Deviation between Islamic Teachings and Practice - Admission/Application Essay Example

 The theology of Islam designates the religion established by the Holy book 'Koran' and the Prophet Muhammad to whom it was revealed through angel Gabriel. Islam, being an Arabic word that means 'submission to God's will' restricts a follower to whom we call 'Muslim' to believe and have faith in oneness of Allah, and to believe that Prophet Muhammad is the last prophet. The teachings of Islam promote universal brotherhood and to follow the fundamental practices in the form of five pillars of Islam that entails to believe in monotheism, faith in the notion that Prophet Muhammad is the last of all the Prophets, saying prayers five times a day, almsgiving, fasting in the month of Ramadan and performing a pilgrimage to Mecca (if possible depending upon the resources) once in a lifetime. Deviation between Islamic Teachings and Practice Islam being a diverse religious, has crossed many cultural boundaries where people of various regions have been influenced by its doctrines and rituals and have adapted it to their specific contexts (Bassiri, 1997, p. 43). Islam, is a religion of peace that promotes equality and justice to humanity, and unlike what it is perceived in many cultures as 'a religion of spirituality', Islam has no room for the spiritual dimension. In fact, Islam teaches discipline and a balance in worldly affairs and believes in rationality. This has been the major distinction to what Islam is and what it is perceived in many countries, particularly Islam in South Asia. Similarly, the problem also arises with the discrimination factor of the religion. Koran says, to be one nation, believe in one God and do not discriminate. This notion is never followed, because there are two main sects in this religion, 'Sunnis' and 'Shiites'. Thus, the problem between Islamic teachings and practice is that it varies according to different cultural perceptions and practice. Such variation also occurs for the reason that since Koran is in Arabic, Muslims, who are unaware of Arabic language, often make a distinction between the Koran and a translation of the Koran. This variation has always been considered normal for the main teachings that Muslims are aware of, are commonly practiced in every region and culture. However, difference lies in their interpretation, due to distinct cultures and variations in practices. Translations into the local languages of the Islamic world, are not independent books, but rather interlinear commentaries on the meaning of the text and aids to make the teachings of Islam more simpler to understand. Islam – a monotheist religion recognizes the significance of correct practice, as this is what makes people Muslims and that, for most people, correct belief rests upon correct practice (Murata & Chittick, 1994, p. 9). This study centers around how Islam entered into cultural settings, and how it is perceived and to what extent the teachings are variated in countries like United States, Britain, Middle East, India and Pakistan, along with comparisons from Christianity and Judaism. To what degree Islamic teachings as perceived in various cultural settings contrast with other and what are the ways to assess the interaction between Muslims and non-Muslims communities? Islam in the United States and Great Britain Islam in the U.S and UK reflects not only the values and particularities of indigenous cultures of the West, but also of almost all the Islamic communities of the world. By the turn of the fifteenth century, Muslims throughout the peninsula were forced to choose among the unfortunate alternatives of conversion to Christianity, emigration, or death. Many who chose the first, continued to practice their faith in secret, maintaining a hidden conclave of Islam for centuries. Others, when tried openly to rebel suffered through expulsion from the land, that some centuries earlier had been one of the few historical examples of Christian and Muslim cultural harmony (Smith, 1999, p. 51). Evidence suggests that some of those Muslims when forced to leave, managed their way to the Caribbean islands, with a few even getting as far as the southern part of the present U.S. Thereafter, American Muslims witnessed the possibility of such connections with Spanish cultures as particularly appealing to those U.S. Hispanics who got attracted by Islamic teachings. Conversion to Islam has been common in U.S. as compared to UK, for the religion appeals to many Americans as a religion that is direct, natural, straightforward, and disciplined. It is true that Malcolm X and others who came to the faith initially through movements like, the Nation of Islam felt that appeal, and it is the substance of the call to Islam made by those immigrant Muslims who believe their duty is to bring others into the Islamic fold. Through that call, and by the arrival of Muslims from virtually everywhere in the world to the shores of the U.S, Islam has come to constitute one of the three major religions in America. Many Americans, today are grasping Islam, Smith (1999) points out that along with Christianity and Judaism, Islam in America is considered as a 'Western' religion (Smith, 1999, pp. x). On the other hand, being the second largest religion in the UK, Islam refers to a body of principles upon which are founded on faith, practice and ethics. Muslims in Britain are connected to the state, and also possess political representation in the government affairs, but feel somewhat marginalized from the mainstream society. American Muslims, due to the pressures they bear in the beginning of advent of Islam, though feel disoriented from the state but are quite integrated