You Are What You Believe: Part Two

Read Part One here

I'd like to clarify that I hold no prejudice against other religions and nor am I attempting to convert anyone. I do not know the depths of faith nor do I claim to fully understand it. But knowledge and understanding are the forces that open up a narrow mind. And so this series is simply meant to spread understanding and provide a new perspective to anyone willing to take it. I'm not an expert, but my intention is to enlighten people about a world they know, but haven't seen in a different light. With learning comes realization, but so it does with teaching as well. And it's my hope that after this series, both you and I will develop a new appreciation or tolerance for an ancient religion and its' modern people.

     To fulfill the requirements of my undergrad degree, I have to take a course in the social sciences and humanities. It's definitely something I have been looking forward to because in my program, I generally don't get to take courses that have more to do with opinion than hard evidence. The course I'm taking is "Introduction to World Religions" - which frankly I took because I assumed it would be a piece of cake. Not that it's difficult or anything, but it does require a lot of work (sucks for me :P). So, as part of our section on Islam, our class was treated to lectures by a guest speaker. It was the guest speaker who initially motivated this series for me (along with a build-up of emotions towards how Muslims are portrayed in the world today). His name is Timothy Gianotti and - no joke - he is BY FAR the most passionate, funny, and inspiring lecturer on Islam I've ever met. When I first saw Prof. Gianotti, I didn't think he'd be able to teach me anything I didn't already know. I mean...I felt like I had a fairly good understanding of the faith I've followed all my life. What else could be new?

     I was so wrong. As the lecture progressed, I realized that Prof. Gianotti was talking about stuff I was familiar with, yet somehow he spoke with such clarity and conviction that it made me feel as if I was learning it all for the first time. I didn't know that you could learn the same concept many times in different ways. I'm going to try and convey some of the ideas on Islam that I learned from Prof. Gianotti's lectures and by no means will anything I say justify every question or prejudice people may have. But, at least (I hope) the following will give you a better understanding of the foundations and basic principles of Islam.

Masjid-al-Haram, Mecca, Saudi Arabia

     A large part of any religion is how it is interpreted and thus, how that interpretation leads to practice in daily life. Every follower approaches their faith with a different understanding of how significant their actions are. Every religion is also criticized for certain things and honestly...that's something that'll never go away. There is no perfect religion other than one's own - everybody is a victim to that perspective. Just like every other religion, Islam has faced its share of criticism (although more so in recent years). This is because Islam faces three major challenges: media, orientalism, and modernity.
     Because of our exposure to media we have learned to associate Islam with violence. C'mon...you know it's true. And it's not your fault! A lot of stuff has happened: Iraq, Afghanistan, Muslim terrorists openly accepting the blame for horrendous acts, and etc. The term "Muslim terrorists" defines terrorists that happen to be Muslims. But due to its constant usage in media, the term "terrorists" has come to mean the same thing as "Muslim". Now, you may not agree to that so just take the example of the recent massacre in Norway where a man shot and murdered dozens of students. Unclear of information, media outlets were quick to categorize this terrible occasion as something "jihadic" and something "Muslim terrorists" had done. Turns out Anders Behring Brevik claimed to be a devout Christian and had committed murder on the premises that he was cleansing Norway of non-Christians. Embarrassed by their quick and stereotypical conclusion that Muslims were responsible in the first place, people in media such as Bill O'Reilly of Fox News claimed, "Breivik is not a Christian. That's impossible. No one believing in Jesus commits mass murder." 

     Okay. That makes total sense. No, I'm not being sarcastic...it really does. I mean, isn't murdering against Christianity? So obviously, Anders Behring Brevik cannot be labelled as a Christian. But then Osama Bin Laden and the countless others that follow his "path" are not Muslims either. No person who believes in Islam and commits mass murder of innocents could possibly be a Muslim. 

     If you are Christian, you may look at the Norway massacre and think, "Hey. I'm Christian. I know what the Bible preaches. There is nothing in Christianity that encourages murder." So, religious scripture and teachings cannot be the problem. But when one considers Islamic teachings, or that of any other religion than one's own, it is easy to jump to the conclusion that maybe this is the kind of stuff that's in their texts. Maybe this is exactly what they are taught. But, it's not. The fanatical few who claim to be acting out what their religious texts have taught them are simply those who misinterpret the teachings. Again...it comes down to interpretation. 

     The term "terrorism" is so closely associated with Muslims that stereotypes and prejudice are a given. What needs to be done is re-examination of the term terrorism; what exactly it means and who it applies to. After seeing it being supplied to Muslims for so long, people obviously would not know how to react when it's a non-Muslim being labelled instead.

     Next, Islam faces the challenge of orientalism. Orientalism is pretty self-explanatory. It's a kind of racism against people of Arab origins.

     And lastly, modernity. This is perhaps the most deeply rooted challenge for Islam and wherein most of the issues lie. Although it is younger than Judaism and Christianity, Islam still faces the dilemma of being relevant and applicable to modern times. Aspects of the religion need to be interpreted and applied in a way that is comprehensible for people in the world today. For this, not everything that is in religious texts and traditions can be done literally anymore. Things have to be seen more metaphorically and a bigger picture can be derived from teachings as well. 

     Now that we've looked at the three major challenges that Islam faces, we'll take a look at the call to prayer, the idea of prophets and fate, and major practices in Part Three of this series. Thanks for reading :)

You can access a biography of Professor Timothy Gianotti here