Islam's Ideology, Misconceptions, and the Impact of Politics

This essay delves into the ideology of Islam, examining its core beliefs as outlined in the Quran and Hadith, and analyzes the reasons behind the misconceptions that have arisen regarding the religion. The report highlights how political factors and interests have played a significant role in shaping these misunderstandings, particularly in Western societies where Islam is a minority religion. It discusses how radical politics and certain Islamic groups have contributed to the spread of misinformation, often misinterpreting religious texts to justify violence or serve political agendas. The essay concludes that while Islam emphasizes peace and peaceful coexistence, the actions of specific groups and the exploitation of these actions by political figures have led to widespread misconceptions. The analysis emphasizes that the misuse of religious principles for political or monetary gains is the primary driver behind the negative perceptions of Islam, particularly in recent decades.

Running head: ISLAM
Islam
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary:
This report is prepared to discuss and understand the ideology of Islam. Based on such ideologies
and beliefs of Islam, reasons behind the misconceptions about Islam have been discussed.
Political factors and interests can be considered an important factor behind spreading of
misconception about Islam. Lastly, the paper concludes that the political interests for the last few
decades can be made liable for creation and spreading of misconception about Islam.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Discussion:.......................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................4
References and bibliography:..........................................................................................................5

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Introduction:
Every religion has its own central ideologies based on which some values and beliefs are
created within the community following it. Islam has also its central belief centered on the one
and only Merciful Allah. There might be various political reasons which makes the
misconception among the believers in other religion that the Islam is a religion of violence. In
the following part of this report, these two factors have been analyzed comparatively to make a
conclusion about the reason behind spreading of misconception about Islam (Jahanbegloo 2018).
Discussion:
Every religion has its own central religious texts or holy book describing the ideologies,
principles and practices of the respective religion. All the religions have some central ideologies
based on which such principles and practices of the religion is described. Such ideologies and
beliefs of every religion makes some ethics and values within the community following it. The
holy Quran, the central religious book of Islam is the complete guide for its believers. Each and
every aspect of life have been well addressed in it. There are some other books and texts which
are taken form the religious practice of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and
conserved in written forms by the followers him. These verses are called ‘Hadith’ (Omer,
Appleby & Little 2015).
If someone wants to know about Islam, they must read the principle text of the religion
the holy Quran and to interpret and understand it in depth, they must also follow those Hadiths.
Human beings have their own thinking power and will force, which enables them to believe
something to practice and not to practice it in reality. Each and every follower of a certain
religion may not be following the instructions, principles of the religion completely or they

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might be misusing some practices and principles of the religion for some political gain or
political interest (Tibi 2017).
In western countries, Islamic community is the religious minority and the majority of the
community are following in the Christianity. Since a very long time, it has been projected by
various radical and fascist politicians to gain the support and compassion from the majority
community, that the Islam is a religion of violence. Behind spreading of the misconception about
the Islam, not only the radical politics is liable, but also some Islamic religious groups and their
activities make the believers in other religion to believe that Islam allows such violence and it is
not a religion of peace (Capan 2014). Some verses can be referenced from the holy Quran
permitting some military actions in some limited contexts and situations, but those verses are
misused and used to create violence with monetary or political interests by both such religious
groups and politicians (Tibi 2017).
Conclusion:
From the above discussion and analysis, it can be concluded that, the Islam never permits
violence, rather it gives guidance for a peaceful life and living peacefully with the along with the
other communities. It permits certain military action which is necessary for each and every
community and a country as a whole, but it never asks its followers to spread hearted and
violence. Lastly, it can be concluded that, for the last few decades, some Islamic religious groups
involved in spreading violence and terrorizing with monetary interests and gains, which have
been later on used and coined by radical politicians to spread misconception about Islam with a
political interest.

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References and bibliography:
Capan, E. (2014). Terror and Suicide Attacks-An Islamic Perspective. Işık Yayıncılık Ticaret.
Jahanbegloo, R. (2018). Peace and Nonviolence in Islam. In The Routledge Handbook of
Pacifism and Nonviolence (pp. 54-63). Routledge.
Omer, A., Appleby, R. S., & Little, D. (Eds.). (2015). The Oxford handbook of religion, conflict,
and peacebuilding. Oxford University Press.
Tibi, B. (2017). War and peace in Islam. In The Use of Force in International Law (pp. 47-64).
Routledge.