How to handle Misconception about Islam

Ahmad ibn Hambal once said, "If i remained silent and you remained silent, who will teach the ignorant?"

Muslims are facing difficulties in handling misconceptions on Islam in today's society. When a they are presented with misconceived opinion about Islam, most would froze and panic. They do now know how to handle such situation. Some resorted into anger and denial, others fought back by spewing insults and mockery.

Please bear in mind that along our past lineage, there was a non Muslim ancestor that had embraced Islam. And that's is why we are Muslim today. During that time, if someone did not put in an effort to clear our forefather's misconceptions that they might have, most probably some of us would not be a Muslim today.


That is why we need to clarify misconception with patient and compassion, so that someday, someone in the future would thank us for what we did today. If we are presented with misconceptions, don't be judgmental by jumping into conclusions.

Avoid emotional conflicts and try to understand the misconception with patient and wisdom. You might want to further investigate the misunderstanding by asking these 4 Critical Questions:

1) What do you mean by that?
2) Where did you get your source of information?
3) How do you know your information is correct?
4) What if your source of information is wrong?
By asking these 4 Critical Questions, you'll probably be presented with a clearer picture of the misconception and hopefully will be able to answer the misunderstanding with ease, based on the fundamentals of Islam mentioned above.

It is the duty of every Muslim to help eliminate preconceived misconceptions about Islam. The biggest misconception in Islam, no doubt are resulted from the constant stereotyping and bashing from the media. Some are caused by the ignorance of Muslims who had disobeyed or misunderstood the teachings of Islam.

Nevertheless, the root cause of misconceptions are from faulty logic and false assumption about Islam. Thus, it's the duty of every Muslims to play a part in correcting the misconceptions.

Understanding the root cause of each misconceptions aids us in identifying what must be done to eliminate the misunderstandings about Islam. The responsibility to correct wrong are enshrined in the following verses:

"You are the best nation produced (as an example) for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah ." (QS 3:110)

"The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong..."(QS 9:71)


Wallahu'alam