The Emergence of Islamic Culture - Research Paper Example

? Islam Research Paper [Pick the Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Results 5 Emergence of Islamic Culture 5 Similarities 5 OneGod 6 Jihad 6 Differences 8 Discussion 8 Concluding Remarks 9 Works Cited 12 Abstract To address the questions posed and also shed some light on the controversies faced by Islam, I first discussed the emergence and development of Islamic culture in the west. For similarities, I chose the most basic “One God” and the most controversial “Jihad” and to highlight the differences, The Story of Creation”, “The Original Sin”, and “Islamic Law and Jurisprudence” were chosen. The concluding remarks are a discussion about the factors playing an important role in making Islam controversial, resulting in portraying a blurred picture of Islam. Introduction One thing is for certain, Islam like all religions without exception is beautiful, peace- loving, moral, and its core consists of humanity above all. The phenomenal prosperity of Islamic reformation was the result of its capability to lead the masses out of the wretched predicament generated by the demode civilizations. Islam launched a splendid chapter of social records of mankind. It hauled away the played out old, to establish the vital new. The quest of Prophet Muhammad was to invigorate the country, eager in inquiry of learning and power in the tide of evolution (Roy, 1958) Islam, like all others religions preaches its followers to do good deeds and refrain from bad ones. The purpose of every religion is to promote and spread love, peace, tolerance, and sustainability and Islam is no different. It is essentially a peaceful and tolerant religion and it is a shame that today we have turned a blind eye towards the beautiful and fragrant flower that is Islam and are entangled in the nonnegotiable and complex web of controversies and misunderstandings surrounding it. Methods Research papers, videos, books, and websites relating to the research were explored and studied to substantiate the findings and providing a base for the discussions. Results Emergence of Islamic Culture Muslim youth are less inclined to the propensities of voluntary ethnic isolation of their elders. The group efficaciously makes friends with Muslims of different races and ethnic inclinations and also effectively develops friendships with people from Jew, Christian, or other religions that they meet socially or professionally. Children of immigrants are likewise step by step entering a broader range of professions and are becoming prominent with each passing day. Western culture has its qualities in its appreciation for the individual, the adaptability of its polite social order, and the limitations it endeavors to place on the haughtiness of political force. It has its shortcoming in its helplessness to yield family values and strict ethics to the longings of business and trade (Moaddel, 2002). The religion of Islam, taking into account the eager accommodation of the single person to the Divine Will is a fitting religion for such a social order. The Divine Will, as enunciated in the Qur'an uncovers the standards by which the welfare of the singular and the neighborhood are orchestrated. Along these lines, Muslims ought to have the capacity to uncover a critical place in Western social order, utilizing the structure for organization building and for singular progression to make utilization of the qualities of Western culture and to help overcome its shortcomings (HRH, 1993). Progressively, that is the thing that western Muslims have achieved successfully. Similarities I chose to discuss the most basic and most controversial aspects; One God The most basic and fundamental testimony of Islam and every other mainstream religion is having faith and believing that there is only one God. It was the most important and central message delivered to the followers, at first by Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, and Moses (Prophets and Prophecy). Moses testifies; “Hear, O Israel The Lord our God is one Lord.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) Then after a period of fifteen hundred years Jesus (The Christian Prophet) proclaimed; “The first of all the commandments is, “Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord.” (Carroll & Prickett, 2004) And finally, by Muhammad (The Muslim Prophet) six hundred years after Jesus testified; “Worship Allah!  You have no other god but Him.” (Mababaya, 2002) It is quite clear from the above that Jews, Christians, and Muslims all agree and have common faith that there is only one God to be worshiped. Jihad If we look a little closely and deeply, we come to realize fairly easily that the spirit of jihad is present in every religion. It may take on a different name or the procedures to meet the criteria might vary from religion to religion, but the basic meaning and end goal remains essentially the same. Jihad essentially implies to ensure that it is made certain that you "endeavor." It means making efforts and working in the methods and tactics that lead to amelioration, for God. Just from this sentence alone, you can tell that the meaning is exceptionally straightforward that anything we do for God can never be wrong or harmful. A large number of Muslims and non-Muslims alike wrongly comprehend that the prime relevancy of jihad must be battling, and so throughout the time of peace there are basically no possibilities for us to undertake jihad, and thus jihad is rendered irrelevant during that period. That is certainly not the situation as we are required to continually overcome our wishes to enrich ourselves by doing what is beneficial to others. All of us need to consistently and persistently drive ourselves to yield a very little progressively to be helpful to others. That only is the correct jihad. Ceasing one's self from hurting others is a Jihad regardless of the possibility that one has the right or opportunity to be even, or if one is so aslant to be awful to others, merely by controlling him or herself from undertaking that is also jihad. Prophet Muhammad declared that there are no preferred deeds over practicing Jihad. However that, in no way, shape or form, proposes that it entails starting or being involved in blood shedding. This becomes even clearer as Prophet Muhammad also stressed that the ink of a researcher is holier than the blood of a saint (Naik, 2012). Jihad has numerous structures and these are simple can be relevant to any religion. Preventing your heart and yourself from doing malice and saying something savage is a sort of jihad (Bukhari, et al., 1997). Looking for information and educating yourself and abstaining from hitting somebody can also be called Jihad, and obviously, battling in a fitting war taking after your "legitimate leader" is additionally jihad. None of these is effortless, painless, convenient to accomplish and come under the umbrella of jihad, on the convincing evidence that we make an