In extremely cold weather like we are experiencing this winter, I always look forward to coming home from work, turning on the natural gas log and feeling the glow of the fireplace. Fire is magical. As one of earth’s basic elements, it creates warmth and comfort, and it symbolizes life and soul.

Unfortunately, fire can also symbolize hatred and bigotry. Such was the case a few weeks ago when a Muslim mosque in the small city of Victoria, Texas, burned to the ground, adding the final insult to a place of religious worship that had recently been burglarized. It’s probably no coincidence that the fire occurred just hours after President Donald Trump announced he would ban citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Upon reading the story of the mosque, I harkened back to one of my university classes that studied the Middle East and to my limited experiences traveling in Muslim countries. Here’s my take-away: the Islam religion is grossly misunderstood. In Istanbul, Turkey, and in other Muslim countries, one can hear the loudspeaker calling for Muslims to pray five times a day. At the same time, Muslim girls wearing their hijabs browse through boutiques examining costume jewelry and choosing their favorite color of lipstick.

Followers of Islam are as diverse as those identifying themselves as Christian. Yet, as the Congressional Quarterly states, “Of all the world’s religions, Islam is the closest to Christianity.” Don’t overlook the irony of this.

My university professor, an active member of the LDS Church, pointed out the similarities between the Islam religion and his own. The prophet Muhammad, believed to have lived around 570 A.D., retreated on occasion to lonely places to think and contemplate. Tradition has it that Muhammad chose a cave in a hillside near Mecca located in Saudi Arabia to meditate about monotheism, rampant paganism and the growing commercialism and materialism of Mecca at that time.

It was in a cave that Muhammad, according to his seventh-century biography, experienced his first revelation. The year was approximately 610 A.D. when Muhammad was believed to have had a vision in which the archangel Gabriel commanded him to read a message sent from God saying that man was a creature of God and subservient to him. Muhammad, who was illiterate, is said to have memorized the message and repeated it to his wife and his friends, who called it a divine revelation. These revelations became the basis of the Quran. Although Muhammad began to attract believers, most Meccans spurned his teachings and ridiculed his claims of prophethood.

Islam also entails obligations of its faithful followers that ring true in other Christian religions: the confession of faith in God (Allah for Muslims), regular prayers (five times daily for Muslims), giving alms to the poor (tithes in Christianity), fasting (a month-long daily requirement during the month of Ramadan), and pilgrimage to Mecca, where Muslims of both sexes who are physically and financially able to do so are admonished by the Quran to perform the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. It is a time where, with thousands of other Muslims, they renew their communion with God and rededicate themselves to Islam. In short, Muslims believe in one God, they believe that angels are spiritual beings to carry out God’s orders, they believe in God’s messengers or prophets, they believe in their God’s books and they believe in the Day of Judgment.

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Islam also experienced a split among its followers upon the death of Muhammad. The succession of Muhammad created a major schism in Islam that has endured to this day. Some of Muhammad’s followers claimed that the mantle of leadership should pass within the prophet’s family to his cousin and son-in-law. Upholders of this view evolved into the Shi’ite sect of Islam. Most Muslims, however, opposed this claim and relied instead on tribal tradition, choosing a leader based on ability and family prestige. This view prevailed, laying the basis for the Sunni (orthodox) tradition in Islam.

Although seeds of commonality exist in the various sects of Islam as they do in Christian faiths, it is inaccurate at the least and dangerous at worst to paint all Muslims as one.

Let’s go back to the story of the burned mosque in small-town Victoria, Texas, as it has an inspiring outcome. To date, more than $1 million in donations from all over the country have been contributed to help rebuild the mosque. Perhaps just as impressive is that, upon learning of the hate-motivated fire, the Jewish residents of Victoria — though few in number — “walked into the home of one of the mosque’s founders, Shahid Hashmi, and gave him a key to their synagogue” until the mosque could be new again. That’s the kind of fire that makes me feel warm and comfortable.

Patricia W. Jones is CEO of the Women's Leadership Institute, a 501(c)3 based at the Salt Lake Chamber. She was a co-founder and former president of Dan Jones & Associates. She served in both the Utah House and Senate for a total of 14 years, holding leadership positions 12 of those 14 years. She was elected minority leader of the Senate in 2008, the first woman of either party elected to lead a caucus in the Utah Legislature.

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