...PCD vs. Muslim Culture One thing America prides itself on is the freedom it allows its citizens, men and women; the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of choice—the freedom to live. As we have learned through media and even through school, there are cultures that don’t allow the same freedom and opportunity. In my project, I want to discuss gender roles, sexuality and the ways it could affect an individual’s life. In this specific video that I chose, these women are overtly sexy, they appear confident and their words are not words that an oppressive man would approve of, I’m sure. I don’t believe that these ladies are in full control of their actions on stage or their look; I want to see what affects the performance could have on not only American viewers, but Muslim viewers, as well as the performers, themselves. The Pussycat Dolls famous record “Don’t Cha” includes words that could be considered all kinds of things; they could definitely be considered unladylike if put in the wrong hands. In today’s society, women have a different kind of power that some cultures- -and simply some men- -are not accustomed to. “Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me? Don't cha? Don't cha? Don't cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me? Don't cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me? Don't cha? Don't cha?” (Pussycat Dolls) How many guys really like a woman that is that direct and forward? I am fully aware that this...
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... Contending for Islam The rapid spread of secular culture and the intensification of interloping of the west into the Islamic nations in the past prompt hyped debates among affected Muslims. Muslims are in a dilemma on the principals and cultural values to apply and the ones that they should reject. Again, the compatibility of the western culture with the Muslim tradition is also in doubt. Tough questions whose answers remain concealed clouds Muslim traditions over time. The paper gives stout thoughts and ideas of controversies derived from the readings of several authors while supporting various facts using relevant literature sources. It identifies how the authors use history to pass their arguments and the historical context of their appeals. Specifically, the paper will draw its points from the articles titled, Political Islam, Progressive Islam, and Abandoning Islam. Political Islam The document clearly uses history to deliver his message to his audiences strongly. Ayatollah's article is a typical representation of thoughts that fit in the historical time. The document's message refers to a time when the Islamic revolution had just ended in Iran to create a government that was purely Islamic. The author uses historical issues that foster his points further. His reference to the lifestyle of the western people in the past clearly assists in embedding his message to his Muslim brothers. Strayer claims in the last paragraph that, “Western missionaries...
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...view is in many ways far more vital to the true history. Early Islam was a powerful force in Europe that revived old and created new cities. As the Muslims moved into a Spain under the Visigoths, they took control in a swift and fairly bloodless invasion in 711 and even reached as far as southern France by 719. The ruling Umayyad family in Muslim Spain, al-Andalus, was slaughtered and all but one had died out by the year 1031. The Muslim faithful stayed in the al-Andalus area and in the eleventh century Europe saw a large number of Muslim converts bringing a new and highly advanced Islamic culture to Europe. The main city of Cordoba was the headquarters of all things “high-tech”. Cordoba had grand mosques, libraries, hospitals, paved streets, street lamps, schools, homes with running water, all things that cities like London and Paris would not see for another 700 years. Some of the early Muslims in Cordoba pioneered medicine with pharmacology along with astronomy and philosophy. Most notably a philosopher/astronomer named Averroes whose translation of Aristotle from Greek to Arabic to Latin shocked the world at the time. As time went on the Muslim rule weakened and the Christians in the north took advantage. They launched a re-conquest of southern Spain from the Muslims; by 1013 they had taken the city of Cordoba. Muslim rule was weak and split into smaller states that were not only fighting the Christian force but also fighting within themselves and the aristocracy. The...
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...Culturally Competent Group Paper: Muslim Americans Culturally Competent Paper: Muslim Americans American Muslims are a growing minority group that share a religious identity, but are ethnically and racially diverse. In the United States, the largest ethnic groups that identify as Muslim include US born African Americans, immigrants from South Asia, and immigrants from the Middle East (Padela & Curlin, 2013). Despite the ethnic diversity within Muslim Americans, Padela and Curlin (2013) state that empirical research shows that “religions shape their adherents’ understanding of disease and illness, their health-related behaviors, their interactions with and expectations of the healthcare system, and their adherence to medical recommendations” (p. 1334). Thus, in order to provide culturally competent care to patients that practice Islam, nurses must have an understanding of the Muslim patient’s religious practices and influences. Muslims believe in the integration of daily prayer, spiritual medicine practices, and reading of the Qur’an, the religious text of Islam, with modern medical treatment. Therefore, healthcare beliefs are informed by their religious views and practices. Health is essential to Muslims because their faith compels them to maintain optimal health by practicing everything in moderation such as praying, exercising, working, and eating. On the other hand, illness can be indicative of penance of sin or a test of a Muslim’s faith. When illness...
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...Australian culture. Rintoul (2012) reported in the article that there was support from leaders of multiple faiths in Victoria to install prayer rooms in Australian Rules Football (AFL) venues. However, a former Victorian premier (Jeff Kennett) was against the move, positioning Muslim culture at odds with Australian culture and identity, deeming it incompatible with an iconic part of ‘traditional’ Australian culture. Therefore, this newspaper article may raise the question of whether migrants or Australians of faiths other than Christianity, particularly Muslims, are still expected to assimilate into a “traditional” Australian culture. This is...
