The Religious Movement In Karen Armstrong's Islam

Islam in two Americas is a delayed thesis argument about the state of Islāmic/American relations in the US, post 9-11. As a delayed thesis, the author, Ross Douthat, opens the debate with a brief explanation of the “two Americas” as he sees it. Within the current political climate that is America today, it would be hard to argue that this divide does not exist.

How can we analyze the discussion with Karen Armstrong on the monotheistic religions using our sociological imagination? How can we relate this discussion to current world events

Imagine being one of the most powerful and richest ever in the entire world, that was the case for Mansa Musa. Additionally, Musa was an emperor of the wealthy West African Mali Empire in which he was and still is, the richest man in the world with an estimated four-hundred billion. Moreover, he was devoted to the religion Islam and made a pilgrimage to Mecca from West Africa to worship. Therefore, Mansa Musa’s had reasons that demonstrated his devotion to Islam, which are his pilgrimage to Mecca, his elected religion while though his empire, it was populated by a mixture of people with different religions, and with money since he did not need to have a religion or follow one with power and money like he had, yet he believed in it and stayed with it until death.

The Nation of Islam empowered many blacks in a time and place where the concept of power was used to oppress. Christianity being a white man’s religion in the eyes of the oppressed, Islam was used in America as a tool for confirmation of beauty. The reminder of inner beauty for the people of color caused substantial growth and powerful movement that impacted American history for generations. The same principles that hoped to empower and give freedom towards African Americans is the same principles that continue to mask the beauty of the Muslim woman. How can two oppressed groups of people, blacks and woman, find two very different outcomes when practicing the Islam faith? Recognizing the differences between the Nation of Islam and the other sects of Islam faith, there is still a center focus on self identity and living into that mold. For some, that means taking back what has been taken away from them, freedom. For others, it continues to mean denying inner desires for something greater than following social norms.

Noble Drew Ali helped to change this because he created the Moorish Science Temple, which helped to gain the stability that the Muslim community needed to grow in numbers. Moore created the Moorish Science Temple and it lasted largely because he had an "effective synthesis of Islamic and popular spiritualist practices into a prophetic nationalist movement that appealed to African American migrants from the South in search of a better livelihood in northern metropolises." So, because of the efforts of Noble Drew Ali, there was an organization that helped to draw people in, particularly African Americans who felt as though they were not already a part of a church and needed guidance from someone like him. The effects of the Moorish Science Temple also helped to form other organizations or locations for people to gather to worship the religion of Islam, and to allow Islam to be more widely accessible in America. (GhaneaBassari,

The themes that I thought connect to the texts and videos we have expanded on in class are Identity and Boundaries (barriers). In this essay I will group the readings and videos and explore the theme in each and relate it back to Identity and Boundaries. Then how we can perhaps use related topics to illustrate my point.

The cover of “A History of Islam in America” is very controversial if compared to what is written in the text. My perceptions so far from reading Kambiz GhaneaBassiri book is that he gives factual information on Muslim Black history. But on the cover of the book, the group of people that I see are white skinned immigrants. It confuses me that a historian that spent most of the book from chapter 1-6, discussing the enslavement of African Muslim to the New World and how they had to assimilate to a new society that was forming. So, I’m shocked that from the readings, which mainly discussed African Muslims, and Middle-Eastern Muslim, that there is no depictions on the cover of any person of color. When I think of American history, I mainly focus on the disparities of African Americans faced, slavery, war, and democracy. In class, we talked about how Islam is colorblind and doesn’t hold another race superior to others and that people determine who is higher up in the class system based on race. If Islam is a colorblind religion, then why do we have many segregated mosque for different ethnicity? Is it because people feel that it’s easier to relate to someone with the same skin color? How is a society supposed to unite when we can’t even hold truth on how America was established and its creation was made from slavery and trespassing.

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

This author, Lillian Rida, made very good points. If I was a Muslim, I would feel as if Americans or etc. would be discriminating towards me just because of the way I looked or what I believed in. Does America’s paradigm of other cultures and religions need to change? Yes, many people need to change their paradigm. Many Americans take it to ease to discriminate or segregate people that are different or have a bad background, we think that that certain person or people will never change and will never be “like”

Today, word of “Islam” connected with more terrorism and violence. Here, article “Islam” by Vincent J O’Malley explains about what is Islam in real sense. According to O’Malley, connection between world second largest religion Islam and terrorism makes very different and negative scenario towards Islam religion in the world population. He explained Islam through different question related religion and philosophy in the article. He started with Muhammad’s life and his background with first question. According to O’Malley, Muhammad was born in 570 in the area of Arabian Peninsula at Mecca. Muhammad was raised by grandfather in the begging and, after he was taken by his paternal uncle. He also describe about Muhammad personal life that he was married with Khadija while he was 25 years old. After first question about Muhammad’s personal life, he moved to the next question of Muhammad’s religious insight. In the begging Muhammad was believed in polytheism but latter on changed with monotheism. According to O’Malley, monotheism means “there is no god but God”. He also explain, Muhammad was borrowed some stuff from the Christianity and Judaism to develop his own religion. Muhammad included some old and New Testament from the Christianity regarding Jesus, Mary and John. After discussing about Muhammad’s religion, Writer O’Malley moved to next question about begin of Muslims calendar. So, the whole idea about beginning of Muslim calendar has explain about beginning of Islam religion.

Religion goes hand in hand with culture, and in the Muslim countries this is very apparent. The cultural importance of men over women may have stemmed from religion, however it was further recognized when imperialist countries introduced capitalism and class divides. “Islam must combat the wrenching impact of alien forces whose influence in economic, political, and cultural permutations continues to prevail” (Stowasser 1994, 5). Now, instead of an agrarian state where both men and women had their place, difficulties have formed due to the rise in education and awareness that women can and do have a place in society beyond domestic living Though women are not equal to men anywhere around the

Jihad – a dispute or war between followers of Islam faith and those who do not follow the Islam faith; a struggle within a Muslim between good and evil (Dictionary)

"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."

For my paper I decided to choose the religion of Islam. I decided to pick this religion because of its fast growing rate. It is also different from what I am used to growing up with, so I was interested in learning more. I had learned some basic facts after the 9/11 event, but the Muslim religion and culture was still a mystery to me. Picking this topic has helped me learn more about Muslims and will help me better relate to them in my future work.

Muslims a follower of the religion of Islam. Islam is easily the second-largest religion in the world. Muslims consider the Quran to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet and messenger Muhammad. "Muslim" is an Arabic word meaning "one who submits (to God)". Muslims religious practices are particularized in The Five Pillars of Islam, and are the Declaration of Faith, five daily Prayers, Fasting (for the entire month of Ramadan from dawn to dusk), Charity and Pilgrimage to Makkah. All Muslims belong to a community of believers called the ummah. all Muslims believe there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad acted as Allah’s messenger, and that the Quran is Allah’s recitation. There are certain beliefs that all Muslims are must follow, but since Islam is expressed in many ways across various cultures, it is hard to make sweeping generalizations. The vast majority of Islam is compounded by cultural variations among Muslims.