How Framing Analysis Has Been Used to Make Islamic Culture - Assignment Example

Managerial/leadership Framing Analysis Introduction Framing analysis otherwise known as the art of using persuasive language has never been considered a full-fledged theoretical paradigm or any aspect of a coherent method for approaching various aspects of leadership in relation to their subjects. In most cases, framing analysis is taken as a combination of related aspects that are used for analyzing discourse especially by leaders on their subjects (Fairhurst & Sarr, 1996). Nonetheless, there are circumstances when applied methods are incompatible in as long as they help analyzing existing discourse. Despite earlier skeptic assessments on the theoretical application of framing analysis to identify and evaluate discourse, there is some light seen in respect to various leaders that have applied the concepts to persuade their subjects after analyzing available discourse. Many scholars significantly believe that in order to attain effectiveness within framing analysis there is need to employ different concepts of framing analysis. Analysis of discourse through framing analysis relies on the cultural dynamisms experienced amongst subjects (Phillips & Hardy, 2002). Cultural dynamisms dictate the identification process of effective frames. While making choice of the frames to apply there is need for empirical credibility as well as narrative fidelity. In other instances, leaders must identify frames that are frequently applied in addition to effectively aligning the identified frames. Through frames, leaders have been able to gain support for their ideologies from their subjects (Pradeep & Price, 2002). Such leaders have developed skills to play apply language in a way that inspires the subjects. Framing analysis that successful leaders have used in the past involved the art of framing thoughts and ideas in away that make them likable to subjects. Consequently, this has contributed to increased support (Phillips & Hardy, 2002). Some of the concepts applied within framing analysis include the use of metaphors, stories, and visual images amongst other concepts. Within the religious context hundreds of thousands of believers are transforming to Islam religion. No doubt, Islam is a monotheistic religion basing its religious beliefs and ideologies on revelations received by Prophet Mohammed during the 7th century. These revelations were later recorder in one of the captivating religious books, Qur’an (Koran). Qur’an is considered as the Islam’s sacred text containing all the revelations given to Prophet Mohammed in order to use for his subjects. Islamic faith has rapidly spread over the recent years owing to various factors. One of the most important factors that have caused rapid spreading of Islamic religion is the Qur’an and its use of metaphors and stories as a way of wining confidence of followers through the framing analysis process (Netton, 2006). Transformation into Islam has been aided by the five Islamic pillars of faith, fasting, prayer, pilgrimage, and alms. Another reason as to why there has been rapid transformation of individuals to Islam is their leader Prophet Mohammed, the passenger of God in Islam religion, who through effective application of framing concepts of stories and metaphors created a legacy that every Islam wishes to follow (Holman & Thorpe, 2003). Contemporary Islam has a huge following due to the effectiveness of the framing concepts that Prophet Mohammed used during his leaderships in making his subjects believe and trust not only in him but also his ideologies, vision, and mission. The metaphors and stories as framing concepts were used within the speeches and artifact of Prophet Mohammed (Netton, 2006). In line with this insight, the following provides an analysis of metaphors and stories as framing concepts used in Qur’an and by Prophet Mohammed in winning the trust and faith of the Islam followers. Perspective Overview Miracles of Qur’an As one of the framing concepts, the miracles within the Qur’an have continuously transformed many individuals to Islam. There are miracles mentioned in Qur’an that seem to win the hearts of many Muslims and individuals from other religions to transform into Islam through persuasion. For instance, the miracle of the fire and wood, that is unobtainable artificially as depicted in Surat al-Waqi ‘a, 71-74. Combustion with fire is another miracle that Qur’an, 23:35 addresses though it has been used metaphorically. Other miracles of the Qur’an include the fecundating winds, the states of wind formation, formation of hail, thunder, and lighting, and the rains that bring dead land back to life (Netton, 2006). These are some of the examples of miracles as depicted within the Qur’an, sacred book of Islam. Metaphor Framing Concepts in Qur’an Many metaphors are used in Qur’an as framing concepts. For instance, there is the “journey” metaphor that Qur’an uses to explain the life of believers on earth while ensuring that their faith continues to glow. A detail analysis of this metaphor is provided later in the analysis section. Qur’an, 24:35 identifies Allah as the light of heavens and earth compared to a