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...day by day as it is considered to be the “land of opportunity”. People from all over the world are here with different cultures. As US has increasingly cultural diversity -Asian are 3.6 % 1 ten % of US population is foreign born by 2050 (Gregory Juckett, 2005).It has become very important to understand and respect this various cultural beliefs especially in the healthcare system. All cultures have equal values and are different from one another. Heritage Assessment is a tool to help us know about one beliefs and the health tradition. Heritage tool help the author recognized different cultures thoughts, beliefs. This tool helps to evaluate the similarities and differences between different cultures. No one becomes culturally competent overnight or with one or two hours of training; certain attitudes need to be learned, skills transmitted, and knowledge absorbed (California Endowment, 2003). People from different culture have different beliefs about their health traditions. They have a different approach for protection, maintenance, and restoration of their health. This paper will compare the similarities and differences regarding health practice methods among the Hindus, Muslims, and White cultures. Health Protection Health Protection is the way of living healthy lifestyle by preventing from illness and diseases. It is how people from different cultures protect their and family health from diseases on a regular basis. Hindus Hindus follows religious teaching practice for...
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...Yet, soon Muslims were starting to get persecuted, and so, some Muslims migrated to both West and East Africa. In East Africa it originally spread to Abyssinia in the year 613. And from there it spread farther. Some parts prospered, others faltered. Many of the Muslims traveled from Arabia across the Red Sea to the coast of East Africa. Muslims eventually settled down and created homes in East Africa. They started interacting with other cultures and religions through trade. They traded goods and ideas. Some cultures and religions accepted and got along with the Muslims, while others did not. There were wars, and forced conversions,...
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...hosted by the Muslim Community Center at the Morton Grove Mosque. The event as entitled Intersectionality was intended to address “how race, gender, and social class affect involvement in the Muslim-American Community.” The event consisted of a panel discussion by African American Muslim leaders along with sharing of homemade ethnic cuisines. During the discussion, some of the issues raised by the African American Muslim panel members were ecclesial in nature and related to congregational hospitality. Few of the examples include not being welcomed with open arms after their conversion as Muslims. In other words, the African American Muslims experienced marginalization and neglect, which is noteworthy. The most interesting factor in this context is the neglect by the people of color, for the people of color. Though, this was a surprise to me in some ways yet, I was not taken aback. There are several reasons involved., however, it was fascinating to hear this being shared...
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...Islam vs. the Rest of the World Islam vs. the Rest of the World Introduction There are hundreds of different religions and cultures throughout the world today and each is interpreted differently within the religious communities, families, or individuals and many of these cultures and religions have been morphed into a different form with different practices based on how each deems appropriate for them. There have been great strides in recent years to reduce discrimination and prejudice towards minority groups that are of a culturally different background than the dominant, more accepted groups and there is still a long way to go to meet total equality. While it is true there have been many improvements for some cultures in recent years, the opposite is true for those of the Muslim decent. Since the terrorist attacks starting from September 11 and since then, Muslims and those of the Islamic faith have been unfairly stereotyped negatively as demons and as many as 46 percent of Americans view the group as a whole as having terrorist tendencies. (Deane, Fears 2006) Not only are their religious practices criticized and viewed negatively, but nearly every other action they commit is thought to be “suspicious”, from the way they dress, to the way they talk, how they practice their religion, and how women are viewed and treated in their culture. Some view their form of lifestyle to be geared towards hatred and violence, with every action being held under a microscope and criticized...
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...Debating History and Culture How does history help us understand the relationship between Muslim and non-Muslim societies today? The relationship between Muslim and non-Muslim societies today is a complicated one, and is deeply rooted in historical conflicts surrounding both cultural and religious difference. Huntington and Mottahedeh, scholars in the study of civilization anomalies, offer historical examples and descriptions that help to illuminate the relationship between two very distinct ideologies. It is helpful to first understand Huntington’s characterization of “civilization” as a cultural entity. He says that “It is defined both by common objective elements, such as language, history, religion, customs, institutions, and by the subjective self-identification of people (1993)”. Today, Western, non-Muslim societies have had a noticeable impact on Muslim societies. Although Huntington claims that “western ideas of free markets often have little resonance in Islamic (culture) (1993)”, Mottahedeh challenges this idea by offering examples of at least six Islamic Middle Eastern countries with existing free market economies. Additionally, he provides insight regarding the traditionally anti-Islamist idea of the right of women to vote. Although Muslim conservatives who are proponents for the reintroduction of Islamic Law may not fully support enfranchisement of women, this element of Western colonialism has become too much of the “norm”. Therefore, there are currently...
