Violence In Islam

There are many different religions practiced all over the world today. With the help of modern advancements and technology, these religions are able to spread and be communicated to parts of the world that would have had access to them in the past. This sharing of cultures, ideas, and religious beliefs appears to be a very positive notion on the surface, however, this also means that there is an easy access to misinformation surrounding religious practices and religions themselves. One of the most heavily misconstrued religions in our society today is also the fastest growing religion in the world, Islam (Fisher 417). Islam often regarded as an oppressive and violent religion in the eyes of the Christian West today, but these misconceptions

A lot of people in today’s society as a violent religion. This belief is again perpetuated by the emphasis of terrorism at the hands of Islamic extremists. This idea of violence in Islam is also misunderstood through the idea of jihad. Jihad concerns the struggle for something greater and the spreading the teachings of Islam. Many Islamic extremists view this as using any way possible to establish a caliphate as the main form of in Muslim nations. They often resort to things like suicide bombings and murder in the name of jihad to do this, and consequently, making Islam appear more violent than it is in reality. Again, these sort of extremist beliefs belong to a small fraction of Muslims, and in fact, most practicing muslims today would not even consider these groups to be true muslims because of their focus on violence to attack other groups and condemn them (Silverstein

A main source of the controversy and idea of violence that surrounds jihad today actually comes from Omar’s conquest of the Sassanid Empire, which Omar labeled a “jihad” (Ansary 44). It is the grouping of this conquest with the idea that it was fought and people died in the name of Allah, that gave people the first beliefs that Islam was a violent faith. This stigma has continued to stick around to modern times. In reality, however, this is no different than the conquests that the Byzantine Empire had been been waging around the same time period in the name of Christ, and what Pope proclaimed some four hundred years later during the Crusades. However, since Christian rulers then became the most influential following the fall of Islamic civilizations, Christians used these violent wars in the name of Allah against the Muslim community while glorifying their own wars to further the stigma of violence that still continues to permeate the Islam