Islam, Muslims and the Quran have become a major concern to Nigerians, especially after the emergence of Boko Haram.
The
misconceptions are so bad that not everybody from the Northern part of
Nigeria is a Muslim and not every Muslim is from the northern part of
the country.
In reality, there is a good population of Christians
in the north, even in Borno and Adamawa, there are numerous communities
that are predominantly Christians.
Muslims indigenes in Edo, Kwara, Kogi and some South-Eastern states is not a rare sight.
Description: 1.
TERRORISTS ARE PROMISED 72 VIRGIN WOMEN WHEN THEY DIEThe “72 virgins” idea is probably the most overblown idea that people seem to remember
about Islam. It’s turning into a real stereotype.
There is no promise of 72 virgins for martyrs, terrorists or suicide bombers anywhere in the Quran.
In fact committing Suicide is a Major Sin
Amongst
the many verses against suicide here is one that makes it very clear
that the taking of one’s life is strongly prohibited and that there is
no reward for anyone who does that.
But let there be amongst you
Traffic and trade by mutual good-will: Nor kill (or destroy) yourselves:
for verily God hath been to you Most Merciful! If any do that in
rancour and injustice,- soon shall We cast them into the Fire: And easy
it is for God. Qur’an 4:29 – 4:30
Description: 2.
MUSLIMS HATE JESUSMany people are amazed to find out that according to Muslim belief, Jesus is one of the greatest messengers of God.
One
cannot be a Muslim without believing in the virgin birth and the many
miracles of Jesus Christ. Jesus is also mentioned in many verses of the
Quran and is often used as an example of good virtue and character.
However, the main difference between Christianity and Islam is that Muslims do not believe that Jesus was God.
Description: 3.
CHILDREN HAVE NO RIGHTS IN ISLAMWhen
the idea of children in Islam comes to your mind the first image that
pops ups is a child begging on the street or how awful they are treated
in Islamic schools.
Children, according to Islamic law, have
various rights. One of these is the right to be properly brought up,
raised, and educated. Islam encourages children to be brought up well
because it is the responsibility of an adult to raise his child to
become a moral and ethical adult.
Children must also be treated
equally. When giving financial gifts they should all be the same amount
and there should be no preference among them.
Children are even
permitted to take moderately from their parent’s wealth to sustain
themselves if the parent declines to give them proper funds for living.
A child is also not allowed to get hit in the face or hit by anything larger than a pencil
Description: 4.
ISLAM IS INTOLERABLE TO OTHER RELIGIONS‘Kill
the infidel’ is the phrase many people believe is the ideology that
Muslims have towards the non Muslims. This, though, is not a correct
portrayal of Islamic law.
Islam has always given respect and
freedom of religion to all faiths. In the Quran it says “God does not
forbid you, with regards to those who fight you not for religion nor
drive you away out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with
them, for god loves those who are just.”
There are many
historical examples of Muslim tolerance towards other faith. One such
example was when the caliph Umar was ruler of Jerusalem from 634 to 644
AD. He granted freedom to all religious communities and said that the
inhabitants of his city were safe and that their places of worship would
never be taken away from them.
He also set up courts that were
designated to the non Muslim minorities. Whenever he would visit holy
areas he would ask for the Christian patriarch Sophronius to accompany
him.
Description: 5.
JIHAD MEANS TO FIGHT FOR THE SAKE OF GODThe
true Arabic meaning of the word jihad is struggle. However in Islam it
is often used to describe the striving in the way of god.
There
are many forms of jihad but the most important ones are Jihad al-nafs
(jihad against ones self), jihad bil-lisan (jihad by being vocal), jihad
bil yad (jihad by using action), and Jihad bis saif (jihad by using the
sword).
Each jihad is ranked differently and it was reported
that Muhammad returned from a battle and said “We have returned from the
lesser jihad (going into battle) to the greater jihad (the struggle of
the soul).”
This means that a Muslim struggling against himself and his soul is more important than the jihad of going into war.
Another
misconception is that only when a person dies in war does that person
becomes a martyr. This is, however, false and it is believed that anyone
doing anything for the sake of god and is killed becomes a martyr.
A
person who dies while performing pilgrimage in Mecca, a woman who dies
while giving birth, or even someone who dies in a car crash while he was
on his way to the mosque are all considered martyrs.
Description: 7.
ISLAM AND TERRORISMThis is by far the biggest misconception of Islam, given unfairly by stereotyping and the public image that the media gives.
Has
anyone else noticed how when a specific group of people attack another
group of people it is labeled as a ‘hate crime’, but when a Muslim opens
fire on anybody it is quickly regarded as ‘terrorism’.
