Summary
Today, when many in the West think of the Islamic religion, the immediate thought that follows is terrorism. There are several reasons for this, none the least the amount of media attention that circulates in the evening news. These show Muslims hijacking planes or trains, committing suicide bomb attacks, capturing yet another prisoner who dared question their authority, or pledging war against Israel or fellow Muslims who do not believe after they do. In Islam: The Straight Path, John Esposito attempts to address many common misconceptions that those looking from the outside have regarding this great world religion that counts more than one billion people as its followers.
Esposito begins by tracing the historical development of Islam from its humble beginnings with Muhammad and his revelation of the Quran. He describes the basic tenets of belief that are found in the Quran, along with its development through the Golden Age of Islam expansion during the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates. He continues looking at its growth and enlargement up to the modern period, where the “neorevivalists” attempted to harmonize the basic principles of Islam with the ever-growing thoughts of the enlightened and western-dominated contemporary life. Through it all, though there were changes that occurred as was necessary with the passing of time, Islam was able to keep its core beliefs relatively intact and this has led to a stronger commitment and foundation for their belief and practice.
Esposito then proceeds to elaborate on the basic tenets of Islam. He describes Islam’s basic theology, and with that, the historical development of Islamic Law, including its sources, reasonings, and of course, the differing interpretations regarding it. I...
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...second-largest religion.
Today, Islam is alive and vibrant. The future looks promising, though there are challenges it must conquer if it wishes to persist. The internal challenges include divisions and factions rising up either through power struggles or to justify a strong held belief. The external challenges include misinterpretations about its beliefs and practices; scare because of its extremist followers; or outright hate for the Islamic religion. If history were to be give us a hint, however, there need not be anything to be concerned about. As in the past, Islam will survive and thrive in any environment. If Christians want to be part of a world that could very well soon be one with more Muslims than Christians, they need to begin to understand their beliefs and practices and work alongside each other for the good of humanity. Only then will they flourish.
...y by compiling a summary of Islamic history, and, by doing so, creates a complete Islamic history that can go toe to toe with European history. As a result, his argument stands to be thorough, suggesting that Islamic history indeed plays a role in today’s international world
The concept of Jihad was not widely known in the western world before the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Since then, the word has been woven into what our media and government feed us along with notions of Terrorism, Suicide Bombings, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, and now, Jihad. Our society hears exhortations resounding from the Middle East calling the people to rise up in Jihad and beat back the imperialist Americans. Yet, if we try to peel back all of these complex layers of information we can we attempt to find out what Jihad really means. Webster’s Dictionary defines Jihad as “a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty or a crusade for a principle or belief” (1). Often, media depicts Jihad in the same manner—as a vicious clash between two very different peoples, each of whom believes that righteousness, and in many cases God, is on their side. From this interpretation and our daily media intake, one may reasonably assume that Jihad refers to nothing more than violent acts, or “holy wars.”
Thomas W. Lippman gives an introduction to the Muslim world in the book Understanding Islam. He has traveled throughout the Islamic world as Washington Post bureau chief for the Middle East, and as a correspondent in Indochina. This gave him, in his own words, "sharp insight into the complexities of that turbulent region." However, the purpose of the book is not to produce a critical or controversial interpretation of Islamic scripture. It is instead to give the American layman an broad understanding of a religion that is highly misunderstood by many Americans. In this way he dispels many myths about "Muslim militants," and the otherwise untrue perception of Islamic violence. In this way the American reader will become more knowledgeable about an otherwise unfamiliar topic. However, the most significant element of Lippman’s book is that it presents Islam in a simple way that makes the reader feels his awareness rise after each chapter. This encourages him to continue learning about the world’s youngest major religion. Understanding Islam dispels many misconceptions about the Muslim world, and presents the subject in a way that urges his reader to further his understanding of Islam through continued study.
Burns, Thomas J. "Islam." Religion and Society. OU Campus' Dale Hall, Norman. 14 Apr. 2014. Lecture.