effort and strain to do these everyday of our lives (Ali, et al., 2004). Differences The most striking and prominent difference between Islam and Judaism/Christianity is the story of creation. According to Quran, humans were created due to the fact that they had superior knowledge than even angels and remembered all names of God unlike the angels. The story of creation and original sin where Quran states that Adam asked for forgiveness and God forgave Adam for his original sin, whereas, Bible stresses on the original sin and when narrating about Jesus. There is significant difference between the two stories. Also, Islam lays a lot of stress on “Iman” which can only be achieved through seeking knowledge as opposed to Judaism and Christianity which focus on religious laws and spirituality respectively (Richmond). As for religious systems, Islamic law and jurisprudence are unique in their structure and quite different in their deliverance and implementation. Discussion The flourishing combination of Islamic religion with western culture is to have the ability to unravel scriptural edicts from social accumulations. Also, the climbing number of Muslims conceived in the west implies that it is just a matter of time until the Muslim neighborhood is commanded by indigenous Muslims who are now well coordinated into the western culture (Islam stack Exchange, 2012). Possibly they will  have a more modern, tolerant and open-minded comprehension of Islam which would fit into and can easily be accommodated into Western cultures and mind-set, in which case they will streamline their incorporation and integration but will also have impact upon the western culture. All prophets delivered the message that the only God has exclusive rights to be worshipped and we are all obligated to worship Him physically and from the core of our hearts. It is only the divine privilege and right of God to be worshiped in all aspects and comprehensively without any partners or associates attached to Him. . Due to the fact that we, regardless of the religion we follow, all encounter our internal conflicts regularly. These are genuinely worthwhile opportunities to compliment ourselves and also to accumulate incredibly good deeds exceedingly. Try imagining the dreadful moment when we reflect upon our lives and find no good deeds! Jihad is essential in our every day existence and is mentioned in the Holy Quran from numerous angels, giving us plentiful opportunities to see it from each conceivable point and integrate it into our lives. Quran and all Holy Books inspire us to overcome and win our day by day battles. As humans, we are bestowed with the ability to think freely and thus choose the right and just path and comprehend jihad positively. Concluding Remarks In my concluding remarks I would like to point why Islam today is probably the most controversial and talked about religion in the world and why a true picture of Islam is not portrayed? The controversies surrounding Islam are many and varied. It can certainly be asserted that the difference of opinions and controversies arise because of the negative role played by the clerics, governments, and to a larger extent armed forces of any country. The common man is only a victim of false information and propaganda and is obviously under the power and influence of the three. Now these three exploit religion, present a wrong picture deliberately to secure their vested interests. The clerics or the religious leaders exploit common people every day since they are living amongst them and are in constant interaction with the community. They present a wrong picture of Islam not necessarily because their viewpoint is the result of in-depth study or for that matter morality. Instead, they do this to gain power, money and other benefits for their own enrichment, rather than of the religion or the group they are leading. They sort of run a parallel government as they have a lot of influence over the people of their religion, sect, or group that follows them and theirs is often considered the last word. Similarly the governments, for the gain of sheer power, occupation, resources, or other vested interests use their influence and unlimited resources to propagate their point of view. They exploit Islam and people. One government, organization, group, or individual is supported and facilitated to carry out the dirty work and termed as heroes. When they are no longer of use to them, these self created heroes are abandoned referred to as enemies of humanity or state. Taking the same path, the top brass of the armed forces (leaders) have their own debatable agenda. Many intelligence agencies are more powerful than the political government and run a parallel system. As the agencies have abundant funds and resources, they again for their vested interests pertaining to wealth, power and other debatable reasons exploit religion. They create and support certain elements with or without the knowledge or permission of the government and then dismantle, eliminate, or hunt down the same elements. There is a strong need for the Muslims to portray the true picture of Islam and similarly people of other religions must be open to dialogue and try to understand patiently, the true spirit of Islam. Works Cited Ali, S. R., Liu, W. M., & Humedian, M. (2004). Islam 101: Understanding the Religion and Therapy Implications. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 35(6), 635. Bukha?ri?, M. I., Matraji, M., & Matraji, F. A. Z. (1997). Sahi?h al-Bukha?ri?: Being the tradition of saying and doings of the Prophet Muhammad as narrated by his companions. New Delhi: Islamic Book Service. Carroll, R., & Prickett, S. (Eds.). (2008). The Bible: Authorized King James Version. Oxford University Press. Deuteronomy 6:4 (n.d.). Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Retrieved from http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/6-4.htm HRH (1993). Islam and the West. Retrieved from http://www.islamicentre.org/articles/west.htm Islam Stack Exchange (2012). tawheed - What is fundamentally unique about Islam? - Islam Stack Exchange. Retrieved from http://islam.stackexchange.com/questions/1473/what-is-fundamentally-unique-about-islam Mababaya, M. (2002). The role of multinational companies in the Middle East: The case of Saudia Arabia. Moaddel, M. (2002). The study of Islamic culture and politics: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology, 359-386. Naik, Z. (2012). Dr.Zakir Naik - Terrorism and Jihad - an Islamic Perspective. Retrieved from http://www.islamictube.com/watch/7078dfb12d20eeca2566/Dr-Zakir-Naik-Terrorism-and-Jihad-an-Islamic-Perspective Prophets and Prophecy (n.d.). Judaism 101: Prophets and Prophecy. Retrieved from http://www.jewfaq.org/prophet.htm Richmond, C. (n.d.). Download The Holy Bible KING JAMES version 7.3.0. Retrieved from http://www.stars21.com/freemorn/dicts/bible_kjv.html Roy, M. N. (1958). The historical role of Islam. Calcutta: Renaissance Publishers Private. Read More