Today when I sat to write on this issue I was reluctant to write about it. Some call Islam as a complete way of life, some call it a religion of forgiveness, compassion and peace, some fundamentalists and right wing ideologists named it as ISLAM-JEHAD based on their understanding of the religion. Another super power of the world often called it as a religion promoting extremism, religion that produces terrorists and it sights every Islamic nation as a land of terror.
But before I move any further let me help you recall a very old quote by KARL MARX : "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."
The west has two ideological sects. Both claim to know 'what is right' and 'who is wrong' and both pretend to oppose bigotry. The Liberals would promote the idea of individual liberty and civil equality while the Leftist take is that they possess an inherited social scientific tool that helps them identify who is 'progressive' and who is 'reactionary'.These two modernist-secularist percepts seem to have become the core layer of the west's approach towards the world. Technically speaking these two modern percepts promote fundamentalist-secularist approach indirectly and due to this very fact west faced a total dismissal by billions of human beings out there. West behind it's modernist-secularist image failed to grasp what billions believe in who have condemned it's policies and approach and slammed it for being anti-Islamic. Because west has failed to understand Islam and it's message completely or may be intentionally, it is now regarded as the creator of the anti Islamic wave around the world that not only affected Islamic world but also other religions. I am saying intentionally because in the history of the US many times some politicians (anti-federalists) opposed their own constitution that has neutral religious approach towards all religions and Islam in particular. They not only opposed the constitutions neutral approach towards Islam but towards Catholics as well. They feared that someday a catholic or a muslim would become president of the states.
Let us not forget the19th century when atleast one muslim is known to have fought the American Civil War and let us also remember that 'Alexander Russell Webb' who was a US ambassador to the Phillippines was so fascinated by Islam and it's teachings that he converted to Islam in 1888 and he was the first person to represent Islam at the first Parliament of the world's religions. Now in the 21st century almost 25,000 Muslims were serving in the United States Armed forces. What US has failed to understand here is that religion and society are two different aspects of looking at the world. This gave rise to the conflict between the religious beliefs of Muslims and the mainstream American Value system e.g. wearing a scarf is considered wrong as per the mainstream american value system while it is a religious belief of muslim women. I must point out to the fact that in a survey done by Pew poll it has been reported that only 5% American Muslims have favorable view of Al-Qaeda so it very clear from this very fact that a common muslim whether living in america or any other part of the world has nothing to do with Al-Qaeda or any other extremist organization and no Islamist supports any kind extremism. If this is not true then why many renowned americans such as Michael Jackson, Mohammad Ali etc. had converted to Islam and if my facts are correct 34,000 Americans have converted to Islam following the events of september 11. These facts and figures are self explanatory. Being the victim of the most severe allegations and facing so much criticism by a country that calls itself modernist-secularist, Islam and it's followers are growing everyday. To support this fact I am adding a link here which is from the New York Times please go through this: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/national/22CONV.html . The report clearly says that Islam has attracted thousands converts before and after 9/11.
It's not only the west that has made Islam the hated religion by millions, some anti-Islamists who were born as muslims have made their own people hate this religion too. If we take a closer look at the Arab world we will find that most the countries were under the influence of the dictatorship until now and how one could forget the 'shia' massacre that happened in iraq during the regime of Saddam Hussain in which more than 3000 shias were allegedly killed just because they were from a liberal sect of Islam and the dictator was a sunni. The recent rising of the Arab nations against dictatorship has changed the perception of millions especially of the US towards Islam and Islamic nations.
Time has gone when people could be fooled in the name freedom and social liberty. West may have invaded poor countries like Afghanistan and Iraq for it's own economic motives but it has failed to win people and their support. Nothing could be more shameful for a country that is leading the world in technological advancement and economic strength but it has failed to win the trust of it's own people who are getting converted to a religion that US has now termed as Islam-Jehad and it has also failed understand that secularism is itself an outcome of 'christianity'.
But before I move any further let me help you recall a very old quote by KARL MARX : "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."
The west has two ideological sects. Both claim to know 'what is right' and 'who is wrong' and both pretend to oppose bigotry. The Liberals would promote the idea of individual liberty and civil equality while the Leftist take is that they possess an inherited social scientific tool that helps them identify who is 'progressive' and who is 'reactionary'.These two modernist-secularist percepts seem to have become the core layer of the west's approach towards the world. Technically speaking these two modern percepts promote fundamentalist-secularist approach indirectly and due to this very fact west faced a total dismissal by billions of human beings out there. West behind it's modernist-secularist image failed to grasp what billions believe in who have condemned it's policies and approach and slammed it for being anti-Islamic. Because west has failed to understand Islam and it's message completely or may be intentionally, it is now regarded as the creator of the anti Islamic wave around the world that not only affected Islamic world but also other religions. I am saying intentionally because in the history of the US many times some politicians (anti-federalists) opposed their own constitution that has neutral religious approach towards all religions and Islam in particular. They not only opposed the constitutions neutral approach towards Islam but towards Catholics as well. They feared that someday a catholic or a muslim would become president of the states.
Let us not forget the19th century when atleast one muslim is known to have fought the American Civil War and let us also remember that 'Alexander Russell Webb' who was a US ambassador to the Phillippines was so fascinated by Islam and it's teachings that he converted to Islam in 1888 and he was the first person to represent Islam at the first Parliament of the world's religions. Now in the 21st century almost 25,000 Muslims were serving in the United States Armed forces. What US has failed to understand here is that religion and society are two different aspects of looking at the world. This gave rise to the conflict between the religious beliefs of Muslims and the mainstream American Value system e.g. wearing a scarf is considered wrong as per the mainstream american value system while it is a religious belief of muslim women. I must point out to the fact that in a survey done by Pew poll it has been reported that only 5% American Muslims have favorable view of Al-Qaeda so it very clear from this very fact that a common muslim whether living in america or any other part of the world has nothing to do with Al-Qaeda or any other extremist organization and no Islamist supports any kind extremism. If this is not true then why many renowned americans such as Michael Jackson, Mohammad Ali etc. had converted to Islam and if my facts are correct 34,000 Americans have converted to Islam following the events of september 11. These facts and figures are self explanatory. Being the victim of the most severe allegations and facing so much criticism by a country that calls itself modernist-secularist, Islam and it's followers are growing everyday. To support this fact I am adding a link here which is from the New York Times please go through this: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/national/22CONV.html . The report clearly says that Islam has attracted thousands converts before and after 9/11.
It's not only the west that has made Islam the hated religion by millions, some anti-Islamists who were born as muslims have made their own people hate this religion too. If we take a closer look at the Arab world we will find that most the countries were under the influence of the dictatorship until now and how one could forget the 'shia' massacre that happened in iraq during the regime of Saddam Hussain in which more than 3000 shias were allegedly killed just because they were from a liberal sect of Islam and the dictator was a sunni. The recent rising of the Arab nations against dictatorship has changed the perception of millions especially of the US towards Islam and Islamic nations.
Time has gone when people could be fooled in the name freedom and social liberty. West may have invaded poor countries like Afghanistan and Iraq for it's own economic motives but it has failed to win people and their support. Nothing could be more shameful for a country that is leading the world in technological advancement and economic strength but it has failed to win the trust of it's own people who are getting converted to a religion that US has now termed as Islam-Jehad and it has also failed understand that secularism is itself an outcome of 'christianity'.
Thanks Ram for appreciating my writing. I think fundamentalist-secularism is the main cause of such generalization.
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