Progressive Islam and Environmental - Research Paper Example

? Progressive Islam and Environmental Insert Insert Grade Insert Progressive Islam and Environmental Introduction Progressive Islam seeks to make Islamic religion more accommodative to all. Every religion has its roots and Islam is not an exception. Islam came about from a society that had its traditions, its geography, and history. Most of the Muslims who adopted the sheri’ah law to the fullest were most often perceived as being religious extremists and non accommodative. Any change in Islamic region has often been resisted because it was seen as bringing about western values into the religion. However, with globalization there is need for inter-religious interaction. This necessitates for religions being more accommodative to other religions. This is why many organizations have come about to bring about progress in Islam. This is aimed at making the religion more flexible and only to be based on Islam values and not on strict and rigid rules. This paper discusses the progressive Islam and the environment in which it operates. History of Islam It is first important to look at the history of Islam in order to discover the need for progressive Islam. By the end of the section you will discover that Islam in itself was not such a strict and rigid religion. The pre-Islamic Arab society was made up of unbelievers. There was need for change at social and political and moral and spiritual level. The need for change at moral and spiritual level met greater resistance than need for change at social and political level. This is because the Meccan Society was spiritually and morally stagnant. The spiritual and moral values kept going down. The tribes in the society carried out trade, which brought profits and great wealth. The wealth was concentrated in the few which led them to neglect others. There were all sorts of Idol worship and superstitions in the society. This sort of spiritual degradation was common among the Meccan Arabs. Their customs and traditions became an obstacle to change. Examples of this included burying girl child alive, maltreatment of women and sexual immorality. During this time there were no teachings or writings that could guide the society. The society worshipped the ancestors. There was great religious vacuum in the society. The religion that was around the Arabs was Christianity which they were unwilling to accept because it was associated with Roman dictatorship, which they were against. They argued that accepting Christianity was like losing their independence. The gap between the rich and the poor began causing tensions among the Meccan society. This led to the rise of Qur’an teachings. The teachings responded to these tensions by stressing on knowledge, justice by redistributing wealth in the society and spiritual and moral uplift. This was to solve most of the problems in the Meccan Society. As it can be seen, Islam arose not only as a movement for change but also as a moral and spiritual force. Its insistence on knowledge, social justice, spiritual and moral justice makes the religion inherently progressive. Islam taken from its origin does not need advocating for progressiveness. It responded to moral spiritual and social needs of all. The Qur’an teachings are sympathetic to the weak in the society and gives equal rights to women as men in the society. The Qur’an gives out the rights of women in marriage and inheritance of property and states that women should be given equal dignity. For this religion to be progressive it must accept the gender equality. The progressive aspects of Islam were lost. The pre-Islamic traditions were not abandoned even after embracing Islam. The poor attitude towards women remained. The people even attempted to interpret the Qur’an together with their traditional believes. This led them to develop their own rules alongside the Qur’an. These laws were known as Sheri’ah. Some of these laws went against the teachings of Qur’an. Take for example allowing triple divorce which was a condemned pre-Islamic practice. This practice denies the women of their dignity and takes this society to the pre-Islamic era. In order to progress from this tradition it is important to move from Sheri’ah based Islam and stick to Qur’an based Islam which is universal and accommodative. Sheri’ah based Islam is conservative and rigid to change. It is quite unfortunate that Muslims have embraced the Sheria’ah based Islam instead of the values on which Muslim is founded on. There is no law that is permanent, it is only the values on which these laws are built can be said to be permanent. It is tragic that Muslims treat Sheriah law as divine and not the principles on which it is built. These principles are given out in the Qur’an which is the holy book hence the principles are divine. Sheri’ah Laws are written by man, it is how man understood divine intentions at that time. Circumstances have changed and hence the need for change in the human understanding. This calls for change of laws. In the modern day Islamic religion faces challenges especially in terms of respect for all genders. Sheri’ah law cannot help solve these challenges. It is necessary for changes to be made on these laws. The laws should be based on the teachings of Qur’an and respect the true values of Islam. The Muslim extremists who resist change are not protecting the divinity of Sheriah Law but their own power. For Islam to be progressive, it is important to uphold the sanctity of Qur’an rather than sanctity of Sheri’ah Laws (Ali, 2004). As it can be seen, Islam was a progressive religion but it is the human beings that have made it stagnant. However, several attempts have been made to bring Islam back to track. The succeeding section discusses the various environments in which Islam progressiveness have been at work. Progressive Islam and Environmental In the global world there are many challenges and religious identity plays an important role. There is often an association of Islam with terrorism in the west world. The west also considers Islam as a backward religion and unsuitable for modernization and progress. The Muslim world has also strongly resisted the US foreign policy; this has been common among the Muslim extremists who stick to the old laws. This resentment of the west is what has made the Muslim to be blamed for all the terrorists’ acts that have been committed against the West. The extremists also consider the western music unethical and going against the religious values. This has been the greatest challenges of co-existence between the west and the Muslims. This has been also a challenge because any reforms in the Muslim religion have been resisted if it is associated with the west. In fact, the process of change began in the Muslim world began in the 19th