South Dakota Faith In Public Life

Adult Education Idea:

Being Good Neighbors to Muslim South Dakotans,

Facts and Myths about Islam

Introduction

Why would we, as a Christian congregation in South Dakota talk about Islam and ask ourselves about Muslim communities in the US and our state?

1. Because innocent, peaceful Muslim Americans are being scapegoated for the sins of extremists in their religion, even though we know that all religions have extremists (for instance the KKK claims it is a Christian group) but those extremists don’t represent the values of most members of the religion.
2. Because we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves …and we can’t love our neighbors if we know nothing about them, and see them as different and so react to them with fear.  We also are commanded not to bear false witness and right now there is a great deal of misinformation about any polarized topic in this country, including our Muslim neighbors.  We are called to be truth tellers who have a responsibility to build peace in our communities and if we accidently spread false stories about Muslims and refugees, we aren’t living up to our calling.
3. Because we know that communities, even in SD, are struggling to know how to integrate new Americans while still respecting freedom of religion.  There are an estimated 3,000-4,000 Muslim South Dakotans[1] who have been living peacefully among South Dakotan’s majority Christians, some of them for decades.  We need to know something accurate about the basic core values and practices of our Muslim neighbors if we want to show up as community leaders and fellow citizens who put into practice our Christian moral values.

 

 

Activity

Today, we are going to rely on vetted, accurate sources and discuss common myths and facts about Islam and Muslim immigrants to the United States.   We’re going to do so by checking in with what we know, what we don’t know and what we may think we know, but is actually based on stereotypes or misinformation.

 

The Quiz:

At this point the leader can hand out copies of the quiz that follows.  Congregants can work alone or in small groups, depending on the level of knowledge you believe they already have.

 

Discussion:

When they have completed the quiz, have everyone return to the large group and tell them the correct answers one by one.  Allow some time for discussion but be sure to leave plenty of  time to discuss the following important question:

 

What are some of the biblical stories or principles that can guide us in how

to relate to our Muslim neighbors?

 

Possible answers:

Hebrew scripture is full of stories of heroes of the faith who were themselves immigrants, including Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Ruth and others. The Israelites were taught not to oppress a foreigner but to remember that they were once foreigners in Egypt. Emphasis on hospitality and sheltering the stranger; the charge to care for the most vulnerable—including the widow, the orphan, the poor and the foreigner.

 

Perhaps most applicable are Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan (a rival ethnic/religious group); Jesus healing the daughter of the Canaanite woman after initially refusing her by using an ethnic/religious slur about dogs, but then commending her faith; Jesus’ Great Double Commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

 

Myths and Facts About Islam, A Quiz to Test Our Baseline Knowledge

1.  What do most Muslims believe about violence?

a) The majority of Muslims believe that Islam condones violence against non-believers as part of “jihad”

b) The majority of Muslims believe that Islam is in a violent struggle with Western Civilization and that violence against civilians is an acceptable part of that battle

c) The majority of Muslims support extremists who commit terrorist acts in the name of their religion

d) None of the above

 

2. True or False? Most Muslims in America are impoverished refugees fleeing conflicts in Middle Eastern countries like Iraq and Syria where there are religious extremists. Most American Muslim adults do not believe they should assimilate into wider American culture.  True_____  False_____

 

 

3. True or False? Most Muslims are Arabs who come from the Middle East and North Africa.  True _____  False _____

 

4. True or False?  A core belief shared by Muslims around the world is that the countries they live in should follow Sharia law, which relies on Islamic religious traditions. True____  False ____

 

5. Many Muslim women wear a headscarf because:

a) Many are forced to do so by law or social custom

b) Many do so as a way to show modesty, which is a religious dictate for adult Muslims

c) Many choose to wear a headscarf for political reasons

d) All of the above

 

Vocabulary quiz.  What does each word mean?

 

Islam ______________________________________________________________________

 

Allah ______________________________________________________________________

 

Jihad ______________________________________________________________________

 

Hijab ______________________________________________________________________

 

Hajj ______________________________________________________________________

 

Insh’allah ______________________________________________________________________

 

 

Myths and Facts About Islam: Leader’s Copy with Answers

 

Each answer below has reliable, vetted sources cited so that you can feel confident you are sharing accurate information with you congregants.

