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How Do You See the Relationship Between Islam and Terrorism?

In: Social Issues

Submitted By rdavisuncg
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Rdavis
UNCG

The Islamic World

Islam and Terrorism: How do you see the relationship between Islam and terrorism? Many of us Americans do impulsively equate Islam with terrorism. I can’t say that this has always been true for me. Even before I started educating myself about the Middle East and the Muslim religion I would think twice before making those knee-jerk judgments. Being an African American women in a Christian based America, I have learned about racism 1st hand, the hypocrisy of the Christian church and that things are not always one sided. Growing up in the Heart of New York City also showed me how many races of people from different cultures and religions have lived amongst each other relatively peacefully. Islam is said to be the world’s second largest religion. If Islam equaled terrorism the U.S. and other parts of the world would have been under tremendous fire by the Muslims for many years. I don’t feel that Islam equates terrorism. We all have our differences but we are all human. With that said there are moral and immoral humans, there are moral Muslims and immoral Muslims. The violence we see today stems from a radical form of Islam and I believe this to be different from the mainstream beliefs of the Islamic community. There are differences between Islam and Islamism. Islamism is said to be a complex ideology of Islam. This ideology is often identified as radical and political. Islam is a religion and associated with ones faith. “Islam” itself means “Submission to Allah” and it’s teachings call for a life of worship. Islam I believe is no more violent then any other monotheistic faith. Like Christianity and Judaism, it calls for forgiveness, tolerance and compassion, battle, vengeance and other forms of violence.

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