Understanding Religious Diversity - Essay Example

Islam is a universal religion if seen closely. There are many miss conceptions present about out it. As many people say peoples offer their prayers to Mecca. This is not correct; although Islam is the religion which discourages any kind of physical exercise in other words ritual to be performed by man to things, places or other people. Islam provides unification while addressing this issue too. There is no god but one Allah. Muslims only pray or perform rituals dedicated to Allah not to Mecca.

Second the most important part of Islam is considering the messenger of god Allah as His creature human not a god like many people of different religion tend to do. Considering a person as even a part of Allah’s qualities for worship is forbidden. Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (S.A.A.W) is a man and last prophet of the only god Allah. In Christian religion there are mainly three figure possessing divine powers as god has; Holy mother referred as Maryam (A.S) in Islam, Jesus the son of god is referred as messenger like Muhammad (S.A.A.W) and a simple human being with a blessed soul given by Allah; third figure is god itself.

Synonym to god in Islam is Allah. There are only two physical worships or you can say rituals mainly performed by every Muslim all over the world. One is praying to Allah in the same way as Messenger of Allah (S.A.A.W) did. Other is fasting. Fasting is not a unique phenomenon as Jews and Christians are also familiar to fasting. I perform both worships as it is obligatory for every Muslim to perform them.Another ritual called Jihad has two types; one the fight of man within itself against personal fears and evil deeds.

Other one is Jihad with sword or weapon; Jihad of person with itself is given more importance than others. Jihad with sword is only an obligation to Muslims when they are attacked by foreign power or fight with them on the basis of religion. Also it is only allowed when given permission by ruler of Muslim country or permission from wife and mother. Terrorists that are propagated as Islamic fighters over the media are not Muslims. The oneness of god and limited obligations to man makes in my opinion more satisfied and brave in character; also Islam provides guidance in every aspect of life from personal to society figure of it.

Modern phenomenon as organizational behaviors, business ethics, family and child care and war ethics that are introduced into modern world were taught by Islam 1400 years ago. These are enough proofs to believe in truthfulness of Islam and are the main motivation power in following it. There is no ceremony or ritual required to accept Islam. One can become member of the religion by giving witness verbally called as shah-adat in Islam. If there is any threat to life of the person who is accepting Islam then this verbal witness no regarded as necessary.

To become Muslim one has to accept it from heart. Islam is just like water a universal solvent; the religion Islam is flexible to accommodate all the cultures of all the ages in it. If asked culture of most of the Arabian people can be regarded as stereotype culture or society of Islam.