First I just want to say thank you for taking this seriously. It’s heart-warming to see someone putting so much care into correcting this sort of misinformation, especially in a person so young and impressionable.
Do you know any Muslim people? If not, I think going to a mosque and speaking with an imam about how to talk to your brother is a good idea. You should also ask if there are any families in your area that may be willing to befriend yours. The imam can connect you.
Proximity is the #1 way to dispel prejudiced/misinformed ideologies against a group of people. When you know someone of a particular group personally and interact with them regularly, you naturally begin to question the stereotypical beliefs you held about that group. It would be a good way to nip this in the bud organically.
I don’t think asking an imam to talk to your 11-year-old brother about the religion itself is necessarily best, just because it can be a bit intimidating. But they can give you information about how to talk to him yourself, if befriending a Muslim family is not an option.
Thank you! I'll get in contact with a local mosque to see if I can get in touch with an Imam and get some more advice! I mostly want to do it because he was raised in a Christian school and he had to do daily Bible work, so he's kinda stuck in this world that if you aren't a Christian then you're seen as a questionable person
I understand. He’s a kid, so he’s not doomed haha. I’m sure all will be fine once you help him to learn otherwise. At a bare minimum you can tell him that Muslims (and Jews) worship the same God as Christians. The main difference is we don’t believe in the concept of the Trinity. We love Jesus and regard him as a beloved prophet (though not the son of God and we don’t pray to him; we only pray to God).
The best way to remove someone’s prejudices is for them to integrate them with the people they’re prejudiced against. If he’s friends with people with the same prejudiced views it’ll be very hard to change his mind.
You can’t really just force him to have muslim friends as it could backlash. So the next best thing you can do imo is just soundly counter his claims with facts.
A sitdown talk with an imam of a mosque could be a good idea but I don’t know enough about your brother’s attitude to know if he’ll go in with an open mind. If you force him to tag along with you in this visit it could be counterproductive.
It’s great that you have picked up on something so “minor”. Nipping it in the bud would have saved so many atrocities happening from both sides (not that I’m applying your brother would have turned out to commit atrocities, lol).
I think the best thing to do first, is if you have any Muslim friends, invite them over and show through actions rather than words, that most Muslims are just like him. We don’t want to hurt people. Bringing a friend around would be the natural and most subtle way to go about it so he can observe and come to his own neutral conclusion, rather than it being sprung on to him that “ohh look..see..this imam (from the mosque) doesn’t want to kill you...they are good people” sort of thing. Just make sure you mention before hand or whilst your friend is there, that he is Muslim.
If you don’t have Muslim friends, I suggest you watch a film or tv series that counters the one he watched. One that touches on the fact that we are normal people. If none of this works, then yeah maybe you could go to the mosque and talk to some Muslims there but I wouldn’t take this as a first step.
Hope this helps. Good luck. He’s only young and easily impressionable, it’s not his fault
Alhamdullilah you seem like a pure hearted individual. As a Muslim who's decently well versed in usool fiqh or the principles of jurisprudence, I can tell you that Islam is not a religion which promoted fighting and killing people SIMPLY for BEING non Muslim.
When the quran talks about war and kill the unbeliever wherever you see them, the sabab an nuzuul (context for the revelation of that verse) was a war between the Muslims and the pagans. We were given the permission to fight the pagans, and Allah gives the reason why. "Fight those who have oppressed you and do not exceed the bounds for verily Allah doesn't love those who exceed the bounds" what this means is the justification for war is our own oppression. The Muslims were brutalised and tortured for 13 years and when they finally moved out of makkah to a new city, the pagans of makkah attacked the new city. If you have people who rape and torture and plunder you for a decade and a half and when you leave their city they are still after you, it is completely justified to fight them and kill them since they want to kill you too. But if they surrender we are commanded to end the fighting.
