Balnur Korganbekova

Global Governance 1

ISLAM AS A RELIGION OF PEACE AND TOLERANCE

To start this theme of discourse, it is extremely significant to understand the core of Islam
religion. The word 'Islam' by itself means peace from the Arabian language. Unfortunately, in
recent years, an important amount of people started to misinterpret Islam as a narrow-minded
and greatly warlike religion. Additionally, today in the media the words “terrorism” and “Islam”
are so often used together that a huge number of people around the world perceive these concepts
as synonyms. Moreover, in Western countries, various types of misunderstandings and different
stereotypes among people led to the creation of a term called ‘Islamophobia’, which is an
extremely dangerous phenomenon. This term is creating adverse impressions and negative
associations with Islam religion in human beings. As a consequence, there is an increasing gap
between Muslims and other people. Therefore, it is undoubtedly vital to analyze the pith of Islam
as a religion in order to explain that Islam is all about peace, goodness, and tolerance. Afterward,
gaining true knowledge will lead to a decrease in that gap and the extirpation of Islamophobia.
This paper aims to reveal the truth about Islam religion. Also, the goal of this paper is to stretch
people to shape a better community because humankind must come to the realization of the
requirements for an exchange of civilizations, the advancement of relations, and relations
between agents of diverse societies and religions.

First of all, what is Islamophobia and what is the meaning of this loud word? Islamophobia
means certain actions and statements that Muslims assess as hostile to Islam. This concept covers
an extremely wide range of meanings - from confusion to any criticism of Muslims and Islamic
activists, as well as Islamic dogma and social practice. The term “Islamophobia” itself was
widely used after the publication in 1997 of the British research center Runnymede Trust of the
report “Islamophobia is a challenge for all” (Allen 2010, 3). Gordon Conway, Deputy Rector of
the University of Sussex, who led this project, defined the new phenomenon as “the fear and
hatred of Islam and Muslims that are inherent in the media at all levels and spread across all
areas of life.” Islamophobia, according to Conway, is manifested in the "depiction of Islam as a
civilization, not different from the West, but backward; Muslim culture is not so diverse and
progressive, but frozen and static, hostile to dissent and discussion, patriarchal and misogynistic,
fundamentalist and potentially threatening other cultures ”(Conway 1997, 17). In a concise form,
political Islamophobia can be reduced to a simple formula: "Islam is not a partner, but an
enemy." The term ‘Islamophobia’ often contributes to an enormous amount of violence, hatred,
and prejudiced detention of people to Muslims. Morey claims that people need to emphasize the
importance of expanding the understanding of this anti-Muslim bias through basic self-
consciousness and the significance of extending their assets to destroy Islamophobia (Morey,
2018).

Such pictures are deformed considerations. Due to the rapid development of technology in our
time, it is especially difficult for people to find reliable sources of information. In this sense, an
extremely growing amount of misinformation and false information has created a misconception
of Islam. For example, as the famous photographer, Tim Smith stated, during his work he
receives requests from various magazines and newspapers about a Muslim photoshoot in
northern England. A professional photographer argued that certain organizations demanded to
take poorly lit, unsuccessful images, which should serve as a visual link to insults and exclusion
of stories about Muslims. These pictures differed from the various life meetings of his subjects,
displayed in his portfolio as a whole. In fact, the Muslims he met looked peaceful and absorbed
in their daily endeavors, like all other citizens (Morey and Yagin, 2010). Undoubtedly, such
movements could cause ignorance of the foundations of Islam, as well as the features of the
development of the modern Muslim world, which is not single, monolithic. Today, the Muslim
world is a conglomeration of states and ethnic communities, where the difference in the level of
economic, political, social, and spiritual development is huge. In the Islamic world, there are
societies, associations, and successful individuals who have managed to adapt to modernity,
adopt all the best achievements of Western civilization, while remaining faithful to their religion.

As an example, it is important to introduce one of the main famous Muslims - Sir Sayyid Ahmad
Khan. He is a famous Islamic theologian of the nineteenth century, who advocated intellectual
pluralism and freedom of opinion, and informed everyone about the misrepresentation of the
freedom of speech in Islamophobia. He argued that restrictions on freedom of opinion were
highly undesirable in every sphere of human life; they could not be justified by either religious,
family, or community considerations. The state does not have the right to defame the honest
name of the dissent or threaten him with reprisals. Restricting freedom of opinion means
violating the rights of all people and damages everyone. The theologian believed that no one has
the right to make decisions for everyone and deprive others of the opportunity to be guided by
their own opinions. Without freedom of opinion, the truth of any idea cannot be verified with due
care (Khan, 2003).

As I previously mentioned Conway’s opinion of Islam, they were contrary to the true values of
the religion of Islam. Besides, after his words, many people were misled and his words created
several stereotypes about Muslims. Because of such stereotypes, they constantly declare that
Islam is against freedom in all its senses. In addition, they accuse Muslims of being extremely
cruel to women, children, etc. However, as Morey and Yagin stated, history nowadays changes
with rapid speed, and those old stereotypes with elements of uncertainty are often required to be
remade in many ways (Morey and Yagin, 2010). Thus, these Islamophobic people need to
reconsider their visions of Islam. As an example of Islam’s true core, The Universal Islamic
Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the Islamic Council on September 19, 1981, indicates
that modern Muslims are based on democratic, liberal values, proclaiming fundamental human
rights, such as the right to life and liberty, the right to equality and the prohibition of all forms of
discrimination, the right to freedom of religion, thought and speech, the right to social protection,
the right to education, privacy, freedom of movement and residence, which are defined as the
predestination of Islam. The Quran principle of “no coercion in religion” defines the rights of
religious non-Muslim minorities. This document is an excellent example of how the general
democratic principles of the organization of public life are combined with the fundamental
principles of Islam (Universal ... 2003, 512-519).

