Islamic Culture and Politics - Essay Example

The similarities of the activities of these two groups is that they both aimed at instilling Sunnah (which are Prophet Muhammad’s living habits and sayings) and the Qur’an as the only points of reference for the ordering of life for all Muslim individuals, families, communities and nations (Mohammed 52). Activities by both groups fight for political reforms are driven by the belief in God (Allah) being their objective and the Qur’an the law. Funded by members’ contributions, who must assign a segment of their earnings to the movement, the Muslim Brotherhood in both the Arab and Western countries engages in political violence as they make Jihad their way of life.

They believe that all Islamic countries must fight oppressors and Allah’s enemies as an overture to developing strong status as Islamic nations. For example, the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt participated in violence, in the country, after the death of their founder al-Banna in 1949 for many years until they were suppressed forcibly and reemerged in 2011. However, the Muslim Brotherhood differs in its activities among the Arab and Western countries. In the Western world, the Brotherhood aims to end Western civilization from inside the countries they are present, and replace it with Islamic concepts.

For example, in Belgium, the State Security observed that, from their presence since 1982, the Brotherhood has established an undercover structure with secretive membership that operates in discretion. Their key objective is to spread Islamic ideologies in Belgium and the surrounding regions then embed and expand a conformist Islamic syndicate in Western Europe (Sageman 74). This is in contrast to their activities in the Arab world where they have been fighting to remove the already Islamic authoritarian regimes in place.

Therefore, within the Arab world, the activities usually are of a civil war nature. Examples are the recent Egyptian and Tunisian protest movements that toppled the incumbent rulers. In that sense, it can be seen that the underlying difference is that, in Arab countries, the Muslim Brotherhood fights oppression from their governments while in the Western countries, they attempt to globalize their ideologies. Question Four Jihad is an Islamic term generally used to refer to holy war. The war is termed holy because it is believed to be a struggle for the way and cause of Allah.

Both the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam believe that jihad is a religious obligation for all Muslims and have traditionally encouraged its use against non-Muslims. Both sects commonly accept two perceptions associated with jihad: that it entails a greater struggle which is an internal spiritual jihad, and a lesser struggle which is an external physical jihad. Both Sunni and Shia Muslims believe that the notion of jihad must always have an aspect of armed struggles to overcome oppression and persecution of Muslims (Sageman 92).

A more contemporary understanding of jihad by the two sects is that the struggle must aim to build a better society by the Islamic community as a collective duty. This must be done by lodging valid protests for solving religious problems, acknowledgement of divine law and forbidding wrong conduct while commanding right conduct. To this end, a striking similarity between the two sects’ understanding of jihad is the way it is linked to martyrdom. They both believe that Muslims who die in the cause of executing jihad ascend into martyrdom, which gave rise to the phenomenon of suicide