Introduction

There are many website on the internet focused on Islam with a wide range of perspectives that are often very diverging and conflicting with each other. Both Islam and Muslims were topics of discussion since the emergence of Islam about 1500 years ago in diverse perspectives of imperial power and military expeditions on one end and science, philosophy and arts on the other. They both got into the spotlight again after the 9/11 attack and with the rise of religious extremism and radicalization, particularly among the Muslim youth.

While people with extreme perspectives on both ends of the spectrum existed for long time, they were typically a very small fraction and the Muslim population predominantly had moderate views. The recent tide of extremism and radicalization however, has specifically hit this moderate Muslim population that is losing its neutrality and a larger number of these moderate people are inclining towards either of the two extremes.

A major factor that played a role in this trend is the easily accessible online material and social media. There is neither any control nor any credibility check on the content that is presented or transmitted through this media. Muslims that belong to any particular sect easily find the content that is in-line with their faith and in many cases, these websites transmit inaccurate, illogical, non-factual and non-credible content that is full of fantasy and glamorization of their specific perspective.

Instead of using their intellect, common sense and logic to scrutinize these fantasized narratives, their followers trust these narratives with blind faith because for them logic, rational thinking and reasoning are great sins since they challenge their faith. These fantasized narratives not only provide them mental comfort but further strengthen their blind faith, which leads to further rigidity in their attitudes, intolerant behavior and emotional takeover of their minds. This resulted in the rise of religious extremism.

To counter this dangerous trend, the same platforms of the internet and social media need to be utilized to provide rational, logical and realistic perspective of Islam, which shows that the true teachings of Islam are diametrically opposite to what has been traditionally portrayed as Islam.

There are many website that provide rational and logical interpretations of various aspect of Islam that are based on Quran and their work is highly admirable. However, when a topic is critically analyzed using logic and reasoning, there could be a variation in the perspectives because of the large variations in the thought process, rational approach and knowledge level. When logic and reasoning are the primary criteria to critically analyze the teachings of Islam then these variations in perspectives should be acknowledged with a positive and open-minded attitude as all these attempts are sincerely carried out with the ultimate goal of finding the truth.

This website is launched with a similar goal to find the true teachings of Islam using logical, rational, unbiased and open-minded approach with full sincerity. The content presented here is based on our understanding of Quran verses and we invite all readers to intellectually scrutinize the content presented here and provide us feedback on any errors and inaccuracies, as well as any better interpretation or perspective. However, all this has to be based on logical and rational arguments and fully backed up by Quranic references.

The content on this website is copyrighted. Readers have permission to share the articles. The use or reproduction of full or partial content from the articles on this site is only allowed when referenced/acknowledged.

Email: islam.different.perspective@gmail.com