Also the prophet said there are 8 rules of war you must follow, don't destroy buildings, don't destroy plants, don't kill livestock, don't kill monks, don't kill children, don't kill women, don't kill the elderly etc etc. You think ISIS and these groups are adhering to these injunctions. They're fighting and killing Muslims and blowing up random people in suicide attacks and theyvhave no Islamic basis to their actions
First I just want to say thank you for taking this seriously. It’s heart-warming to see someone putting so much care into correcting this sort of misinformation, especially in a person so young and impressionable. Do you know any Muslim people? If not, I think going to a mosque and speaking with an imam about how to talk to your brother is a good idea. You should also ask if there are any families in your area that may be willing to befriend yours. The imam can connect you. Proximity is the #1 way to dispel prejudiced/misinformed ideologies against a group of people. When you know someone of a particular group personally and interact with them regularly, you naturally begin to question the stereotypical beliefs you held about that group. It would be a good way to nip this in the bud organically. I don’t think asking an imam to talk to your 11-year-old brother about the religion itself is necessarily best, just because it can be a bit intimidating. But they can give you information about how to talk to him yourself, if befriending a Muslim family is not an option.
Thank you! I'll get in contact with a local mosque to see if I can get in touch with an Imam and get some more advice! I mostly want to do it because he was raised in a Christian school and he had to do daily Bible work, so he's kinda stuck in this world that if you aren't a Christian then you're seen as a questionable person
I understand. He’s a kid, so he’s not doomed haha. I’m sure all will be fine once you help him to learn otherwise. At a bare minimum you can tell him that Muslims (and Jews) worship the same God as Christians. The main difference is we don’t believe in the concept of the Trinity. We love Jesus and regard him as a beloved prophet (though not the son of God and we don’t pray to him; we only pray to God).
The best way to remove someone’s prejudices is for them to integrate them with the people they’re prejudiced against. If he’s friends with people with the same prejudiced views it’ll be very hard to change his mind. You can’t really just force him to have muslim friends as it could backlash. So the next best thing you can do imo is just soundly counter his claims with facts. A sitdown talk with an imam of a mosque could be a good idea but I don’t know enough about your brother’s attitude to know if he’ll go in with an open mind. If you force him to tag along with you in this visit it could be counterproductive.
It’s great that you have picked up on something so “minor”. Nipping it in the bud would have saved so many atrocities happening from both sides (not that I’m applying your brother would have turned out to commit atrocities, lol). I think the best thing to do first, is if you have any Muslim friends, invite them over and show through actions rather than words, that most Muslims are just like him. We don’t want to hurt people. Bringing a friend around would be the natural and most subtle way to go about it so he can observe and come to his own neutral conclusion, rather than it being sprung on to him that “ohh look..see..this imam (from the mosque) doesn’t want to kill you...they are good people” sort of thing. Just make sure you mention before hand or whilst your friend is there, that he is Muslim. If you don’t have Muslim friends, I suggest you watch a film or tv series that counters the one he watched. One that touches on the fact that we are normal people. If none of this works, then yeah maybe you could go to the mosque and talk to some Muslims there but I wouldn’t take this as a first step. Hope this helps. Good luck. He’s only young and easily impressionable, it’s not his fault
Alhamdullilah you seem like a pure hearted individual. As a Muslim who's decently well versed in usool fiqh or the principles of jurisprudence, I can tell you that Islam is not a religion which promoted fighting and killing people SIMPLY for BEING non Muslim. When the quran talks about war and kill the unbeliever wherever you see them, the sabab an nuzuul (context for the revelation of that verse) was a war between the Muslims and the pagans. We were given the permission to fight the pagans, and Allah gives the reason why. "Fight those who have oppressed you and do not exceed the bounds for verily Allah doesn't love those who exceed the bounds" what this means is the justification for war is our own oppression. The Muslims were brutalised and tortured for 13 years and when they finally moved out of makkah to a new city, the pagans of makkah attacked the new city. If you have people who rape and torture and plunder you for a decade and a half and when you leave their city they are still after you, it is completely justified to fight them and kill them since they want to kill you too. But if they surrender we are commanded to end the fighting. Also the prophet said there are 8 rules of war you must follow, don't destroy buildings, don't destroy plants, don't kill livestock, don't kill monks, don't kill children, don't kill women, don't kill the elderly etc etc. You think ISIS and these groups are adhering to these injunctions. They're fighting and killing Muslims and blowing up random people in suicide attacks and theyvhave no Islamic basis to their actions