For Years now I have been having the same argument, conversation or debate with my friends and family around the world and at home in Botswana.
The question is always the same, “Can we truly condemn a whole religion based on the actions of some extremists?” Islam has become synonymous with terrorism and violent extremist practices. Are all Muslims to be deemed potential psychopaths, out for blood on people with Western ideals and people of a different faith? I Think not.
I write this article not to disprove that there are extremists who commit the most vile of crimes, but I write this article because it deeply saddens me that due to these extremists behavior and media influence, people are becoming afraid and are now quick to condemn all Muslims due to their association by faith “in writing” and not the true criminals who commit these crimes. I am a stout Christian by the way, but I truly believe that we cannot judge, convict or label all followers of Islam as terrorists.
I once had a debate with a friend of mine *Yame* after the Taliban raided a school, shot down and threw grenades at school kids in Pakistan. Yame said, “Otsile, you can’t say these people (Muslims) aren’t dangerous. Killing kids, killing kids? Really you just can’t. Christians have NEVER been violent enough to kill people just because they didn’t believe in our faith. They must pack up their mosques and go back to where they came from.” *Yame* was right to a certain extent and that the crime was unforgivable and really horrendous, but what bought on the debate was the labeling of ALL MUSLIMS being dangerous based on the actions of a few.
The last part of the comment also left me dumbfounded with my jaw wide open for flies to fly in my mouth because it then dawned on me that as Christians, some us don’t know what horrors lay in OUR Christian past. Dating back hundreds of years Christians have killed millions in their quest to ‘save’ people and maintain and expand the faith in the name of God. Heretics, pagans, Muslims, Jews were all killed amongst others. However, just because Christianity as a faith has a bloody past does not mean that all Christians can be labeled as murders or extremists.
Furthermore to point something out, back then, information wasn’t so easily accessible or available like it is now in the age of the internet. We live in a world where information is easily accessible at the touch of finger. And in the side of the world where Islam is a minority religion and where western culture rules supreme, the images of the religion we tend to see are negative and quite violent. I asked one of my friends Pule, who is actually a Motswana Muslim to tell me about what Islam is to him and how he’s treated in Botswana, and what he said blew me away.
“The word “Islam” comes from the word “salaam” which means “peace”. So the greeting “Assalamu Alaikum” means “peace unto you”. Islam is a big advocate for peaceful living and tolerating all mankind but in recent years, perhaps since September 11, people have seen Islam as a violent, martyrdom institution again all that is not Islamic. It is not totally the fault of the TV watcher that they get this side of the story because in some cases, muslims have mixed culture with religion and so when they do wrong they are tried as “muslims” not as Afghans or Saudis. respect for All other religions is preached heavily at services but that is not a side of islam that is usually put in the faces of people.
During Omar bin Khattab’s rule (May Allah be pleased with him), the muslims would take over cities but they would allow the Christians to keep their churches and the Jews keep their synagogues for worship, even though the Muslims were the government they believed in peaceful living even in takeovers that would have been deemed hostile. We were never the enemies of other religions that we have been made out to be and that is why we are even allowed to inter-marry with other “people of the book” without them having to be muslims. But regional culture and media has tainted the beautiful religion.”
Faith can be the most beautiful and enlightening experience one has ever had, however when one takes faith and the written word in which religion and twists its purity to match their distorted views only havoc and pain will commence. I say let us hold those who mislead and misrepresent our beloved faiths, whichever you believe in accountable and punish them directly and not those who are sadly being misrepresented. Or else in my eyes, we are just as bad as the terrorists. We were not born hating, we were taught to hate, we should remember that.
