In response to your article on Friday "Religion of Islam Misunderstood," I would like to clarify the following: First, the article in a whole is overwhelmingly suspicious of any positive aspects of Islam. The reporter started by declaring that while Islam is a religion that preaches tolerance, it is the same religion that its followers flew airplanes into buildings. Using this fallacious dialectic argument, can we say that Christianity, that is a religion that preaches tolerance, is the same religion that its followers bombed a federal building and killed many innocent people in Oklahoma City? As much as the beginning of the article was full of intolerance towards this religion, the rest was not promising. The reporter's continuous citation of Daniel Pipes is really similar to citing Hitler's views on Judaism. This so-called "think-tank" is an infamous basher of Islam.
To end, the word "Jihad" in Arabic does not mean "holy war"; it simply means "striving," and it is used in all walks of life. For example, a student is in a jihad as he/she is striving for success. I guess the reporter could have gotten the precise definition of this word if he had bothered to attend the whole information session that was organized by the MSA specifically to clarify similar "misunderstandings."
Ahlam Muhtaseb
Doctoral Student
Communications
