Over the past year since I have been at Vox, I have had some fantastic dialogue with people of the Islamic faith and whenever I have been unsure about something, or I have had a query I have contacted some of the Muslims who post to Vox.  In each interaction I have come away feeling that I have learnt so much and I feel less threatened by the religion of Islam. 

That is not to say I am not concerned about the levels of violence we are seeing throughout the world, as I am and I am not alone in my concern, as many Muslims share my concerns.

The thought of any type of extremism taking over the world is not something I feel comfortable with and Islam is not alone as far as extremism is concerned. Religion is just one institution prone to extremism.   The thought of any religion or extreme political ideology being forced upon anyone is not something I agree with.   I also know that many of the actions of some western governments have actually helped the spread of Islamic extremism.

As someone who is not a Muslim, it is difficult not to fall into the trap of putting all Muslims into one basket, when we continually hear and see reports of Islamic clerics calling for violence against the likes of me.  However, I know there are good and bad people in all religions, so I know better than to make sweeping generalisations based on the actions of some. 

Anyway enough I my rambles, the people we need to hear from are the everyday Muslims in our communities.

2007 in response to the War on Terror and also in regards to speaking out.

Female Muslim UK:

Hi Chezza, just read your post and comments and thought i would contribute to your discussion. I am a Muslim living in the UK and like the majority of people watched the war on terror unfold right before my eyes via the world media; first it was Afghanistan then Iraq. Not a day goes by without Iraqi suicide bombings taking place and civilians and soldiers being killed. Approx 2 Million people marched the streets and i remember helping with the "Not in my name" banners for the demonstrations but it didnt do much good and the war is still going ahead despite the protests. Muslims unfortunately mistrust the government due to this and in the UK you are quite likely to be arrested under the Terrorism Act if you speak out, so the majority of Muslims would rather keep quiet than protest in fear of being labelled a terrorist which is a shame.

There is a constant barrage of Islamophobic articles which appear daily in the media which of course makes the problem of any dialogue worse. The government have Muslims spying on each other at mosques, Islamic gatherings etc and the moderate Muslim doesn’t have a platform in the media, only the extremists command centre stage!

What is the average Muslim supposed to do? I recently started to write to a female Muslim in prison accused of aiding terrorism but in the end i got so paranoid that the police would start investigating me i stopped communication.

The word Islam as u may know comes from the root word salam meaning peace. This is starting to become a cliche in itself, we are telling non-Muslims are religion means peace and all u see in the media is Muslims associated with killing people in terrorist acts! Islam does not condone killing another human being and is against all forms of killing (including abortion) and like another Muslim mentioned Jihad can only take place if certain conditions are met, even at war Muslims are not allowed to harm women and children, the elderly and surrounding wildlife (animals and even chop down trees), In islam you are allowed to defend yourself and your property.

I don t think as Muslims we can blame the West entirely for the problems Muslims face today, i personally think its down to their lack of understanding of Islam. We have Muslims who practice their religion once a week (during Jumuah) once a year (during Ramadan) or maybe once in their lifetime. They don’t fully understand what Islam is, they were born into a Muslim family but have mixed the teachings of Islam with their culture resulting in a distorted idea on what Islam is, leading to confusion. Parents are bringing their children up in different cultures and the children are getting confused and these people have nowhere to go, some of them abandon their religion, others turn to these extremist groups who take them in and teach them their own twisted view of Islam.

I would say never criticise the religion of Islam based on the actions of those who practise it, the teachings and religion itself is perfect but those (including myself) are prone to making mistakes and becoming forgetful and do not practise the religion properly leading to many of the problems we face today. Everything is down to knowledge, which the Qur'an encourages us to seek knowledge so did the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

As for the Power of Nightmares i managed to watch that on tv when it came on and i agree with you that it is a good programme. Also i do recommend you speak to muslims from all back grounds rather than relying on google for your islamic info as for every good muslim site there are at least 10,000 rubbish dodgy ones, the ones that come up first on your google search are not necessarily the good ones, ask Muslims what they recommend :)

Male Muslim – Asia

Islam basically preaches moderation in all aspects of daily life, which is why most of us are socialists. As for war, we are not to wage it fool hardily, for a Jihad, a war where all Muslims must stand united can only be called when we are being treated in inhumane conditions for no reason.