niche whereby a lamp inside glass that is as brilliant as star is placed to lit from a blessed tree. Surat al-Waqi ‘a, 71-74 is metaphoric in saying, “Have you thought about the fire that you light? Is it you who make the trees that fuel it grow or are we the Grower? We have made it to be a reminder and a comfort for travelers in the wild. So glorify the name of your Lord, the Magnificent!” Many metaphors are used in this case such as travelers, growers, and fire that are responsible for lighting up a given area. Other examples of metaphors that persuade non-believers include unbelievers unable to hear or see, unbelievers with veils over their hearts (Qur’an 18:57); unbelievers covered with darkness (Qur’an 10:27). These metaphoric expressions used within the Qur’an are very effective in persuading unbelievers and individuals from other religion to transform to Islam. Metaphor Framing Concepts by Prophet Mohammed Amongst the metaphors he used included hypocrite is a double faced object, a Muslim is a shepherd, a moral life is slavery, begging is a building, darkness is ignorance, evil is a contained substance, fornication is an epidemic disease, human deeds are vehicles, sin is fire, and straightness is God amongst others. These amongst many other forms of metaphor were used by Prophet Mohammed in a bid to persuading subjects and ensuring that they follow his ideologies and prepositions with respect to God (Netton, 2006). Stories Framing Concepts by Prophet Mohammed Qur’an contains many stories that outline the beliefs and pillars of Islam. Examples of the stories include Wives of the Prophet, Prophets of Allah, Story of Dhul-Kifl, Story of Yasin People, Story of Dwellers of Ar-Rass, Story of Ezekiel, Elisha, Samuel, and Solomon amongst others. These stories are very effective in spreading Islamic as a religion to various unbelievers as described in the following analysis. Organizational Artifact Organizational artifacts may refer to values, norms, tangible signs, as well as assumptions that comprise the culture of a particular group. Every community or organization has specific culture that determines its correlation with other communities besides being a guide to individuals in such community for expected code of conduct (Netton, 2006). Islam as any other community has specific norms, assumptions, values, and tangible signs that form its culture. Every individual practicing Islam is expected to behave according to such prescribed values and norms. It is important to note that the two main guiding artifacts or materials that provide guidance to Islam as a culture are Qur’an and teachings, actions, and life of Prophet Mohammed. Islam as a culture is determined and directed by the provisions of the Qur’an coupled with Prophet Mohammed’s perception and prepositions about life and religion (Netton, 2006). From the two artifacts, Qur’an and Prophet Mohammed’s teachings, actions, and way of life, Islam as a culture rests on a foundation that is composed of five main pillars. These pillars as identified earlier on in the paper include faith, pilgrimage, fasting, prayer, and alms. From the Qur’an and Prophet Mohammed’s teachings every Muslim must ensure that they have strong faith in not only the religion but its leaders as well (Netton, 2006). What’s more, the teachings from these two artifacts assert that it is important for every member of Islamic culture to always pray whilst ensuring that they fast when the need ne without forgetting pilgrimage to Mecca and alms. The teachings from the Qur’an and Prophet Mohammed are effectively organized to suiting every member of the culture. It is on this basis that many individuals are transforming to Islam given the fact that its culture is very stable. Qur’an as an artifact is considered as the sacred book of the Muslim or Islamic culture. In this respect, every member of the Islamic culture must obey the teachings and prepositions to the latter without questioning. Qur’an is therefore a vital artifact to the Islamic culture, which has so far provided stories and used metaphoric language that provides opportunity for members of the culture to critique various aspects of other religion (Pickering & Frisson, 2001). On this basis, Islamic culture in spite its rapid growth is still considered as one of the strongest community of culture to be in existence. Prophet Mohammed is another artifact that helps in providing not only sanity but also the right direction to all the members of the Islamic culture (Netton, 2006). Regarded as the messenger of God, Prophet Mohammed through various framing concepts teaches members of Islamic culture on various requirements in as far as religion is concerned. In this perspective, the two artifacts have proved to be very useful in defining Islamic culture, its values, norms, tangible signs, and probable assumptions that are all under the umbrella of culture (Netton, 2006). As a matter of fact, every member of the Islamic religion or culture must adhere to the provisions and teachings of both the Qur’an and Prophet Mohammed, the messenger of God. Analysis In order to understand how framing analysis has been used to make Islamic culture to be one of the strongest