Introduction to Islam as a Religion - Essay Example

of the of the Concerned 12 August 2008 Introduction to Islam The song by Queen," I want to break free" aptly summarizes the dilemma of the contemporary world. In the current scenario, freedom is considered to be a coveted fundamental privilege that is or should be devoid of all constraints, responsibilities and considerations. This undisciplined mindset is not only detrimental to human psychological and social health, but has the potential to let loose a state of anarchy in the society. Infact the consequences of such a mentality are very much evident in the present times when the teenagers are resorting to shooting sprees in their school premises, women are being subjected to sexual harassment and assault, children are more then ever vulnerable to abuse and violence, the aged are being confined to a life of despondency in the asylums and the religious intolerance is more then ever on the rise. Seen in this context, Islam is a world religion that not only cherishes the man's relationship with God, but also encourages a self imposed discipline and a consideration for the rights and privileges of others. The post 9/11 scenario has posed a new challenge before the peace loving and liberal Muslim majority all around the world. After the atrocities of September 11, many of us who are Muslim intellectuals living and working in North America made a discovery that deepened the horrors of that terrible day. We learned, to our intense dismay, that some of the Muslim organizations around us were getting their notions about Islam from Middle Eastern or South Asian preachers who preached a deeply illiberal "us against them" worldview and reviled the proposition that Muslims should learn the basic civic virtues and responsibilities of life in a free,. democratic, and a pluralist society (Sachedina 307). Never before the Islam was in a danger of being so grossly misinterpreted, by the Muslims and non Muslims throughout the Western world. The post 9/11 situation left the liberal Muslims in the developed world with a painful dilemma. Not only they found themselves to be the victims of the acts of hatred perpetrated by a small but intimidating section of the local population, but they also realized that the hardliners within their own community and throughout the world looked at them with suspicion and disgust. It left them with a predicament that urgently called for an intense catechism about their allegiance to their faith, their rights and duties as a citizen and their responsibilities as the devout Muslims in the countries adopted by them as their homeland. While projecting themselves as the authentic and legitimate champions of Islam," these preachers of intolerance continue to promote seclusion and mistrust (Sachedina 307)". The fundamentalist elements within the Muslim community are trying hard to project a picture of Islam that is incompatible with the contemporary ethos of democracy, tolerance and peaceful coexistence. They are bent upon unleashing a war of civilizations. Such an unhealthy trend gives way to many pertinent questions. Is Islam incompatible with the contemporary Western mores and values Do Muslims living in the Western world will have to make a choice between their faith or "basic civic virtues and responsibilities (Sachedina 307)" Has Islam got no message or relevance for the modern world and is anachronistic in a modern context Infact, any person, be it a Muslim or a non Muslim, who has a basic insight into and an understanding of the tenets of Islam is often surprised to find that Islam propagates a holistic attitude towards life that propagates and asserts the rights and duties of all the sections of the society, be it the women, the children, the aged, the physically challenged, the non Muslims, the capitalists, the laborers and the peasants, the colored races, the intelligentsia and almost everybody. The issues and causes supported by feminism, the anti globalization movement, the environmentalists and the civil rights activists, which is a relatively nascent trend in the Western world, were dealt with much more then a millennium ago by Islam. This seems to be really astonishing, considering the times and place in which the Islam originated that is the 7th century Arabia, that was marred by internecine and brutal tribal warfare and a scant regard for the rights of women, children, physically challenged, blacks, slaves and most of the underprivileged sections of the society, but the tenets of Islam hold as much or even more relevance in the modern times and circumstances. Thus Islam is a religion sans boundaries and for all the ages and times. It is really sad and to the detriment of the whole humanity to acknowledge that Islam is the most misunderstood or the least understood of the religions in the Western world today. Most of the times, people's notions towards a religion are governed by their perceptions and the propaganda disseminated by a few miscreants within the fold of that religion that interpret Islam as per their agenda and vested interests. Faulty and misplaced perceptions often have their moorings in the general ignorance and the