims, Nigerian Muslims, Bangladeshi Muslims, Bosnian Muslims, Sudanese Muslims and so on. None of them are Arab.
Being Arab does not mean you are a Muslim, either. Some Arabs practice other religions, such as Christianity, Druze and Judaism — not nearly as much as those who practice Islam but enough for that statement to be a fact.
So what do Muslims believe in? Muslims believe in total submission to Allah (Muslim God) through five pillars, or requirements. The Five Pillars of Islam are as follows:
1. The belief that there is no other god but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God.
2. Prayer five times a day.
3. Giving alms (or money to the poor).
4. Fasting from dawn to dusk during the entire lunar month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
5. Hajj, pilgrimage, to the holy city of Mecca.
We also believe only Allah can give out any final reward or punishment.
After reading some facts about Muslims, I hope you can come to the conclusion not all Muslims are terrorists.
Muslims are people who have feelings and believe in the same things in which you also might believe. Muslims are people who have a strong love and desire for their religion and doing the right thing.
These are some of the main reasons why Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world.
In every religion and society, there are those few bad apples who seem to take away from the millions, or in this case billions, of good apples. But remember, society as a whole knows and believes in the right thing to say or do.
Maybe it’s time we as a society put our good thoughts into action.
Be who you are no matter the cost. Be true in what you do.
Omar Thabet is a State News guest columnist and a journalism freshman. Reach him at thabetom@msu.edu
