Religion has so often been a divisive factor in human relations that many people despair of organized religion. But it is often misunderstandings of or an unwillingness to learn more about other religions (fear of contamination?) that leads to religious conflicts. This is especially true in the case of Islam.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are "monotheistic siblings" in that they share a belief in one God and a common ancestry. Father Abraham had two sons: Ishmael, son of Sarah's maid Hagar, was the firstborn but Isaac, son of Sarah in her old age, soon supplanted Ishmael in their father's favor.
At Sarah's instigation, Abraham drove Hagar and Ishmael into the desert where they would have died of thirst but for the intervention of God who promised that Ishmael would not only live, but would become the father of a great nation (Genesis 21: 1-21). It is from Ishmael that people of the Muslim faith trace their ancestry.
Unfortunately, this common ancestry has not been enough to foster understanding and trust between the three siblings and lead to peace. The Jewish state of Israel and her Muslim neighbors have been locked in battle in the Middle East for centuries.
Many Christians in the United States often have little exposure to Islam other than through media portrayals of extremists who carry out their terrorist acts in the name of Islam.
Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar are no more representative of Islam, however, than Jim Jones and David Koresh are representative of Christianity.
The majority of Muslims practice Islam as a religion of peace and are disturbed by the misunderstandings and intolerance of many American Christians. There are two million American Muslims and they were as horrified and saddened as any other American by the September 11 attacks.
The name Islam is derived from the Arabic word salam (similar to the Hebrew word Shalom), which is often translated "peace." It is said that a more correct translation is "submission" (to the tenets of their faith).
The centrality of peace to Islam is one reason many Muslims are offended by the media's use of terms such as Islamic terrorist, which they understand to be a contradiction.
Muslims call God Allah, an Arabic word meaning "the One True God." Muslims believe that when the Prophet Muhammad was 40 years old, he began receiving revelations from Allah through the angel Gabriel. Muhammad believed Allah charged him with converting others from their polytheistic beliefs and lives of pleasure-seeking and materialism.
The Qur'an (Koran), or "Recitation," is the holiest book in Islam and is believed to be the inerrant, literal words of God in their original Arabic. The angel Gabriel (or Jibril) is said to have dictated its words to Muhammad over a twenty-three-year period.
Unfortunately, the Qur'an is as subject to various interpretations and outright misuse as is the Bible. According to the most generally accepted interpretations, though, all Muslims are required to engage in five practices, often referred to as the "five pillars of Islam." These are:
• Making a declaration of faith called the Shahadah, which states, "There is none worthy of worship except God and Muhammad is the messenger of God."
• Performing the salah, or prescribed prayers, five times a day. Prayers are led in Arabic at mosques by persons trained in the Qur'an. (There are no priests in Islam.) Muslims are permitted to make the prayers in their homes or workplaces if they are not able to go to a mosque.
• Engaging in zakah, or giving charitable gifts to the needy equal to 2.5 percent of one's wealth. Possessions are understood as truly belonging to God, with humans being stewards of God's wealth.
• Practicing sawm, or fasting, during the month of Ramadan. All those who are not sick, elderly, traveling, menstruating, pregnant, or nursing are expected to fast from food, drink, and intercourse from sunup until sundown. Young adults are not required to fast until they reach puberty. Fasting is seen as a means of self-discipline and purification.
• Making the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once during a lifetime. It is only an obligation for those who have both the physical stamina and financial means to make the trip. More than two million people make the hajj each year. Pilgrims wear simple clothes that remove class and cultural distinctions between people as a sign that all are equal in God's sight.
The term jihad is a term often misunderstood by both Muslims and non-Muslims. News media usually describe jihad as meaning "holy war," leading many to associate it with terrorism.
According to Al-Hajj Talib 'Abdur-Rashid, imam of the Mosque of the Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem "the concept of jihad is a beautiful one that has nothing to do with aggressive warfare."
The verb that jihad originates from means "to struggle" or "to fight." This struggle can occur on many levels. The majority of Muslims understand jihad as a "personal, internal struggle with one's self."
In the Hadith, the collection of Muhammad's sayings that is the second most sacred book of Islam, the Prophet is quoted as saying that "the most excellent jihad is that of the soul."
This type of jihad means removing both obvious and subtle imperfections from one's soul. Muhammad also describes speaking truth in the face of tyranny as a form of jihad.
Allah commands Muslims to live peaceful lives; but they are also permitted to practice physical jihad in self-defense against oppression.
Karen Armstrong,author of the 2001 book Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, points to the minor role that physical jihad plays within the overall concept. She refers to another passage of the Hadith in which Muhammad returns from a battle, saying that "we return from the little jihad to the greater jihad" of struggling against evil within ourselves.
