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Islam is Misunderstood, and Why? In an article printed in the Reader's Digest of May, 1955, Mr. James A. Michener, the well-known American writer, had called Islam "The Misunderstood Religion." Mr. Michener also quoted the unhappy experiences of a "distinguished Moslem" visitor to the United States and gave certain other examples to prove his point But Mr Michener failed to say why Islam was misunderstood here (and elsewhere in the West). This now we shall attempt to explain. There can be no denying that both the United States of America and Europe are Christian-majority areas and that Christians, Protestants or Catholics, dominate and control a large portion of the publishing industry. Another fact is that most of the world's Christians, while they ardently believe in freedom of religion for themselves and their own respective homelands, have always sought apostates from other faiths The number of Christian missionaries active in non-Christian lands today or in the past few years and the millions of dollars and pounds spent by various church denominations in missionaries' salaries, field equipment and literature are a substantial proof of their evangelistic zeal. What's more, the literature on religions other than Judaism and Christianity put out by purely business-type publishing houses also rarely contains all truth. In fact, it may be as much as 80% incorrect and erraneous in its contents, yet it sells sometimes in millions of copies per title. And of all the world's religions, Islam evidently is the only one towards which Christian (and Jewish) writers appear to be imbued with a special vindictiveness. Bosworth Smith (the author of an infamous volume called Mohammed and Mohammedanism.) Muir, Margoliouth and Samuel Zwemer are but a few of a host of non-Moslem writers who have contributed to the literature on Islam we deem fit to call unhealthy and out-right filthy. A new-comer in the field of vilification of Islam is the writer (or writers) of a book called What Has Religion Done for Mankind?, published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, of Brooklyn, N.Y. "Dedicated" to "the peace and unity of all people of good will and whatever race or nation, by the exposure of the false religion and the vindication of the true," What Has Religion Done for Mankind? gives us-the followers of Islam-a pretty good idea of the depths of degradation to which Christian scholarship can sink when it is brought to bear on our faith. To quote just on paragraph from the above-mentioned book, Chapter XXII: "Islam, Mohammed's Religion of Submission," P. 279: "Three years before he (Mohammed) fled from Mecca to Medina his wife Khadijah died. He now acquired a number of wives, whether for political reasons for sexual gratification. The wars he 8 MOSLEM WORLD & THE U.S.A. [[end page]] [[start page]] [[image - black an white photograph of a Mosque]] [[caption]] PAN-AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS The Mosque of Omar, Jerusalem Like thousands of other mosques around the world, this structure contains no graven images of any kind. Contrary to popular belief in the West, Moslems worship Allah (God) and not Prophet Mohammed who was "but a servant and Prophet of Allah." [[/caption]] waged against the Jews in Medina and in the other parts of Arabia were marked by great cruelty on his side, also the conflicts which he carried on against several Arabian tribes allied with the Meccans. In 630 he broke his treaty of peace with Mecca, and suddenly without any formal declaration of war, he surprised that city at AUGUST-SEPT. 1956 9
