By Seidu Malik

Patheos.com: Experience has shown that many natural phenomenon or processes are initially discovered with limited understanding or benefit to society. However, with pain staking effort and unbiased approach to the phenomenon, many of the unknown qualities that were initially observed as bad turn out to be good upon further examination. A case in point is the annotation of human genome sequence. Many of the genes with seemly-unknown functions decades ago were classified as “junk” but recent studies have proved otherwise.
In a similar fashion, severe misunderstanding and ignorance exist with Islam, a revealed religion from God Almighty that is a reflection of nature based on human conscience. Groups like Al-Qaeda, ISIS and ignorant clerics with a twisted understanding of Jihad are perverting the true teachings of Islam for political and selfish gains. Opponents of Islam on the other hand, are presenting a narrative of Islam based on their personal bias and experience to misinform the public and thus make Islam appear as unfavorable in the eyes of people.
Good judgment demands that when someone seeks to understand a phenomenon, he or she often refers to an expert in the field. Unfortunately many Americans rely on media personalities who because of their personal bias and prejudice are making Islam appear incompatible with our way of life. We spend our time and energy to unravel the secrets of nature, however we fail miserably to use the same unbiased approach to comprehend the truth about Islam and thus has given rise to fear, intimidation and branding it followers as second class citizens unfit for the highest office in the land. Nothing can be further from the truth if you consider the fact that about 1400 years ago and in complete accord with human conscience of today and in line with the constitution of USA and many western countries, Islam categorically declared that “there should be no compulsion in religion” (Quran 2:257).

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