Research Paper on "Islam and Controversial Issues"

Research Paper 7 pages (2289 words) Sources: 7 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Islamic Culture Viewed by Americans

Controversial and Sensitive Issues in the Islamic World

Religion can be considered as a controversial topic to be discussed amongst individuals due to the fact that every person feels ethnocentric about his own faith. For some people, religion holds a great significance as it creates a pathway to how their future life will be shaped. Within United State, there exist more than 300 religions and denominations (Wallace, 2013). The rate of diversity among religious group is increasing due to the increased number of people joining their religious group. Islam, which is the third largest religion prevailing in the world is also causing highly controversial issues because of the negative assumptions and misunderstandings about its morals, beliefs and values. Islam, when discussed as a reference to the issue of 9/11, the topic gets more sensitive, which also results in biased notions from individuals about Islam. To establish a general and non-biased notion about Islam faith, one must properly study the basics of the religion. This paper will discover the basic principles as well as fundamental Islamic beliefs, how this religion has been deduced differently, and also compare and contrast the distinction amid the teachings of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

There are different beliefs about the origination of Islam. According to the Prophet's belief, Islam had been originated through Prophet Mohamed (Ibrahim, 2000) in 610 AD. Prophecy was gifted to him during his angelic encounter with an angel named Gabriel. Prophet Mohammed is believed to be the last messenger of god. He was to have grip over all the teachings through Gabriel in order to know the God message and also follow the teachings in the QURAN, holy book) for Muslims (Ibrahim, 2000) the God's believer have a belief that Islam was originated years before prophet Mohammad, and that God is almighty and creator of the universe. God's views initiated Islam and his scriptures and saying were to be read and understood in order to know the proper way to worship him. Name of "Allah" is not specifically used by Muslims only but it is an Arabic term which is used to reference the God of Muslims. Followers of Islam lead their lives according to the will of almighty Allah (Ali, Liu & Humedian, 2004). There happen to be no priests, fathers or holy men with special powers by God, but in Islam there are advisors who have knowledge and study Islam deeply. Their primary responsibility is to spread Islam and the teachings or truth about Islam.

The journey of spreading Islam was begun by Prophet Mohammed very quietly and at first he preached Islam only to his family members as well as close friends. After some time, Gabriel asked him to start the preaching of Islam and announce the prayers publicly in Mecca. He then preached Islam publicly and pursued people to convert to Islam. Mecca is considered as the holy place for Muslims as it's also the birthplace of Muhammad and a place where Quran was created (Ezzati, 2002). Number of groups and tribes increased with the growing number of followers. Mohammad belonged to Qurraysh tribe (Arnold, 2001), which was the most powerful tribe of Mecca. Soon after his journey began, Mohammed's wife and uncle passed away and the new heads of the tribe withdrew his protection. They asked him to move Islam from Mecca to Medina. This movement stirred a tension amid Medina and Mecca which lead to the war (Ezzati, 2002). Many Soldiers fighting this battle from both the sides were Muslims and they eventually spread their religion during the battle. Such circumstances made the beliefs of Islam spread in other countries. Mohammed decided to convert all the Arabs to Islam after there was a peace among them. After the death of Prophet Mohammed, Muslims decided to devote themselves towards Islam and its preaching in North and north-east. In present day, Islam as a religion has spread all over the world and has more than billion Muslim followers (Ali, Liu & Humedian, 2004).

With the passing time, the basic values and core of Mohammed's belief and Islamic teachings remain the same but after years of preaching and spread of Islam, the practiced religion has been understood differently within different cultures and countries. The idea of developing national identity on the basis of religion caused divisions amid the Muslim communities worldwide. Studies have been conducted to evaluate these differences among countries of USA, India, Asia, Pakistan as well as the Middle East (PEW, 2012). Middle East, where Muslims reside is considered to be the "main land" or the "beginning of Islam" and these Muslim totally devote their lives to the teachings of Quran, they practice the five pillars of Islam and prefer to live in peace. It is one of the sensitive issues that stereotypes are built by some individuals that these Muslims have connection with 9/11's terrorist attacks and consider all Muslims to be terrorist. This one sensitive issue needs to be sorted to avoid negative misconceptions.

Soon after the battle between Makkah and Medina, Southeast Asia developed firmly with the practices of Islam. Countries of sub-continent like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh possess the largest number of Muslims community members (Schubel, 2005). Shariah, the Islamic law connects Muslims subsequently with each other with no regard to culture and nationality boundaries. Common practices of Shariah like prayers and fasting are disciplined and practiced amongst Asian Muslims but some of the other practices are taken as punitive. There is currently a controversial issue about the religious practices related to women laws and criminal punishment. Within India, Muslims have been considered to be in minority and they possess diverse belief regarding economic and political conditions (Saleem & Zaman, 1993). Growth of Hindu nationalism, political changes and diverse belief made India become marginalized and alienated. India is still struggling to be in spot light within Islamic world. The practice of Islam is taking its rise in United States which is leading to the growth of most diverse community within the world. Most of the Muslims of America are considered to be liberal and their religious practices also vary with their attendance. They tend to agree with values like the freedom of speaking, co-education or divorces without believing in criminal punishments. Countries mentioned in PEW's (2012) survey are all those countries that have the followers of Islam, and religion is very important for people residing there and Islam has an impact on their reputation in this world.

Islam and Christianity are two of the largest religions followed within United States. But the differences can easily be seen between these two religions. For example, Islam is studied on Friday while the Christianity is studied on Sunday. There is one God in both the religion and the followers believe that God is the only creator of this universe (Slink, 2007). Followers of these religions believe in the teachings and values from their prophets but despite this fact of similarity, there are some theories on which both the religion disagree. According to Islam, Jesus did not die on the cross but only God created an illusion in people's eyes (Razwy & Ali, 2009). Jesus was sent by God as his messenger (Slink, 2007). but, Christians believe that God is the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. Expression of values and beliefs regarding family and education by Christians and Muslims is similar yet it is different. Muslim is allowed to have four marriages while Christian is bound to love only one wife just like God's love towards the church (Masood, 2012). If a follower of Islam becomes a traitor and converts to other faith, then there is a punishment but in Christianity there is no such punishment and wrong acts are only judged by the God. In both the religions, Children are stimulated to attend school till college level, there is a respect between men and women, their work and household chores and there is a punishment for broken rules (Rizvi, 1993). In both the religions, gay marriages and abortions are not allowed. Education, gender role play and rule and regulation are the three similar views believed profoundly within Islam and Christianity.

There exist some common beliefs, religious outlook and common practices between Judaism and Islam. Judaism believes in the singularity of God, However, Christians take god as a father, a son and the Holy Spirit. The Torah, a Jewish written law has scriptures which has similarity with the teachings of Islam (Zimmerman, 2006). According to the biblical stories, Moses rose to heaven to salvage the Torah from angels and thus he became Jews' prophet. Moses is one of the important prophets and messengers of Islam and his name is mentioned in Quran the most. After the widespread of Islam, there were many variations about the beliefs and values. In Judaism, all

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