Furthermore, The International Association of Muslim Theologians (IAMS), an independent

non-governmental organization that unites Muslims from all over the world, has repeatedly
issued a sharp condemnation of Islamism and the commission of terrorist acts under Islamic
slogans. As Fred claimed, in our society, it is extremely important to differ ‘'Islamic' from
'Islamist' action because the first term is about religiously oriented trend while the second is all
about the specific Islamic variant of fundamentalism (Halliday, 1995). The association is headed
by a prominent Sunni theologian Sheikh Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi also discussed that fanaticism in
Islam should be avoided. Overall, this organization which includes 200 authoritative theologians,
both Sunni and Shiite, from four parts of the world in their meeting teach modern individuals the
true ideology of Islam. Its goal is to achieve consensus in the interpretation and use of the
provisions of Muslim law, to overcome contradictions in this matter. The goals of the
International Association of Muslim Scientists include: raising the level of religious knowledge
of Muslims; finding a way to solve the individual problems of Muslims; explaining the core
concepts of Islam; establishing of complete equality among Muslim scholars, regardless of the
national characteristics of each, etc.

Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. To overcome other stereotypes related to Islam, it is
important to show the true position of Islam about human life, aggression, and division.
According to the Quran, it is forbidden to kill women and children of the enemy, the elderly, the
disabled, and powerful people. Also, as it is stated in the Quran, killing one innocent soul will be
counted as killing everyone on earth and will be hardly punished (Quran. surah meal. ayat 32).
Furthermore, it is extremely forbidden to commit suicide in Islam. Therefore, it is obvious that
Islam bans and chastise everything about terrorism. The initiative to commit aggression is not
consistent with Muslim ethics and cannot be considered as a characteristic feature of Muslims. In
contrast, religion Islam is about pure decency. Islam obliges people to maintain the unity,
fraternity, and equality of each person in their fundamental rights, as well as categorically reject
divisions between people on the basis of linguistic, racial, and family clan. The Quran prescribes
to be friendly and sympathetic to all people, and not just towards Muslim co-religionists.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of information about the Islam religion in English. All of the
required sources are in the Arabic language. While translating these sources, something may be
missed because of different scenarios. Moreover, sometimes people tend to listen to others
instead of reading about it by themselves. Thus, there are many wrong interpretations of Islam,
which should be executed to achieve peace among all people. However, in this case, Sir Sayyid
Ahmad Khan said significantly wise words: “Do not try to explain the core concept of Islam to
others. Rather, try to be the face of true Islam characterizing peace, loyalty, and tolerance”
(Khan, 2003). Of course, there is a demand to remain human no matter what will happen because
this is what Islam truly teaches. It advises people to find harmony inside of themselves and share
it with other human beings. The aim of Islam is to create a safe community that will take care of
each other. As I mentioned previously, it is all about peace, goodness, and tolerance.

In conclusion, Islam is a great religion that covers all basic human needs that started from the
simple tolerance and ended with peace within Muslims as mush as among all human beings. The
true concept of Islam is often can be lost because of tons of misleading information. In addition,
one more significant problem is that there are many stereotypes about Islam religion which may
be different from the truth. People may think that Islam is related to such negative terms as
‘Terrorism’, ‘Fanatism’, and ‘Islamism’, but in reality, it is completely different aspects.
Moreover, with the occurrence of the term ‘Islamophobia’, the pressure of the society to Islam
started rising suddenly. In that case, it is extremely important to increase the awareness of all
people about the true core of Islam in order to avoid further misunderstandings and to execute
Islamophobia among humankind. To achieve this goal, all people should start building a bridge
that will lead to the rapprochement of our societies. Moreover, human beings now live in
extremely harsh environments. Therefore, we need each other to not only survive but also to gain
strength and belief in tomorrow.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
• Abdul Qatar Tash. 1996. Islamophobia in the West. Washington: The
Washington Report.
• Allen, Christopher. 2010. Islamophobia. 1st edition. Farnham, England:
Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
• Conway, Gordon. 1997. Islamophobia: a challenge for us all ; Report of
the Runnymede Trust Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia. 1st edition.
London: Runnymede Trust.
• Halliday Fred. 1995. «The Politics Of ‘Islam’ - a second look». British
journal of political science 25, no. 3 (November): 399-417.
• Khan S. A. 2000. «Intellectual Pluralism And Freedom Of Opinion».
Contemporary Debates in Islam. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 151-164.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-61955-9_11
• Morey Peter. 2018. Islamophobia And The Novel. 1st edition. New York:
Columbia University Press.
• Morey Peter., Yaqin Amina. 2010. «Muslims In The Frame». Interventions
12, no. 2 (July): 145-156
• «Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights». 1981. Dhul Qaidah 21,
no. 1 (September): 512-519. http://www.alhewar.com/ISLAMDECL.html