isolated but horrendous acts of violence committed by a few shallow adherents of a religion. Yet such a perception breeds distrust and doubt that immaculately suits the designs of the hardliners within the fold of Islam. Off course perceptions are important and so far as the genesis of perceptions is concerned, the digital and the print media have an important role to play in it. So far, the Western media has done very little to enhance public awareness about Islam and to dispel popular doubts and perceptions. It is happening not because of any special intolerance for Islam, but owing to the narrowly focused tunnel vision of the Western media that endorses only a single view and attitude towards issues of life, the adherents of which hale from the part of the world that has a majority Christian population. This makes the things for the liberal Muslims living in the West even more difficult. On the contrary, the media and the TV channels in the so called Islamic nations do not enjoy that much popularity and viewer following in the West and also instead of presenting an unbiased and all inclusive interpretation of Islam, they pander to the nefarious preferences of the local regimes and militant groups. This phenomenon has created a stark awareness gap pertaining to Islam in the West that should be dealt with by the Muslim intelligentsia, Western governments and the free media on a priority basis. Now is the time for the Muslim intelligentsia living in the West to take the onus for projecting the right and true image of Islam. They simply cannot leave this onerous responsibility on the shoulders of militant Islamic organizations and the Western media. Sachedina aptly conveys it by exhorting that the liberal Muslims in the West simply cannot afford to be "absent without leave" from what should be the primary and the most important fight of their lives (308). At the same time the Western governments and the academicians should openly come out to the aid of this enlightened and peace loving Muslim majority, when the fundamentalist elements are bent upon using all the power at their disposal, be it the Internet, the digital media, the coercive tactics to snub its voice, which intends to give a true and up to date picture of Islam. Study of the world religions, including Islam should be made an integral part of the curricula of the Western academic institutions to dispel false notions and faulty perceptions of Islam. At the same time, studies in comparative religion should be encouraged in the colleges and the universities, so that the academicians and the scholars could discover the common grounds between Islam and other world religions. The Western media should also focus on giving a voice to the liberal Muslim intelligentsia in the West and the other parts of the world, rather then continually projecting scenes of gaur and violence let loose by the minority militant factions. The Muslims living in the Western world will have to look for and highlight the cohesive trends existing within Islam and the ideals cherished in the nations they live. Infact this will not prove to be a mammoth task. Their exists a rich tradition of democratic ideal within Islam. All that is required is a positive understanding of democratic ideals within an Islamic framework and the meaning of being a Muslim in a multicultural society (Sachedina 308). There exist potent instance of a peaceful, multicultural coexistence within the Islamic history. The word Islam has its roots in the Arabic language and an approximate English translation of it would be "submission" (Anonymous 1). Though submission to religion, authority, age and many other attributes is an acceptable norm in Latin America, Africa and Asia, this word has or has developed negative connotations in the West that are considered to be loaded with intolerance, contempt for non Muslims and violence. By no means, Islam intends to project such a humanely unacceptable idea of submission. It must also be mentioned that the word Islam has alternative meanings in the Arabic that are to be safe, secure, intact. Seen and interpreted in this context, Islam teaches the idea of submission to the will and authority of God at a metaphysical level and to the exalted and the higher principles of life which constitute the quintessence of all the religions at a temporal level. Arabic language also gives one more alternative meaning of the word Islam, which is "peace". Thus according to Islam, an attitude of submission to God and higher principles of life that include the respect for human life and democratic ideals, leads to a lasting peace in the spiritual and worldly realm. Infact it is a historically verified fact that Prophet Muhammad was known to unambiguously tilt in the favour of peace and amicability on many occasions, when all the ground realities indicated a sure and decisive victory to his Muslim followers. As is common in many other languages, in the Arabic language, the meaning of the words gets altered if one adds prefixes or suffixes to them. Thus if one adds the prefix M to the root SLM of Islam, one gets the word Muslim. The word Muslim in the Arabic means one who mentally and physically