Mark Humphrys’ article “The problem - What is wrong with the Islamic world?” goes all over the place, but it does its job in answering the question posed in the title. Humphrys starts off by providing a table that ranks the political freedom and civil liberties of the main Islamic countries in the world. The table, made by U.S. based non-governmental organization Freedom House, only lists one country as fully free (in terms of political freedom and civil liberties): Israel. Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia are “partially” free. Additionally, Egypt was considered “partially” free up until 2013, but changed to “not” free the next year. By starting off with factual evidence, Humphrys appeals to ethos logos. He quickly builds himself up as …show more content…
He makes an interesting argument on “how little soul-searching there has been in Islam since 9/11.” (CITE). Muslims have not taken time to consider what could have produced radical Islamic terrorism, and to a certain extent, why the Middle East has fallen so far from grace. Here, Humphrys provides links to multiple videos and articles from moderate Muslims acknowledging that other members of their religion have not made any attempts to this. In particular, Abd Al-Hamid Al-Ansari, an Islamic scholar, has a very compelling argument: “Why don 't we want to acknowledge that these young people [who carried out 9/11] were the sons of a culture that is hostile toward the world... No one enticed them, and they did not suffer from oppression, repression, or poverty. They carried out the operation because of their belief that it was Jihad and martyrdom." The angry, biting tone used by Al-Ansari is a reflection of the tone of the entire article. By quoting and linking to reliable sources who, in a sense, agree with his argument, Humphrys builds upon his credibility and …show more content…
His article on Islam is long, but informative. In itself, the article was published on his own politics-focused website-- markhumphrys.com. This does affect his article by making it seem more personal-- which it was. For one, Humphrys is very “pro-israel,” and asserts that multiple times in his article. While that’s certainly not a bad thing, it makes his article seem less objective overall. Additionally, there are times in his article when Humphry goes on micro-attacks against people that have offended him, or even have blocked him on twitter. But he does make up for those things somewhat by providing accurate visual evidence for some of his claims. His “Muslims against Islamism,” “Denial and obfuscation,” and “Fatwa against Terrorism” sections-- arguably the most important parts of his article-- link to multiple videos and articles that support what Humphrys writes. The tone of this paper is very critical of Islam, and even with the subjective style of writing, Humphrys raises valid points. All in all, Humphrys intended for his audience to be general, and even writes at the bottom of his website that he is open to disagreement and debates about his opinions from
Intolerance, reluctant to welcome beliefs, views, or behavior that contrast from one's own. It has not been dissolved and may never be resolved. In the last several decades, we have seen our world look down on those who are different. It could be as little as they dress differently to a different ethnicity. We make assumptions that those who alter our views are the evildoers, and those are monsters. Monsters don't stay the same; they change as times do. When a new fear is created, the monster than shifts.
The Muslim Empire began to expand vastly under the Umayyads, with the empire becoming so large many people were converting to Islam religion. The Umayyads were the second of the four major caliphates after the death of Muhammad. The Empire used many different ways to spread the Islamic civilization consisting of war, classes, and appeal. The Islamic civilization spread so strongly because of the way it allured the common man.
Lewis clearly and entirely pointed out key events explaining the choices to be made by the people of the Islamic faith. This paper highlighted just a few of the many key events. Lewis says, “Most Muslims are not fundamentalists, and most fundamentalists are not terrorists, but most present-day terrorists are Muslims and proudly identify themselves as such.” He also expertly points out, “Terrorism requires only a few. Obviously the West must defend itself by whatever means will be effective. But in devising means to fight the terrorists, it would surely be useful to understand the forces that drive them.”(Lewis. Introduction) In the end, I agree with and commend Bernard Lewis on pointing out that a single religion cannot be blamed for the acts of small groups of radicals.
