An American Muslim explains the differences between religion and radicalism
The room was filled with Christian Bible Study students with notebooks and pens in hand, walking around smiling and greeting everyone. It was a welcoming environment for everyone waiting for the next discussion topic: “What is Islam.”Along with discussing Islam, there were several other presentations given throughout the evening. Speakers focused on different religions.
Islam means submission. Submitting yourself to the will of God (Allah), not your desires, and the belief in Muhammad as his messenger.
“I’m not here to tell you Islam is right or wrong,” said Kase Allozi, LBCC student.
During the presentation five topics were discussed: The Five Pillars of Islam, The Pillar of Iman [faith], Radical Islam, Who is Jesus in Islam, and Why Do Muslim Women Cover.
For his first topic Allozi introduced The Five Pillars of Islam: The testimony of faith, Prayer, Zakat (tithing), Fasting and Hajj (pilgrimage). According to Allozi all five pillars must be followed in order to practice Islam correctly.
The testimony of faith is holding the belief that “There is no true God (deity), but God (Allah) and Muhammad is the messenger (prophet) of God.”
According to Allozi, the first thing every Muslim is judged on is their prayer. In Islam, prayer is the direct link between the worshipper and God, and is practiced five times a day.
In Arabic, Zakat means “that which purifies.” All Muslims who are capable and can afford to, must give 2.5 percent of any profit they’ve made that year to their mosque.
“God doesn’t want to make anything necessarily difficult, but he does want us to come in as a community and help those who are in need,” said Allozi.
The fourth pillar: Fasting the month of Ramadan, based off of the lunar calendar. During these 30 days, Muslims fast from food, water and worldly desires from dusk till dawn.
“This is my favorite time of the year,” said Allozi. “We gather at the end of the day, we spend all day thinking about where we’re going, who we’re going to be with that day, what we’re going to eat, that awesome glass of water, we dream about those things. The reason God wants us mainly to fast from food and water is because those are the most desired desires that we have.”
Joking around, Allozi said, “It is difficult for me, especially working at Safeway. It’s the fried chicken that kills me.”
These 30 days are not just about fasting from food and water, but about putting in the extra effort to fast from all worldly desires.
“It’s about discipline,” said Allozi. “At the end of Ramadan we celebrate, we pray together and have a big feast, it’s beautiful.”
The final pillar is: Pilgrimage, Muslims who can afford to attempt to travel to Mecca for 10 days.
Next was: The Pillar of Iman [faith]
The belief in oneness of God, belief in all the prophets of God, belief that Allah (God) revealed the books for guidance of man, belief in the angels (as being one of the creatures of God), belief in life after death and on day of judgement and belief in Taqdeer (in predetermination of things).
Believing in the oneness of God for Muslims is believing there is only one God. The belief in all the prophets is respecting, taking seriously and loving every single prophet from Adam to Muhammad.
What distinguishes a messenger from a prophet is being given a message from God through the angel Gabriel and transcribing it into the written language.
According to Allozi even though it is acknowledged, certain things have been changed throughout time; in different holy texts, the prophet Muhammad is said to respect and honor it. Believe in the words and take from it what you feel is from God, the rest is up to God to judge.
“In order to believe in a religion you must believe in a soul,” said Allozi. “In order to believe in a soul, you must believe that soul is going to go somewhere eventually. That your soul is eternal and doesn’t die with your physical body. You must believe that there literally is a complete eternal life after death.”
In Islam Muslims believe certain things are destined, when and how you receive it is not known. What’s important is holding the belief that God knows the best for humans.
“This is what is taught to us from when we’re children growing up. There is nowhere in Islam or these practices that says you must kill innocent people, nowhere in Islam does it say you must fight those who don’t believe in you,” said Allozi.
This led into the next topic: Radical Islam.
“I don’t agree with them on any points,” said Allozi. “They look, or maybe they sound like me. They read Qur’an the same way, but they don’t have the heart like I do and the millions maybe even billions of Muslims who feel the same way about Islam; we find the peace in it.”
Radical Islam is a term used by militia groups in the Indo-Asia, Northern Africa and Middle Eastern Regions to sell propaganda by taking verses from the Qur’an and distorting them to justify hateful acts.
“You must not fear radical Islam,” said Allozi “ Because radical Islam is not Islam. It’s used by militia groups to strike more fear. It’s an extreme form of Islam as a total contradictory to the religion.”
Allozi then shared peaceful verses from the Qur’an to show how these extremists “aren’t even reading from the book they claim to be the true book.”
“God does not love corruption” was his favorite quote from the Qur’an.
He then explained there are two kinds of forgiveness. God forgives for the act, but if you have harmed another person, in order to move on in the afterlife the person you’ve harmed must forgive you.
“I am so proud of him because he is a man of passion and he has a message,” said English Instructor Robin Havenick. “He has courage and it’s not easy to do what he’s doing.”
Moving on from Radical Islam, Allozi spoke on who Jesus is in Islam.
According to Allozi, Muslims share a lot of the Christian views about Jesus, except they do not believe Jesus is the son of God or God himself. It would contradict with the first Pillar of Faith: Believing in the oneness of God.
They believe Jesus is another prophet of God and was never crucified. That he was raised to heaven and will return, but since he was chosen, God would not let him suffer or endure pain.
“Kase’s presentation was probably the best summarization and explanation of the faith that I have so far experienced,” said Alexander Meyer, LBCC student.
Allozi concluded with his thoughts, opinions, and questions from the audience.
“Don’t fear when you see a woman covered. Don’t be scared when you see a woman who wears a scarf over her head, don’t think all Muslims deep down in their heart might go rogue someday. They’re nine to fivers, they work and eat, they see their families when they go home. They live their life just like we do,” said Allozi.
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