Modern Islam Around the World

Islam, the youngest of the three Abrahamic religions, has been the topic of much scrutiny and fear among many who do not understand the full extent of the faith. While there is a greater understanding of Islamic teachings and beliefs, the religion of Islam is quite a variable one. In looking at Great Britain, the United States, the Middle East, Pakistan and several Asian countries it is obvious that the different cultures affect the opinions and therefore the actual beliefs of Muslims in that particular region. In addition, there are points of difference between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. While both Islam and Christianity credit their beginnings to Judaism, there are still points of contention between the faiths. Finally, the perceptions and practices across the globe of the religion of Islam affect the interactions between Muslims and non-Muslims in different ways.

In starting with Great Britain, it is troubling to see the amount of fear and backlash that Muslims have encountered. This fear is largely due to the terrorist attacks on London in July of 2005 where now most Britons view Muslims in a negative light. In fact, it is estimated that “only a quarter of Britons feel positive towards Muslims, while more than a third report feeling “cool” towards them.” The reason this statistic is hard to believe is that in Great Britain, Muslims are quite liberal and open to other interpretations of the world and their own faith. Repeated polls have demonstrated, “…the overwhelming majority of British Muslims are integrated, loyal, non-violent and eschew religious fanaticism.” Because of this discrimination in Great Britain towards Muslims, people who follow the faith feel out of place and are less successful. Further, there is a 34 percent drop in satisfaction and happiness from Muslims living in Great Britain compared to America ("Britain has nothing to fear from Islam," 2010, p. 5). Like great Britain, America’s Muslims are also quite liberal and oppose fanaticism.

In the United States, it is common to hear the question: why do they hate us? Contrary to that public misconception, Muslims around the world admire the United States in many respects but also have concerns about some of the decisions and tactics the United States uses in order to accomplish its objectives. In fact, Gallup polls have shown repeatedly that, “(there is) admiration for America’s accomplishments, principles, and values but resentment of what is seen as U.S. arrogance, unilateralism, and neo-imperial hegemonic designs among a cross-section of Muslims around the world” (Esposito, 2011, p. 367). This poll evidence is far from the terrorist stance of killing and violence, or even the radicalized view. Rather, this illustrates both positive and negative critiques of the United States. Unfortunately, in the United States, sometimes any kind of criticism is taken as a direct attack on the American way of life. In order to maintain a positive image to the Muslim world, there needs to be an open dialogue and a willingness to have a listening rather than a dismissive stance on outside opinions, especially opinions from Muslims in regions of the world where the United States is thoroughly involved.

Within the United States, practicing Muslims actually match their fellow non-Muslim Americans more than they do other Muslims around the world in several respects. One of these categories is the percentage of friends American Muslims claim to have who are not of the Muslim faith. In comparison to the rest of the world, American Muslims say 48 percent of most or all of their friends are Muslim, compared to a staggering 95 percent of the global median of Muslims who say that most or all of their friends practice Islam (Bell, 2013, p. 139). In the tolerance of other religions and acceptance of different paths to eternal life, American Muslims again are very progressive in their stance to the tune of 56 percent compared to just 18 percent forthe global median. Finally, United States Muslims are also more comfortable with the compatibility of Islam in modern times. 63 percent state there is no conflict, compared to a global median of 54 percent (140). These statistics demonstrate, as stated above, that not all Muslims around the world think exactly the same. Obviously this is true across all other faiths, so it should be no surprise that Islam would function the same way. In moving out of the west, the religion of Islam is practiced more fundamentally.

Looking at the Middle East, this is the region of the world where a lot of the misconceptions about Muslims come from. It is assumed that most Muslims live in the Middle East, but this is not the case. In fact, many predominantly Muslim countries lie in various parts of Asia. For the Middle East, there are statistics that speak for a stricter interpretation of the faith but there is still strong resistance to radicalism and the support of violence in defense of the faith. In 2010, a pew poll was conducted, “the most populated ones (countries) in the Middle East…found that most people did not approve of suicide bombing and other acts of violence against civilian targets” (Etizioni, 2011, p. 30). Saudi Arabia, perhaps the most extreme country in the Middle East, has a more controversial, but not violently radicalized, take on Islam:

Although Saudi Arabia is the most prominent supporter of Wahhabism (an extreme interpretation of Islam) and the homeland of fifteen of the nineteen terrorists who attacked New York and the Pentagon on 9/11, a 2008 study by Terror Free Tomorrow found that less than one in ten Saudis had a favorable opinion of al-Qaeda…only 13 percent said suicide bombing was sometimes or often justified. (p. 30)

Therefore, even though in switching from the west to the Middle East there is a change in the political system and subsequently an increase in the influence of religion, the attitude against violence remains much the same. However, modernity in the Middle East parlays into Muslims'  support of their interpretation of the faith over fundamental ideas to the west such as democracy.

In examining Pakistan, it is important to remember that, for the most part, the government is pro-west while the people are much more anti-west. This is due, in large part, to the radicalized interpretation of Islam that has become the dominant view within Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan polls at 84 percent and 6th in countries spanning the globe in a survey conducted in 2011 on whether Sharia law should govern their country (Bell, 2013, p. 46). Pakistan also ranks quite high with 87 percent support in the approval of religious-based courts regarding decisions in family law and property arguments (50). Despite these, at least from western standards, invasive religious involvements, Pakistan, like Saudi Arabia, is against violence. 80 percent of Muslims polled in 2011 stated that suicide bombing in defense of the faith is never acceptable and only 13 percent thought it was sometimes justified (70). A continuous theme seen throughout the world so far is that violence is not an acceptable part of the faith for most Muslims. Most of the discrepancies among Muslims of the world are due to political discourse, not for religious reasons.

