Islam Culture Versus Islam Religion & The Western Perception of Islam
Throughout this course we have learned several different aspects of
Islam as a culture and as a religion we have also been able to put to
rest several myths that have plagued Islam in the eyes of the Western
World. In this paper I will discuss the significant difference of
Islam as a religion versus Islam as a culture as seen through the eyes
of a Malay Muslim. I will then go on to discuss how the Western world
views Islam and how it is progressively changing for the better.
Islam is a religion based on the teaching of the Profit Mohammad,
passed down by the angel Gabriel. But, to many Malay Muslims, Islam is
a culture. It is a practice handed down by their fathers, and their
father's father before that. It is something they do out of habit and
tradition that than from principles of the religion. That is why by
taking shadat, non-believers convert to Islam, and referred to as
"Born Again Muslims" they seem to make better Muslims, because they
are able to embrace the religion whole-heartedly.
Converts learn the religion from scratch and throw away their old
beliefs on becoming Muslims. Newly baptized Muslims re-learn the
religion and are able to differentiate between Islam as a culture and
Islam as a religion. They are brave enough to reject what is unIslamic
as learned through their new understanding of the Qur'aan. They fallow
this religion, separate from the culture even though they run the risk
of being branded fanatics.
Unfortunately, the majority of Malay Muslims confuse what is religion
with what is culture. They take both as one and the same and pract...
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...knows. My hope and prayer is that the
healthy process of advancement in mutual respect and trust, love and
compassion should always remain the real winner among Christians,
Muslims and Jews - all the Children of Adam and Eve.
References:
1) Kuala Lumpur. “Mahathir badly hurt as Malay Muslims vote for
Islamic party” (Muslimedia: December 1-15, 1999).
2) Abu Talib Ahmad. The Malay Muslims, Islam and the Rising Sun.
3) Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Adair T. Lummis, Islamic Values in the
United States (Oxford University Press, 1987).
4) Council on American-Islamic Relations, “Report Outlines Political
Attitudes of American Muslims: 96 Percent Believe Muslims Should Get
Involved in Local and National Politics” (December 22, 1999).
5) Jeffrey Lang, Even Angels Ask: A Journey to Islam in America
(Amana, L.L.).
The culture of Islam has its positive aspects, as well as its negative aspects. Islam bestowed many unfortunate people the opportunity to gain more knowledge about their surroundings, and the adversities that they may face on a daily basis. Islam also created alliances, and trade contracts with other surrounding countries, allowing them to receive resources that other religions and groups could not envisage. However, to gain these privileges, Islam had to first fester the lives of many civilians that dared step in its path. Islam not only ruined the lives of people, but it ruined whole kingdoms. Many people felt an...
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Islam is portrayed and is commonly accepted as the most violent and largest direct threat to the West. This is a generalization made by most of the West, but it is not particularly the West or the Islamic people’s fault. There is constant turmoil in Islamic countries in the Middle East and these conflicts are what make the news in the West. The only representation in the media that the Islamic nation gets is that of war. Though most Islamic people are not violent, the select few that do participate in terrorist groups give the rest of the Islam nation a bad image.
Islam, a religion of people submitting to one God, seeking peace and a way of life without sin, is always misunderstood throughout the world. What some consider act of bigotry, others believe it to be the lack of education and wrong portrayal of events in media; however, one cannot not justify the so little knowledge that America and Americans have about Islam and Muslims. Historically there are have been myths, many attacks on Islam and much confusion between Islam as a religion and Middle Easter culture that is always associated with it. This paper is meant to dispel, or rather educate about the big issues that plague people’s minds with false ideas and this will only be touching the surface.
There are many differences and similarities between Muslim, Jews and Christians. One similarity that all three religions share is the belief in one god, although, Muslims refer to God as Allah. (242). All three religions have places where they go to pray and worship their god along with gathering with others of their faith for various other reasons (247). A Mosque is what the Muslims call their house of worship, a church is where Christians worship and a synagogue is where members of the Jewish community worship (247). Muslims do not believe in the Trinity as Christians do because Muslims do not consider Jesus to be the son of God, nor did they find him to be a “divine” being, meaning he is not god like (243). To Muslims, Jesus was just
Throughout history it is evident that many religions have been tried, tested, and, for some, radically changed. Many religions have gone through periods of time in which the way they were run or enforced underwent changes in practice and leadership. In many cases disagreements and differing outlooks among members of certain religions were to blame for these changes. Christianity and Islam are two examples of religions that have experienced changes over the course of their existence. While these religions seem to have little in common at first glance, both have strikingly similar pasts that consist of radical splits due to disagreements among members of the Christian and Islamic churches, resulting in new branches within each religion.
