I would like to offer some advice. My main piece of advice is to not be influenced by slanderous attacks on Islam or how it is distorted in the media. In the "Information Age" which was brought about by a culture that (allegedly) places a supreme value on freedom of speech, there is not much that we can do to stop that. The flip side to this coin is the fact that the Truth of Islam is still out there and people are finding it. Yes, Islam is spreading in spite of these hypocritical methods that Christians and others are using to stop it. From the "moon god" lies of Robert Morey to the almost daily distortions in the media, Islam is still spreading in the West. Actually, the fact that those who make a career out of attacking Islam, such as Christian missionaries, have to resort to lies and distortions when they discuss Islam is a good sign. Certainly, if they discussed Islam as it was meant to be understood, they would only be hurting their own cause. When Islam is presented by non-Muslims in the West, usually matters of peripheral importance are addressed and criticized. The core beliefs of Islam, if discussed at all, are presented in a distorted manner. If Islam was just some ridiculous "Third World" religion with no appeal, they would not have to treat it this way. As a matter of fact, a great deal of the anti-Islamic literature that fills Christian bookstores (and the Internet) is not designed to convert Muslims, but to turn Westerners off to Islam. The people who write these lies are just trying to poison the minds of people so that they won't be receptive to the message of Islam when they hear it.

Their methods, however, are failing. In Europe especially, the Christian religion is in a severe state of stagnation and people are looking for truth elsewhere. Christians have always been embarrassed by their almost complete inability to convert a notable Muslim to Christianity. Certainly, they have their converts that they hold up as examples, however all of them seem to have been only nominal Muslims (at best) when they converted. However, many notable Westerners have embraced Islam, recently as well as in the past. One of the most interesting things about this is many (if not all) of these people could be called "Searchers for the Truth". By this I mean that they were the type of people who were spiritual, open-mined and read books on many subjects. They were not brainwashed simpletons who simply wanted to join an easy religion and the dominating culture of the time. They were people who knew a lot not only about religion, but about history, philosophy and other disciplines. Suffice it to say that the truth of Islam is out there, in spite of all the negative press that it gets today.

However, BE CAREFUL of what you read. It is amazing that some will say "TRUE ISLAM" or even have al-Islam titles, and they turn out to be wacky information pages. Make sure what you are reading is from authentic Muslim sources.

You can use the following sites to help you get answers for any questions, assumptions, allegations .. etc, about Islam, from true Islamic sources:

http://www.muslim-answers.org
http://www.understanding-islam.com
http://www.islamic-awareness.org
http://www.answering-christianity.com
http://www.islam-qa.com

After all, Islam is the truth; Islam undoubtedly finds itself in the greatest harmony with overall reality. They can form many different theories and assumptions in order to reject the truth, but the formation of illogical theories does not make the truth into falsehood. I would like to conclude this page by giving one of the Quranic assertions which describes their pathetic status: "Surely, those who disbelieve, spend their wealth to turn people away from the way of God. They will surely continue to spend it; but then shall it become a source of regret for them, and then shall they be overcome" Quran (8:36)