cultures, there is need to carry out an analysis of metaphors and stories within Islamic artifacts; Qur’an and Prophet Mohammed (Walton, 2007). The two artifacts have employed extensive use of metaphors, miracles, and stories in a bid to influencing the perception of unbelievers and believers through persuasion (Holman & Thorpe, 2003). Both the Qur’an and Prophet Mohammed are artifacts that have provided Islamic culture a basis on which to derive their beliefs, norms, values, and assumptions. Qur’an as a sacred book of Islam has managed to keep Islamic believers on track who continue to believe in every aspect of the book. In order to achieve this, Qur’an applies the use of metaphor as a framing concept. Qur’an extensively employs the use of metaphors and miracles in order to convince or persuade both believers and unbelievers that Islamic is the true religion (Holman & Thorpe, 2003). The main metaphor used within Qur’an is the idea of life being a journey. In a journey it is expected that there are travelers. Travelers within the Qur’an are metaphorically used to mean human beings (Fairhurst & Sarr, 1996). Every human being or individual within Islamic culture is on a journey. In this journey there are various aspects, which the Qur’an also refers to them through the use of metaphors. For instance, the Qur’an speaks about the path that travelers take during the journeying process. In this perspective, the path has been used metaphorically to represent Islam religion (Pickering & Frisson, 2001). The Qur’an therefore asserts that life, which is a journey, can only be walked through Islamic religion. In this context, many believers will find the metaphor very persuasive hence leading to the transformation from one religion to another. Spiritual life is therefore a journey that aims at meeting the forgiveness of God. Every Islamic member must endure all the problems that come along with spiritual life thereby attaining God’s forgiveness (Steen, 2007). The destination in this case refers to God’s forgiveness. Therefore, through metaphoric language, unbelievers are able to be persuaded into transforming into Islam. In addition to the metaphors, Qur’an’s miracles as indicated influence the perception of non-believers in respect to religion. Most of the miracles enlisted within the Qur’an are very captivating and attractive (Holman & Thorpe, 2003). From the miracles it is possible for individuals who are non-believers to believe in the ideologies, values, norms, and assumptions of the Islamic culture or religion. For instance, the miracle of fire and wood that is unobtainable artificially is really catchy and attractive hence may influence the perception of an unbeliever into accepting to transform into Islam (Pickering & Frisson, 2001). Most of these miracles within Qur’an were written with the intention of persuading unbelievers to transform into Islam just like the metaphors were used in the same artifact (Phillips & Hardy, 2002). Through Qur’an’s prepositions, it becomes vehemently clear that every member of the Islamic religion or culture has something specific to celebrate within the community (Steen, 2008). According to such miracles, it occurs to members of the Islamic culture that this is the only great religion, which has continuously experienced miracles. In respect to Prophet Mohammed, the messenger of God, metaphors and stories have been used to persuade unbelievers as well as strengthen the faith of believe so that they do not transform into other religions. There is no doubt that Prophet Mohammed’s uniqueness in leadership and communication significantly contributed to large followings for Islamic religion. In his speech and role as a leader, Prophet Mohammed applied metaphor as a framing concept to persuade and convince people of the ideologies of Islam (Pickering & Frisson, 2001). Whilst using metaphors as framing analysis to aid in persuasion, Prophet Mohammed describes various aspects of a Muslim’s life especially in relation to faith. According to his metaphoric teachings and sayings, Prophet Mohammed compares a Muslim to a shepherd who has to ensure that the flock is well protected (Fairhurst & Sarr, 1996). In addition, Prophet Mohammed compares life of a Muslim with not only a journey but a container of sin. As a container contains some matter so does a human being contains sin. These are metaphors expected to persuade people that there is need to avoid being containers of sin (Phillips & Hardy, 2002). Prophet Mohammed also advocates through his metaphoric teachings and sayings that the heart is a container of faith. In this metaphor, believers perceive faith as a substance that dwells in the heart. Prophet Mohammed uses metaphoric expressions to explain how the relationship of a believer and God should be within a religious subscription (Holman & Thorpe, 2003). For instance, Prophet Mohammed claims that when a man opens a door then surely God will also open a door for him. In this metaphoric speech, a door is used as a symbol of a person and opportunity (Steen, 2008). For a man opening the door, Prophet Mohammed meant being close to God especially though prayers and paying pilgrimage while for God opening the door, it