 

1.  What do most Muslims believe about violence?

a) The majority of Muslims believe that Islam condones violence against non-believers as part of “jihad”

b) The majority of Muslims believe that Islam is in a violent struggle with Western Civilization and that violence against civilians is an acceptable part of that battle

c) The majority of Muslims support extremists who commit terrorist acts in the name of their religion

d) None of the above

 

The correct answer is d) None of the above.

 

Short Answer:  There are extremists in every religion, including Islam.  However, most Muslims are not extremists and do not believe in a jihad, or struggle against other countries.  Most Muslim religious leaders worldwide condemn violence against civilians of all religions and do not support radical groups like ISIS.

Long Answer (with sources): The Anti-Defamation League, a well-respected Jewish social justice organization that works for justice and human rights for all people explains, “Within every religion, there exists a spectrum of attitudes and behavior, and extremism is not unique to one particular belief system. There are people who sincerely view themselves as Muslims who have committed horrible acts in the name of Islam. These people, and their interpretation of Islam, is rightly called “extremist;” they are a minority within Islam and the vast majority of Muslims reject their violence and consider their interpretation a distortion of the Muslim faith. Extremism is not unique to Islam.

According to a 2015 Pew Research Center study collected in 11 countries with significant Muslim populations, people overwhelmingly expressed negative views of Islamic radicals like those in the group ISIS.  The Pew summary states, “It is important to keep in mind that Islam, like other Abrahamic religions, includes a large pool of opinions and different ways to understand the traditional holy text that was written in a different era. Terrorists use radical interpretations of Islam, which take a small number of texts that were meant to regulate warfare in the early days of Islam. Terrorists then apply these interpretations to contemporary times.”[2]

2. True or False? Most Muslims in America are impoverished refugees fleeing conflicts in Middle Eastern countries like Iraq and Syria, places where there are many religious extremists. Most American Muslim adults do not believe they should assimilate into wider American culture.

 

The correct answer is  “False.”

 

Short Answer: Many Muslims in the US are doctors, scientists, IT specialists, engineers, professors or work in other highly skilled professions. Many of the doctors in small towns in the Midwest are Muslim.  And all the Board Members of the Muslim Community Center of South Dakota in Sioux Falls have advanced degrees, most of them are physicians. Muslims in the U.S. are generally as well-educated and financially well-off as the general population. The majority of Muslims in the US say that they believe in assimilating into American society.

 

Long Answer with sources: The answer to this question also comes from the Pew Research Center, a very well respected, non-partisan source for all kinds of accurate data about America and the rest of the world.  According to a study by Pew that involved 55,000 interviews to gain a representative sample of over 1000 Muslims living in the US: “The survey shows that although many Muslims are relative newcomers to the U.S., they are highly assimilated into American society. On balance, they believe that Muslims coming to the U.S. should try and adopt American customs, rather than trying to remain distinct from the larger society. And by nearly two-to-one (63%-32%) Muslim Americans do not see a conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.”

 

Also most American Muslims are not impoverished refugees.  Again from Pew: “Unlike Western Europe’s Muslim populations, Muslims in the U.S. are generally as well-educated and financially well-off as the general population. Most (72%) say their communities are good or excellent places to live, and most believe in the American dream — 71% say that in the U.S., most people who want to get ahead can make it if they are willing to work hard.”  And while most Muslims in the US are immigrants, they are a diverse group overall, “Roughly two-thirds (65%) of adult Muslims in the U.S. were born elsewhere. A relatively large proportion of Muslim immigrants are from Arab countries, but many also come from Pakistan and other South Asian countries. Among native-born Muslims, roughly half are African American (20% of U.S. Muslims overall), many of whom are converts to Islam.”[3]

 

3. True or False? Most Muslims are Arabs and come from the Middle East and North Africa.

The correct answer is “False.”

Answer: According to the Pew Research Center, “There were 1.6 billion Muslims in the world as of 2010…  Although many countries in the Middle East-North Africa region, where the religion originated in the seventh century, are heavily Muslim, the region is home to only about 20% of the world’s Muslims. A majority of the Muslims globally (62%) live in the Asia-Pacific region, including large populations in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey.”

 

4. True or False?  A core belief shared by Muslims around the world is that the countries they live in should follow Shariah law, which relies on Islamic religious traditions.

 

The correct answer is False.

