Islam;
Not all muslims live in dry sandy deserts, many muslims you can see right here in America, living peacefully within our cities. Another misconseption is that muslim don't accept other religions, but really they accept all other religions. Many more misconceptions can be found online with a quick google search, we reccomend searching these up because they're very interesting and you can learn a lot.
Only in a scary desert land, or is it?
Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all believe in one god but do not all accept all parts of the belief system.
“Beware! Whoever is cruel and hard on a non-Muslim minority, or curtails their rights, or burdens them with more than they can bear, or takes anything from them against their free will; I (Prophet Muhammad) will complain against the person on the Day of Judgment.” (Abu Dawud)
- The Qu'ran
Although the majority of Surahs (90 out of 114) were recited during the first 13 years of persecution in Mecca, it is interesting to notice that none of them contains commands to fight and kill.[43] It is after the Hijra, the establishing of the first Muslim community in Medina, that the teaching on attacking religious others unfolded. Rev. Richard Bailey, in his study “Jihad,” traces the progression of the attitude toward religious others in four stages: (1) No retaliation (in Mecca), (2) Defensive fighting permitted (in Medina), (3) Defensive fighting commanded (in Medina), and (4) Offensive war commanded (after conquering Mecca).[44] I will follow the same progression but in three phases, linking phases two and three together.
http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Themes/tolerance.html
Be they Muslims, Jews, Christians, or Sabaeans,
Those who believe in God and the Last Day
And who do well
Have their reward with their Lord.
They have nothing to fear,
And they will not sorrow. (Qur'an: 2:62 and 5:69)
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/ma_otherrel.shtml
“O you who do not believe! I worship not what you worship, and you are not worshipping what I worship; nor am 1 worshipping what you worship; neither -art you worshipping what I worship. Therefore, to you your religion; and to me my religion!” (chap. 109)
http://www.al-islam.org/articles/religious-tolerance-islam-sayyid-muhammad-rizvi
“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by God! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate. No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are declared to be protected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”[1]
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/207/viewall/
Many people believe that Muslims are located only in the Middle East. Our group is trying to disprove this misconception. We learned that Muslims are found all over the world and mostly tolerant of other religions. We hope this helps change your perspective of muslims.
