The Quran and the Islamic State
The concept of Islamic state has received increasing attention among Muslim societies in the last century. It has been also articulated and promoted by famous ideologues such as Sayyid Outb, Abul A 'la Maududi and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the last decades. Thus, many Islamist movements and some radical groups have struggled to establish an Islamic state based on the teachings of the Quran. However, does the Quran really command Muslims to establish a state or any specific political order?
Many contemporary and former Islamic parties, religious movements, and radical groups across the world assume that the Quran requires establishing an Islamic state based on the instructions of the Quran and the hadiths. Therefore, they are so active and vibrant in the political sphere to realize this idea. They also commonly consider Islam as an unchangeable and essentialist political framework to carry out this command. Hence, many Islamic movements by and large have emerged through the
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The Quran also emphasizes the community of believers rather than being a distinct political community or organization. In this regard, the Quran never says that Muslims should establish an Islamic state per se as a true and authentic political system and authority for Muslims to implement the teachings of Islam. But, the Quran wants from Muslims to follow the fundamental principles provide good governance at any level and form. For example, rules of law (Shura), accountability, transparency, justice, equity, religious freedom, emr bil maruf wa nahi an al-munkar, ihsan, and others. Unfortunately, the majority of contemporary Muslims have given more attention on political power and structures rather than the moral values and spiritual meaning of the
When a group uses religious ideology to control a population, the religious texts, in the case the Qur’an, are usually interpreted to suit the agenda of the group, because “they have different values and beliefs”2. The reason that the texts are used and intentionally misinterpreted is fairly obvious. Iran, where 99% of the population is Muslim, coupled with the fact that Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the word of god, one who can...
Hilāl, ʻAlī Al-Dīn. Islamic Resurgence in the Arab World. New York, NY: Praeger, 1982. Print.
Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion alongside Judaism and Christianity. It is currently the second largest religion in the world today. Its beliefs come from the Qur'an which literally means "the recitation" which is believed to be a literal transcription of the word of God. Its main prophet is named Muhammad who began Islam by speaking with the angel Gabriel in a cave during his meditation and then acting as an instrument of God to help write the Qur’an. Muhammad then spread Islam to the scattered tribes of Arabia by becoming the leader of Yathrib and using his wonderful leadership abilities to then grow his influence over virtually all of Arabia. Muhammad is known by Muslims to be the seal of the profits because no profits after Muhammad should be considered legitimate. Muhammad also left behind the Hadith or “tradition” which is a collection of writings compiled of reports of Muhammad’s actions as leader of Yathrib. These reports are used as a more specific code of ethics in day to day life and from these reports the 5 Pillars of Islam are derived (Smith 160). Although Islam shares many similarities to Judaism and Christianity it is often viewed in the US with hate derived from preconceived notions following the attack on September 11th 2001. This paper seeks to provide an overview of Islam’s history as well as its two major sects and 5 main pillars to remove preconceived notions and provide a glance into the minds of the Islamic people.
Ayoob, M. (2007) The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim
Lafraie, Najibullah (2009). Revolutionary Ideology and Islamic Militancy : The Iranian Revolution and Interpretations of the Quran. Tauris Academic Studies. Retrieved March 23, 2012, from Ebook Library.
There is a strong belief that Islam and politics are directly tied. They are tied in the sense that the building blocks of the religion dictate how they ought to behave in the political environment. Through this mandatory follow up behavior that the religion delineates, many have come to believe that its teachings are a form of terrorism. Mandaville argues that what has challenged the Islamic link between politics and religion was the emergence of secularism, which went against the belief that politics and religion could go together. Islam has been a religion that has been accused of supporting terrorist activities in the world. Different assumptions have been brought up to understand better the linkages between what really lies behind the Islam religion and politics. Peter Mandaville argues that Islam is dynamic and that it has changed over time; situated within time and politics.