Thomas W. Lippman gives an introduction to the Muslim world in the book Understanding Islam. He has traveled throughout the Islamic world as Washington Post bureau chief for the Middle East, and as a correspondent in Indochina. This gave him, in his own words, "sharp insight into the complexities of that turbulent region." However, the purpose of the book is not to produce a critical or controversial interpretation of Islamic scripture. It is instead to give the American layman an broad understanding of a religion that is highly misunderstood by many Americans. In this way he dispels many myths about "Muslim militants," and the otherwise untrue perception of Islamic violence. In this way the American reader will become more knowledgeable about an otherwise unfamiliar topic. However, the most significant element of Lippman’s book is that it presents Islam in a simple way that makes the reader feels his awareness rise after each chapter. This encourages him to continue learning about the world’s youngest major religion. Understanding Islam dispels many misconceptions about the Muslim world, and presents the subject in a way that urges his reader to further his understanding of Islam through continued study.
In the essay, the writer acknowledges the misunderstandings that come from media images by explaining the contrasts between these images and the teachings of the faith to support her claim that fear is the reason for this misconception. The conception that many people have of Muslims is that they are terrorists, anti-Semites, and fanatics. This conception exsists because television news and newspapers support that stereotype. The broadcast of such stereotypes encourages fear and accusations of the Islamic relegion's teachings. The writer explains that Islam teaches peace, tolerance, and equality. She further states that Muslims shown in the media have violated these teachings ...
Winter, T. (2011), America as a Jihad State: Middle Eastern Perceptions of Modern American Theopolitics. The Muslim World, pp. 101: 394–411.
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.
The Islamic Golden Age began in the 7th century and lasted until the end of the 13th century. There were two Islamic Golden Ages. The first Golden Age lasts about two centuries from the 7th century to the 9th century. In this Golden Age, society is being integrated in political, social, and moral dimensions of Islam (Lapidus 14). The second Golden Age lasts about five centuries from the 9th century to the 14th century. During the second Golden Age the state and religious institutions were separate, leaving the political and religious elites divided (Lapidus 13). Muhammad, not an immense influence starting out, had strong political and economic influence during early Islam, because not only was he a prophet but the political leader of southern Arabia.
Lewis, James. "Can Islam Reform?" American Thinker. N.p., 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
I am the Son of a Terrorist: Here’s How I chose Peace is the title of a talk by Zak Ebrahim given in Ted Talks. The speaker offers the talk with the aim of enhancing an open-minded approach towards extremism citing that it is not “inherent in one’s religion or race”. Ebrahim suffices as the voice of the rational Muslims that silently suffer from blanket condemnation when it comes to religious extremism. His intended audience is the misinformed public that perceives the whole Muslim community as suspect in relation to extremism. The talk can thus be said to be an eye-opener to the audience on the need for appreciation of diversity and open-mindedness. Ebrahim achieves this with his personal narrative.
Pement, Eric. “Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam: Part Two.” Cornerstone. 1997, vol. 26, issue 112, p. 32-36, 38. < http://answering-islam.org.uk/NoI/>.
“We were witnessing nothing less than a war of Islamic fundamentalism against both secularism and modernism” , Lewis states that Islam is an oppressed religion and the lack of secularism caused many of the wars and conflicts with the West. This however is misleading because as he generalizes the whole religion, each religion has its own pleasing as well as its atrocious adherents. As he continues to generalize the Islamic religion as a whole and state that it is indeed oppressed, he seems to lack the information about how each individual may respond differently to other cultural traditions despite any religious aspects. Islam may be viewed to be an oppressed religion, but in fact, it supports freedom and one’s voice to be spoken and heard. For example, as Islam advises women to cover up with a hijab, it certainly does not mean that women have no rights and that they should be placed at home. Oppression defines power taken away from someone, while the hijab is an element of privatizing the woman, both which have no linkage whatsoever. In fact, Islam supports and praises women in many ways, the hijab is an approach to cover her up with no intentions of making a Muslim woman any less than a Western woman or any
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.
... completion to the writings of the three holy books of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Islam is a religion that has brought peace, enlightenment, and unity to the faithful. I feel that this book could guide Muslims and non-Muslims in forming clear views on specific Islamic religious issues.
Islam does not define only the spiritual side of the life, but also material side.