Lutherans Religious Field Research - Essay Example

? Report on Lutherans Religious Field Research Lecturer This paper seeks to discuss the misconception about religion, Islam. The paper willalso analyze how my prior understanding about this religion has been altered through encounter. In so doing, the paper will discuss why the misconception about the people’s religion is explained and common. Eventually, the paper will recommend steps that could be taken in order minimize misconceptions that people have about the religion. The paper will also illustrate their faith, religious practice, their traditions and what they value most as well as what they act. There are many misunderstandings concerning religion in general. The beliefs and practices of Islam have been misconnected and people have posed various misunderstandings on what they believe in about Islam (Waines, 1995). There is much flawed information that floats around concerning the faith of Islam: I personally had a misconception that Muslims worship a black stone or moon god; that Islam looks down upon women; that Muslims are terrorists among other misconceptions. However, the paper seeks to analyze how my prior misconceptions have changed following the truth and alterations of the conceptions through encounter. The paper hence aims to bust the misunderstood myths and expose the truth about Islam. The first misconception is that Muslims worship a moon god; some of the non Muslims have mistakenly believed that Allah is a moon god or some idol. After a wide consultation and encounter, this has been altered. Allah is the name of One True God, in the language of Arabic. The Muslims have a fundamental belief that there is only one God, the Sustainer, the Creator; known in Arabic as Allah. This hence means that Muslims do not worship a moon god, but God the Almighty. Another misconception is that Muslims do not believe in Jesus; the life and teachings of Christ Jesus is documented in the stories of Qur’an. The Qur’an recalls the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, his miracles and his teachings carried out by the permission of God. In fact there is a chapter in Qur’an that is named after Mary, the mother of Jesus. However, Muslims believe that he was a human prophet fully and not in a divine way. The other misconception about Islam is that majority of Muslims are Arabs; although Islam has been mainly associated with Arabs, they only make up 15% of the population of Muslims in the whole world. The country with the most number of Muslim populations is Indonesia. The large numbers of Muslims are found in Asia followed by Africa, then Europe (Hodgson, 1974). Before my encounter with the truth about Islam, I also had the misconception that Islam oppress women, however, most of the mistreatment that is received by women in the world of Muslim is based on traditions and culture, without any foundations in the faith of Islam. Practically, forces such as spousal abuse, forced marriage, and restricted movement contradict directly the laws of Islam that govern personal freedom and family behavior. The misconception that women have no rights in Muslim world is untrue. The images of women who wear a veil covering them, and that women are not allowed to drive, are common in Islam. This is not Muslim law even though many Muslim countries implement such harsh treatments against women. Many of such countries demonstrate differences in culture that are against Islam teachings. It should hence be noted that in the pre-Islam period, Arabia women were only used for fornication with no independence. In fact the birth of female beings was considered humiliating. The practice of infanticide of female was uncontrolled. It is a fact also that a Muslim woman is permitted to accept and reject any suitor as well as seek divorce. Hence, there is nothing in the Islam law that forbids women from driving and house. It is also considered a sin if a woman refuses to seek knowledge (Hitti, 1970). I also had a misconception that Muslims are extremists and violent terrorists. Terrorism is, at all, not justifies under any Islamic faith interpretation. The whole Qur’an as a text preaches the message of faith, hope, and peace. These messages assert that peace is got from faith in God as well as justice among human beings. Muslim scholars and leaders speak out against terrorist acts and even provide more explanations of the twisted teachings about Islam. People have also had a misconception that Islam does not tolerate other faith. The Qur’an reminds all the Muslims that they do not worship God alone. There are also Christians and Jews. The Qur’an commands that Muslims not only protect mosques from harm, but also synagogues, monasteries, and churches, because God is worshipped in them. Islam also promotes jihad to spread Islam through the sword and kill all the believers. This is a misconception too. The jihad means to strive in Arabic language. Essentially jihad is a practice effort to religion in the face of persecution and oppression. The other misconception is that Qur’an was written by Muhammad and then copied from Christian and Jewish sources. The truth is Qur’an was revealed to the prophet in a period of two decades. This was through calling people to gather and worship God as well as to live according to the faith of God. The Qur’an has stories of the Biblical prophets since the same prophets preached the word of God. The oral traditions are not merely copied, but referred to in such a way that they focus on the teachings and examples leaned from them. Some people have even made misconceptions that Muslims prayer is a ritualized performance without heartfelt meaning. A prayer according to Islam is a time to express faith before God and give gratitude for His blessings, as well as seek forgiveness and guidance. In the process of prayers in Islam, one remains submissive, modest, and respectful to Almighty God. This is done through bowing and prostrating to the ground. Through this Muslims express their utmost humility before God, the Almighty (Jameelah, 1968). Finally, there are many other misconceptions about Muslim religion. Among them are that the crescent moon is a universal symbol of Islam. However, the community of Muslims did not have any symbols in reality. During the period of the Prophet Muhammad, the caravans and armies of Islam flew colored flags which acted as identification mechanisms. In real sense, the crescent moon symbols pre-dates Islam by many thousand years, and has never been affiliated with Muslims at all, until it was placed on the flag by the Ottoman Empire. Just as Christians, Muslims also have ten rules that they obey which correspond to the Ten Commandments. Therefore a misconception that Muslims are barbaric and savages during war are not warranted. This is because Muslims have rules to obey when it comes to war such as: do not commit treachery; do not mutilate dead bodies; do not deviate from right path; do not kill women; do not kill children; do not kill aged men; do not destroy buildings; do not burn or harm trees; leave alone people who have devoted their lives to services of monastery; and do not destroy the flock of the enemy, unless it is used as food (Rahman, 1966). These misconceptions about Islam have been explained in many literatures so as to take away the myth and expose the truth about the Muslims. In order to minimize these misconceptions that people have about Islam religion, I recommend steps such as studying the Qur’an intensively so as to master its content, performing a research on the history of Islamic law as well as their values and beliefs. Understanding the beliefs and practices of Muslim people is very significant in eliminating the misconceptions that people have about Islam. References Hitti, K. (1970), History of the Arabs. Riyadh: McGraw Hill Hodgson, S. (1974). The Venture of Islam. London: SAGE Jameelah, M. (1968), Islam and Modernism, Riyadh: Prentice Hall Rahman, F. (1966), Islam. Riyadh: McGraw Hill Waines, D. (1995). An Introduction to Islam. New York: Prentice Hall. Read More