One Catholic's View Of Islam

I have toiled with writing this piece for awhile now and after recent events that I experienced on Facebook, and after much prayer, I feel that it is an article that needs to be written.

I have always been one that is, I guess you would call it, sympathetic to TRUE followers of Islam, now this excludes all Muslim extremists. The ones I am talking about are the TRUE followers of Islamic teachings, and you know I am not the only Catholic that feels this way, our Holy Father also has respect for those followers of the true teaching of Islam. Now, does that mean that I agree with what Islam teaches? No. But I do respect the people's rights to believe however they want to. Believe it or not, Islam is even spoken of in our Catechism as follows:

841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."330

Now those are not my words, they are straight from the Catechism. Whether or not people want to admit it, Islam believes in the God of Abraham, and that is the God we serve as well. Where things differ between the faiths is that they have Mohammad as their prophet, and we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. Why are you bringing all of this up you might ask? Well as Catholics, we should respect other religions even if we don't agree with them. We are suppose to live a Christ-like life, and the Bible tells us that Jesus died on the Cross for our sins. It does not say anywhere in Scripture that He did not die for Muslims as well. But they don't believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, so why should we care about them? Because each of us are children of God, and Jesus gives us free will on how we choose to live our lives, even those who believe differently.

I was on Facebook the other day, and a person who was professing to be a Catholic was saying horrible things about Islam. They had a picture that had a man spraying some kind of gun that shot fire, and the comment was something like, "oh please excuse me, I was just watering my Muslims." Now this same person, in another post, was making and distributing free Rosaries and said that it was their calling from the Lord. Now do you really think that the Lord was with that person when they posted the horrible picture? Were they being Christ-like with that statement? The answer is NO. We, as practicing Catholics, should have respect for all religions that differ from our own, whether it be Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc.... And if you don't agree with a person's belief system, rather than saying horrible things about them, you should fall on your knees and pray for them that they will be brought to the truth. And we also need to pray for those people who profess to be practicing Catholics, yet have such a hate filled heart. Because to be a Catholic is to strive to be Christ-like, and do you really think that Jesus is up in Heaven laughing at the horrible picture that was posted by a supposed Catholic? I figure His heart is broken because that person has so much hate in their hearts.

Yes, people who are professed followers of the TRUE teachings of Islam have done horrible things to others, they have taken many loved ones away from us, but see, they are acting the same way as that professed Catholic with the horrible Facebook pictures; they are not practicing the true beliefs of their religion. I have talked to so many Muslims that have broken hearts over how those evil people claiming to be Muslims have acted. See, not all Muslims feel the way that those people, who have caused so much trouble, feel. I, as a practicing Catholic, love and respect our Muslim neighbors that truly practice their faith. Do I agree with their beliefs? No, but I pray for them each and every day, that I can be the kind of Catholic that might lead one of those lost people home some day. Do you?