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Do not judge Islam by the extremists

Ibrahim B. Syed, President, Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc., Louisville, KY

40213-1982

This letter is in response to several letters and articles published in the Courier-Journal.

In the early part of this year the Gallup polls showed about Americans and their view of Islam:

53 percent of Americans view Islam unfavorably compared with 42 percent who view the

religion favorably. Majorities view other major religions favorably: 91 percent for Christianity,

71 percent for Judaism and 58 percent for Buddhism. The negativity comes even as 63 percent of

Americans said they know little about Islam.

It's no surprise that ignorance leads the way for prejudice, and there is no surprise when it comes

from a Distinguished Research Professor of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of

Louisville.

Many Americans started out their knowledge of Islam with two facts: Arabs control the world's

oil supply, and Muslim extremists attacked the U.S. on 9/11. This accounts for another finding

by Gallup, that Americans see extremists as woven into the basic fabric of Islam, a view they

don't hold about Jewish or Christian fundamentalists. Would you say that Christians who kill

anti-abortion doctors and burn down abortion clinics are basic to Christianity? Yet the protests

made by moderate Muslims that jihadis are an extremist minority tends to fall upon deaf ears.

Can anyone atribute the actions of Timothy McVeigh to Christianity. There is a saying do not

judge the car by its driver. Extremists or Terrorists do not have a religion.

There are many misconceptions about Islam propounded by its former followers, such as FGM

(female genital mutilation), Honor Killings, female opporession, wife beatings, etc. Stoning to

death for adultery is a Mosaic law and not a Shariah law-there is not a single verse in the Quran

to support Rajm or stoning to death. The Hijab (covering of head with a headscarf) has its

origins in Christianity and not in Islam.

The Shariah laws practiced in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. are

not at all Shariah laws. The real Shariah Laws are practiced in the United States of America.

Thomas Jefferson, Madison and Monroe who wrote the Constitution of United States made an

indepth study of successful adminstrations and laws in history. They studied the Quran, the

Adminsitration of Caliph Umar (the 2nd Caliph of Islam) and Muqaddimah written by Ibn

Khaldun-father of socio-historography.

Ask any Muslim anywhere in the world if he/she is interested to immigrate to United States on a

Green Card (Permanent Resident Card), the answer will always be in affirmative. The

Constitution of United States is highly compatible with Islamic Laws.

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Like people of every faith, Muslims themselves do not know their religion. The literacy rate of

Taliban is less than 5 percent. Because of their own illiteracy they have made it HARAM

(forbidden) for Muslim girls and women to pursue education which is the most fundamental

Right for both men and women in Islam. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM TALIBAN? DO

NOT JUDGE ISLAM BY ITS EXTREMISTS. It is easy to create an extremist from an illiterate

and ignorant person of any faith, who is in an environment of poverty, apartheid and governed by

corrupt rulers. Extremism is a reaction to wretched life conditions and religion is not its Origin.

I strongly recommend people to study the reasons for terrorism and find a solution, rather than

blame any religion.

There is no at Ground Zero Mosque. It is Cordoba House which is equivalent to an YMCA

having a swimming pool, restaurant, interfaith hall, of course there will be a prayer hall. Every

one is welcome to Cordoba House. Muslims have been praying in this building for the last 4

years, and there is a Mosque four blocks away and another Mosque 12 blocks away. Is not a

prayer hall better than having a Strip Club, a Liquor shop, etc. near Ground Zero. If there is aproblem let the local community at lower Manhattan and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf resolve the

problem. Why others are provking the issue and making it a national issue to win votes in

November elections. No body talks about the sensitivity of 1.57 billion Muslims when the

cartoons of the Prophet are drawn and published in the name of Freedom of Press and now

copies of the Quran are burned in Florida on September 11, 2010.

More than 300 Muslims lost their lives in the 9/11 attack among the nearly 3,000 who lost their

lives coming from 80 countries. They are Americans and we American Muslims feel the loss of

our country men. How many Non-Muslims know the number of American Muslim soldiers who

lost their lives in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars? Is there anyone who can say AmericanMuslims are less patriotic?