format_quote Originally Posted by
islamirama
Who has not heard about Islam in today's world? with Western kuffar's war on Islam, only people that have not heard about Islam are some tribes living in jungles. If you heard about Islam then either you can look into it and study about it or you can believe your gov't and stay ignorant. Post 9-11 the convert rate to Islam in US tripled because people wanted to see for themselves what the Quran says and found the Truth instead of the media lies of "kill all infidels" and propaganda.
It's not they don't know about Islam, everyone does. They just choose to remain ignorant and believe what is spoon fed to them rather then get of their lazy couch potato behind and go read the facts.
As for the kuffar vs non-muslim concept. In arabic, there is no such word as "non-Muslim", either you are a beleiver (muslim) or a disbeliever (kuffar). Now what some do say is that Kuffar can't be applied to the People of the Book because they do believe in Allah and the message sent to them. But Allah says:
"If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah (God) never will It be accepted of Him" (Soorah Aal'imraan 3:85) So even the people of the book are kuffars (non-beleivers) because of the above verse. If you look at christianity as well, there is no such thing as believer or non-christian, there is believer and hethen. Same thing with Judaism, either you are a believer or a gentile, not non-jew.
Yes, obviously people have heard of Islam. But how do they hear about it? Through CNN, Fox News, etc. People have the option of going out and seeking Islam, but how do they know they're getting reliable information? Do a search on the internet or go to a bookstore and there is a flood of biased, anti-Islamic information out there. A non-muslim might pick up the book "The Truth About Muhammad" by Robert Spencer and think that it's a true biography. If you go to Barnes and Noble you will find more than half of the books there speaking against Islam in some ways. There are also many books written by "ex-Muslims", so because the author has a Muslim name, people think it's an authentic account of Islam. All of the great Islamic books written by good, pious authors seem to never make it into those stores.
The point I'm trying to make is that we share a responsibility with the non-Muslims in educating them about Islam. They have to do their part and want to listen with an open mind, but we have to provide the right information. I think too many people just think that Americans have "heard the message" because they watch CNN, but this is not the case. We have to do our part, and they have to do theirs.
I'm not trying to sympathize with them, but if we're going to be successful in our dawah we have to realize that we need to make a strong effort to get the true message of Islam out there. Insha Allah I hope to educate more people around me about Islam, because I don't think you're going to have a 100 million people actively going out to seek Islam. I mean, how many Americans can point out their city on a map or tell you where Iraq is? But just because the society as a whole may be painfully ignorant on world matters does not mean they have to be ignorant about Islam.
The government of the US and the people who run Fox News and the publishing companies that produce books by Robert Spencer and give Daniel Pipes a forum to talk are the ones we should hold a grudge against, not the America people (for the most part). Let's do our part and spread the goodness of Islam towards them before we start labeling people and watch them walk into the fires of hell on Judgment Day (may Allah SWT save us from that). If they receive the message and reject it, fine. But let them hear the truth.