Misconceptions about Islam

 Islam is currently the second largest religion in the world next to Christianity having 1.8 billion Muslim people worldwide. Despite the fact that there are so many Muslims in the world, in many places there is a lack of understanding about Muslim people and Islam.

There are many misconceptions about Islam. The following are the 10 biggest myths about Islam. 

Muslims are extremist and support terrorism :

It is most common misconception about Muslim people. Islam is a straightforward complete code of life , where there is no place for any kind of extremism or violence and holy Quran gives message of peace, hope , faith and good virtues and it does not justify any kind of extremism. 

Islam oppresses women: 

Many people has misconception about Islam that it doesn't give importance to women or it oppresses women ,which is incorrect. This misunderstanding is created because lack of knowledge about Islam and its history .

For detailed explanation read women and Islam :            

https://islamssayingsaboutwomen.blogspot.com/2020/05/women-and-islam.html?m=1

Muslim worship a moon god :

Many people mistakenly believe that Allah is a moon god or Muslim worship moon. However , in Arabic Allah is a proper name for god and even some christians also use name Allah for god. However there is no any such official symbol for Muslim community . Even moon and star are not universal symbol of Islam ,they might be to predate Islam by several thousand years. 

The crescent moon is a symbol of Islam :  

Moon and star are not a universal symbol of Islam. This misconception might be because there is symbol of moon in the religion or some Islamic countries use moon and star on their flag. But if we read Islamic books or Quran, there is no any evidence to prove that moon and star are official symbol of Islam. 

Muhammad (PBUH) founded Islam and Is worshipped :

One of the biggest misconception is that  Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) founded Islam and Muslim worship him. Muslims consider that Adam (A.S) was the first prophet and the first man created to actually be the first Muslim and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was the last prophet sent by god. 

Muslims are suppose to follow the way of living i.e sunnah revealed by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and not worship him because worship is directed towards Allah

All muslims are Arab or live in the Middle East :

All muslims are Arab , this is most common misconception among people. However, Arab consists only 15.3% of muslim people. Largest number of Muslims are in Indonesia as well as in  Europe, Africa, America, Asia.

Jihad means holy war :

The meaning of the Arabic word jihad is struggle or strive or to persevere. It usually means a struggle of one’s soul against the self and sinful desires. Jihad can be done personally or can involve  community. Any kind of offensive aggression is prohibited in Islam. Jihad can be self-defense to protect yourself and your community from any sort of danger or jihad can be fighting for your rights. 

Muslims don't believe in Jesus or Jesus is irrelevant in Islam:

Muslims believe that Jesus will return as a messiah and defeat the Antichrist. This view is a similar to Christianity but only difference is muslims don't view Jesus as son of god and he died on the cross for the sins of mankind. Muslims believe that he was a prophet. The Qur’an, however, mentions Jesus 93 times and muslims believe in his teachings.

Islam is growing faster than any other religion:

Christianity has biggest number of followings and it has highest rate of increase of followings. Even Islam is growing faster but not highest following religion. 

Read more on :

https://futureofislamby2050.blogspot.com/2020/06/will-islam-become-biggest-religion-in.html

Islamic prayers are just formality :

Many people thinks that Islamic prayers are just formality and it doesn't have any meaning. However Muslim prayers have several benefits of daily prayers as it keep Muslim's minds on the god and help to remember Quran as prayer has many Quran's passeges. Prayers is the time to go before god to express thanks ,to ask for forgiveness, to seek guidance in life . Because of many reasons there is lot of meaning for muslims when it comes to prayer.