There is no religion that can lay claim to ‘clean hands’ in terms of violence, discrimination, corruption and so on – certainly not with any historical perspective, and not even if you want to restrict the debate to my lifetime. The major religions each harbour extremist elements in the present day: evangelical Christians restricting abortion access and persecuting gays; Israeli Jewish ‘settlers’ inching their way beyond internationally agreed borders and inciting violence, and the advent of the suicide bomber in the name of Islam. In line with a Dawkins-ian view of a religion-free world, each bears the responsibility for harbouring (if not abetting) these elements within their broader following. Despite the shared nature of evil in the name of religion, Islam has been called out for particular recrimination, particularly after September 11 (and the 2002 Bali Bombings for Australians).
In Australia, anti-Islamic sentiment is steadily rising, despite Muslims accounting for just 1.7% of the total population. In a recently released University of Western Sydney survey of racial attitudes NSW was found to be one of the least tolerant states, with nearly 55% of respondents expressing anti-Muslim attitudes. Though this number is maybe a little higher than I would’ve imagined (my faith in my fellow humans is often unrewarded) – it’s no surprise that Islam has become the go-to scapegoat for all manner of issues. The discrimination is endemic and regularly reinforced in forms as diverse as our nightly current affairs enema (eating a Halal sausage will make you a terrorist!), sitting members of Parliament (I’m looking at you, federal Liberal MP Kevin Andrews) and web-based nutbags such as those at the Australian Islamist Monitor (I offer no link, to discourage your traffic…).
Now, in the next few hundred words I appreciate the miniscule odds of changing a single mind already devoted to an anti-Islamic position – but I’m going to try nonetheless. I would begin by saying that I was personally disappointed in my own lack of knowledge of Islam – despite claiming to be a somewhat educated man. My starting position was one hobbled together from hearsay, myth and media. The Prophet, Saudi Arabia, burkas and bomb-vests… and I’m ashamed to say, very little else. This situation has marginally improved thanks to Iranian-American writer and scholar, Reza Aslan (if I get back into the swing of this, he might get a post of his own, but until then, check his site) and his history of Islam: No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. To be remotely cognisant in a debate around Islam, I would say it is required reading. To perhaps induce you to get a copy, I learnt the following critical things about Islam:
1. The Diversity of Islam
Tempting as it is to clump the approximately 1.5 billion followers into a single stereotype, they are anything but homogenous. Aside from geographic and ethnic differences (Arab, African, Asian etc), Islam is divided into Sunni, Shia, Sufi (and a range of smaller) denominations. The combination of these factors leads to the striking differences in practices we see between an Iranian Shia and Turkish Sunni (not even accounting for the different Sunni schools of thought). Suffice to say, they do not represent a united front.
2. Socialism and Egalitarianism
The founding principles of Islam extol religious pluralism, gender equality, economic socialism (with an emphasis on helping the poor) and war only for self defence. So the Qur’an says, Muhammad founded his movement in the oasis of Medina where he co-existed peacefully with Jews and Christians, empowered women and collected taxes to be redistributed amongst the tribe. Subsequent veiling and subjugation of women, clashes with Christianity and Judaism and the use of jihad as on offensive weapon are by-products of reinterpretations of Islam over 1500 years by power hungry misogynists. Something Christians should recognise all too well.
3. People of the Book
The Qur’an considers Jews and Christians (amongst others) to all worship the same true God of Abraham, and together with the Torah and Bible to complete Gods divine revelations to man. As such, they were not initially competing ideologies but highly inter-related (and it seems to me, largely based on very similar mythology). The People of the Book were originally allowed to live freely amongst Muslims, trading and working with them – as I alluded to in the case of Muhammad’s Medina. It struck me as rather amazing that such a gulf could have evolved over time – such that we now consider Islam and Christianity to not only be non-compatible, but in active conflict.
So then, I accept that the 9/11 hijackers, Osama bin Laden (and Muammar Gaddafi for that matter) are Muslims – of that there is no question. However, I would also contend that there are many more than a billion Muslims, who are peaceful, non-terrorists and that it is ignorant to judge the whole by a few (it’s preposterous to think that all Catholics are paedophiles… right?). At the very least, take the reasonable position of finding a fact or two about Islam before you leap on the hate bandwagon – keeping well in mind that their religion is at its root not that much different to yours.
