Professional Documents
Culture Documents
I know it has
nothing to do with this group but it may open
your mind about something that you don't
know
James A. Bill (professor of government and director of the Reves Center for
International Studies at the College of William and Mary in Virginia) writes - 'By the
turn of the century, for the first time in history, the number of Muslims (those who
practice Islam) will have surpassed the number of Christians in the world.
Islam is a monotheistic religion, civilization and way of life now practiced by 1.1
billion people. Easily the world's fastest growing religion, Islam is not confined to the
Middle East. It is a truly universal force. More Muslims live in America today than all
the Presbyterians and Episcopalians put together.
There are more than 1,200 mosques in the United States and 1000 mosques in
England, where the Muslim community has established its own national parliament.
There are more Muslims in Indonesia than in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia
put together. More live in Malaysia than in Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait combined.
Nearly 20 million Muslims live in China.
Wherever one looks, Islam is on the move. As the people of many societies find
themselves rootless, disconnected and alienated, they increasingly seek help in a
comforting Islamic ideological refuge. In a world of incoherent violence, widening
inequities, political corruption and shattered families, many are massing behind the
green flag of Islam. This is essentially a populist movement, a bubbling up from below,
a march of the distressed, the dispossessed and the oppressed. ....
… Although the great bulk of Muslims seek to improve their status through quiet,
moderate and pacific means, violent methods have been adopted by fringe groups—
elements also present in Christianity and Judaism. Oblivious to their own profound
ignorance and often harboring crude political motivations, many Western opinion
leaders consistently label all Muslims with words such as 'aggressive', 'militant' and
'uncivilized'. Islam is the 'religion of the sword'; Muslim activists are 'terrorists,' and
Muslims countries that challenge Western policies are 'outlaw states'.
Even in China, Muslims find themselves under heavy military pressure. Chinese troops
oppress Muslims in the western province of Xinjiang.
In Algeria, when the Islamists scored a surprise victory in the December 1991
elections, the regime declared the election null and void. Since then, Algeria has been
the scene of a bloody civil war. The government blames Islamic fundamentalists of
striking terror in the very same areas where they had received majority of votes from.
The governments explanation of fundamentalists unleashing waves of terror in their
own strongholds, sounds very plausible indeed and casts shadows of dound over the
credentials of the secular government instead.
Second, recent history shows that the application of force is not always an effective
way of countering a system of deeply held ideas and beliefs. The steady flame of
resurgent Islam will not be extinguished by the breeze of bullets or the blast of
missiles. A recently published report in Washington Post, confirms Islam to be the
fastest growing religion in the United States despite hostile government policies and
negative media stereotyping, only goes on to prove the truth of this statement. It is time
for everyone to take a crash course on Islam. More recently, CNN too published a
report, first of US kind ever done in this part of the World, titled as: Islam in US -
Growing and maturing
http://www.geocities.com/al_iman11/1.html