Blogs.timesofisrael.com: A Muslim Perspective on Radicalism

All too frequently in the post 9/11 era, the religion of Islam is often associated with violence, attacks, suicide bombers or despotic practices especially by people in the West who are unfamiliar with the religion of Islam and the way of life that it entails. Given this picture, concepts like liberty, democracy, freedom of speech are considered to be wholly inconsistent with Islam. This is surely a misrepresentation of Islam, since like all of the three Abrahamic religions, it is based on the concepts of love and peace. The word Islam itself is derived from the Arabic word "slm" which means peace.

While some schools of Islam are said to represent the so-called radical Islam, as a matter of fact, there is no such concept. Radicalism, whether it belongs to a religious group, a political party or an entire ideology is the regrettable extreme of any school of thought or philosophy while Islam is a compassionate religion that embraces all humankind with love and affection.

Any group or organization which expresses extreme notions or concepts in fact is not acting in compliance with the spirit of Islam. Consequently, these groups or organizations suffer from erroneous misconceptions. God commands us to treat People of the Book (Christians and Jews) with compassion. In the Koran God says;

"Only argue with the People of the Book in the kindest way..."[Koran; 29:46]

The erroneous approaches of radical groups mainly stem from ignorance. Thus, it is important to reach out to them since whether in Islam or in any other religion or even in matters of political ideology, radicalism can never bring any good to people. Using this precise information, it is then possible to discern between what is normal and deviant. There is only Islam and there are Muslims. The source of Islam is solely the Koran. Thus, being a Muslim means to abide by the teaching of the Koran. Yes, there is the concept of jihad in Islam. But the word "jihad" means "to strive, to make effort". It is to approach people with love and compassion and to convince them with scientific and intellectual evidence, it is to communicate the love of God, the magnificence of the Koran and its righteous aspects. That is the "jihad" as defined in the Koran, in Islam; it does not entail beating someone about the head or sending forth suicide bombers to massacre people during their afternoon commute or to pour bombs upon innocent people, women and children. Islam definitely forbids such attempts. The only fighting permitted in the Koran is an intellectual struggle and the only time Islam permits war is when it is purely a last resort left as a self-defense mechanism...

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-muslim-perspective-on-radicalism/
Shared using News360 for the Android. Learn more at http://www.news360app.com