The following responses from Muslims are in response to the following comment (2007):

This sounds very reasonable, yet, I have not heard from the Islamic people in protest to this war or denouncing the killing of civilian population. Point me to where they have spoken out in the name of humanity, as I would like to see it. President Reagan said, "Trust, but Verify."

I wrote:

Here link are some Muslims condemning 9/11, terrorism and war and therefore the killing of civilians

Muslims Condemn Terrorist Acts

Muslims against Terrorism

Male Muslim – US:

I would just like to say that it's not my duty as a Muslim to condemn the actions of extremists who claim to be Muslim. I condemn their actions not because I feel compelled to do so; I condemn them out of my own free will. I didn't hear a Christian condemnation or apology for the Virginia Tech shootings in which the murderer was citing verses from the Bible. The point is that we are responsible for ourselves. We all should try to promote peace & understanding, not because of our respective faiths, but because we are human beings.

My official condemnation: "I condemn the acts done in the name of Islam by impostors who have attempted to warp the faith. I condemn them for the fact that they have no concept of the real Islam and that they get rich of foreign governments from outside of the Middle East supplying them with a paycheck and weapons, making it appear that they represent the faith. I condemn them for serving the interests of these foreign governments to divide Muslims to make them more easily conquerable." Thanks : )

Female Muslim - UK:

Thanks for adding my comments onto your responses, when i heard of this latest attempted terrorist attack it made me feel frustrated, sad and angry. We are trying to build bridges of peace love and understanding, and these select few in the name of Islam are trying to kill innocent civilians. The definitions on jihad were spot on, there is nowhere in the Qur'an that mentions "holy" and "war" in the same sentence and the greater jihad is the striving against ones self and one's desires (jihad an nafs).

Hi CHezza

Hope you are safe and well, i just read your comment thanks. Muslims are criticised whatever they do, with the new terrorists threats in the UK, some Muslims have taken full page ads in newspapers condemning the acts and some people have said that not enough is done in the Muslim community to denounce the terrorists so either way we are officially doomed!! One think i would like to say is that not enough thanks and appreciation is shown to non-Muslims like yourself who generally don’t believe the hype and actually take time out to work with Muslims to strive for peace. Since the war in Iraq i have made quite a few friends and associates from groups like "stop the war", who frequently bring up the issue of Islamophobia, the war in Iraq, palestine and campaign for the freeing of prisoners unlawfully detained in places like guantanamo bay.

Female Muslim – US

Actually, these accusations drive me insane. The truth is, Muslims condemn violence, all kinds, all the time, but like the title of your post says, our voices go unheard. All one has to do to find us speaking out is google phrases like "muslims for peace," "muslims against terror," "muslims march for peace," etc. The thing about these accusations is that they put us on the defense. Instead of working together, we end up having to prove, over and over again, that the Ummah is speaking out against violence, war, terror, and injustice. The fact is that if one doesn't see Muslims speaking out against violence and actively pursuing peace, it's because one isn't looking. The popular media won't present it because it's "boring" and doesn't match the stereotypes they already portray.

Those who want to know about about what news stories in the Middle East look like might be interested in watching Mosaic. I think Link TV is only available on satellite TV programming, but there is also a podcast of the show.