century when the Muslims came in contact with colonial rule. The colonial rulers tried to impart their values on the Muslims. They discouraged practices they felt were against the social norms. However, the Muslim extremism culture has been very hard to do away with. Even the educated Muslims have stuck to the old traditions that are conservative and non-accommodative. The greater sense of independency among the Muslims has made it very hard to accommodate the values of other cultures. Some Muslim countries have retained the Sheikhs, Kings, and military dictators that have prevented democracy. The scholars have blamed the lack of democracy on the Islamic teachings. This lack of democracy has also made it hard to bring about social change in such societies. The extremists support such dictatorial regimes because they take care of their interests. This makes it hard for intellectuals to classify Islam as a progressive religion. There is also the issue of modernization. Many people are now using computers, electronic communication, and the internet. This is seen as to provide knowledge to the Muslim about other cultures and make them to know how to live with them. This is also meant to make them come out of their rigid cultures and embrace change. This worked in some societies; however in some extremists’ Muslim culture these modernizations have been resisted. The oil rich Middle East countries usually use electronic and industrial goods, but are not willing to introduce industrial revolution in their countries. The societies remain feudal and they are mainly Muslim. The education system remains stagnant. For example, in Arab world education system remains geared towards Islam. Education is mainly the source of knowledge and if education is unresponsive to change, then the hope for change may be unforthcoming. Several authors have noted that the education syllabuses in Arab countries do not tolerate other religions and some do not even accommodate even other Muslim sects. The question is if the education system is so conservative, can it impart new ideas or lead to social change? Reforms in the education would be essential to bring about progressive change in Islam world. Some of the countries have started to effect changes in their education systems. However, due to the nature of the Islamic culture these changes have been somehow slow. The best thing is that some of the Muslim students have gone to study in other countries where they have learned other cultures. By so doing they have been able to embrace change which is key in “progressive”. We have a good number of Muslim students in the western colleges. The old Muslim traditions were so strong that they are main hindrance to change. Take for instance a developed country like Malaysia, this country was mainly inhabited by the Malays who were mainly Muslim. The old Islamic traditions have been practiced by the Malay until recently. This has deterred development in Malaysia, this is because the Malay were conservative and extremists Muslims. This identity led the Malay to be backward compared to the Chinese and Indians. This clearly shows how adopting conservative Islam culture can work against development. This can be solved by progressive Islam that is not rigid and only looks at values of Islam and not restrictive laws. Another case is that of Algeria and Turkey. These countries have been ruled by Islamic dictatorial regimes. They were ruled according to the strict Islamic rules. However, these countries are now modernizing and coming out of the conservative nature. The modernization has also met challenges because it was met with resistance. Kamak Ataturk had to force his people to accept westernization. The people were compelled to accept the westernization and when given an opportunity they resorted back to their Muslim culture. Military still holds power in Turkey and one is not allowed to assert his religious identity. This shows that the country is still ruled by religious Islam fundamental. In Algeria it first adopted socialism during Ben Bella’s time. The military overthrew him and introduced secularism in place of socialism. The citizens of Algeria continued to be greatly religious, when elections were carried out in 1990 the Islamic forces won. The military did not allow them take power and violence broke out. In Iran during the Shah’s regime, he imposed western culture and modernization using his power. He abolished the wearing of veil and made it compulsory for women to wear miniskirts and western dress. However, this was not taken softly by Muslim extremists, his regime was overthrown. In Afghanstan, King Amanullah attempted also to introduce the western culture during the thirties; this led him to be forced out of his thrown (Kazimee, 2012). From the above it can be seen that modernization cannot be influenced by the government. It is a step by step process that takes a long period to come by. Trying to effect radical changes might lead to opposition. This is because in the Islamic world may be taken to be working for the west forces. The process of change here is very slow. The intellectuals expect the governments to effect the change; however, those governments that attempt to introduce new values have been rejected and consequently overthrown. It is surprising to see some of the countries that are modernized in the Islam world still being ruled by dictators. Another surprising fact is that some scholars even though, have been educated in the western system of education but still stick to the conservative nature of Islam. The question is that is progressive Muslim possible in the current environment? To me it is possible despite the conservative nature of the religion. This is because there have been revolutions in the Muslim world that have overthrew dictatorial regimes. Examples of this are Tunisia and Egypt. It is these dictators that have compelled their people to practice orthodox Islam. Their overthrowing shows that the people in the Muslim world are determine to change. The students in the Arab world are now pursuing western syllabuses both at home and abroad. This shows that progressive is possible. Conclusion From the foregoing discussion it can be seen that Islam in its foundation was not a non- progressive religion. It was the introduction of human rules that led people to start calling for progressive Islam. There is a need for Muslims to embrace change because the world is turning into a global village. No people can stand alone, we all need each other. Reference List Ali, A. (2004). Is Progressive Islam Possible? Retrieved from http://www.futureislam.com/20060111/leaders/asgar_ali/Is_Progressive_Islam_Possible.asp Kazimee, A. B. Ed. (2012). Heritage and Sustainability in the Islamic Built Environment. USA: Washington State University Read More