meant opening up opportunities for the individual in question (Fairhurst & Sarr, 1996). Therefore, through being close to God there are numerous opportunities that are likely to come a man’s ways. Prophet Mohammed used this metaphoric language to stress on the pilgrimage aspect or pillar of Islamic culture or religion. Every member of Islamic religion or culture must always pay pilgrimage to Mecca as a way of opening up to God since this is the only sure way through which God will also open up opportunities for individuals (Phillips & Hardy, 2002). From this teaching, Muslims always pay pilgrimage to Mecca at all times whilst engaging in serious prayers (Van Eemeren, 2001). Therefore, the concept of metaphor in this case was effectively used to influence the perception of believers thereby enhancing the pillars of the Islamic religion. Such metaphorical comparison of the hearth and faith attributes to traditional belief that the heart is usually the center of thinking and reasoning capacities with the help of the brain. Most believes identify themselves with good hearts that are ready to make a dwelling place for faith (Holman & Thorpe, 2003). Therefore, metaphors have been used extensively in persuading unbelievers while strengthening the faiths of believers so as to continue following the perceptions, ideologies, and teachings of Prophet Mohammed (Fairhurst & Sarr, 1996). Most of the stories in Qur’an were developed by Prophet Mohammed during the writing of the sacred book in order to reach out to his subjects. Through stories in the Qur’an, Prophet Mohammed describes how humanity has been since the beginning. Prophet Mohammed uses such stories to influence both believers and unbelievers in respect to the five pillars of Islamic religion (Pickering & Frisson, 2001). There is no doubt that through such stories many people are touched and influenced to transform into Islam. Conclusion Application of metaphors, stories, and miracles as framing concepts has been effective in attracting more unbelievers. Recently Islamic religion or culture has experienced increased following given the fact that there has been effective application of framing concepts that have ннннso far attracted many unbelievers whilst keeping the believers on track. There are no doubt that Prophet Mohammed’s teachings and sayings that were largely metaphoric impacted positively on the lives of believers and unbelievers. Framing analysis therefore is an effective tool or leadership especially in respect to persuading subjects concerning specific ideologies, visions, and missions. It is important for leaders in the contemporary environment to adopt the framing analysis adopted by Prophet Mohammed, which has made Islam as a religion and a culture to have a very large following with increasing growth. Framing analysis has various concepts that can be applied in finding the best combination to solving societal discourse. Societal discourse results from differences in ideologies, perceptions, norms, and values. Nonetheless, these discourses can be ironed out through application of effective framing analysis concepts. Even though they are not specific framing analysis concepts applicable for particular scenarios, it is advisable that leaders should identify the best concepts that fit the subjects. In addition, it should be noted that there are some framing analysis concepts that though are incompatible they usually result into huge success with reference to persuading subjects. Therefore, leaders within the contemporary environment should ensure that every concept of framing analysis is tried in a bid to finding the most effective one. All in all, framing analysis is an effective way of bringing subjects close to the leader just like Prophet Mohammed did with Islamic followers. References Fairhurst, G. T. & Sarr, R. A. (1996). The Art of Framing-Managing the Language of Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Holman, D. & Thorpe, R. (2003). Management and Language. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Netton, I. R. (2006). Islam, Christianity and Tradition: a Comparative Exploration. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Phillips, N., & Hardy, C. (2002). Discourse Analysis: Investigating Processes of Social Construction. London: Sage. Pickering, M., & Frisson, S. (2001). Obtaining a Figurative Interpretation of a Word: Support for Underspecification. Metaphor and Symbol, 16(3), 149–171. Pradeep, S., & Price, D. (2002). Figurative Language and Persuasion. In J. P. Dillard & M. Pfau (Eds.), The Persuasion Handbook: Developments in Theory and Practice (pp. 407–426). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Steen, G. (2007). Finding Metaphor in Grammar and Usage. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Steen, G. (2008). The paradox of metaphor: Why we need a three-dimensional model of metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol, 23, 213–241. Van Eemeren, F. H. (2001). Crucial Concepts in Argumentation Theory. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Walton, D. N. (2007). Media Argumentation: Dialectic, Persuasion, and Rhetoric. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More