Response 1
Non-Muslims have a general misconception that Islam is a violent religion. In “The Poetry of a Muslim Immigrant,” Murray Hogben highlights that squabbles among Toronto Muslims escalated in the 1960s. The poem further states that the recent arrivals’ “fundamentalist” attitude conflicted with the “moderate” stance of the Muslims who had resided longer in Canada (Hussain, 2015, p.35). According to this argument, non-Muslims may be misguided by assuming that every Islam believer is an extremist. This article indicates that fundamentalist Muslims misinterpret the Holy Qur’an, leading to the misperception that Islam is a violent religion.
Response 2
The desecration of the Holy Qur’an has often led to severe protests across the globe. In one instance, back in 2005, “Newsweek” purported that numerous Qur’ans were destroyed in Guantanamo Bay Military Prison. The report resulted in aggressive demonstrations across the Muslim world – 17 people died in Afghanistan only (Hussain, 2015, p. 69). Although the Qur’an is a word of God, the value of the written content should not supersede human life’s worth. Contemporary smartphones often feature downloadable Qur’ans, which leaves one wondering whether the softcopy version of the sacred book is less valuable than the physical book.
Critical Question 1
Does Islam teach that the interaction between males and females leads to immorality? According to Hogben’s poem, the Canadian Muslims frequently hosted social occasions that included Middle Eastern Dubke line dances. Men and women interacted freely in indoor events without misbehaving (Hussain, 2015, p. 35). The restraint the Toronto Muslims exercised disapproves modern-day Islam institutions’ policy of separating women and men’s affairs. For instance, Islam recommends that a female doctor attends to a female client while a man treats a male patient. The regulation may restrict a patient from acquiring proper medical care from a more qualified doctor of the opposite gender. The puzzling question is whether the gender restraint is based on the pre-emptive step to protect the Muslims from misbehaving or whether the believers are too immoral to interact with women respectfully.
Critical Question 2
If someone takes a smartphone (with a virtual Qur’an inside) and destroys it, would the action lead to violent protests? The virtual Qur’an contains similar graphics, language, and content to the physical books. Surprisingly, nobody has ever reported that a sacred book inside an electronic device has been destroyed. Probably, the Muslims download a fresh copy of the holy book instead of seeking to restore the exact Qur’an copy in the lost phone. Consequently, the Islam believers do not need to riot and kill each other because non-Muslims have slighted a physical Qur’an (Hussain, 2015, p. 69). It would be more reasonable if the riots emanated due to a Muslim insulting the holy book, as it appears that Islamists are convinced that non-believers value Qur’an’s sacred beliefs as they do. It is more practical to purchase a fresh copy of the holy book instead of fighting for the damaged copy.
Reference
Hussain, A. (2015). Oil and water: Two faiths: One God. CopperHouse.