Learning about the history of the Arab Peninsula is crucial to becoming the best officer possible. ‘Knowing thine enemy’ is important especially when choosing to wage war on them. The history and continuing rise of Islam are still relevant today. From the events of 9/11 to bombings in Europe to shootings in the states and other terrorist attacks around the world all have ties to the issues in the Middle East.
Many American generalize and distrust Muslims because of these past transgressions. But it is important as an officer to not make such assumptions. There are more Muslims than Christians in the world and it is the fastest growing religion worldwide. The main issue that some Americans have with Muslims is that these terrorist attacks are associated with the religion. The problem is that these terrorists are extreme, who bend, twist, and cherry pick the Quran to suit their needs and ideology. The Quran strictly forbids believers from picking and choosing what to believe in.
“He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book; in it there are verses that are decisive in meaning — they are the basis of the Book — and there are others that are susceptible of different interpretations. But those in whose hearts is perversity pursue such thereof as are susceptible of different interpretations, seeking discord and seeking wrong interpretation of it. And none knows its right interpretation except Allah and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge; they say, ‘We believe in it; the whole is from our Lord.’’ –Quran 3:8
The jihad extremist use the justification from the Quran that nonbelievers have to be converted to Islam. But they are breaking the previous passage by just choosing what they want.
As a military officer, I must acknowledge the difference between extremist terrorists and peaceful believers. With the rate of growth of Islam, it is becoming more and more likely that we will have to interact and work with Muslim believers and we can not treat them any different than any other soldier or sailor. We have to be tolerant of the peaceful Muslim believers and differentiate them from the jihad terrorists.
The West in the Pre-Modern World 
I agree with your point about how extremists “cherry pick” from the Quran. It is important that we, as officers in the fleet, are able to identify those who carefully select passages from texts such as the Quran and the Bible and twist their meaning to support their own agendas. We must always be mindful and check ourselves when we begin to read intent into historical texts, as we are not the ones to say what the writer meant when he wrote the text. This is a large part of what extremists of every sort do. They are the ones who read far too much intent into a single passage and derive meaning which was never intended to be taken from the text. This is a dilemma which is arguably inevitable, however, as we must adapt our historical religious writings to time much different from the ones they were written in. We can see this in how we reference the Constitution and its amendments in our upper-level courts. The Supreme Court justices must consider the meaning that each reads into the constitution and must make a conscious effort not to distort its meaning to unreasonable conclusions.
LikeLike
I could not agree more with you. So many Americans generalize all Muslims as violent Christian haters. If I a poll of the U.S. were to be taking I could guarantee that a majority of them would not know that Islam and Christianity stem from the same branch of religion. As you quoted yourself, “[others] are susceptible to different interpretations.” – Quran 3:8. I would bet a majority of Americans do not know of that the two religion are so similar.
The relevance of understanding Islam will be very important to us not only as future military officers but also as American citizens. The more educated we are about others different cultures and religions the better we will be to at understanding the difference we all have. As officers, it will be crucial for us to understand that not every two people are alike. Everyone has their differences and that’s what brings a diversity of thought to the drawing poor. We must respect all people no matter their race, religion, gender, or sexuality.
Blake Bizousky – Word Count – 172
LikeLike
It is true that we as humans, and in particular as Naval Officers mustn’t be quick to jump to conclusions about an entire population, race, or religion. Something that we also must not do though is be afraid to speak openly of the problems that we are facing in the world. The fact of the matter, whether we like it or not, is that the terrorist attacks that you mentioned have been perpetuated by Muslims acting in accordance with their faith. Now to try to claim that all Muslims believe the same ideology would be just false as saying that all denominations of Christianity have the same set of beliefs. But, to say that the extremists are cherry picking the Quran to fit their goals is not true. Rather, their goals are based off of their interpretations of the Quran, so their extremist ideology does indeed stem from the Quran, regardless of if that is the intended interpretation or not. Also, I’m not sure of what significance the size of the Muslim population is in comparison to the Christian population, but you are wrong, there are around 400 million more Christians than Muslims worldwide. It is true that there are more Muslims than any individual sect of Christianity though. (209 Words)
-Ross Woods
LikeLike