As the world through Islamic Eyes

As the world through Islamic Eyes It 'time to dispel myths and prejudices about this important and religion, to see what the Bible says about Islam and the world of the future! Since the time of the Crusades is the religion has played a vital role in the world. From Morocco to Indonesia, Islam is reemerging as a political and religious power, can not be ignored. Muslims are reaffirming their faith - culturally, spiritually and politically. "God is the leader in the West," commented one observer, "but it is very much alive in the Middle East! "Confused Weste Few issues have so many misunderstandings in the West as the Islamic world. Most Westeers do not begin to understand the basic principles of faith is important. One sees in particular from a perspective of ignorance and uninformed impression. But only a few sheets of issues crucial to understand how important this last quarter of the 20th Century! Muslims are well aware of how Weste cartoonists, showing how Hollywood portrays as in the West write about them. The exaggerated and misleading stereo? Kind of robed, hook-nose camel driver is known - and widely felt - throughout the Middle East. Events in the Islamic world are too often from Weste eyes. Weste observers often their own preconceived ideas and between events there? pret according to West. They see in the Islamic faith from the narrow perspective of their own Weste, especially Judeo-Christian. Herein lies the root of the West gross misunderstanding of the Muslim world. The correct "Camera Setting" To properly understand the Muslim world, is necessary even in shoes Muslims, to think in terms of Muslims, to see the Muslim world with the eyes. From this point of view we can begin to acquire a deeper knowledge of Islam and its role in world events today. A century ago, when Britain was struggling with the problems of disorder in Egypt and Sudan, Prime Minister Gladstone considered useful to examine the Koran, the sacred book of Islam. Only in this way, he said, could really know the people and the faith they claim. Despite the questionable results of its policy in the Middle East, Gladstone, at least in principle, the importance of considering the Muslim world since the Vantage Point, the real "camera setting". It 'the time to understand what the Bible says the Muslim faith and the importance of events in the Muslim world - now and in the turbulent years ahead! Popular religion include, first, the importance of Islam as a mode world power. Islam is a faith throughout the world. Nearly one in five people in the world today some 800 million people in over 75 countries - is a Muslim. This is a fairly large block and one with great potential. Islam is also one of the most popular religions of the world, perhaps the fastest growing belief around the world. In sub-Saharan Africa - Africa, Islam is reported to attract 10 times the number of converts, as traditional Christianity! It is also important to understand that not all Arabs are Muslims (about 10 percent are Christians), nor are all Muslims are Arabs. Introduced among the Arabs in the seventh century, Islam rapidly throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Several million Arabs are not in the fold of Islam. Within a century, Islam controlled an empire larger than Rome or Alexander the Great. Submission to Allah, Islam means many things to many Muslims. Literally, the word Islam means submission to God "A Muslim is one who lays down. "Muslims, however, have different ideas of their faith according to their social class, education, political and cultural. Like other religions, Islam has changed over the centuries fragmented by theological feuds and disagreements. Today, Islam is divided into two branches, the Sunni and Shiite groups. These two branches created by a great divide on the question of who should be able to ea Muslim leaders after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, founder of the religion in 632 AD. Mainstream Sunni Islam - almost 90 percent of all Muslims - is divided into four "schools" of interpretation. By contrast, 10 percent of all Muslims, Shiites - located mainly in Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Oman - are in many cults, sects and sub-sector, some of them as heretical by Sunni Muslims. Throughout the centuries of research for Islamic unity remains a distant dream due to the lack of effective leadership. The division and fragmentation are the norm within the Islamic Ummah, or community. It is therefore difficult to generalize about Islam as if it were a single block. However, all Muslims are some basic beliefs and points of view. First is the sentence of a religious belief, known as the Shahadah: "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger." Recite this solemn confession of faith (only eight words in Arabic) is the only condition for a Muslim. According to Muslim belief, an Archangel - Gabriel - descended to Muhammad, first in 610 AD, and gives him the wisdom of the Koran. At first, Mohammed was frightened, or held by an evil spirit. But soon convinced that his vocation was truly from God. " Sacred book of Muslims the Quran Muslims sure 114 or chapters, as the literal word of God, who supersedes all previous revelations (including the Bible) and the correction of the alleged "mistake" that had been in Christianity and Judaism. Long, the Koran is a 'shorter than the New Testament. Mohammed said that Jews and Christians were worshiping Allah, all together, but with a different name. The Koran recognizes Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other biblical characters as real prophet through whom God spoke. Mohammed family line drawn by the Patriarch Abraham's grandson, Kedar, the son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:13). Muslims, however, taking account of Mohammed as the greatest and the last (or "seal") of the Prophet. Muslims deny the divinity of Jesus and his crucifixion and resurrection. "They blaspheme who say:" God is Christ, the son of Mary "," The Koran says. Despite the high position according to Muhammad, Muslims do not worship him as a divine being. They feel that he called "Mohammedans," feeling that this term means that the cult of Mohammed. Besides the Koran, most Muslims also observe the Sunna (traditions of what Mohammed) and Hadith (traditions of what he said). In comparison to other religions, Islam is loosely organized. There is no formal institutional hierarchy of authority - no Muslim pope and cardinals - a world, or headquarters, as the Vatican. The ulemas, mullah, Ayatollah mujtahids or, as Islamic scholars and teachers are named differently, are the closest to what the Muslims have a religious clergy. Way of