Surprising statistics drawn by surveys in the West have shown that Islam is the fastest spreading religion in the West. A national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2003 reported that the number of Americans with a favorable view of Islam has become 34 percent in 2003. Moreover, the response rate to the question that Islam is a religion that encourages violence fell from 44 % in 2003 to 36 % in 2005.
As per “The Almanac Book of Facts”, within the last decade, the world population grew by 137%, Christianity increased by 46%, whilst Islam grew by 235%. Islam, the fastest spreading religion in America, is also the second largest religion over there. According to a recent poll in the United States, 100,000 people convert to Islam every year. The proportion of Male converts to females is 1:4.
According to a news headline on NTV News on June 24, 2004, “Islam is the fastest growing religion in Europe”. The report was made by a French Domestic Intelligence Agency, which said that an increasing number of people were converting to Islam in the West, especially after the incident of September 11, 2001.
The basic reason behind creating all this drama was to defame Islam, to pose it as a demonic religion, and to label Muslims as terrorists. For this very purpose, hundreds and thousands of publishers in the US started publishing books, leaflets and fliers showing Muslims holding weapons, blasting bombs to derogate the Muslims. Although they did succeed in achieving their motives largely, what they did not foresee the side effects of their actions.
Due to popular propaganda against Muslims, more and more people started exploring the teachings of Islam. By reading the translation of the Qur’an, people in the west finally began to understand the logic behind the messages of Allah. An increasing number of people came to know that Islam was a religion that promoted peace and harmony, not only among Muslims but that it also propagated an attitude of tolerance and brotherhood towards non-Muslims. Hence, this way, the west came to know that terrorism and violence did not fall under the ambit of Islamic teachings, and whoever, indulged in such practices was not fit to be called a Muslim. Those who were involved in such practices and were calling themselves Muslims had misinterpreted Islam.
Thereby, after coming to know of the positives that Islam teaches, more and more people started entering the circle of Islam. These new converts to Islam in the western world are more familiar with Islamic teachings than people who are born into the religion. As a result, generally speaking, those who have converted to Islam are far better Muslims than other traditional Muslims in the east who as they take their religion for granted, and hardly follow its practices. The newly converts are generally fully aware of the positive message that Islam spreads, as it was that very message that compelled them to convert to it in the first place.
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