Comparative analysis of the rise of religious extremism in Arab and Indian Politics

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.

Yet inequalities may not be the case for women in more westernized nations as they receive greater freedom (60). This is where the great diversity between modernist Muslim’s and conservative Muslim’s come in. Modernist Muslims argue genuine Islam is compatible with modern west society and political ideas such as democracy and the equality of women. The views of women in society are supported by revelations of the prophet Mohammed. On the other hand we have conservative Muslims where they believe in

The religions discussed in this article where Catholicism, Judaism, and the Church of the Latter Day Saints, however the main religion focused on in this article is Islam. This article lacked the ability to effectively portray its information to readers that did not have an understanding of the Islamic faith. For example in the story of Sana Khan, and Yusuf Siddiquee, the author mentions the Koran which some readers may not know about. The author also fails to give any insight on why the teachings of the Islamic faith like arranged

This direct linkage between modernization and westernization is, in fact, historically inaccurate. The history of technology development has actually indicated that the ideology or culture doesn’t really influence the modernization. When adopting modernisation, countries, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, doesn’t necessarily need to change its own culture. While most Muslim-majority countries are still undeveloped countries, the driving force is not their culture, but instead the clash of civilization itself. The fault line wars characterised by Huntington in fact have majorly taken place in the Middle East, including the war on terror and the Arab–Israeli War. This clash of civilisation characterised by fault line wars, in fact, leads to the chaos and poverty there. The appearance of this pre-modern image of those Muslim Countries is not the justification for the westernisation but the result of the clash of civilizations. Therefore, the inverted causality is inaccurate, and shall be corrected, as the clash of civilization can, in fact, hardly help those

The ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan has been the subject of speculation and study by political scientists and historians for a number of years. The ethnic conflict seems to have been sparked at the very beginning in 1947, when the British used Muslim and Hindu mercenaries against each other before the area finally split into today’s countries of India and Pakistan (Spiegel et al. 2015, 185). The timeline since then has been full of conflicts, both major and minor. Brutal tactics used by security forces and a high rate of unemployment have added to the issue (BBC News 2016).

Both authors believes that the fundamentalists within the religion, are upset at the change that has caused the Islamic countries to change economic and socially. But where both authors differ is in where the issue comes from. Miller believes the fundamentalists have a problem with the West, While Zee belives that it is the Reformist who are really threatening the fundamentalists. Zee suggests that this is not a conflict between the West and Islam, but rather between Islam and itself. It is a Clash within a culture, clash between the reformists and the fundamentalists.[ Zee , 12] Unlike fundamentalists, reformist believe that change needs to come both politically and socially. But social and especially political change results in theological change.[ Zee, 14] This is something that the fundamentalists are absolutely against. Thus the clash between the reformist who want the Muslim countries to change, and the the fundamentalists who want it to stay the same existed. . The reformist believe that some Western social and government trend are needed in their countries. But to put these changes into action, there needs to be a change in the theology of Islamic country as well. This is where the main conflict between the two sides lie. As stated by Zee, fundamentalists are completely against the notion of changing their old way of living. This type of conflict is nothing new, and many of the major religions have gone through it. A good prime example of this would be the conflict that the Catholics and the protestants had. Which engulfed a whole continent into almost thirty years of war. This battle inside the culture is what is really hurting Islam according to Zee

The lives of the people in the Southwest Asia and North Africa region has changed drastically in the last century. With improved health care and high birthrate, the region’s population has grown rapidly. Making one-third of the population in most countries under the age of fifteen. A large number of people of the region have moved to urban areas. This change in the lives of the people have made it difficult for them to maintain their cultural values as technological advances continue. Religion is an important part of the lives of the people in the region. Many religions have emerged in the Southwest Asia and North Africa region. The vast majority of the people in the region are Muslim, worshipers of Islam. Islam originated in Southwest Asia

Particularly, the problem with Islam lies within the Koran. Its summons to warfare, conquest, enslavement, and social and economic persecution of vanquished peoples have given it the reputation of an aggressive religion (Solway2). Some assumed that for Islam to remain a major historical religion it must withhold theses values and continue their practice. Islam May be contextualized to better suit the needs and religious values of its present generation. Other major historical religions have been contextualized by new generations and so can Islam. Religions often take on the characteristics of its people and if Islamic authorities are able to shift the majority of Islam followers, they will be able to change the course of its religion. In every religion there are purists who would hold tight to the historical context of their religion. For Islam, these people are called Islamists. In the past they have hindered Islam from moving forward by rejecting western or

As the Middle East developed over the years, the prominence and teachings of Islam sustained. Numerous aspects in the Middle Eastern Empire altered, but a key element in the

