Islam Is Peace..

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Salam to all myLot members. There are many misconceptions about Islam. Some of them are genuine misunderstandings. Others have been deliberately and maliciously spread so that people will get a false impression about what Islam is really like. Perhaps one of the greatest misconceptions about Islam is that it was spread by the sword. However, this idea is now so widespread that people accept it as a fact. Even the Pope, whether he intended to or not, caused great offense to Muslims throughout the world by referring to this myth of Islam being spread by the sword. It is not the place here to discuss the Pope's ill-timed and ill-conceived remarks, but we can address the central question about whether or not Islam was spread by the sword. It is, in fact, a pleasure to do so, since Islam has nothing to be ashamed of. Indonesia has around 450 million Muslims, which is more than the population of all the Arab countries put together. In fact, Arabs count for only around 18 percent of all Muslims. By far the greatest concentration of the world's 1.1 billion Muslims lives in Southeast Asia. Islam has been deeply rooted there for centuries. Those who beat the drum of Islam being spread by the sword fail to mention Southeast Asia, since it does not fit into their agenda. No Muslim armies ever went there. In fact, the story of Islam being brought there is quite marvelous and well worth telling. It was brought not by soldiers, but by merchants. The honesty and integrity of these first few Muslim merchants, whose names are celebrated as part of Indonesia's history, so impressed the people that they wanted to be like them. In closing up their businesses each day at prayer times and in the fair and just way they dealt with their customers, these Muslim merchants drew many to Islam. Their message and their fame spread quickly until millions had embraced their religion. Islam is not a religion of violence. It is sad that Pope Benedict XVI failed to quote from the many wonderful examples of Islam spreading peace and encouraging learning and tolerance. Instead, he quoted from an obscure source, which was wrong. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not ever give the command to spread Islam by the sword. The strongest and also the gentlest of men ever to have lived, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) left behind a legacy of worshiping one God and of respecting all people of good will. His detractors try repeatedly to distort the facts and to paint a different picture. Islam is both very beautiful and very sweet, and its followers spend their whole lives trying to serve Allah and their brothers and sisters. Peace! If you want to know the true teachings of Islam, goto http://www.islamonline.net