Surrendering Freedom

I find Ayatollah Khomeini’s essay to be both interesting as well somewhat contradicting. Contradicting based on the selection of wording, when initially mentioning how Islam is religion of freedom, yet one must surrender to certain practices or beliefs. It find it hard to follow, when he uses both surrender and freedom in the same essay. Having a sense of freedom means not having to comply or follow certain characteristics. In some ways, freedom can also mean rebellion. However, this essay truly brings to light how one can use Islamic teachings as a driving force for radical extremism. The fact that Islamic governments were founded by militant groups, evokes a sense of violence. Most of essay mentions acts of violence, as sources of punishments to certain crimes. Coming from an American perspective, I find it easy for someone to be afraid of associating Islam with government. The effect of the American government depicting Muslims in a negative light is a unfortunate thing. Given that I grew up essentially being taught to be afraid of Islamic practices, is a result of being exposed to the media post 9/11. It is unfortunate that our government has put a negative light on Muslims, causing some Americans to associate Islamic looking people with terrorism, yet not all Muslims are extremists. I choose to frown upon the American government for constantly associating Islam with terrorist acts, causing Americans to internalize that idea for years.