...American Literature Jennifer Barnes Ms. K Meeks March 10, 2011 Islam and Christianity Christianity and Islam are two of the most significant religions in the world today. Both religions are very similar with only some of the beliefs and teachings being different. Christianity started about 2000 years ago in Judea with Jesus Christ and his faithful group of disciples. It has grown into one of the major religions, impacting all other faiths and changing the course of human history. Its sacred scripture is the Bible, particularly the New Testament. Its principal beliefs are that Jesus is the Son of God (the second person of the Holy Trinity), that God’s love for the world is the essential component of his being, and that Jesus died to redeem humankind. Christianity means “one who is crystallized into one.” Islam means "entire submission to the Will of Allah" in Arabic, and a Muslim is one who submits to the will of Allah (God). Islam’s primary significance is the making of peace first within one‘s self, and then for humanity as a whole. The author of Islam is Allah (God). The book of Islam is the Holy Qur’an, and the scriptures that were taught to the prophets. Islam has five beautiful fundamental principles of belief. Belief in Allah and his Apostle, Belief in Zakat (spending in the cause of truth), Belief in Fasting, Belief in Pilgrimage, Belief in Prayer(5 times daily). These beliefs are strictly enforced by each and everyone that prescribes to the title of...
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..."How do you explain the relatively rapid rise and expansion of Islam from its Arabian craddle to territories thus far dominated by powerful states and cultures throughout Asia, North Africa, and Southern Europe? What do you think contributed to the relatively rapid success of Islamic expansion in these parts of the world from the middle of the seventh century on? For more than fourteen centuries ago, Islam has started by prophet Muhammad in the Arabian Peninsula, and since that time, Islam has faced so many difficulties either with spreading the religion or fighting against the enemies who were against the religion, but because of the unity of the Muslim community during that time, Muslim people were able to avoid defeat at the hands of the enemy. After the death of prophet Muhammad in 632AD, Islam spread widely around the Arabian Peninsula during the caliphs’ leadership and during the Islamic empires. The expansion of Islam would not have succeeded with its prophet, Muhammed, who was able win some support for his spiritual and political status within Arabia in the early seventh century. There were so many conflicts between Quraysh and Muslims, and in 630, the Quraysh broke an earlier treaty that had been established. After the broke of the treaty, prophet Muhammed march upon Mecca with 10.000 men and take the city without any fighting. In less than one century after the death of prophet Muhammed, Muslims ruled more of the earth than the Roman Empire had at its peak....
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...exacerbated the crisis and allowed the religious clergy to take advantage. Thus, this disillusionment with the governing monarchy paved the way to a revolution that has proven to be unprecedented. The advent of a new Islamic revival proved successful upon the birth of the Iranian Revolution and with the overwhelming consent of its people came the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as its ruler. With a new political mind-frame, came an authoritarian regime, which volubly conceded to no one, and consolidated itself through each governing tenet. The resilience of this regime brought about terror.( Mehran Kamrava; A Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War (2005)) The author of this new political revival which has impregnated into other areas of the Arab World is The Iranian Republic. All Western world influences that attempted to pollute the sanctity of the creation of a democracy out of a theocracy ended with the rule of the Shah of Iran in 1979. The Pahlavi Dynasty: Its demise leads to change The role of the Pahlavi Dynasty in instigating an Iranian Revolution proved to be a highly effective invisible force. As Reza Shah attempted to orchestrate a new modern Iran full of secularist ideas, his regime...
