Throughout my life, I continue to encounter numerous experiences, which significantly affect my perception and understanding of the occurrences in life. Through these experiences, I have learned numerous things that have enriched my life immensely. Though some occurred subconsciously, others were instigated discussions held between myself and friends.

While discussing various lifetime experiences with my friends, something I had always ignored occurred. My friend informed me of the inherent discrepancies present between environments where people grow up. The friend informed me of how he grew in a Muslim dominated society, and the difficult experiences he underwent as a Christian. With a majority of the people being Muslims, the childhood friends failed to understand the faith professed by my friend. The discrepancies in the fundamental teachings of the faiths caused numerous difficulties between the children professing different faiths. The children viewed each other as enemies creating immense tension and difficulty in creating friendships among children professing different faiths. After growing up, my friend’s understanding of the Islamic faith enabled him to appreciate individuals professing the faith.

My friend explained the various elements of the Islamic faith which caused the perception change. The discovery that a majority of the doctrines contained in the religions remain common across the religions was surprising. Through the explanation offered, I also gained an immense understanding of the Islamic religion. Although numerous accusations continue regarding the association of the Islamic faith with terrorism, stereotyping could be explained as the causing element for these accusations. The fact that there are quite many terrorists associated with the Islamic faith should not be a benchmark for all Muslims, terrorists. Stereotypical thinking with a limited understanding of Islamic faith leads to fallacious conclusions regarding religion.

As a child, I had also held this populist belief as true. My understanding of the Islamic religious doctrines displayed the religion as modeling terrorist.