Through the examination of most South and Southeastern Asian countries, this is arguably the region where the most radical practice of Islam resides. In terms of the support of Sharia law in the governance of a country, Afghanistan, located in South Asia, has an overwhelming 99 percent support from Muslims (46). Following Afghanistan, the collective opinion of the favorability of Sharia law is 84 percent and 77 percent in South Asia and Southeast Asia respectively. This is significantly higher than countries in Europe where there is just 18 percent support for Sharia law (16). When asked if it is necessary to have a belief in

God in order to be moral, Southeast Asian Muslims responded yes at 94 percent and South Asian Muslims came in at 87 percent (74). Southeast Asian Muslims are also more united in their opinions of all Muslims polled across countries in Europe, Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and even Sub Saharan Africa. In regards to prostitution, homosexuality, suicide, sex outside marriage, drinking alcohol and abortion, the opposition to all of these behaviors is 93 percent or higher (76-81). Even though these beliefs seem to the west to be extreme, it is important to recognize that in all of the countries examined, there is a common agreement that resistance to violence is part of the actual practice of Islam.

As stated before, Islam is the youngest of the Abrahamic religions and so it is necessary in order to further understand Islam, to see how it contrasts Christianity and Judaism. The biggest difference between Islam and the religions of Christianity and Judaism is how God is portrayed in the holy texts. For Islam, “the speaker is always God…and the listener is always ‘you.’ No idea, no act, no material or spiritual thing can stand between God and the believer” (Golomb, 2005, p. 24). Contrast this to Judaism where profits like Moses, Abraham, and Isaac are often messengers of God’s word to other human beings. Also, contrast this to Christianity where the medium is Jesus, even though Jesus is considered God, he is still the “son of God.” In fact, both Muslims and Jews have a hard time following this, “The Christian ‘feels’ the hand of Jesus guiding certain actions and decisions, and the Jew and Muslim can only be mystified by these claims” (31). In Islam, although followers regard Jesus as a prophet, lifting him up to the status of God does not fit into the belief system. Likewise, the use of numerous prophets by followers of Judaism does not work in the Islamic faith because there can be no intermediaries between God and his followers.

Having explored the variations within Islam and how Islam contrasts Christianity and Judaism, it is also important to see how followers of Islam react to followers of other faiths. In looking at the Qur’an, “The Qur’an says that all other religions are cursed by God” (Bukay, 2013, p. 14). Bukay goes further on to claim that the Qur’an states Judaism and Christianity are corrupted versions of the true faith of Islam. If this is true, it would be expected that members of the Islamic faith would not tolerate members of other faiths. In looking at recent poll numbers, there is truth to this claim, “Muslims around the world agree that Islam is the one true faith that leads to salvation. Many Muslims also say it is their religious duty to convert others to Islam” (Bell, 2013, p. 109). However, the amount of Muslims who agree with this depends a lot on their geographical location. For example, the majority of Muslims polled in Kazakhstan see other faiths as pathways to heaven whereas only 3 percent of Muslims polled in Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Morocco believe there are no other paths (110). As far as a duty to convert, the overwhelming majority of Sub-Saharan African Muslims agree they must try to convert non-Muslims but a majority of Central Asian, Southern-Eastern Europe, and Indonesian Muslims do not feel a duty to convert (112). Again, what is shown is a variability of the same faith, and thus different rules and different expectations depending on the country in which Islam is practiced.

In studying Islam across different countries, investigating the differences between its Abrahamic neighbors and seeing how Muslims and non-Muslims interact there is a common theme of variability. This is to be expected because all other religions share the same deviation from country to country, and within the United States, from state to state. What is important is the continuous evidence that the majority of the followers of Islam are against violence and want to see the religion practiced in a way that is peaceful and thus beneficial to the modern world.

References

Bell, J. (2013). The world's muslims: Religion, politics and society. Pew Research Centers Religion Public Life Project RSS. Retrieved October 16, 2013, from http://www.pewforum.org/files/2013/04/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf

Britain has nothing to fear from Islam. (2010). New Statesman, 139(4988), 5-5. Retrieved October 16, 2013, from http://www.newstatesman.com/

Bukay, D. (2013). Islam's hatred of the non-Muslim. Middle East Quarterly, 20(3), 11-20. Retrieved October 16, 2013, from http://www.meforum.org/meq/

Esposito, J. L. (2011). The future of Islam and U.S. -- Muslim relations. Political Science Quarterly, 126(3), 365-401. Retrieved October 17, 2013, from http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/

Etzioni, A. (2011). Toward a nonviolent, pluralistic middle east. Middle East Quarterly, 18(4), 27-38. Retrieved October 17, 2013, from http://www.meforum.org/meq/

Golomb, P. (2005). A matter of time: The Jew, Christian, and Muslim in conversation. Cross Currents, 54(4), 18-36. Retrieved October 15, 2013, from http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/