Christopher Livingston

Due 10/31/2017

The “Violence” of Islam

9/11 … The mere mentioning of this date, in an instant, places a mental image in the eyes

of all who were alive to witness it and all those who came after. After the attack on the U.S. we

have been taught as a nation to have an instilled fear for the people who were behind that attack.

We were taught to fear the violence that Islamic culture thrives upon. We were taught to fear the

religion that allows men to beat their wives, that allows harems, and allows stoning. There is a

problem with what is stated before me. The problem is, the culture depicted is not the one that

thrives in our world. The religion as a whole is one of reverence and pride in their heritage.

Though we see in the news how awful people from this religion can be we fail to understand the

background. In this small paper I will discuss a few glaring issues with the religion and how our

views may skew the perception of understanding.

Islam is a religion with many rules and regulations that would make even the most devout

Catholic shutter. The culture is bound on their traditions and believes that the word of God is

law. From this ideology we see many problems arise. The Qur’an was written around somewhere

in the 600s CE. The rules written will seem very outdated by the modern eye, but when you have

a text written in the words of God would you not follow it to the very letter? From this book

stems a culture that has dedicated their lives to this scripture and thus forming the idea of Jihad,

meaning striving. Muslims have the view, like most religions, to dedicate every day to being a

good follower of God, but unlike most modern Christians you see them actually do what is said

to be done. From Jihad we find one of our biggest problems with the religion, the small

radicalistic groups.
 Christopher Livingston
Due 10/31/2017

Going back to the day the earth stood still, we know that the name behind the attack was

Al-Qaida. This was a small minority of the Islamic faith who believed in what was called a

Global Jihad. They had a desire to take away those who did not believe in the Qur’an and

convert the whole world into their view of what it should be. Now this is obviously a crazy

stance to take, and we are right to call out anyone who believes in this mode of thought, but we

forget that this is not the only group that does so. We see many people, in the name of

Christianity, call out other religions (and other Christians) that are not “holy” in the eyes of the

lord. You see bombings and terrorist attacks all done in the name of Jesus, and we are quick to

hide these moments away. Thankfully these radical groups are small, and we should understand

that these few do not account for the many.

Another glaring issue on Islam is that of the position of women. We already know that

women in history have never gained what we see as equality. Even today women are still

fighting for more rights and equal pay, but things are a little different when it comes to countries

that practice the Islamic faith. Like I said before, Jihad is what the religion strives on and the

Qur’an is the book they stand upon, so what the book says should go. The Qur’an’s views on

women (because it is a poetic writing) has no clear defined position, but does seem to lean

towards the gain of men. When we step to the side of the Qur’an and into the world of politics

we see where all the problems truly lie. Everything regarding polygamy, genital beatings,

harems, and rights come down to personal views of the Qur’an that have made their way into

modern law. We do know that this is changing though! Anyone faced with being classed into a

lower system of living will at some point try and break free, and Islamic women are no

exception. Just recently in the news we saw a major breakthrough in women’s rights regarding

the ability to drive in Saudi Arabia. Just this one occurrence has delivered a shock wave of
 Christopher Livingston
Due 10/31/2017

enlightenment and anger to other Islamic countries, but in the U.S. the story was forgotten the

very next day. This brings me to my final point in the matter of viewing Islamic violence. Media.

We are social creatures and in the age of modern technology we see a resounding serge of

news daily. From our Facebook feeds, twitter accounts, and local news stations we are constantly

bombarded with what is happening with world around us. From this bombardment we have

grown tired with most news unless a title truly peaks the nations interest. “Planes hit the World

Trade Centers.” “Plane crashes into the Pentagon.” “Muslims have caused a ripple in our

country.” Headlines like this cause commotion and brings in revenue like crazy. Fear, political

scandal, and cute puppies are the blood veins of modern news and they will exploit it to no end

to stay alive. From these articles and broadcasts we have been taught to fear what we do not

understand. Things we do not know about scare us, and this fear and misunderstandings we

instill into our children. Because Islam has no true spokesperson we may never see a Muslim in

good standing unless we take classes like this one. We will always see a religion based on

violence. They are changing and molding like we all have in our own religions, and we need to

understand that to make any movement forward.

Is Islam a violent religion? I say yes and no. They are just as violent in nature as we are

as human beings. We all, inherently, are born with good and evil inside of us and it our

environment and upbringings that cause us to suppress one and thrive in the other. There are

always outliers and ones that go against the grain, but we cannot broadly place a label on

something so divided in thought.