Muslim Australians - Religion Cultural Diversity Resource Manual

The Qur’an is full of references to Jesus and
his birth, his miracles and mission.
Islam is a religion for
Arabs only
It is true that the Prophet
Muhammad was an Arab, the Qur’an
is in Arabic, and the first Muslims
were mostly Arabs. But Islam spread
to all corners of the world from the
time of the Prophet in the seventh
century. Today, less than twenty
percent of Muslims are Arabs. Most
belong to other ethnicities such as
Indonesian, Turkish, Chinese, Indian,
Pakistani, European and American, to
name a few. As well, not all Arabs are
Muslim. There are Arab Christians
and Arab Jews.
Islam was spread by the sword
In the West, there is a belief that
Islam was spread by force. According
to this view, Muslims from the
seventh century onwards conquered
non-Muslim lands and forced
non-Muslims to convert to Islam.
For Muslims, this is historically
inaccurate. It is true that Muslims
from Arabia conquered lands outside
Arabia. But they were following
a tradition that was practised by
powerful empires of the time. They
conquered these regions and brought
them under the political and military
control of Muslims. However, they
did not require the inhabitants
to become Muslims. It was not
until about one hundred and fifty
years after the conquests that large
numbers of non-Muslims converted
to Islam through their own free will.
Even today, in almost all Muslim
countries, there are significant groups
of Christians and other minorities.
The Qur’an says:
There is no compulsion in
religion; truly the right way has
become clearly distinct from
error; therefore, whoever rejects
Satan [and what he calls to] and
believes in Allah, he indeed has
laid hold on the firmest handhold,
which shall not break off, and
Allah is Hearing, Knowing
(Qur’an 2:256).
Islam condones the killing of
innocent people
The Qur’an clearly prohibits taking
the life of an innocent person,
whether they are Muslim or not.
The Qur’an holds all human life as
sacred. According to the Qur’an, if
someone kills another human being,
it is as if all of humankind had been
murdered. It is against Islamic law
to commit murder, and there are
harsh punishments (including capital
punishment) for anyone convicted
of murder, whatever the religious
background of the victim.
Some people point to a small number
of verses in the Qur’an that seem to
advocate killing of non-Muslims.
These verses, however, must be taken
in their correct context and not
misrepresented by isolating them
from other verses in the Qur’an. The
Qur’an allows justified self-defence
in protecting the safety and wellbeing
of a community which is being
attacked, but strictly maintains that
if the warring party seeks peace, then
the other party must stop military
action and seek peace as well.
Muslim Australians:THEIR BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS 67