in the multicultural American society. European Muslims benefit from state as the state accepts and welcomes them, while American Muslims have indulged themselves into the multicultural religious tolerance, which has given them an exposure to economic and educational opportunities. The way Islam is practiced in American Muslim community is the best illustration of a wide-ranging ethnic and professional mix, where there are immigrants, indigenous Americans, or converts, all are united in the unique theistic experience that is Islam. Many religious scholars believe that the growth of Islam during the early centuries of its existence was a difficult phenomenon for the Western world and it took a long time for Western Christianity to comprehend Islam. Thus, Islam developed in misunderstanding, prejudice, fear, and, even witnessed hatred on behalf of the history of encounter of the two faiths, Christianity and Judaism. Today, this legacy, along with current fears and concerns about supposed 'Islamic extremism', has formed part of the context in which to understand the experience of Muslims in what has been a mainly Christian America, is difficult. Though Islam is an Abrahamic faith that has its roots in Judaism and Christianity, it is usually seen as threatening both Judeo-Christian values. Islam has never been a threat to Christianity and Judaism, because of the commonalities it shares with Judaism and Christianity. Both these religions are monotheist, and so is Islam, both are Abrahamic religions, and whatever Judaism and Christianity allows, Islam only enhances and reshapes. It would be better to say that Islam has modified what Judaism and Christianity has followed, while respecting the dignity of these religions. Thus, we can say that Islam is the enhanced form of belief, which acknowledges all the prophets before Prophet Muhammad and Islamic teachings entails that a Muslim must believe in all the prophets and all the Holy books revealed upon these prophets, who came prior to Prophet Muhammad. American Muslims are concerned over the education of members of the community, stretching from conversations about Islamic parochial education for children, to mosque instruction and to forms of continuing adult education. While considering the true significance of the acquisition of knowledge, American Muslims are simple to acquire religion and despite not being well versed in Arabic, consider Islamic teachings vital to a nation's progress. They refer frequently to the Prophet's affirmation that every Muslim attain as much knowledge as possible, even if one must go as far as China to get it. Mostly Muslim scholars are from U.S. who consider that better training and education for youth in history, science and technology will allow them to find personal and professional success. Non-Muslims inspired by Islam even find clues through research on the Holy Koran, and find that it is the religion of modernity and is closest to nature. In order to understand the true picture that Islam chooses for a society, the study of Arabic is strongly encouraged whenever possible. Muslim community being a legitimate part of the American religious scene respects American churches, while expecting the same attitude from the members of the church, which are called upon to associate with the Muslim community in the same way they associate with other religious communities and bodies, even other Christian bodies. The primary assumption in maintaining good relations is that Christians and Muslims need to develop a common life together rather than reproduce in America the historical tragedies of past associations. Islam in the Middle East Islam to its most original form is present in the Arab world and since Koran is in their native language, it is followed according to the actual teachings. This is another reason for why crime in the Middle East is minimal as compared to other regions of the world, because they follow the doctrines and rules as exactly laid down in Koran. However, some distinction is there, as far as the Muslim sects are concerned. The 1967 Arab defeat by the Israelis spurred the resurrection of various Islamic movements and ideologies in the Arab world. In the non-Arab world, however, it was only after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran that Islam became a vibrant political ideology that posed serious challenges to the political survival of the area's secular regimes (Monshipouri, 1998, p. 2). Islamic movements in the Middle Eastern region have outmaneuver nationalist and leftist secularists using a platform of equality, social justice, and cultural autonomy and even for the Islamic sects, countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE never consider Shiites among Muslims (Shiites belong to Iran and Iraq). However, in the West and South Asia, Shiites are considered among Muslims. Some Islamic groups' radical actions and ideologies, however, have alienated reform-minded secular nationalists and have consequently delayed the incremental economic and political reforms promised by existing secular governments (ibid). Today, a variety of Islamic views exists in context with the socioeconomic and political structures within which those views are formed are rather different. Contemporary Islam is based upon some bifurcations, those that lead to orthodox or conservative practices and those leading to modern Islamic foundations. A failure to distinguish between orthodox and modern Islamic thinking produces distortions of and generalizations about perspectives within the Islamic world. This distinction is necessary for understanding the basic religious and philosophical assumptions underlying Islamic civilization and