Student loans are one of the most major components of debts that people carry around from the time that they graduate from college all through their entire adult lives. People believe that once they get out of college and join the workforce, they will earn enough money to be able to pay off these loans and move ahead with their lives. What most people do not realize is that student loans most often have huge interests on them and the longer they go without being repaid, the more rapidly they accumulate. Student loans are a major source of anxiety for most college graduates (according to The Institute of College Access and Success, 71 percent of all degree-holding graduates from college had an average student loan of $29,400 in 2014). You should
which he who has them revealed to him will discover the sweetness of faith: that he cherishes God and His messenger {the Prophet Muhammad} over everything other than them” (Gordon 140). These principles creates a central governance system for the Islamic community as members were able to have a set guideline for living. It also provided Muslims with how to deal with different situations and all aspects that they encounter with in life. “I will also heal the blind and the leper, and bring to life the dead… I will inform you too of what things you eat, and what you...
Muslim society is ideological in that the followers of the faith are making a commitment to follow God and to accept the word of God as the truth, basing their concept of good and evil on these teachings. In this way the Qur'an becomes the source of law within Muslim society rather than the laws which are developed by man.
Now that you have a better understanding about the various types of scholarships and financial aid available to you, how financial aid is awarded to students, and financial aid myths that you shouldn’t believe, you should use this information as your financial aid foundation.
The Quran emphasize the community of believers (muminun) rather than being distinct political organization. In this regard, the Quran never says that Muslim should establish an Islamic state per se as a true political system and authority to implement the teachings of Islam. But, the Quran wants from us to follow the fundamental principles provide good governance at any level and form. For example, rules of law (Shura), accountability, transparency, justice, equity, religious freedom, emr bil maruf wa nahi an al-munkar, ihsan, and others. Unfortunately, the majority of contemporary Muslims have given more attention on political power and structures rather than the moral values and spiritual meaning of the
The Islamic worldview instates a complete lifestyle of servitude and faith into its followers, thus granting both purpose and meaning as a Muslim's entire life is lived with the mission to submit to Allah's divine intendment therefore providing such regulation and guidance.
“Are political Islam and democracy compatible?” This question has been troubling both Muslims and non-Muslims living in East and West for a long time now. Contemporary Islamic political thought has become deeply influenced by attempts at reconciling Islam and democracy. Muslim thinkers who deal with political debates cannot disregard the significance of the democratic system, as it is the prevailing theme of modern western political thought. Hence, it is necessary for any alternative political system, whether it is religious or secular, to explore its position with regards to democratic government. In fact, a large literature and media publications have developed over the last century on this heated discourse of democracy versus Islam. While many argue that Islam has all the ingredients of modern state and democratic society, many other reject the phenomena “modernism” and “democracy” as a whole because of their “foreign nature”—alien to “Islamic values”. For Islamists and modernists, the motivation for such effort to either embrace or reject democracy often is to remove suspicion about the nature and goals of Islamic movements and Islamic revivalism or resurgence. But before diving into this discourse, one needs to understand the definition and origins of “democracy.” Although purely a Western ideology in its origin, there is no consensus on the definition of “democracy” as a political system. The Oxford English Dictionary describes democracy as: “A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives” (“democracy, n.”). In my paper, I will examine whether or not democracy and Sunni political Islam are compatible through the eyes of three revolutionary Sun...
As of now, we can say that the process of forming the national government identity of Muslim countries is not yet complete. It is being affected by radical religious and social changes, that doesn't allow us to speak about the Muslim world being ready to walk side by side with other civilizations. However, we cannot ignore the obvious breakthrough of some individual Arab countries.
...ethics, and so forth. The crucial piece of information to remember about this religion is that they greatly emphasis unity and have a great amount of diversity. Even though it is a diverse religion, all of the Muslims are monotheistic and solely believe that Allah is the creator of everything, including humans. As a human being they believe that they are in debt to God or simply stated as according to Seyyed Hossein Nasr, “Therefore, all that we are and all that we have belongs to God for which we are indebted to Him and for whose gifts we must give thanks (shukr)” . God is the Absolute and the main point of the Islamic religion is that it is crucial to worship him and follow his commands, and that will lead to peace among everyone. This particular religion has continued to rapidly grow throughout the world and as with most religions, it will continue to grow.