The Salient Issues in Understanding Islam and Christianity in the Twenty-first Century - Essay Example

11 December The salient issues in understanding Islam and Christianity in the twenty-first century: The way religions are understood in the present contemporary world is a far cry from the way they used to be perceived in the past. Many factors underlie this transformation in the way religions are interpreted around the globe. These factors include, but are not limited to, culture, media, modernity, terrorism etc. While in the past people used to turn to their religions to solve all their problems, today there is a mix of public attitudes towards religion. This difference in public attitudes is because very few presently properly understand the actual message conveyed by myriad religions. Majority is oblivious to what constitutes the bedrock of most important religions like Islam and Christianity. Some of the most salient reasons explaining what obstacles are encountered by people in thorough understanding of Islam and Christianity will be scrutinized in this essay. The purpose of the following discussion is to explore the major issues faced in the 21st century by both Muslims and Christians. Many misconceptions serve to extend the distance between Muslims and Christians due to which good understanding of these major religions is critically important. Understanding the true spirit of Islam is important. But, there is a variety of stereotypes associated with this religion which convey misleading information. These stereotypes need to be identified and corrected because they mislead both Muslims and Christians. The sacred book of Islam, the Qur’an, can help to solve many problems which are faced by Muslims today (Siddiqui 20). This is because many Muslims are religiously quite ignorant despite being highly literate in other areas. When they are approached by non-Muslims for clarification of disturbing and notorious ideas targeting Islam, they have no convincing explanation to offer. This reinforces the doubts and biases in the hearts of non-Muslims and contributes to uncertainty enveloping Islam. Unfortunately, the most influential media groups have decided to tarnish the reputation of Islam by glorifying a few incidents of terrorism and adamantly ignoring many peaceful efforts made by Islamic scholars. Muslims, at large, are portrayed as terrorists who pose potential threat to global peace. This lack of understanding has created many problems for millions of Muslims living in the Western world. Muslim minorities living in the West are confronted with more disturbing issues compared to other Muslims living in Muslim countries. This is the kind of subject which has not become less grave over time, but continues to attract considerable attention throughout the world. It is worth mentioning here that Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world and the number of Muslims continues to drastically increase every year. A particularly high surge in the number of Muslims is noticed in the Western world presently. Still, Islam is one of the most poorly understood religions in the world. This is because the Western media has largely stuck to quite a prejudiced and controversial approach in portraying Muslims. This pattern proves to be very negative both for Islam and Muslims as it only serves to aggravate the already devastated conditions faced by giant masses of innocent Muslims living in the Western countries. In his book “Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World”, Carl Ernst offers explanation for many issues faced by people today in understanding Islam. He not only explores myriad man-made misconceptions plaguing Islam, but also discusses the forces active behind these misconceptions to explicate how they operate, tarnish the bond connecting over one billion of Muslims with the West, and harm global peace. It is stressed that every stereotypical image of Islam promoted to reinforce negative feelings about this religion has political approval too due to which it is maintained that “every claim about religion needs to be examined critically for its political implications” (Ernst 1008). This is why it is critically important to rethink Islam by developing acute familiarity with the Qur’an. There are many flawed media reports very popular currently which lack concrete proof and decorate same old propaganda created by extremist scholars. It is due to evil intentions of such extremist scholars that a growing body of book collection can be found in the stores today filled with horrific conspiracies against Islam. These books talk at length about terrorism and violence spread by Islam. This is why understanding of Islam is impossible without rethinking it according to modern trends and without getting distracted by a collection of terroristic plots built by enemies of this religion. It is due to lack of awareness regarding this religion and its followers that for many non-Muslims today, it has become a very controversial topic on nearly every level. This makes renewed understanding of many different religious concepts in accordance with contemporary trends all the more essential. Not being able to understand the text of Qur’an is a huge issue in the way of understanding Islam due to which it is a big responsibility of all Muslims to project the right message to the world. Research also suggests that it is important to make the Qur’anic text “relevant to the modern world” (Abu-Rabi 197). It is only then that all modern extremists who are behind twisting and distorting Islamic symbols can be fully exposed. These extremists, who do not want Islam to be properly understood, take advantage of the freedom of speech and abuse it to advance their satanic interests. It is a grave yet established reality that in the modern times instead of developing an understanding or tolerance for Islam, more and more people are losing their patience with it and other religions believing them to be the source of problems encountered by humanity today. These people are tired of listening to animated critics arguing among themselves on whose religion is better than whom. They do not care much about what is the reality of each major religion in this age of materialism, let alone showing an interest in understanding them. Even the Western countries today cannot be strictly called Christian countries because majority there is composed of secular people leaning towards atheistic or agnostic ideologies. It is not just following the event of 9/11, but long before that Muslims in the Western countries have remained victims of aggression due to Islam being a poorly understood religion. Unreasonably perceiving other religions and their followers as definite enemies without giving them a chance is a