Islam in the modern world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Islam in the modern world - Essay Example In the words of Groff & Smoker (1996), â€Å"fundamentalism or religious extremism or fanaticism--when religions claim their version of religion is the only one--are seen as an extreme form of the socially-learned aspect of religion and one not conducive to creating world peace†. In most of the instances, these religious teachings are observed to be quite traditional and introduced in the early centuries. Since then, these religions have been strongly influenced with the inclusion of various modern thinking in the daily lifestyle of human beings as well as revolutions which at times deliberately contradicted the initially developed religious beliefs (Ahmad & Reifeld, 2004). From a materialistic point of view, it can be affirmed that with changes taking place amid the human society in the due course of action, religious beliefs have been and is most likely to be contradicted repeatedly (Calma & Gershevitch, 2009). Contradictions in Islam were also quite apparent in its chronolo gical practices. It has often been argued that during the introductory phase of Islam, Christianity and Hinduism faced various disadvantageous dilemmas in comparison to Islamism. However, with the passing time, Islamism has been repeatedly contradicted with regards to the religious definition that it provides for human rights and equality, especially in relation to gender (Hitchens, 2009; Abdel-Latif, 2008). The so called ongoing Egyptian Revolution of 2011-12 can also be argued on with regards to the contradictory beliefs currently existing in relation to the implications of Islamism (Gad, 2011). The below discussion will thereby be focused on the contradictions currently witnessed in Islamism in the plight of the recent Egyptian Revolution of 2011. The Egyptian Revolution 2011-12 The recent Egyptian Revolution of 2011 is witnessed from various perspectives by the worldwide experts, analysts and critiques. While a few of the experts view the revolution as the aftermath of the conti nuous social and economic failings. Corruption, brutality witnessed to be practiced by the law enforcers majorly including the police, unjust implementations of political prohibitions restricting the human rights to vote freely, inflationary rates, stagnant unemployment and also the practice of inequality in terms of religion, sex and wealth distribution as well (Meguid & et. al., 2011). Others view the revolution as a new opening towards a broader concept of Islamism with the virtues of greater democracy and equality within the population introduced by the hands of the youth (Engdahl, 2011; Wahba, 2011). However, it is worth mentioning that the revolution did not take place with Islamism as its primary reason. The revolution was actually caused due to the ongoing economic, social as well as political malpractices within the economy under the veil of Islamism, to a certain extent. As stated by Claret (2011), â€Å"in a country like Egypt where nothing is conceivable without Islam o r eastern Christianity...† The early as well as the current research based on the political, economic and social processes within Egypt along with other Middle Eastern nations have often claimed religion to be in the position of a vanguard in relation to the unjust functioning of political leaders, police and other social leaders (Claret, 2011). As a matter of fact, Egypt is known to be one of the strongest believers of Islam and is thus known