Globalized Islam By Olivier Roy

“Fight in the name of God and in the ‘path of god’. Combat those who disbelieve in God.” The quote above is an excerpt from Matthew Gordon’s book, “The Rise of Islam”. Throughout the course of history, many religions have had a profound effect on western civilization. During the early 5th century a religion arose that had an extremely important impact on western civilization. The Arabic prophet Muhammad founded the religion known today as Islam. Violence, diplomacy, Arabic tradition, and public law played a vital role in the rise and conquest of Islam. These four key elements that fostered the rise of Islam helped establish one of the largest religions in western civilization.

The history of the Islamic world has been one of weak state institutions and state underperformance, coupled with a high prevalence of violence, both by the state and by individuals. A major reason for these negative trends has been the role of political Islam in privileging homogeneity over diversity, in stifling dissent in public and private life, and the societal stagnation that follows such rigid controls. Malaysia and Indonesia have been notable exceptions to the underperformance of Islamic cultures.

Most people when they hear the word "Muslim" they only think about the Middle East, without realizing that there are Muslims everywhere. A Muslim is someone who follows the religion of Islam, but it does not necessary need to be people from the Middle East. There are a lot of people around the world that decide to become Muslims for many reasons. These three young women Nousheen Yousuf-Sadiq, Maria M. Ebrahimji, and Kameelah Janan Rasheed come from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, but considered themselves as Muslims. In their individual short stories, they talk about the difficulties that they have being an American and a Muslim woman at the same time. It is difficult for them because having these two identities interferes

Ferry terminals in New York normally have cabs that line up to transport arriving passengers to their destinations, but on a website called "snopes.com" rumor had it that in the early hours of September 11, 2001, nearly no cabs were available which suggests that Middle Eastern cab drivers had gotten an advanced notice of the attacks and that they should keep away from the area that morning ("Snopes.com: No Taxis at WTC"). This claim of there not being any taxi cabs around The World Trade Center the morning of the attacks is absolutely false and ridiculous. The individuals saying these things are not only stereotyping cab drivers being Muslims but also assuming that they all have ties to radical Islamic groups such as Al-Qaeda.

Chapter 14 in the book Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective of the Past by Herrry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler is mainly about Muhammad, the prophet, and his world, the expansion of Islam, economy and society of the early Islamic world, and its values and cultural exchanges.

Prior to reading an excerpt on Islamic theology and Islamic philosophy in the book Introduction to Islam by Carole Hillenbrand, I did not realized the tremendous effect and contributions Muslims had on the fields of theology and philosophy. According to Hillenbrand, “the term normally used for “theology” in Islam is kalam, which literally means “speech”” (Hillenbrand, 170). Similar to all religions, those following the Islamic faith would eventually be faced with opposition and questions about the teachings of Islam. Hillenbrand explained that Muhammad was not looked to as a theological figure because he merely gained his revelations from the all-knowing God, Allah; therefore, Islamic theologians would begin to emerge overtime. These Islamic theologians would engage in debates on core issues and topics that oppositioners had with the islamic faith, such as

Islam is a major world religion. Its origin can be traced back to 610 CE in Arabia. The basis of this religion is the revelations to the prophet Mohammad. Dissatisfied with his life, he traveled to deserts, hills, and the wilderness surrounding Mecca, where he lived, to meditate and reflect. He became a new man through his revelations, which many of his followers believe Allah transmitted to him through his angel Gabriel. Islam was originally an Arab religion, but many different beliefs and practices were added to it, making it extremely popular and aiding in its rapid spread. This new religion spread to many different areas surrounding Arabia, both under Mohammad and after his death. The Muslim Empire grew to encompass Spain and

Well known Journalist, Robert Fisk, in his essay The Media Stereotype Muslims as Terrorists, describes racism in the Muslim and Jew community. Fisk’s purpose is to convey the idea to stop the stereotyping of racism. He adopts imitative tone in order to get the point across. This article is effective because he uses appeals and tones efficiently to get the reader’s attention.

Norman Daniel in Islam and the West: The Making of an Image, writes about medieval Christian polemicists viewed Islam with horror. While they did not have authentic information to base their research on, Daniel claims that their beliefs are biased against Muslims based on what they considered Muslims were like, and as a means of attacking Islam on spiritual and moral grounds. He writes that “these opinions are not Muslim opinions at all; both right and wrong, they are a collection of Western beliefs about Muslims.” (Daniel, 159).

Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror. (New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003), 190 pages.

Historians, specifically American historians of the 21st century have demonstrated an interest in the Middle East in Islam, due to Americans frequent contact with the Middle East in the early 1960s. Islam and the Middle East have played a remarkable role in Americans discussion and reaction to the events that took place on September 11th, 2001. During this time Americans were beginning to regard the Middle East, Muslims, and Islam as one entity. Americans and the world regarded the Middle East as Islam and Islam as the Middle East. Thus, this correlation between the two made Muslims say Muslim Americans and Muslims in America as less western and more of another, but they were also seen as untrustworthy individuals. Additionally, prior to the September 11th, attacks and an after effect of September 11, was that Muslim men were violent and Muslim women as oppressed individuals. Thus, the perception of Islamophobia and the threat it brings to western society has impacted the discussion of Islamophobia in America.

Islamic rule spread over major areas of Africa, the Middle East, South, Southeast and Central Asia, Spain, and Southern Italy. Many Christians saw Islam as a religion of the sword. They have been very violent throughout their history. Arabian armies engaged in attacking the remnants of the Byzantine Empire. The First Crusade was launched in order to stop the Arabian invaders.

"Islam" is derived from the Arabic root salaama meaning peace, purity, submission and obedience. Islam stands for making peace by submitting to the will of God and obeying His law. Jews and Christians view Islam as the latest of the world's great religions. However, worldwide Muslims (sometimes written "Moslems") understand their universal religion as the "final religion" and the "primal religion."

Hurricane Katrina pounded the Gulf Coast with tremendous force at daybreak, August 29, 2005, severely punishing regions that included the city of New Orleans and its neighboring state Mississippi. Resulting in a total of just over 1700 people killed, and hundreds of thousands missing. When we think of Hurricane Katrina stories, we think of stories that were published by the media such as, “Packing 145-mile-an-hour winds as it made landfall, the category 3 storm left more than a million people in three states without power and submerged highways even hundreds of miles from its center. The hurricane's storm surge a 29-foot wall of water pushed ashore when the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast was the highest ever measured in the United States.

Although Islam is the second largest religion in the world with a following of 1.8 billion followers, no other religion has faced more scrutiny and hardship in the past decades. This has been caused by media and governments labeling Islam as a whole with their extremist groups like Al Queda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. I even thought that the principals held by these extremist group were more common in Islam than they are. After studying Islam and gaining more information I came to respect this religion more than any other we studied this semester because of its seriousness and unity. The Quran and Hadith provide concrete details and instructions to follow in the faith of Islam. No texts from any other religion are as upfront with their beliefs than these. Muhammad was and continues to be a powerful and understanding leader that has led it to becoming the world’s fastest growing religion. I enjoyed studying the powerfulness of Muhammad and the direct voice of God in the Quran that is sets Islam apart from Judaism and Christianity.