Finally, one last comment about accusations like this-- every time somebody says Muslims aren't speaking out against violence, all Muslims are lumped together, and Muslims find themselves in a strange place, in which they have to defend Islam, their beliefs, themselves, while still condemning the acts which others commit in the name of Islam. The fact is that, when a white man rapes a woman of color, no one asks white men to prove they are not all vicious, sex-crazed control freaks. And when a Christian man blows up a government building, no one asks all Christians to apologize and speak out against violence. When Christian Serbs carried out genocide against Muslim Bosniak males, nobody asked the entire Christian world to speak out against the violence. No white person will ever be in a position in which he or she will have to defend all white people. No Christian will ever have to defend all Christians. That's because these questions "why don't you speak up against violence/genocide/terror etc." are really just games. They serve no real purpose, because it is very easy to find Muslims all over the world speaking out against violence. Some people who ask these questions don't realize they are playing, perpetuating this game. They haven't thought enough about it to google the phrases I listed. But some people use it as a divisive tool to prove how "backwards" Islam is. To be honest, I'm tired of it, and I don't want to waste my time playing these games.

Some responses to the following questions that I asked:

There is always talk whenever there is a suicide bombing of Shahid and the promise of paradise. Also people throw around some statements of receiving X number of virgins in paradise when they become a martyr for Islam.

Is there somewhere in the Qur'an that the mention of virgins is promised to these martyrs? Also is the concept of Shahid used by extremists to encourage people to become martyrs? Is Shahid a real Islamic concept as written in the Qur'an and is it a case of people using it in situations where it should not be used i.e. just as Jihad is used when it should not be used?

I am concerned as I have seen YouTube footage encouraging young children to practice Shahid. Please note I know that most Muslims do not condone this behaviour but I am wondering why the extremists are able to convince these people to become suicide bombers, so that is why I was wondering is there something in the Qur'an that is being used to indoctrinate these children and adults?

Female Muslim – US

I'll try to answer them to the best of my knowledge as briefly as possible; since I'm sure others will have something to say as well. Plus, I'm at work ;)

In my very humble opinion, the idea of receiving 72 virgins is a myth. For one, the number 72 is not stated in the Qur'an. The Qur'an does promise those who enter paradise "splendid companions well-matched" (78:33, Muhammad Asad translation), and "companions pure, most beautiful of eye" (52:20), "mates of modest gaze, whom neither man nor invisible being will have touched ere then" (55:56) and finally: "And We shall pair them with companions pure, most beautiful of eye." (44:54). However, there is no number here. In fact everything is pluralized, so there is really little information regarding how many companions one person will receive. There is also evidence that the spouses of those who enter paradise will be renewed (56:34-36). My point here is that, in reality, we have very little idea of what is in store for those who enter paradise from the Qur'an, which is of course our first resource for all matters regarding faith. Also, there are some interpretations of these verses which regard the promise of "Houris" as promises of rare fruits and, specially, white raisins. I don't know much about these interpretations, but I can see how such would apply to people who lived in the desert.

Now, the number 72 comes from a Hadith, and while I believe the Hadith are critical to our knowledge of Islam and how to practice it properly, I am also very critical and skeptical of Hadith in general. There are tens of thousands of Hadith, most of which were not collected until 200 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. There is a strict Islamic science which was used to evaluate the chain of transmission to ascertain whether or not a Hadith was authentic, and as it is, the Hadith which promises 72 virgins is not considered authentic.

So, in summary, I believe the promise of of 72 virgins is crap.

My response to your question -- why do fanatics get away with this stuff? The fact is, most Muslim have never read the Qur'an in its entirety, just like most Christians have never read the Bible. The Qur'an is taught in schools, and people are told what is said, and in general, they believe it. There is also an issue of translation, for those who do read the Qur'an. There are several translations of the Qur'an which insert parentheses into the text which are actually interpretations and seriously mislead readers. The other issue we have to deal with is basically a large group of disenfranchised people, who feel very wounded by colonialism. So, when you combine these factors, you get an explosive reaction, excuse the pun, which the radicals use to try to accomplish their political goals. These political goals are mostly a result of colonialism and imperialism

Anyway, I'm no Islamic scholar, and only God knows best, but I hope I answered your questions.