embraces the ideals and principles upheld by Islam. Thus Islam considers the Muslim to be a person who manifests a value oriented state of consciousness in his conduct and thought. This idea is akin to a special state of being. It is not a surprise that Islam considers most of the recognized prophets in the Jewish tradition like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus to be Muslims. As per Islam, all these prophets symbolized that special state of being that is dear to and as per the will of God. In the recent years "ulama" have gained an unprecedented and supranational importance in the Islamic world. "The reactionaries amongst the ulama all too often use populist-sounding rhetoric to prop up retrograde and conformist attitude towards existing unfree governments (Sachedina 308)." Many of the non Muslims and the Muslims do not know that Islam has no theologically recognized priesthood as in Christianity and Qur'an does not give any superior status and authority to ulama over other members of the community. The recognition and credibility of ulama is subject to public will and acceptance. Two celebrated scholars of Islam explain that: Everyone has heard of ayatollahs and mullahs. Without trying to sort out the different names that are used, let us just say that the generic term for individuals who play a special religious role is ulama (Arabic 'ulama' plural of 'aiim'). The word simply means "the learned" Fundamentally, their function is to be - as contemporary jargon has it "resource people". They have gained specialized knowledge about Islam and are willing to employ it for the good of the community (Murata & Chitick 34) Thus Islam gives the right to every member of the community to accept or reject the opinion of the ulama according to ones understanding of ones faith. The Fatwa or decrees issued by ulama are not binding upon the members of the community unless they think otherwise. If democracy means a sense of accountability binding on the political, religious or cultural leadership within a community then the seeds of democracy very much exist within the framework of Islam (Sachedina 308). The radical elements within ulama manage to propagate their agenda of intolerance amongst the masses, not on the basis of any special recognition given to them by Islam, but because they are apt at taking advantage of the community's emotions and sentiments by projecting themselves as the sole custodians of political and social education (Sachedina 209). Thus liberal Muslims have ample right within the framework of Islam, to challenge the attempts of dubbing them as "outsiders" within their own community (Sachedina 209). There are some sections of ulama that are disseminating illiberal and anti-democratic opinions pertaining to the rights of the women (Sachedina 209). The reality is that the very life of Prophet Muhammad and the early Muslims is a testimony to the fact that women were considered to be inferior to none and were given equal rights and protection under law (Abdul-Ati 1). During the times of Prophet Muhammad, women were considered to be a piece of property who were supposed to be subservient to men. Prophet Muhammad was emphatically devoted to socio-religious reforms and extended revolutionary rights to women, which were even unheard of even in many Western countries just a few decades ago (Hamidullah 1). This paper will fail to fulfill its true purpose without touching upon the Islamic ideal of Jihad. Jihad according to Islam means to make an effort or to engage in a meaningful struggle. Contrary to the popular belief, it does not mean holy war. Infact, the Arabic word for war i.e. "harb" is found nowhere in Qur'an. Jihad signifies the perpetual struggle between the good and the evil that every individual faces in the domain of his consciousness. At a temporal level, it connotes the peaceful struggle that many people have to carry on with in quest of their social, economic and political rights. In this context, Jihad was the most original idea introduced by Islam (Schleifer 136). Unluckily, this noble concept is being used by some radical groups to justify their acts of senseless hatred and intolerance. Thus the liberal Muslims throughout the Western world must make it a point to extend the scope of their "critical scholarship" to the seminaries and theological institutions throughout the Muslim world (Sachedina 309). Just because they believe in the ideals of tolerance, democracy and peaceful coexistence, it in no way dilutes their credentials as a faithful Muslim. Infact these very ideals signify the true spirit of Islam. Works Cited Abdul-Ati, H. "The Status of Women in Islam". Islam in Focus (2008). 11 August 2008 Anonymous. "An Introduction to Islam". Social Studies Review. HighBeam. 10 August 2008 Hamidullah, M. "The Prophet of Islam his Biography". Compendium of Muslim Texts. University of South California (1962). 12 August 2008 Murata, Sachika & W. Chitick. The Vision of Islam. New York: Paragon House, 1994 Sachedina, A. "Why Democracy, and Why Now", Islam and Contemporary Issues Schleifer, A. The Fall of Jerusalem. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972 Read More