Introduction

Islam is a monotheistic faith centered on the belief in one God, Allah. It emphasizes compassion, justice, and submission to God's will. Muslims are guided by core principles such as living a righteous life, serving the community, making decisions collectively, and seeking knowledge. Hello everyone, this is Stefania Smirnova and welcome to my podcast and today's discussion will be about a touchy but interesting topic, I hope, which is Islam and Islamophobia and of course there are many misconceptions about Islam but before we get into them, let's define Islam. So Islam is derived from the Arabic word Aslama, which means submission. It is a monotheistic faith centered on the belief in one God called in Arabic Allah and the core principles revolve around compassion, justice and submission to the divine will of God. According to Robert Deak and Brenda Robertson in their passage Islamic Worldview and Global Values, it's a faith that emphasizes mercy, humbleness and the welfare of humanity and how Muslims conduct themselves, how they behave is guided by these core principles. For example, a Muslim should strive to live a righteous life and to be a disservice to the community, society that they live in, which is called Hizbah. Also, Muslims should make decisions collectively through consultation with each other, which is called Shura, not take decisions unilaterally. Another example is that a Muslim should strive to ask questions, contemplate, think critically about life, about the universe, always seek to gain more knowledge in all its forms, which is called Ijtihad.