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...Essay POL372 “Islam and the West” Question 4: Is the apparent conflict between Islam and the West based in religion or in politics? The conflict between the West and the East is a result of a myriad of factors between both civilizations. The tensions that have existed between the Muslim and Christian world have threatened the general stability of world peace and progress. The ideological, religious, and political reasons, all cover the fact that there is a general lack of understanding between both sets of people. Islamists have gained a bad reputation in the west because they are seen as the sworn enemies of Christians, and the same applies to how Muslims view people from the west. On the whole, the war between the West and East has something to do with the world's political order, and this will form the basis of discussion in this paper. The war that exists between West and East is a result of politics and not the religious differences. Political ambitions have always been at the forefront of the existing conflict because different countries have always had diverse ambitions of controlling the rest of the world. A key moment in the history of the East was the deal that was made by the British at the end of the Second World War concerning the people of Palestine. The establishment of Israel in 1948 further escalated tensions and conflicts with the west, and the problems that exist today, almost have nothing to do with religion (Tausch...
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...Islam is considered an Arab religion because in the beginning it emerged on the Arabian Peninsula in the town of Mecca. The creation of Islam came about from the prophet Muhammad brought unity, power, and cultural and economic growth. Islam means submission to God, otherwise known as Allah to the Islamic people. Islam gave Arabians a form of monotheism, which shared Christian and Jewish scripture and adapted the traditions of those religions to Muslim needs. The Arabian Peninsula is mostly desert dotted with oases where cities were established surrounding them and the coastal areas of the peninsula. Much of the remaining peninsula comprises of camel nomads that are organized in tribes and clans. The Bedouin culture was similar to that of other nomads; they were herders that lived in clan groups living mobile lifestyles. “The Bedouin’s also believed that all members of a tribe were descended from a common ancestor.” (McKay et al, 2007.) This was in direct conflict with Islamic beliefs. Clans were clustered into larger tribal groupings that came together usually only in times of crisis or war. The survival of a group depended on each person’s loyalty and contribution to their family. Due to the harsh environment, a case of exile or abandonment would be fatal. Taking its roots from the Arab Peninsula, the Islamic civilization was spread by merchants. Cities in the north of the peninsula provided increased trade over the empire and outside of the empire. Islam spanned from Central...
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...is through the researching from different sources, academic research, traveling, knowing what is going on around you, and reading – accepted books or journals that talks about Islam. Gale says the meaning of Islam as the submission to God. He also talks about the history of Islam that the founder/restorer of Islam is Prophet Muhammad. Newberg misconception of belief towards Islam is that Muhammad is God fearing but Muhammad did not know how to escape the future vengeance for the Muslims. Malik argues the Islam cultural diversity and thinks there is no democracy in Muslim societies, but still Islam societies are modernizing and developing economically and their literacy rates are increasing steadily which makes the democratic movements in Islam societies to be picking up at different speeds in different countries. Teachings about Muslims teaches by Gale when he said there are two main branches of Islam; Sunni and Shia, there will be further clarification of the two main branches. Islam is one of the types of religion that the worshippers are very good believers, very submissive, and there are some words in Islam that really means a lot to the worshippers of Islam. Islam means submission to God. Muslims express their submission to their God by following the five pillars of Islam. The five pillars of Islam are; Shahada, formally is by witnessing the unity of God; Salat, formally is by praying five times daily; zakat, is by providing/helping the needy; Saram, is by fasting during...
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...From 650 C.E. to 1750 C.E., the Indian Ocean was central to trade between major civilizations. Political power shifted from local states to European colonists, but was always centered on control over the port cities. Generally, the same goods were exported and imported throughout the period. Increased interactions led to the spread and grow of new religions, like Islam. Commerce in the Indian Ocean both changed and stayed the same politically, economically, and culturally as new influences and global powers affected the trade patterns. During the 7th century, trade was flourishing across the Indian Ocean with powerful port cities dominating the trade. The Swahili city-states on the East African coast gained political power by taxing trade at ports, mainly exporting gold and other products from the interior of Africa. These African kingdoms were the center of civilization in...