Islam is portrayed and is commonly accepted as the most violent and largest direct threat to the West. This is a generalization made by most of the West, but it is not particularly the West or the Islamic people’s fault. There is constant turmoil in Islamic countries in the Middle East and these conflicts are what make the news in the West. The only representation in the media that the Islamic nation gets is that of war. Though most Islamic people are not violent, the select few that do participate in terrorist groups give the rest of the Islam nation a bad image.
Islam, a religion of people submitting to one God, seeking peace and a way of life without sin, is always misunderstood throughout the world. What some consider act of bigotry, others believe it to be the lack of education and wrong portrayal of events in media; however, one cannot not justify the so little knowledge that America and Americans have about Islam and Muslims. Historically there are have been myths, many attacks on Islam and much confusion between Islam as a religion and Middle Easter culture that is always associated with it. This paper is meant to dispel, or rather educate about the big issues that plague people’s minds with false ideas and this will only be touching the surface.
However much Islam and Christianity would seem to share common ground, the discussion is not complete without noting the parallels between this two that have taken center stage. Some of the remarkable differences as they try to answer deep life complexities arise in the areas of religious practices by both their adherents and the clergy (Dorothy 13-28). “There is also a stark contrast to the belief system subscribed to, means of salvation, scriptures”. The most prominent difference present concerns the belief of life after death and practices of depicting the metaphysical
In both given articles, “The Roots of Muslim Rage” by Bernard Lewis, and “The Roots of Muslim Rage Revisited” by Nicolaas J.E. van der Zee, argue about the enhancement of the Muslim fundamentalism with different perspectives; however, I believe that Lewis’ view may be quiet misleading to the actual perception. Lewis indicates that Muslim fundamentalism is conceived through the Muslim community’s oppression and dissatisfaction with the West’s political involvement, as well as “Islam is a source of aggression” . In defiance of Lewis’ opinion, the word ‘Islam’ comes from the word peace as well as the will of submission to God. The notion of aggression and violence that Lewis conceptualizes to be the headline of Islam does not have any supporting
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.
G. Esposito, John L (2002) Islam; What Everyone Should Know. New York. Oxford University Press Inc.
The world you once knew is falling to ashes and food is become such a scarcity that people are fighting over a few pieces of bread. The political class is too busy fighting among themselves to care for anyone else. Children are roaming the streets and begging for work to feed their dying, hungry stomachs. This is not a scene from a horror movie, but rather the reality of the beginning of post classical era. In these times of hardship the people turned to a higher power, which resulted in a religious boom. The main religion during the post classical era that had the greatest impact on people was Islam due to Muhammad, trade routes, the Black Plague, conquests and Islamic culture.
Although Islam is probably the least understood religion, Islam is the second largest religion in the world with more than one billion followers, which is one-fifth of the world’s population today. Islam was first stated publicly in the seventh century and now has advanced into a variety of different forms ( Major Religions). The central theme of this paper revolves around the religion of Islam and how it is practice in two Latin American countries, Peru and Panama.
Mozzati (2010), nos muestra que el Islam es una religión caracterizada absoluta e intransigentemente por el monoteísmo, ellos tienen una visión radical y unitaria del mundo, siendo indiferente a las particularidades históricas, sociales, culturales y radicales de sus adherentes. El Islam y su lengua, la cual es el árabe, constituyeron una unión poderosa de varias tradiciones culturales, componiendo una combinación muy homogénea que informo una amplia escala de las civilizaciones, así como la experiencia espiritual y la política que tuvieron a millones de personas en diferentes naciones. Cada modismo se fue desarrollando gradualmente el arte y la costumbre, aunque ya reconocida con una identidad islámica, con el tiempo fue adquiriendo cada quien su carácter individual.
Terrorism has been around for centuries and religion-based violence has been around just as long. (Hoffman, 2). The violence was never referred to as terrorism though. Only up to the nineteenth century has religion been able to justify terrorism (Hoffman, 2). Since then, religious terrorism became motivated and inspired by the ideological view (Hoffman, 3). Therefore, it has turned against the main focus of religion and more towards the views of the extremist and what is happening politically (Winchester, 4).
Kenneth Jost. 2005. “Understanding Islam.” Annual Editions: Anthropology 11/12, 34th Edition. Elvio Angeloni. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.