In the name of Islam

The image of Islam is becoming more and more distorted as the years go on, more atrocities happen in the "name of Islam" and consequentially the entirety of the religion and its  following are to blame. I'm not sure entirely how this distortion of Islam came about but I am certain about one thing, that the religion teaches nothing but peace and nothing but love. Islam is the second biggest religion in the whole world and it's following is growing rapidly-if Islam was exactly what the media portrayed then why would the statistics suggest otherwise? A lot of people fail to understand that in the 21st century religion is often politicalised and used as a justification to do wrong- the logic being- this is my religion and how can your argue with God? People use religion, not to please their creator but for a secondary goal for their own sake-which is not what religion is about. Before religion and Islam especially was politicalised and manipulated to achieve the goals of certain sick minded individuals there was hardly any uproar about it. If the religion was indeed as violent as the media insist then I wonder why this was the case. 

Secondly, we have reached a point of religious illiteracy whereby people do not understand their scriptures and take things out of context without understanding of the correct meaning. After all the Quran is a book and there are many many ways one could potentially interpret that. That is why Allah has made it our duty to know our religion and to gain knowledge but sadly the state of the Ummah is such that google has become our trusty sheikh. The extremists take things from the Quran out of context with no real understanding of the key principles of the faith and use it as an excuse to do as they please. These are not Muslims. By definition, a Muslim is someone who submits to the will of Allah and in the Quran it says "“…if any one killed a person, it would be as if he killed the whole of mankind;" 5:32  so I can assure you these people are not Muslims.  When people knew their religion and were educated, Islam thrived and produced the most civilised and advanced societies history has ever seen and now when people do not know their own religion look at the calamities we are facing.

What Islam does promote is tolerance and compassion towards everyone whether they are Muslims or non-muslims. It is our duty to be gentle and compassionate with everyone and it is our duty to show what Islam is about through our actions and they way we live. This is the only way we can get rid of the stigma attached to the our beautiful religion. We must be kind and gentle in our words and we must portray Islam like it is meant to be portrayed. Islam is a simple religion, which is sweet and gentle but it is not weak. We must educate ourselves in the Deen and we must disassociate religion with politics and culture. Politics and culture are all man-made concepts where is Islam is a concept from the Divine. When practised purely for His sake it is the only solace you will find in this Dunya and it breaks my heart to see how it is being corrupted but this is a massive test for all of us- so enjoin in good and forbid evil.

"Thus do We reward those who do good"(Al Quran 37:111)