Male Muslim – US

Peace be Unto all of you,

I would like to try to shed some light on your questions if I may. The word “Shahid” in Arabic literally means “to witness or testify.” There are various meanings depending on the context in which it is used. One of the meanings of Shahid is martyr. To bare some comparison, Martin Luther King Jr. is probably the best example of a Shahid in the U.S. In this context, it means someone who has stood for a righteous cause and was killed for his faith. Not to oversimplify the issue, but this is basically the meaning of martyrdom, which by the way is not an Islamic innovation. In fact, this was prevalent throughout the history of prophets and their followers.

To my understanding, the ‘virgins’ accusation comes from the arabic word “Hour al Ayn” or pure companions which is found in the Qur’an. Some people with ill intent towards Islam translate this as virgins, which is incorrect. Our friend was correct that this number 72 is based on hadith and is not found in Qur’an. However, no Muslim scholar will claim that all hadith are valid. In fact, they have developed a system called “Eilm al Rijaal” or the study of the narrators of hadith to classify hadith as accepted, strong, weak, etc.

However, the system of Shahadeh and Jihad are valid concepts in Islam based on the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad (sas), but not in the way they are all to often portrayed. The bigger “jihad” or struggle according to the Prophet is the struggle against the evil tendencies of the self. The other Jihad or physical struggle is only valid in cases of defense. An unbiased historical analysis of all of the wars of Islam during the life of the Prophet will show that they were all defensive wars. Yes, I will admit that Muslims abused this concept after the departure of the Prophet (sas).

It is clear to all people, not only Muslims, that if someone is oppressed unjustly, he has the right to resist that oppression and take up arms in defense of his family, his land, or his life. I also believe that yes, extremists do foment the wave of Jihad among their people and terrorize others. We should ask ourselves: why are they so successful? For example, many Palestinians teach their kids that the Israelis/Zionism (not the religion of Judaism) is oppressive and it is their duty to fight them. The kids grow up and they see first hand the iron fist of occupation and aggression by the Israelis and they tell themselves, “Yes. My parents were right. “ So the demographics, economics, and social make-up of certain countries make some young Muslims easy recruits.

Also, I should say one more thing. Most of the terrorists acts done around the world are from a small group of marginalized Muslims called Salafis (i.e. Bin Laden, Zarqawi, Zwahiri, etc). They have a warped version of the faith and have killed countless Muslims, Sunnis and Shiites. Fate brought this group unfortunately to vast amounts of wealth and today we have outsiders who purposely promote them to distort the image of Islam and to create sectarian division among Muslms. In my view, they represent Islam just as much as David Quresh and Charles Manson represent Christianity.

I would also advise you to ask a local Muslim scholar these questions, and not to take my word for it. Thanks for reading. May peace be upon you.

I also asked for an opinion on a comment that I had directed at me elsewhere on Vox.  In reality it doesn’t really matter who made this comment, as it is not an isolated comment and unfortunately it is a very common perception held by many Westerners

"...... the Bible tells us to preach the truth in love. Unlike Islam, wherein the actual writings of Muhammad are violent. His "surahs" (scriptures) in the Qu'ran encourage "jihad" (holy war) against others who believe differently. The religious writings of Mohammad teach his followers that men should beat others into submission of their will: unbelievers, women, children, and if that is ineffective, then kill them. The MSM wants Americans to believe that Islam is a "peaceful" religion, but their actions and their own religious writings preach differently. Don't believe me? See here: Fitna I'm no mind reader, so you tell me what is in the hearts of these men? Actions always speak louder than words."

