The Effect of Culture and Religion - Essay Example

Pro-seminar on the Frontier of Islam Introduction In this Pro-seminar, we will go through the effect of culture and religion in the of a travel through the respective territories. The course of this document will explore the ideas and thoughts raised by various traveler writers including Isabella Ebenhardt along with Amin Maaloff and Mohammed Asad apart from some other prominent Islamic and Western writers. This introduces us to the various thoughts that has gone through the people in the medieval period to days early in this century. This essay portrays the islam that Prophet suggested and the one that has been adopted in today’s world and the differences in the perception of what the Christian culture ‘thinks’ they have done in the past or they are doing today and the effect of the same on the culture and the relationship between people living as a community. We will also see how the world culture patronizes cultures of varied hues just for the sake of intellect and society. Clash of Religion Travel through various countries and lands always invariably bring in the multifarious dimensions of the land traveled on. Cultures vary; practices vary; the way religions are practices also varies. The communication gap between the prophet and the today’s follower has increased to a great extent and on more than one occasion, the teachings of the prophet has been forgotten or not understood or worse still, not read at all. More or less this happens to be the case with the Christian and other Pagan religions as well. In the Medieval Eurasia and Africa, the clash of the religions was substantial high. This was reflected in the words of the Leo the African traveler on more than one occasion. Leo, as a Muslim started his run away from his birthplace, Grenada since he was chased out by the Christian capturers of Grenada. His journey went through Morocco and Egypt which happen to be Muslim and the difficulties he faces are minimal. Though, his adventures do invoke interest in the reader. Until, he falls into the hands of a set of Christian Pirates who take him as a prisoner for and on behalf of the Pope. He was a made a slave of the Pope. Travel in the Medieval world or on the threshold of the Modern world was very precarious particularly traveling into another country which had a different religion as its practice. In the early twentieth century, this clash had reached a crescendo. For instance, the Russians did not have any religion to support as a matter of fact, they were against the practice of any religion and hence there was an immense gap between the people who practices religion and those who did not. Whether it were the Muslims or the Jews, the Russians and their government was against them. And they disturbed the practitioners in all ways possible, whether it is the Islam or be it Jews or Christians. This has been brought up very well by Mohammed Asad in his book, the road to Mecca. His travel from Afghanistan where his knowledge on Islam is well appreciated by the local Hakim, while at the same time, when he travels through the USSR and the rest of the Eastern Europe, he finds an atheistic thought process among the people and the government which has made the life different and difficult to practice their own religions or preferences. For a traveler, though this does not mean a major change, but it does cause a change in the approach that the person might have during his short sojourn in that country with a different perspective. Clash of Culture In more than one way, culture has become an offshoot of religion. Every religion in the world has its own culture and practices that it spreads across its own community. Mohammed the prophet propounded a social scheme that had no divisions of nation or creed or religious ones. All people are the same irrespective of their birth and whose sons and daughters they might be. There is no division in the name of sex or in the name of any other priorities. These things ensured that the people are one and all people are born as one. More communistic than even the twentieth century communistic evangelists; though of course, they were anti to Islam. The culture went through a major over hauling when the eastern and the western civilizations met and merged. During travel, the cultural clashes certainly produces interesting interludes that has helped men understand each other and to respect the sanctity of individuals and their thought processes. The good and the bad that men visualize eventually take the form of their practices or culture as it is termed. And these are the ones that attract the attention of a traveler. Specifically if the traveler is from a different cultural zone the change that he sees are remarkable and inspires new thoughts and ideas to him. ‘Travel makes a complete man’. It is true that the travel through the centuries old culture would bring in thoughts that are never ever thought by the person and it also ensures that the person becomes a visionary since he has to tolerate the thoughts of other people. He has no way to say or fight over a wrong idea from another person. It is also important for ideas to blossom and survive that contradicting ideas are heard and allowed to present their case as much as the supporting ones for the concept of the culture in vogue then. In most of the civilizations this budding of ideas or differing opinions were stifled only to find later that the best of the ideas have been suffocated and only the marginal ones which are in line with the existing line of thinking live through. The cultural clashes happen because of the clash in the religion. Even if religions are the same people at one end of the world following the same religion do not practice the same way the religion is practiced elsewhere. For instance, the Christianity in Spain is different from the one practiced in Armenia or Syria. The cultures of the people differ though the religions remain the same. Influences of the local practices change the approach of every religion as it lives through centuries. Every traveler realizes this; and slowly but surely, changes to appreciate the local customs as much as he appreciates his own. There is always an immense though process that goes beyond even the simplest of the customs and they personify themselves as the culture of the society that practices it. Living together Religion breeds culture; and culture in turn patronizes religion. The thought that culture exists as a separate entity from religion is obviously mislead as is seen from the earlier discussions. The life of the people take on different shapes depending upon the environment they are brought in. How many of us think of the Jabal Tariq (Mountain of Tariq) as the original name of our Gibraltar? While the culture drives the man to achieve more and more; it is the religion that gives him strength. While culture is the way man practices his religion; religion is the underlying dogma of his culture. These two are inseparable as much as the greatness of every religion that reflects itself into a distinct cultural practice of that country. During his various travels, Mohammed Azad writes the day when he say a number of people whom he thought were sad and in Europe. They have been gathering wealth; they have been obviously getting good food to eat. But what is that to being happy. This pertained to the culture that the people were living in. The solution that Mohammed Azad reached was in the writings of Koran. You are obsessed by greed for more and more Until you go down to your graves. Nay, but you will come to know! Nay, but you will come to know! Nay, if you but knew it with the knowledge of certainty, You would indeed see the hell you are in. In time, indeed, you shall see it with the eye of certainty: And on that Day you will be asked what you have done with the boon of life Life takes on different shapes for different cultures; and they get tuned to a happy living by the religion that is practiced there. Conclusion On many occasions, it has been said that the religions are offshoots of sadness in life. When death hit men; when mass destructions happened to one ‘tribe’ destroyed another; when one set of people ransacked the other; all this meant that the sorrow and suffering was man made and if people were to be happy then there should be a unifying thought and rules of the life that has to be adopted by these people. In line with this thinking, most of the religions really dictate the way that life should be lead. Islam or Christianity are no exceptions. They also let us know what would provide the ultimate happiness to men during their short stay on this earth. These definitions of religion slowly but steadily yield themselves to make up the culture of the place and the country. When more and more people follow the same culture it becomes a standard that is emulated for centuries. Many of the practices lose their significance and meaning over a period of time; or is misunderstood and misrepresented to the millions who follow over a period of time and this causes a mirage over the practice. To conclude, we can take it as religion and culture are interconnected and they do not oppose one another but support one another. Traveling through a number of civilizations and cultures and religions would provide the best education on their behavior, their hospitality and their practices. It would also let us understand why they behave in a specific way. Needs of men change with time and place. Read More