Many
political dictators and officials or extremist groups use the name of
Islam as a strategy to garner followers and attention when many of their
practices go against the true basis of Islam.
However all over
the world people practice Islam in the true form and use it as a way of
life. There are many verses in the Quran that go against the idea of
terrorism.
Some of these verses include “fight in the way of
Allah those that fight you but do not transgress limits for god does not
love transgressors.” This basically means do not fight except in self
defense and even in doing so do not go beyond defense.
Another
verse states “if they seek peace, then you seek peace,” which means do
not attack people for no reason or kill innocent people.
There is
nowhere in Islam, whether it be in the Quran or the teachings of
Muhammad, that promotes the killing of innocent people.
Description: 6.
MUSLIMS ARE SAVAGES AND BARBARIC DURING WARQuite the contrary, when it comes to the conduct of war there are ten rules that every Muslim army must obey:
1. Do not commit treachery
2. Do not deviate from the right path
3. Do not mutilate dead bodies
4. Do not kill children
5. Do not kill women
6. Do not kill aged men
7. Do not harm or burn trees
8. Do not destroy buildings
9. Do not destroy an enemy’s flock, unless you use it for your food
10. When you pass people who have devoted their lives to monastic services leave them alone
Description: 8.
ISLAM ALLOWS STONING TO DEATHSome think that ‘stoning to death’ is a punishment laid out in The Quran or promoted by Islam for acts such as adultery.
The
Quran never sanctions stoning to death as a punishment for anyone. In
fact, the only time it is mentioned in The Quran is as a threat to
believers from non-believers:
11:91, 18:20, 19:46, 36:18, 44:20, 26:116
Also,
the misconception of ‘stoning to death’ as punishment for adultery is
disproved by the Quran. According to the Quran, the punishment for
proven adultery is lashes [24:2].
Furthermore, this punishment is
halved for formerly slave woman due to their past circumstance [4:25].
Since half ‘stoning to death’ is not possible, this indicates ‘stoning
to death’ for adultery is not permitted.
Interestingly, in many
popular translations of The Quran, for verse 24:3 they state an
adulterer can only marry another adulterer, but if stoning to death for
adultery was a punishment, this translation would be unnecessary and
illogical.
Stoning to death as a punishment for adultery is from
traditional narrations (called “hadith”) attributed to the prophet
Muhammad, as recorded by later generations.
Description: 9.
ALLAH IS THE GOD FOR MUSLIMSSome think that the word “Allah” refers to a special God for use by Muslims only.
Arabic like Aramaic and Hebrew, is a Semitic language.
The word that described God in Aramaic was pronounced “AaLaH” or “AaLoH”.
In
Hebrew it was “Eloah” or “Elohim”, and in Arabic is “Allah”, which is
considered a conjunction of “Al-ilah”, which is Arabic for “The-God” in
English.
The English word “God” describes the same entity.
Remember
that the language spoken by Jesus when he was alive was Aramaic,
thereby leaving a possibility that he pronounced God as “AaLah” or
“AaLoH”.
Besides Hausa’s and Arabs (Yes, some Arabs are
Christians) refer to God as Allah. It does not make them any less of a
Christian from you.
Description: 10.
MUHAMMAD WAS THE FOUNDER OF ISLAMSome
think that a man named Muhammad from Arabia was the first to introduce
Islam or it came into existence with him and The Quran.
The word
“islam” can be translated as “surrender/submission” (to God). A “muslim”
can be translated as “one who surrenders/submits” (to God).
According
to The Quran, everything in the universe, willingly or unwillingly has
ultimately surrendered to God, thus the basic concept of
islam/surrender/submission is as old as the universe itself: [3:83]
The
Quran clearly states that Muhammad was a messenger and inspired just as
the prophets before him:. [4:163] [3:84] [3:144] [3:79]
Also,
The Quran specifically mentions the term “muslim” for those before
prophet Muhammad, including: Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Jacob, and the
companions of Jesus. [see 2:128, 2:131, 3:67, 3:52, 5:111, 10:72].
Thus,
the prophet Muhammad was not the founder of islam/submission, but
simply continued this universal message as one of many messengers of
God.
A police source, who revealed how the three aged suspects were arrested, said the Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Kayode Aderanti, had got a hint that they were involved in robbery and receiving of stolen cars. The CP promptly directed the Superintendent of Police in charge of SARS, Mr. Abba Kyari, and his team to get the three men and the stolen cars. SARS operatives, therefore, disguised as car snatchers who wanted to sell a stolen car to the gang.
