According to my experience and many questions from my friends, I strongly believe that there are many misconceptions about Islam in the United States. Although I am not an expert in my religion, I would like to help solve some of these issues. Unfortunately, I could not see any effort from the media. One of the most important issues for American people would be to know what Qur’an mentions about Christians. Here are some of the example verses from Qur’an about Christians:

“Those who believe (in the Qur’an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians — any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve” (2:62, 5:69 and many others).

“Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans; and nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say, “We are Christians”: because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant” (5:82).

“O ye who believe! Be ye helpers of Allah. As said Jesus the son of Mary to the Disciples, “Who will be my helpers to (the work of) Allah.” Said the disciples, “We are Allah’s helpers!” then a portion of the Children of Israel believed, and a portion disbelieved: But We gave power to those who believed, against their enemies, and they became the ones that prevailed” (61:14).

Misunderstandings about Islam and Qur’an come from the people who write about Islam but do not know much about it. I would like to comment on some of the reasons of these misunderstandings:

Three groups of people are generally mentioned in Qur’an: Believers in Qur’an, people of the book (Christians, Jews and Sabians), and non-believers. People of the book and non-believers are treated differently in Islam. Unfortunately, many of the non-Muslim writers, hopefully because of the lack of knowledge, directly assume that people of the Book and non-Muslims are in the same category.

Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in 23 years. Every verse in Qur’an was revealed with a story behind it. Because of this important fact, Qur’an cannot be interpreted without knowing the story behind it. Therefore any verse in Qur’an leading to confusion is because of the interpretation by just looking at a specific verse rather than looking at the whole picture.

Verses in Qur’an are connected very strongly to each other. If the meaning of a verse is misleading to readers, verses before and after have to be read.

If you have any misunderstanding or any confusion about Islam, I strongly suggest asking a knowledgeable Muslim rather than trusting Web sites and resources that you don’t know much about.

Mevlut Tascan is an instructor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Clemson University.