 

Short Answer: Muslims around the world vary widely as to whether or not they believe Sharia law should be reflected in the laws of their countries.  Many Muslims, especially those in the U.S., Eastern Europe and Central Asia do not support incorporating Sharia law into national laws. Sharia law is subject to wide variances in interpretation among Muslims. It is analogous to Catholic Canon Law or Jewish Halakha because it is a guide to personal religious practice.  Many Islamic scholars and leaders teach that Muslims must obey the laws of the country in which they live.[4]

 

Long Answer with sources: Again from the Pew Research Center, “Like any religious group, the religious beliefs and practices of Muslims vary depending on many factors, including where in the world they live. But Muslims around the world are almost universally united by a belief in one God and the Prophet Mohammad, and the practice of certain religious rituals, such as fasting during Ramadan, is widespread.  In other areas, however, there is less unity. For instance, a Pew Research Center survey of Muslims in 39 countries asked Muslims whether they want sharia law, a legal code based on the Quran and other Islamic scripture, to be the official law of the land in their country. Responses on this question vary widely. Nearly all Muslims in Afghanistan (99%) and most in Iraq (91%) and Pakistan (84%) support sharia law as official law. But in some other countries, especially in Eastern Europe and Central Asia – including Turkey (12%), Kazakhstan (10%) and Azerbaijan (8%) – relatively few favor the implementation of sharia law.”[5]

 

5. Many Muslim women wear a headscarf because:

a) Many are forced to do so by law or social custom

b) Many do so as a way to show modesty, which is a religious dictate for adult Muslims

c) Many choose to wear a headscarf for political reasons

d) All of the above

 

The correct answer is d) all of the above.

 

Short Answer: Head coverings, like the hijab, have different meanings in different places and at different times.  While the hijab almost always relates to dressing modestly, in some areas of the world wearing it is enforced by government or society, and in some countries it is a personal choice.  Finally in some countries – especially where Islamic political groups exist – wearing a headscarf can primarily symbolize membership in a political movement. Many Muslim women do not wear head coverings.

 

Long Answer with sources: This answer is again primarily from the Anti-Defamation League: “The head scarf is often cited as an example of oppression. The Quran directs both men and women to dress with modesty but how this is interpreted and carried out varies a great deal. Many people think that Muslim women are forced to wear a hijab (head scarf), niqab or burqa (full body coverings). While it is true that in some countries with significant Muslim populations women are forced to wear the hijab, this is not the reason Muslim women wear the hijab in most cases, particularly in the United States. In fact, many women choose to wear a hijab, niqab or burqa on their own and do so for a variety of reasons including a sense of pride in being Muslim, a collective sense of identity or to convey a sense of self-control in public life.”  And in some countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia, women sometimes began wearing hijab for the first time ever or for the first time in generations to indicate their political leanings.[6]

 

Islam, a vocabulary quiz.  What does each word mean

Leader’s edition with answers

 

Islam: Islam is an Arabic word which literally means “submitting.” Islam is fundamentally an action, a way of living one’s life before God. A Muslim is one who submits to God and aligns his or her life with what God has made plain. [7]

 

Allah: The Aramaic word for “God” in the language of Assyrian Christians is ʼĔlāhā, or Alaha. Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, use the word “Allah” to mean “God”. The Christian Arabs of today have no other word for “God” than “Allah”.[8]

 

Jihad: While “Jihad” is often used by Western media as a term for a holy war, this is not the most common definition.  In fact, the word “jihad “is more accurately translated as ‘exertion of effort’, not ‘holy war.’ The Prophet Muhammad said that the highest form of jihad is the personal struggle to make oneself a better Muslim.”[9]

 

Hajj: The hajj refers to the yearly pilgrimage of Muslims to the Kabah in the city of Mecca. “The hajj recalls the faithfulness of the Prophet Abraham who was ready to sacrifice his son Ishmael at God’s command; but it was not God’s will. It is both joy and faithfulness that bring millions of Muslims from all over the world to Makkah for this pilgrimage. The hajj is required at least once of every Muslim in good health and with the financial means. It brings together the world-wide ummah, making clear that Muslims of all races, ethnic groups, and cultures are equal in God’s presence, all wearing the same simple white garment, walking and praying and eating together in the most holy places.”[10]

 

Insh’allah: Insh’allah means if Allah wills; or God willing.[11]  Muslims often use this phrase as an interjection at the end of a statement, for instance, “I will do well on this test, insh’allah.”  Or, “We will have a safe flight, insh’allah.”

 

For more discussion of core beliefs of Islam, check out the Harvard Pluralism Project’s excellent and well-regarded website: http://pluralism.org/religions/islam/