wrong approach. But, this approach is has a preponderant effect on the Western society. It is due to this approach that there is poor understanding of Islam in the present age. This lack of knowledge compels non-Muslims to believe that all Muslims are terrorists. Like Islam, many issues are confronted by the religion Christianity and its followers too in the 21st century. This is because the modern culture is a world apart from the culture of the past. As mentioned already, today people find religions boring particularly in the Western world and abstain from engaging in religious discussions that could help them in understanding Christianity or any other religion. The principal issue faced by Christianity today is that its own followers do not want to understand their religion. Unlike most Muslims who have at least once in their lives gone through the entire Qur’an and are also practicing to a great extent, most Christians today in the US and European countries have never once opened the Bible. It is suggested that many today are Christians in name only and do “not possess its substance or its power” (Ryle). A vast percentage of Christian community in the modern age is seen spending their lives in stark opposition to the biblical teachings. This is because they do not know what messages are conveyed by the Bible. When understanding even their own religion has long stopped being a priority, why would most Christians care about familiarizing themselves with Islam? While many advantages are offered by modernity, it has also introduced many disadvantages. It is claimed that “the modernity is tied to increasing difficulties in preaching Christianity” (Ziebertz and Bucher 9). This is because people have become so preoccupied with work to surpass each other financially that religion has become an obscured entity which no one wants to explore. More and more people, particularly the youth, are becoming detached from their own religion. It is due to least religious commitment that in Europe and America “Christian religion is losing its dominant role” (Ziebertz and Bucher 7). Reluctance of many Christians to invest time in understanding their religion is a major obstacle. It has become a trend in the Western countries for many people to identify themselves as nonbelievers which is quite unfortunate and threatening. The modern culture is such that it is considered stylish to describe oneself as nonreligious. Another major problem is that in contrast to millions of Muslims scattered around the world who despite their personal differences agree on same Islamic points, so many Christians today are arguing among themselves because they believe their individual concepts of the Bible to be true. There is not one concept and not one way by which Christians interpret their holy book or their religion. On the other hand, Christianity is open to multiple interpretations on a perceptual level which works to reinforce ambiguousness enveloping this religion. Many followers of this religion in positions of authority are preaching wrong explanations of important biblical concepts. The modern day churches preach very little about what is the true spirit of Christianity. This worrisome situation is made more emphatic by the fact that even Christians themselves do not care about the truth regarding their religion. They are unable to project the reality of their religion to the world at large because they are themselves ignorant instead of abiding by the obligation to promote a positive image about Christianity. The context of the Christian religion is rapidly changing which is quite challenging for stability of this faith and also does not let the world properly understand it. To cap the matters, Christian practices are declining in many parts of the Western countries. Research also stresses that Christian affiliation is “declining in the Western world” (Frame 306). It is true that despite this decline, Christianity has the largest number of followers. But, this factor does not help in promoting the real spirit of Christianity because despite a large number of followers, very few are acutely aware of the real biblical teachings. Even fewer are aware that Christianity is losing importance because taking interest in their religion is not a part of their priorities. Increasing diversity is also a major factor which creates hurdles in truly understanding Christianity. This is because diversity has caused blending of Christian expressions with new cultures which interferes with the identity of Christianity as a separate faith. This explains why Christians need to stick to one kind of faith to maintain their separate identity in a highly diverse cultural environment. If they get acquainted with their religion and appreciate what is really tried to be promoted by their prophet, they will realize that Christianity like Islam is a faith of tolerance and strongly preaches against believing in myths and stereotypes. This practice of taking interest in their respective faiths will help both Muslims and Christians to come closer to one another and much chaos in the world will be dispelled consequently. In conclusion, it is highly important that Muslims properly understand their own religion to assist others in developing positive attitudes about it. This is the only way by which the wrong tendency of the media can be exposed which is to be blamed for marginalization of Muslims in the West. The need of the time is to understand Islam by rethinking it to prevent Muslims and this religion from becoming sorry victims of scandalous propaganda. Likewise, it is religious detachment which compels Christians to fall for petty lies spread by media forces because in their ignorance they do not know how bad the practice of victimizing someone unreasonably is. Just like Muslims should conscientiously dig into their holy book to promote a positive image of Islam, Christians should also invest time in exploring their holy scriptures to dispel flawed and stereotypical notions about their faith. Works cited: Abu-Rabi, Ibrahim M. Intellectual Origins of Islamic Resurgence in the Modern Arab World. USA: SUNY Press, 1996. Print. Ernst, Carl. Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World. USA: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Print. Frame, Tom. Losing My Religion: Unbelief in Australia. ReadHowYouWant.com, 2010. Print. Ryle, John C. Practical Religion: Being Plain Papers on the Daily Duties, Experience, Dangers and Privileges of Professing Christians. Library of Alexandria, n.d. Print. Siddiqui, Mona. How to Read the Qur’an. London: Norton & Company, 2008. Print. Ziebertz, Hans-Georg, and Bucher, Anton. Religious Individualization and Christian Religious Semantics. London: LIT Verlag Münster, 2001. Print. Read More