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...Islam and Human Rights Course Islam and Terrorism April 2016 Introduction: Terrorism has become one of the outstanding features that marked the twenty-first century, as its acts and threats have been in existence for millennia, and because it acts as a real danger facing the human existence. Terrorists have widened their activities and increased their practices in many regions of the world in recent times, such as Turkey, France and Belgium. Terrorist groups have used violence as a mean to achieve their goals and they did not adhere to any religious principles or moral, and they have showed us how they have used advanced weapons and equipment’s in their attacks. The core principle of terrorists is that the aims justify the means, which carries with it the destruction of human civilizations. Muslims are being exposed by campaigns of slander and distortion, waged by western countries, politicians and media, and these campaigns have seen an increase of ferocity after the emergence of the (ISIS) terrorist group in the Arab countries, and specially after the terrorist attacks on some Western countries. Some Arab and Islamic countries participated in awareness campaigns about the thought of the new emerged terrorist group (ISIS) extremist on the Islamic religion, but violence and extremism is no longer mentioned in Western countries, but they became attributed to Muslims, Arabs. Extremism and terrorism has become Islamist, and all this is linked to Islamist groups. I...
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...Radical Islam and Ideology December 5/2013 According to animal liberationists, speciesists Believe humans are superior to nonhumans * Stephen Colbert on Islam * “Islam is a great and true religion revealed in the Holy Koran which was dictated by the angel Gabriel to the final Prophet Mohammed, blessing and peace be upon him.” * Islam, Mohammed and the Qu’ran * Islam – meaning submission/surrender to the rule of Good * Mohammed – last in a series of protestants (including Jesus, Moses) * Bring the word of God * Qur’an (meaning recitation) – recited what God gave to him, others wrote it * Hadith – Mohammed’s owns words and deeds (lessons to be followed) * Islam and Politics * The spread of Islam * The five pillars of Islam * Profession of the faith (Allah is true God, Mohammed is a profit) * Ritual prayer (x5 a day) * Charitable donations to the poor * Annual fasting during the month of Ramadan * Pilgrimage (Go to Makah) * Jihad * Inner struggle against evil and selfishness * Vs. Radical Islam (outer struggle against “evil”) * Shar’ia * The law of the land * Radical Islam – rule by the elite Muslims * Very secular government in countries like Egypt try to eliminate radical Islam * Four External Threats to Islam * Crusades (1095-1300) – try to eliminate...
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...Christian Ethics can be defined as “ moral standard, rules or laws which guide the thought, words and deeds of the Christians” (Messer, 2009:10). This quote further explains that it can be considered as part of a code of conduct between the relationship of Christians and God, the human race and of natures surroundings. Islam developed in the country of Saudi Arabia and this tradition is owned by the monotheistic family of faiths (Sanneth, 1996:6). The philosophy of Islam, being a religion, focused on a prophet by the name of Muhammad who was born in AD 570 (Sanneth, 1996:6). This essay will be explaining the similarities and differences of both the Christian and Islamic traditions as well as highlighting some of the ways in which both traditions advocate religious harmony in contemporary society. The first similarity between Christian and Islamic traditions is that both worship one god making both traditions monotheistic and that God is the most supreme being over anyone else of which both traditions worry about the behaviour as well as the beliefs of human beings (Zahniser, 2008:3). The second similarity is that both believe in a Heaven and Hell and God's future judgment, both have Prophets and prophecy’s, including many of the same characters Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Jesus (Neusner et al, 2002:54). The third similarity is that both traditions fast. Within the Bible, it is said that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights (Mathew 4:2-Bible) whilst in the Qur’an, Muslims fast...
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...covers a wide variety of essential elements which are required to constitute a civilization with its development, refinement and improvement. The elements are not only available but exist in abundance within most of the regions around the world. Those only need to be searched or explored and benefits drawn to the utmost in order to gradually establish a civilization by using our body and mind bestowed by the Creator as the best of all the creations on earth. It takes time to attain any level of civilization in any country or region. It is a slow process which grows with the extent of time given to it and the amount of efforts made on it. There is hardly any standard parameter by which to judge the level or the measure of civilization attained except their standings as projected at the world stage in terms of progress and development. When a civilization develops in any region it takes into account many sectors such as social, political, economy, agriculture, education, industry, health care, trade and commerce, science and technology, art and culture and moral and ethical values, the refinement and the steady improvement of each one is to be insured which constitute the foundation of civilization. When a civilization emerges in one part of the world...