But rather than trying to dissolve the crisis of the extreme Islamists, they just keep on bombing the Middle East. And that builds up a lot of hate against the West because of those things. Back in the days America had only one enemy but now they have the problem that they do not want the IS and they also do not want Al Assad. But America does not find any other solution then bombing the whole State in the hope Al Assad and IS will be obliterated. But still Islamist terror is not the product of Western policy. As David Cameron rightly notes, it is a global ideological network, with both violent and non-violent branches, and appears committed to enveloping everyone throughout the world. As the past few weeks have seen Russia and the United States escalate their campaigns against jihadists wreaking havoc in Syria and Iraq, Foreign Policy’s Peace Channel, a partnership with the United States Institute of Peace. America also does not want to support Russia because Syria wants to have weapons, money and oil. And because America is against Al Assad it causes an intense situation. But still countries like Germany supported the Middle East in a very positive way with money and other resources. American and British intelligence agencies have both reported that the US-led invasion of Iraq has actually increased the number of Islamist terrorists. The belief that the war on terror was a thinly disguised attempt to attack Islam was no longer limited to conspiracy theorists and 9/11 “truth seekers”. Instead, it became popularised among Muslims around the world. Many people misunderstand the situation and also completely generalize everything they hear from them and think it all has to do with the IS. But the only reason people mad up the IS is because the Middle East has a bad leader and that caused disagreements with the

“Although our number is very similar to those of Jewish people in this country, we have no comparison in strength in terms of economic, political and educational strength. We do not have any Congressmen or Senators. We do not control university boards or faculties. We do not have a single factory or financial institution, which is able to employ Muslims in large numbers. Therefore, we cannot judge the future of Islam by looking at the number of Muslims praying on earth or attending the conventions and bazaars of ISNA. There have to be deeper indicators of our strength” (Athar, 2008).

Many individuals are influenced by religion to join the fight. Islamic extremism is another major reason these terrorist organizations have followers willing to fight for them. “Islamic extremists believe they are obligated to install this form of governance in Muslim-majority territories, countries, and eventually, the entire world. In the minds of Islamic extremists, they are promoting justice and freedom by instituting sharia” (“Understanding Islamist Extremism”). These extreme forms of Islam are what make up the central beliefs of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS. They use their religious affiliations to justify their actions. Acts of Islamic extremism include terrorism, human rights abuses, the advancement of sharia-based governance, and overall hostility to the West (“Understanding Islamist Extremism”). While not all extremists use terrorism, it is common among the majority of the

Instead, from its onset, Islam spread as a conquering power and remained that way for some time. Explaining it this way, the reader gets a sense of the psychology behind Islam and why, besides being a religious task, spreading Islam is such a goal. By showing the issues Islam faces today in the context of past Islamic traditions, Lewis paints a much clearer picture of the skewed view today’s radicals have and the way they use history to manipulate. He examines influential Muslim voices like Saddam Hussein and Usama Bin Laden, who have used history to give Islam victim status or to claim the continuance of a predecessor’s mission to not only justify terrorist activities, but also to recruit followers. He tells the history of Bin Laden’s statement referring to the “humiliation and disgrace” Islam supposedly has suffered. What Bin Laden was referring to was the defeat of the Ottoman sultanate in 1918 and the imperial presence of Westerners on sacred Muslim lands. Lewis explains the offense many Muslims take to the desecration of their holy lands by foreigners. He describes how the discovery and exploitation of oil in the Holy Land of the Hijaz has exacerbated the growing resentment many Muslims

The region of the Middle East and its inhabitants have always been a wonder to the Europeans, dating back to the years before the advent of Islam and the years following the Arab conquest. Today, the Islamic world spreads from the corners of the Philippines to the far edges of Spain and Central Africa. Various cultures have adopted the Islamic faith, and this blending of many different cultures has strengthened the universal Islamic culture. The religion of Islam has provided a new meaning to the lives of many people around the world. In the Islamic world, the religion defines and enriches culture and as a result the culture gives meaning to the individual. Islam is not only a religion, it is in its own way a culture. It may be this very

The objective of this work is to examine Islam, a highly controversial sensitive issue in today's world and specifically to examine the misconceptions, beliefs, and values of those of the Islamic faith. Most people think that the majority of Muslims live in the Middle East, while in reality there are more people of the Islamic faith living in Indonesia. Islam, just as Judaism and Christianity, is practiced in various cultures, serves to shape, and is shaped by those cultures. This study examines the perceptions of those of the three faiths in various countries and how they view one another and seek to answer how a level of threat is felt by those belonging to these three religious groups in various countries. Countries examined in this study include those of the United States, Great Britain, India, Pakistan, and the Middle East. The depth of understanding or the teachings of Islam among the various religious groups in these various countries will also be examined in terms of how these understandings impact the ways that Muslims and non-Muslims interact and communicate with one another.