From: Muslims Against Sharia:

Factually, the comment (as is Fitna) is correct. There are some teachings in the Koran that incite violence against non-Muslims. This is exactly what we are trying to remove: http://www.reformislam.org/verses.php. What the commenter (just as Fitna) fails to realize (or mention) is that there are hundreds of millions of Muslims that are suffering from radical Islamic teachings. In act, there are more Muslims murdered by Islamists than everybody else combined. The Muslims would be primary beneficiaries if radical Islam ceased to exist. As for "true Muslim", unfortunately it seems that majority of today's Muslims espouse radical Islamic ideology rather than believe in peaceful Islam. We think that we (moderates) are true Muslims. They (radicals) think that they are. Only time will tell who is right.

Male Muslim US:

May Peace be Upon You,

The film "Fitna" is a gross misrepresentation of Islamic teachings. It was incited as a direct attack on Islam in my view. Those defending it claim that Islam should be subject to criticism like anything else. We as Muslims agree with this, however, we are against abuse. If people have questions or even disagree with Islamic teachings, they can open a dialogue with Muslim leaders instead of taking Qur'anic verses out of context to promote hatred. That's what it's all about... promoting hatred.

Also, the claim that Prophet Muhammad (sas) promoted violence shows the poor level of education of the person that sent you that. Such a claim would be like accusing Jesus of rebellion, inciting social chaos, promoting hatred, being against democracy, promoting racism (being sent only to the house of the lost sheep of Israel), etc. If the maker of this film really wanted to open a dialogue and voice his/her concerns about Islam, the movie would be entitled, "Controversial teachings of Islam explained by Muslim clerics." Instead, it's entitled "Fitna" which means separation or strife. Also, the Bible is filled with passages promoting violence, sexual deviation, unjust punishments, and even execution as a punishment for blasphemy. However, conveniently, those things are never talked about.

Also, this movie in my opinion was created, funded, and promoted by certain groups & state-sponsors to anger Muslims worldwide and to get them to commit violent acts as an excuse for some countries to take up military arms against majority Muslim countries. I believe the Prophet Muhammad cartoons were created for the same purpose.

One more thing if I may... these supposed Muslim clerics who call for violence, how many are they in number? Where did you hear about them? Do you know their credentials? The problem with the media is that they pluck out a few wacko Imams and show them promoting violent rhetoric and action. What about the other 99% of Muslim clerics who call for dialogue? You never hear about them because that does not fit with the Islamophobic media propaganda. That's like me starting a news network featuring the rhetoric of David Quresh, Jerry Falwell, etc. and showing no moderate Christian leaders.

My point is this: If we have absolute freedom of speech and nothing is too sacred, then I'm sure no one will have a problem if the Iranian government were to make a movie with evidence showing that the Holocaust was grossly exaggerated and that 9/11 was an inside job. Nothing is too holy when it comes to freedom of speech according to the producer of this film. What a double-standard! Unbelievable. The truth is that freedom of speech is monopolized and only granted to those select nations who support a particular agenda. That is since Islam cannot be academically defeated; they must resort to distortions, taking things out of context, and plain promotion of hatred.

Male non-Muslim AU:

I have always held the view that the violence we are seeing in the Muslim world is a manifestation of the bitter struggle for ideological supremacy between the moderate and radical schools of Islam. Caught in the middle of the proverbial crossfire is wide swathe of the non-Muslim world. Some people can see this, others can't, and yet there are some who see it as their misguided right to step in and try to force a certain peace come hell or high water. It is the latter group that continues to muddy the waters and creates more confusion than anything.

Male Muslim US reply:

Good points and well-said.

The current socio-political climate in the Middle East fosters radical ideologies such as Wahhabism which dominates the Saudi government. Maybe the Bush administration should speak out or boycott the Saudi government instead of holding hands with their leaders and turning a blind eye to the terrorist bombings they are committing in Iraq everyday. Amazing... 10 years ago, there were no organized Muslim militias or terror groups in Iraq, now thanks to the invasion, they have multiplied. If I didn't know better, I would swear this war was simply made to promote violence and get the Muslims to kill each other so others don't have to do it.

Female Muslim UK:

Peace to you Chezza.