I feel the biggest misunderstood culture today is the Muslim culture. Muslims are always ridiculed and stereotyped as terrorists and are always getting racist jokes thrown at them. Whenever people see someone of the Muslim culture on the street, they’re so quick to judge them and give them dirty looks as if they are aliens from a different planet. Everyone thinks Muslims are terrorists that hate America, when in reality, that is just a big stereotype that is far from the truth. I feel most of these stereotypes and racist jokes about Muslim Americans come from the fact that we have troops fighting across seas against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and people seem to link all Muslims with those two terrorist groups, which is a very racist accusation of anyone who believes that. Muslim Americans are stereotyped as terrorists who hate America, when in reality, the Muslim people and culture are a very peaceful people.
Cultures are unique in many ways; it is irregular to see cultures that are exactly the same as another. While some may borrow parts from neighboring countries or villages, all in all, their unique differences are what make each culture significant. One of the things about the Saudi Arabia and the culture is how derived it is around history, faith, marketing, control, and how westernization affects the country. Other things that will be discussed about the country Saudi Arabia relates to what is important not only to me, but also the way we as Americans culturally identify ourselves with the women of the country.
differences, it is easy to see each religion as a monolithic entity existing separate from
Perspectives are thoughts and points of views we all conceive. We as humans tend to create our own perspectives of countless things in life that can be considered right to have or can be considered wrong. Some are more prone to have open-minded perspectives, while others can be very close-minded. To live in a world in which diversity surrounds us I think it is important to understand what makes us all different by our beliefs, values, and goals. Considering the fact we are all unique and different, our culture has a great impact of who we all are. In order to learn the concept of cultural diversity of this world is so grand and extremely important; it allows us to not only see how people do things different from our own norm, but also gives us an outlook on cultures we might know little to none about. Ignorance is bliss, yet can hinder one’s ability to really understand different religions that are tied into the cultures of people.
Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion alongside Judaism and Christianity. It is currently the second largest religion in the world today. Its beliefs come from the Qur'an which literally means "the recitation" which is believed to be a literal transcription of the word of God. Its main prophet is named Muhammad who began Islam by speaking with the angel Gabriel in a cave during his meditation and then acting as an instrument of God to help write the Qur’an. Muhammad then spread Islam to the scattered tribes of Arabia by becoming the leader of Yathrib and using his wonderful leadership abilities to then grow his influence over virtually all of Arabia. Muhammad is known by Muslims to be the seal of the profits because no profits after Muhammad should be considered legitimate. Muhammad also left behind the Hadith or “tradition” which is a collection of writings compiled of reports of Muhammad’s actions as leader of Yathrib. These reports are used as a more specific code of ethics in day to day life and from these reports the 5 Pillars of Islam are derived (Smith 160). Although Islam shares many similarities to Judaism and Christianity it is often viewed in the US with hate derived from preconceived notions following the attack on September 11th 2001. This paper seeks to provide an overview of Islam’s history as well as its two major sects and 5 main pillars to remove preconceived notions and provide a glance into the minds of the Islamic people.
Muslim, ever wonder what this word really means? Who is classified as Muslim? Someone that is Muslim is not a terrorist, nor a bad person. They are humans. Someone that is a Muslim only has an Islamic belief. This word originated in Arabia where this whole culture developed (BBC “Islam”). Islam followers, or Muslims, were introduced to their culture from the Prophet Muhammad (BBC “Islam”). The word Islam comes up very often, but who knows what it means? It is said to be the “submission to the will of God (BBC “Islam”).” Majority of the U.S. population today see Muslims as bad people only because a certain group attacked the United States. We, as a whole, discriminate today towards Muslims and any human with an Islamic background.
On the board on Monday morning, there were numbers one through five and they each had a religion written next to them. 1 was Hinduism, 2 was Christianity, 3 was Judaism, 4 was Buddhism, and I was lucky enough to get 5: Islam. Oh, I know so much about Islam culture and their religion, are you kidding? I don’t even know where Islam is. I’m just kidding, it’s not a country. There are many differences between Islam and the United states like our religion, clothes, and food, and becoming a Christian or a Muslim, but Islam is the second largest religion in the world, so it’s important to a lot of people. The followers of Islam are called Muslims. Becoming a Muslim is not an easy process. You must do a long list of tasks. After you become a Muslim you must do everything in your power to try to have a good Muslim lifestyle.