islam

The essay I've written below was from way back when I was a sophomore. It covers the Arab bedouins, arrival of Islam and Muhammed, Ummayad and Abbasid dynasties, diffusion of Islam to other civilizations, and the inevitable downfall. This was for a unit assignment and basis for one of the discussions about patterns of civilizations held in my world history class. You could say that the exhibited patterns can relate to the international societies present today. Plus. . . there was something about the Middle East that got me totally enamored by their history and culture, amongst other civilizations such as China and India. <3

Change Over Time - Middle East and North Africa

Dominant over other contemporary civilizations technologically, commercially, and politically (equal to that of classical China), the Arab empires would've been exemplary to the world presently, but this failure lied at the root of any civilization's collapse: human nature. Incompetency in leadership acted as a catalyst over generations and all other factors of decline fall into place like a chain reaction of dominoes. Following the pattern of intermittent civilizations, the Arab empires of the Middle East began with times of hardship and ended as remnants of what was imperialism.

Osama bin Laden gathers troops for his jihad (holy war) by saying that the Qu'ran and Allah say that it is honorable if the jihadists die in a suicide bomb so long as America is taken down and Islam is helped, but recently, this view has been under attack from inside the Islamic world.

College has forced me to open my eyes to views other people may have, and I am doing my best to integrate open-mindedness into my view of the world.

One world view, however, that I fear I will never completely accept, is Islam. (Muslims, may you forgive me, but I will explain.)

After reading both of the articles, and doing some researching of my own, I can come to the conclusion, that as Lewis justifies the stance that the Muslim activists have taken, Said believes that, “the West is the West, and Islam Islam.” However much they may disagree on, they also take two very different approaches.

So, we have heard it said, time and time again, that religion is an evil thing. One person even went to the point of saying religion has done humanity no good. So, I come here to explain what exactly religion has done in the past to benefit both society and individuals in that society.

So a while back I was given a challenge to read more about the religion of Islam. The original challenge was to read the Hadiths, or traditions started or approved by Muhammad. In the process, I found an interestng book that I've felt worthwhile to use as a basis for my explanation of Islam and how it's used - and abused - the way I understand and view it.

When the word "Muslim" or the "Islam" is mentioned, one of the first pictures that pops up in the minds of some people, and I am not saying all people although that maybe true in some places, is terrorist and terrorism. In all actuality, this is the most erroneous and misconstrued thought ever!