I have refrained from watching the film Fitna as there is enough Islamaphobic programmes on the television where I live. China has taken the heat off us for a while but I am sure we will be number one headlines again soon.

Islam is about peace. When people start labelling themselves as this or that kind of Muslim that is when division begins, about ten years ago the terms "jihadist, moderate/radical muslim extremist etc" did not exist, they have been created by the media.

The Qur'an can never be changed or reformed, if you choose to call yourself a Muslim and believe that the Qur'an is the Word of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) you cannot call for the text of it to be changed, or want verses of it removed.  Those that do wish to change it for whatever reason should know that Allah has promised to preserve the Qur'an so good luck in trying, your wasting your time!

The Qur'an does have text that refer to violence but it does not promote hatred or tolerance. Those that comment on the verses have neither read or understood the original Arabic, nor have they bothered to research the verses in detail to attempt to understand why the verses were revealed and to which situation or incident these verses refer to.

Islam like any other religion is open to mis-interpretation based on the person's intellect, their personal circumstances, their peers etc. When someone is new to Islam or may have been Muslim all their life but re-connected to their faith, they are vulnerable to these extremist and radical groups who will recruit these individuals and prey on their vulnerability. They will use this lack of knowledge to convince them that their version and only their version of Islam is the correct one and everyone elses is false or wrong. It's a shame that many Muslims are falling into this trap, May Allah guide them to the straight path.  Ameen.

It is however difficult to keep a billion Muslims in line, you are gonna get a small percentage who have through lack of knowledge, misunderstood the teachings of Islam and use the favours God has given them to create havoc on earth. I don’t believe that it is such a wide spread epidemic that we should fear that Islamic extremists will take over the world. That's just the media doing a very good job of portraying ALL MUSLIMS as potential suicide bombers. This type of media scare mongering can be seen in the number of new laws created by Tony Blair with the aim of "combatting terrorism", these so called laws that say that a person can be arrested detained and questioned without charge if suspected of terrorist acts for 28 days. Not to mention the human right injustices going on all over the globe in the name of fighting terrorism.

The word jihad means to strive, it is mentioned in the Qur'an in many different places, but the concept of jihad meaning Holy War has been created by the media as the word Holy and War do not appear in the Qur'an together as part of a sentence but the average person has come to believe that defintion through the media.

The problems that Muslim face are that they are not practising their religion, they do so without knowledge which is why the Muslim populations of the world are suffering at the hand's of their governments, other countries etc because of their lack of fear and trust in God. They are like lost sheep waiting to return to their shepherd who get eaten by wolves on the way back to the farm (sorry just needed to add a bit of humour in here)

I would suggest to anyone who feared Islam taking over their neighbourhood or county to go and talk to a Muslim person, it will help to dispel any myths and breakdown some barriers.

Why is Islam one of the fastest growing religions in the world despite such negative Islamaphobic reports, are we all being brainwashed like zombies to believe in this religion?

So there were a number of voices many never hear.  Thank you to my Muslim brothers and sisters of the world who were prepared to speak out.

I think the best piece of advice we can all learn from this is that open dialogue can break down barriers and build some bridges. 

Peace to you all.

 Muslims - A Walk in Your Shoes

From IslamicVideos.net

This video is a lovely story of two teenage girls breaking down the religious barriers between Islam and Christianity.  As one of the girls said at the end,

"If people got to know other people from different backgrounds and different religions the world would be a much better place."

Some interesting links which include links various Muslim individuals and organisations:

A Secular Muslim Manifesto

Zeyno Baran

British Muslims for Secular Democracy

Center for Islamic Pluralism

Muslim Canadian Congress

Tawfik Hamid

American Islamic Forum for Democracy

Islamic Supreme Council of America

Nibras Kazimi

Irshad Manji

Italian Muslim Assembly

Secular Islam Summit

Mohamed Sifaoui

Amir Taheri