its evolution, as well as for answering many important concerns that reflect the true Islamic conceptions of the state, society, and the individual dynamic. There is a western concern over Muslims responding to secular intellectual and modernizing pressures to redefine the cultural codex, both within the context of contemporary Islam and in relation to existing civil and cultural declarations. Modern Islam is followed in Turkey, where this religion has remained an integral part of a highly politicized secularization process. Turkish secularization of law and education, as well as of state control of religious endowments, seriously undermined the authority and power of the 'ulama' who had long enjoyed unique positions as judges, legal experts, advisers, educators, and administrators of religious endowments. The net result of Turkey's secularization has, therefore, emerged as the disestablishment of the two major wings of the religious establishment, the 'ulama' and 'Sufism', which though played a vital role in spreading Islam, but what findings reveal is that Sufism brought profligacy to Islam, which later became one of the reasons for 'reshaping' the religion in the subcontinent. Islam in the Sub-continent: India and Pakistan Islam in South Asia arrived in the form of two movements, first came from what is now Iraq and the second came from Central Asia and created a Muslim control which remained until 1750 (Esposito, 1987, p. 53). Hindus and Muslims before partition constituted two separate sociocultural systems living side by side in each town and village, but compromising with each other, since they both were entirely different in religion and were often found in a state of violent confrontation. Two significant matters escort us to the period of Muslim rule in the subcontinent essential to any understanding of the genesis of Pakistan and the place of Islam within it. It was at this time Islam was 'restructured' in order to built a new but similar religion in the old name of Islam. This was done by re-establishing a synthetic state religion made by the Mogul emperor, Akbar and the reaction it produced was toward an uncompromising Muslim politico-legal system in the traditional form of Sunni Islam of the 'Hanafi' sect, later escorted by the last major Moghul emperor, Aurangzeb (Esposito, 1987, p. 54). The collateral effect of such 'restructuring' of religion resulted in alienation of the feudatory Shiite principalities in the south, which later followed Hindu revolts. Since this 'new Islam' adopted some core culture and practices from Hinduism, under the reign of Akbar, the traditional Muslim thought changed, and remain even after the creation of Pakistan. This 'restructuring' in religion was done in order to make the then Hindus of the subcontinent contended, which later transformed the religion in India as well as Pakistan. This transformation envisioned a new theology of spirituality among the sub-continent Muslims. Today, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, has adopted the core Islamic principles, but the majority practices what their ancestors have learned from the 'new religion' originated by Akbar. The restructuring also amalgamated the concepts of Sufism, which Islam never advised. But majority of population in India and Pakistan practices and follow Sufism. One reason for such diversified Islamic culture in India and Pakistan is that since they have been living together for centuries, both have incorporated each other's religion to the extent where some rituals and traditions have been common among the Muslims of the two countries. Today, for the Muslim world the increasing demands of modernity have posed serious questions about how to express their faith, when Muslim societies are undergoing a process of rapid change under modernism. This has also led the Muslim world in the confusion as to what behavior they adopt while dealing with the Western world. Muslims have their own fears, threats and weaknesses which keeps on enhancing by the passage of time, and questions them under such secular and modernism, to what extent their religion will defend them. Because of the fact that today Muslims have been divided into sects and casts, and has ceased to adopt the teachings of Koran, they are diversified and escorted by threats. It would be better to say that the failure of most Muslim states to guarantee the fundamental rights of their citizens and to meet their basic needs has led to widespread disillusionment with the promises of nationalism and secularism as means for progress and prosperity (Sikand, 2004, p. 1). Muslims fear further discrimination, which reveals in the way they conduct their business and personal dealings with the non-Muslim world. Middle Eastern Muslims, since they are more coercive as compared to other Muslim regions, show respect for the Western non-Muslim communities. Whereas, South-Asians' attitude towards non-Muslims is somewhat abrasive, because they are the ones far away from Islamic practices and teachings. References Bassiri Kambiz Ghanea, (1997) Competing Visions of Islam in the United States: A Study of Los Angeles: Greenwood Press: Westport, CT. Esposito L. John, (1987) Islam in Asia: Religion, Politics, and Society: Oxford University Press: New York. Monshipouri Mahmood, (1998) Islamism, Secularism and Human Rights in the Middle East: Lynne Rienner: Boulder, CO. Murata Sachiko & Chittick C. William, (1994) The Vision of Islam: Paragon House: St. Paul, MN. Sikand Yoginder, (2004) Muslims in India since 1947: Islamic Perspectives on Inter- Faith Relations: RoutledgeCurzon: New York. Smith I. Jane, (1999) Islam in America: Columbia University Press: New York. Read More