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...There are more than 1 billion Muslims worldwide. Islam is the major religion of much of Asia, and Indonesia as well with the world's most abundant Muslim population. Today Islam is a very sensitive and controversial topic; there are a lot of misconceptions and conceptions about its belief, values and goals. In this research paper l will examine the teachings of Islam and how they are interpreted and or practiced in different countries and cultures, including the United States, Great Britain, the Middle East, India and Pakistan, and other country of Asia. How Islam is understood in each country's culture and how is it contrasted with Christianity and Judaism? How do these understandings impact the ways that Muslims and non-Muslims interact and communicate with one another. Religion is one of the moving forces behind many of the event and attitude that have shaped our world. During the centuries, countries and cities have been developed and destroyed; and battle have been fought, all to protect or make known one religion or another. Islam is the second largest religion in the world; without doubt Muslims differ in their personal engagement and practice between doctrinal and cultural attitude, and have different apprehension about the correct practice of Islam. It had remained fairly invisible to most Americans prior to the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the Iranian Revolution of 1978–1979 with its taking and holding of US hostages (Simmons, Gwendolyn, Zoharah 2008). Of course,...
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...English 1302 Literature Review: Muslims in the Western Society Society these days are unaware of how they perceive Islam and Muslims whether it is to be in an educational sense of their teachings, or portraying them in negative roles when they write. This is all similar in the writings of the books and journals that the authors: Chan, Norris and Ronald, Susan and Ross, Muhammad and Zain, and Kassim have presented. They have presented us different viewpoints of how the Western Society views Islam not just in books or video games (Chan, 829), as well as, in teaching us Islamic History (Susan, 54), and how Muslims are taught/not taught Western values in their own Religion Centers (Zain, 394). All these articles hold a small key to finding exactly how Islam is looked at today in the Western Society. The overview of Muslims is looked at greatly in Kassims work where it tends to show how life in different parts of America that is lived by the Muslims (Kassim, 63). It shows how the culture has been adopted in different cities of the United States. The writers claim this as being part of the history of Mankind in adopting cultures of their own in another country (Ross, 68). Writers Norris and Ronald, likewise, agree in their writing of how the Muslim culture has adopted in the U.S overtime and show in their research that most cultures do that when bringing their heritage to a new place (Norris, 235). The Authors of these articles argue together how Muslims have adopted themselves in the...
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... Heritage Assessment: A Comparison of Three Cultures Sufi Heritage Assessment: A Comparison of Three Cultures America’s growing diversity is increasing day by day as it is considered to be the “land of opportunity”. People from all over the world are here with different cultures. As United States has increasingly cultural diversity -Asian are 3.6 %, one tenth % of US population will be foreign born by 2050 (Gregory Juckett, 2005). It has become very important to understand and respect this various cultural beliefs especially in the healthcare system. All cultures have equal values and are different from one another. Heritage Assessment is a tool to help us know about one beliefs and the health tradition. Heritage tool help the author recognized different cultures thoughts, beliefs. This tool helps to evaluate the similarities and differences between different cultures. No one becomes culturally competent overnight or with one or two hours of training; certain attitudes need to be learned, skills transmitted, and knowledge absorbed (California Endowment, 2003). People from different culture have different beliefs about their health traditions. They have a different approach for protection, maintenance, and restoration of their health. This paper will compare the similarities and differences regarding health practice methods among the Hindus, Muslims, and White cultures. This author, Hindu female from Nepal, completed...
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...borders, and even membership, the internal cleavages become increasingly pronounced. None more so than relations with European Muslims. This paper will examine identity politics as it relates to European civilization formation, looking at how Muslim political aspirations compare with those of other minority groups, as well as the changing face of Muslim political organizations and their role in changing perceptions. In determining the extent of Islamic challenges in Europe, it is important to understand how Muslim desires for identity recognition and respect compare to similar desires by other minority groups, as well as what constitutes equality in the contemporary epoch. Attitudes towards race and identity have developed beyond a mere colour blindness, towards a what has been termed “positive racial explicitness,” that is, taking pride in previously marginalized identities or in creating new identities as “a way of negotiating a position of equality and dignity” in today’s world. This hasn’t been limited to ethnic minorities either, but can be viewed in the identity politics of LGBT and feminist movements, especially in places where class politics have declined in salience. What is it that these movements expect and aim for? Iris Young described the ideal of equality as not simply being permission for minorities to follow the norms of dominant culture, but rather that “a positive self-definition of group difference is in fact more liberat[ing].” This leads to two interrelated...
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...Muslim’s beliefs, values, and goals. Many of the Muslim practices are different throughout the world depending on the local culture. Islam is the second largest religion with Christianity being first. In 2000 Islamic followers were 1.2 billion, which was 22 percent of the world population. According to Clark (2003) this percentage makes Islam the fastest growing major religion. This paper will research the teachings of Islam, compare the three major religions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, and point out similarities and differences in different countries. The history of Islam including the Qur’an will be discussed. The dissimilarity between radical Islamic extremist groups and Islam will be discussed. History of Islam Muhammad, at age 40, was visited by the angel Gabriel in the year 610 A. D. to be God’s prophet. He was given the mission of convincing others who worshiped many gods that they should submit to one God. Although Muhammad had few followers in the beginning he continued to teach his revelations in Mecca. In 622 A.D. Muhammad and his followers moved to Medina where the first Muslim community began, this is considered the first year in the Muslim calendar. In the years that followed the Muslim armies overtook most of Arabia, India, and Spain. Some communities were converted to the Islam faith peacefully while others were forced into acceptance of the religion. Over the centuries the Muslim religion lost its unity until in the late 20th century...
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