life, to see the Muslim world with the eyes, you must understand that the vast majority of Muslims, Islam is a way of life. Many in the West - for religion is the only church who attend services for one or two hours on Sunday - just can not understand the pervasive nature of the Islamic faith in the lives of their followers. Most Westeers have long abandoned the challenge actually live their faith professed. Islam, however, is of fundamental importance for all aspects of Muslim life. It is far from being a Sunday-Go-To-mosque nature of religion. The average Muslim is the Koran seriously. He tries diligently to obey his commandments. Islamic leaders think and act at a level almost without parallel in the West. Religion and life are inextricably linked. Weste visitors Islamic countries? Destinations often make the mistake of believing that the high class, because many Muslims who speak languages, clothing, and in the West and was educated in the West that have adopted Weste attitudes towards religion. Not so. The vast majority of Muslims of all classes and stations diligently the rules of their faith. They pray in the direction of the holy city of Mecca five times a day. Friday, Muslims observe a special day of public prayer in the mosque. Throughout the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim years, Muslims from eating and drinking from dawn ( "as soon as possible to identify a thread from a black-white"), at twilight. It also expects Muslims to make a Hajj or holy pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime, if physically and financially able. Alms?, For the poor, orphans and the elderly is also an obligation for Muslims. 2.5 percent annual zakat tax is applied against the total assets. In addition to these important guidelines, the Koran prohibits the consumption of pork, alcohol and gambling. In the most liberal Muslims, but especially compared sometimes relaxed. But Islam is much more than a prescribed series of ritual observances. The Koran contains detailed world and religious injunctions. It sets the standards for a wide range of personal, social, economic and political relations, and civil and criminal law. This makes it virtually impossible for Islam on spiritual matters alone. In the Islamic world, the separation of church and state is not known. Since its establishment, Islam is the religion of state. No distinction is made between "God and Caesar" as the spelling of Jesus in Matthew 22:21. Of course, the revolutionary Islamic govement in Iran strongly by the govement in Saudi Arabia. This, in tu, differ from those in Egypt or Pakistan or Libya. The Muslim govements, ranging from semi feudal monarchy to parliamentary democracies. But regardless of these differences, there is no doubt among the Muslims, religion and the govement - and must - inextricably linked. Speaks of a "secular Muslim country" is usually as a contradiction in terms. The final collapse of the late Shah attempted to create a Weste-style state in Iran, in order to minimize the role of the mullahs, is due in part to this deeply Muslim view of the necessity of Church and State Union. Muslims see govement as an important medium for the implementation of good in this world. Much more than the profession of Christians, whose hope is often in first place in a "next life" Muslims are engaged in the task of history in their hands and the model is that it should be. The achievement of a good thing, Muslims believe, is possible in this world. They usually do not have a life of martyrdom Laden with the trials and sufferings, through which the faithful must laboriously for salvation in the next world. "Instead, the Qur'an contains a social and legal, for the happiness, prosperity and welfare here and now. This does not mean that Muslims do not believe in an afterlife as well. Prize or punishment in hell is living in paradise in the Koran. One of the best known aspects of Muslim life is the Qur'an strict code of justice, in a growing number of Muslim countries. Sharia. Koran or canon law, was sentenced in the West as cruel and barbaric. The severity of the punishment the Qur'an shock most people in the West. For the ordinary theft, the penalty, in May, has lost a hand. For premarital sex, 100 lashes in public. For false accusation, 80 lashes. Most Muslims, however, little to do with the objections of the West. The Koran sanctions imposed by the Sharia. and that is enough. Moreover, Muslims read every day the increasing crime in liberal Weste societies. "How can the crime ridden West criticize us? "Ask them. The Muslim countries have crime rates lower than most Weste countries. The Muslim-for-eye-eye on the sharia, but also note, is not substantially different from those of civil and criminal? THE laws of the Old Testament, God of Israel (cf. Ex 21-23). Muslims also remember that in their countries, unlike the "decadent" West, the gravity of sin is the Stilt identified and treated. Another point to be recognized. Like many Westeers, many Muslims have of course appalled at the trials and executions, in Iran under the Khomeini regime. They pointed out that the trials and executions are not a true reflection of Islam, but are linked to political unrest in that country. Muslims also observe that the taking of hostages - mainly diplomats - is clearly prohibited by the Islamic tradition, "I will not break the contract, nor can one expect from prisoners Messengers" Mohammed, once detected. Many Muslims have the Khomeini regime actions in this sense as an embarrassment and humiliation before the world of Islam. In fact, the Koran provides strict limits on the power of Muslim religious courts. Accused as innocent until the contrary is as innocent. Moreover, the testing standards are so demanding that the severe penalties published widely in the West are rarely enforced. In the case of adultery - the death penalty in some Muslim countries - four witnesses at the sentencing. Another frequent question is whether in the West, Islam can succeed in a mode technological society. The question is almost always asked by non-Muslims. Muslims themselves do not see Islam as any barriers to what mode life. They believe that Islam is for all ages and cultures. Muslims are often really surprised that this question must be asked. Let's take a look at this problem with Muslim eyes. N. reading the Koran ever the idea that Islam is reactionary or adapted to a primitive desert. The development and change are not in contradiction with the spirit of Islam. In reality, the search for knowledge and opportunities for advancement will be strongly emphasized in the Koran. Why, then, the controversy over whether Islam can keep pace with mode times? Click here for the rest of this article.