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...primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world. It was proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington in a 1992 lecture at the American Enterprise Institute, which was then developed in a 1993 Foreign Affairs article titled "The Clash of Civilizations? in response to his former student Francis Fukuyama's 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man. Huntington later expanded his thesis in a 1996 book. Huntington began his thinking by surveying the diverse theories about the nature of global politics in the post-Cold War period. Some theorists and writers argued that human rights, liberal democracy, and capitalist free market economy had become the only remaining ideological alternative for nations in the post-Cold War world. Specifically, Francis Fukuyama argued that the world had reached the 'end of history' in a Hegelian sense. Huntington believed that while the age of ideology had ended, the world had only reverted to a normal state of affairs characterized by cultural conflict. In his thesis, he argued that the primary axis of conflict in the future will be along cultural and religious lines. As an extension, he posits that the concept of different civilizations, as the highest rank of cultural identity, will become increasingly useful in analyzing the potential for conflict. In the 1993 Foreign Affairs article, Huntington writes: It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily...
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...and Director Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding Georgetown University islamic leviathan Islam and the Making of State Power Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr Islamic Leviathan Islam and the Making of State Power Ú seyyed vali reza nasr 1 2001 3 Oxford Athens Chennai Kolkata Nairobi New York Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires Cape Town Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Paris São Paul Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated comapnies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 2001 by Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza, 1960 – Islamic leviathan : Islam and the making of state power / Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr. p. cm.—(Religion and global politics) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-19-514426-0 1. Malaysia—Politics and government. 2. Islam and politics—Malaysia. 3. Pakistan—Politics and government—1988 – 4. Islam and politics—Pakistan. I. Title. II. Series. DS597.2.N37 2001 322′.1′095491—dc21 00-064968 ...
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...overemphasized, while positive ones are ignored. The resulting climate is one of nihilism, anxiety and despair. While the wisdom gathered in the past has lost much of its validity, we don't have a clear vision of the future either. As a result, there does not seem to be anything left to guide our actions. What we need is a framework that ties everything together, that allows us to understand society, the world, and our place in it, and that could help us to make the critical decisions which will shape our future. It would synthesize the wisdom gathered in the different scientific disciplines, philosophies and religions. Rather than focusing on small sections of reality, it would provide us with a picture of the whole. In particular, it would help us to understand, and therefore cope with, complexity and change. Such a conceptual framework may be called a "world view". A model of the world It should allow us to understand how the world functions and how it is structured. "World" here means the totality, everything that exists around us, including the physical universe, the Earth, life, mind, society and culture. We ourselves are an important part of that world. Therefore, a world view should also answer the basic questions: Who are we? Why is the world the way it is? Where does it all come from? Where do we come from?. Where are we going t? "What is good and what is evil?" It...
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...the United States history and the future of American foreign policy! This is what the President had to say in his address to the nation “On the morning of September the 11th, 2001, our nation awoke to a nightmare attack. Nineteen men armed with box cutters took control of airplanes and turned them into missiles. They used them to kill nearly 3,000 innocent people. We watched the twin towers collapse before our eyes, and it became instantly clear that we'd entered a new world and a dangerous new war”1. The President starts of by reminding the people of the United States of how the terrorist took down the twin towers and killed innocent people. Now there seems to be a trend when the word terrorism and innocent appears. Not implying that the 9/11 victims were not innocent, but that there is always an innocent group when a terrorist group attacks. At the end of the paragraph President Bush has declared a new type of warfare and how it won’t be like anything the United States has dealt with. The president goes on to state this new type of war, “The terrorists who declared war on America represent no nation. They defend no territory. And they wear no uniform. They do not mass armies on borders or flotillas of warships on...
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