During my visits to the blogs, I have noticed some of the commenters, who are not aware of the facts about Islam as a religion and a path of life. I have to say much of the misinformation and disinformation existing in our society comes from the media. This has caused the spread of racism and bigotry in America. Considering the fact that the prosperity of Americans is very much interrelated with the prosperity of people all around the world with different cultures and religions, and since US is very much involved in the Middle East, it is very much helpful Americans learn more about Islam and its core values.
As someone with some knowledge of Islam, Quran and constitution of the United States, I can tell you with confidence; constitution of the US is one of the best set of administrational principles in the world and includes many of the values and principles which are cherished in Islam. These rights and freedoms are supposed to be the core principles for any administration in the Muslim world, the reason it is not, is the rule of dictatorships and support of US government of these dictatorships, also estrangement of many Muslims from the principles of their own religion does not help either. Spread of "Wahabism" which is a distorted ideology and has nothing to do with Islam with the support and sponsorship of Saudi Royal family has done a lot of damage to the true knowledge of Islam as well. Wahabism is the ideology of Taliban and Al-Qaeda, Islam is not their religion.
If I may, for those who are interested, I suggest books written by Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hossein_Nasr , in this field. He is one of handful of greatest academic scholars in the field of Islam, spirituality and comparative religions and a professor at George Washington University. He is a graduate of Harvard and MIT and has written many best selling books. One of the most recent ones which was written after 9/11 to inform people who unfortunately are so misinformed by the media, is titled "The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity" http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Islam-Enduring-Values-Humanity/dp/0060730641 . It is a great read. There is also a video of a discussion with Professor Nasr on this http://info.worldbank.org/etools/bspan/PresentationView.asp?PID=697&EID=360 . (You can click on high speed and watch.)
I strongly believe gaining more awareness of the rest of the world by Americans greatly affects our foreign policy, and solve many of the problems we face at this moment in history.
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