First of all, Islam doesn’t teach us to terror innocent people particularly because they are not Muslim. However, why is Islam always referred to terrorism? Hmm.. This bugs me sometimes. This is just my opinion, in every religion there is always fanatic people and Islam does have fanatic people, who do not have “brain” properly functioned, so they are brainwashed as weapons to achieve certain purposes of certain groups that name themselves as Muslim. Sometimes, it's political. Those weapons always easily accept what the long beard say, without finding out the truth. They don’t know at all, that they are actually used and played. Their eyes become blind when the long beard say, they will enter heaven without visa and through custom check if they install bomb in their body and blow it in crowd.
Furthermore, Muslims that involve themselves in terrorism, are out of Islam context, and have stepped out the line too far. Don't you know, when you open Al Qur'an, something that you read first is Allah is The Most Merciful and The Most Beneficient. So, why are we not supposed to be merciful to our fellow humans? Allah teaches that indirectly.
Okay, you still be insistent saying that Islam is religion of terrorism. Then, I wish you lived when Western Countries invaded Asian countries to understand. One to mention a country invaded here, is my country Indonesia. Don't you know? Western Countries mainly Dutch invaded Indonesia to spread Christinity under church order. I sill remember when I was a student at high school, I learned that there are three factors why Western Countries invaded Asian. One of them is GOSPEL, besides Gold and Glory. Gospel means forcing locals to convert to Christianity. Please refer to this reliable source.
Killing people is extremely forbidden UNLESS in certain situations in Islam. Remember, I said UNLESS! So, what then? It’s clearly stated in Al Qur’an we are allowed to kill people if they are our enemy that declare war against Islam. Furthermore, we’re also allowed to kill our enemy who is invading our land. Defending our land and our religion is normal, right? If you attack a lion to take his skin out, will he not chase you? I am sorry, I cannot exactly cite the source here from what chapter and what verse. Just Google it, you will find a lot of source and references.
If you find a verse in Al Qur’an that confuses you, don’t hesitate to ask the Ulama because as you know, you cannot translate Al Qur’an literally. It’s like you eat raw fish but actually you want fried fish. Process matters. Sometimes, you have to relate it with Islamic history and Arabic linguistics. That’s why when non Muslim reads a verse which is contrary to their thoughts, they directly harass Islam without finding out the real meaning of it. That's really mediocre. But, don’t worry about that, most of Al Qur’an is now completed with footnotes to strengthen your understanding.
Why Islam?
To answer that, I don’t want to take your religion too deep as comparison to Islam. I don’t want you to get offended and name me racist.
First, Islam is monotheism, which means there is one and the only god. Who is He? He is Allah. Allah is Arabic translation of God. Christians in Middle East, even call their God as Allah. Allah has no beginning and no ending, because if you think He has beginning and ending then there is another creator before and after Him. He is not organism like you see in the park everyday. Hard to accept right? Our intelligence can never explain God. Therefore, you need a guide to bring you to Him.
God can’t be explained by science, but there are many things that prove He exists as the one and only creator of the universe.And you ask again, “Why do you worship invincible God?”
I answer, God is indeed invincible so He sent Messengers (Prophets) to mankind from Adam alaihi salam to Muhammad PBUH to submit themselves to Him totally. When we are on earth and literally alive, God must be indeed invincible but He is actually very very close with you. Say if He is visible, then He is just like everything on earth, can be seen. But He is not like what he has created. If He is seen, people will make statue of Him and picture Him then worship Him. But, essentially what they worship is not Him, but what? Of course the statue and the picture!
There are religions where people create their own God. Does that makes them the God? So, they are actually God that makes God. That’s fallacy! When then we Muslim can see our God? It’s been a debate in Islam that we can see our God in the hereafter.
And you ask again, “Then why you worship square building in Mekkah?”
The square building is called Ka’bah and we don’t worship that at all. That’s is just the direction to where our face turn to when we pray. It unites all Muslim around the world. To flow water into one direction you do need only one pipe right? If you use so many pipes, the water will flow into many directions. Distorted and uncontrolled.
I ever hear someone says, Islam is new religion because it was established by Muhammad PBUH after Christianity. I frown. Really? Then he doesn’t know what truly God is. If Islam was established after Christianity then at that time our God was just born. Told you, God has no beginning and has no ending. If you are smart, you will get it.
The Truth about Prophets
In Holy Al Qur’an, there are 25 prophets mentioned from Adam alaihi salam to Muhammad PBUH, and they conveyed about monotheism to people at their respective period to worship the same and only one God. I don’t know how exactly their practices were. Maybe they practiced five times prayers also. I don’t know. As people who follow Muhammad PBUH to worship Allah, of course we follow how our Prophet practiced as you can see in the Masjid, which is one of pillars in Islam. Yeah, that’s called Sholat. Five times prayers each day.
Each prophet was gifted with miracles to prove that they are undeniably real prophet and not magician. Let’s say Musa (Moses) gifted to build giant ark and turned his stick into real giant snake when he met Fir’aun (Pharaoh), Ibrahim (Abraham) who couldn’t be burnt, Sulaiman (Solomon) who was able to speak with animal and the most wealthy man in universe, Yusuf (Joseph) gifted with the most handsome face on earth, Isa al Masih (Jesus) who was gifted with uncountable miracles in Kan’an (Palestine) to make Jews worship one God.
Most of prophets were sent to Jewish. This is because Jewish are chosen people. They are very special. They are gifted with high intelligence, but most of them went astray. They have rewritten holy books from their prophets and refused to obey them. Most of Prophets sent to Jewish were Musa (Moses), Sulaiman (Solomon), Yusuf (Joseph), Daud (David), Isa (Jesus), and others. That’s why Bible from Jesus is not authentic because it has been corrupted to achieve something else.
Until now, Al Qur’an is guaranteed as original as it revealed. It has never been converted to any language as the main language but Arabic. So, if there is mistake in translating it into other language, we can directly ask the Arabic people who are expert at this. I hope you start to research your Bible soon.
Why so many hatred towards Islam?
This is just my opinion. Islam is hated because terrorism image always gets attached very deep into it. Sometimes, I feel so dazzled by the story of revert Islam who has found out that Islam is not like what people thought and that’s very emotional.
Furthermore, Islam is not only about theology but it is a system of society. You understand the word “system” so you clearly understand it. The system is like a computer system. It manages everything. Some things I can mention here are Syariah, Aqidah, Fiqh, Akhlak, and Tauhid. Syariah is law of Islam that control Muslims based on Al Qur’an and Hadeth. Aqidah manages Muslims how to worship properly. Fiqh is study of laws pertaining to ritual obligations like Wudhu and Tayammum. Akhlak is study of manners like how to greeting Muslims, how to speak politely with older people, and others.The last one is Tauhid, a study of monotheism of God. In short, Islam controls you to be a better person through Islam way of life.
Who can be Muslim?
There is no social level in Islam. Whoever you are, Asian, American, Hispanic, Black, Jews, whatever, very welcome to embrace Islam. No racism in Islam. When you are already a Muslim, the only thing that makes you different is that how many good deeds have you done among the others.
When you become a Muslim, don’t get confused by two largest Islamic sects, which are Sunni and Syiah. I don’t want you to follow them. They have different ritual. Only follow what Muhammad PBUH, because he is our truly Imam and leader. Therefore, read strong Hadeth and do Sunnah only.
Remember, when you become Muslim already. Congratulation. But, always be aware that practicing prayers in Islam is not that simple! There are many rules that you have to follow according to Al Qur'an and Hadith. You have to know about Bid'ah, and other things that can make your practices not perfect or even not accepted.
If you are a woman, when practicing prayer (Sholat), you should follow Indonesian Muslim women wearing special white cloak that cover their entire body but face, unlike other women in the world that still use what they wear in the day to practice prayers. Ironically, I ever watched a Muallaf in Youtube practicing Sholat, but she doesn't cover her bangs.
Is Islam Religion of Arab?
There are three well known religions. We Muslims called it Samawi Religion (Religion from Heaven) or Abraham Religion. They are Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Christianity and Judaism, I take them out because they don't make sense at all. Islam is not only religion of Arabian, but religion of humankind. It's the truth. If you are Christian, why don't you say Christianity is religion of Jewish People. Don't you know Jesus is Jew?