Future and history of Islam and religion

Religion is as old as mankind. Globally, there is a strong fundamental belief amongst people towards their religion and faith. Islam being one of the world’s current religions is such with a strong belief that there is only one incomparable existing God by name, Allah. Therefore, Muhammed is the last messenger to human beings from Allah. The followers of this religion are known as Muslim and they do use Quran as their principle text scripture with teachings about Allah and Muhammed. The Islam religion is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity with over 1.7 billion followers. Muslims use the Quran as their main and principle text scripture with teachings about Allah and Muhammad.

Muslims believe that Islam is the only true and original religion that has ever existed since the time immemorial and shall remain to exist with strong faith on Allah. Islam religious concepts and beliefs base its faith on fiver pillars which include obligatory acts of worship, following Islamic law, resurrection of the dead, Islam apocalyptic literature and rewards of pleasures at paradise (Mohaddessin, 166). These teachings are meant to be followed by all Muslims and other followers of Islam strictly otherwise one would be considered an outcast of the religion who deserves punishment.

There are also other religions consisting of people who have different beliefs and faiths other than Islam. Due to this there has been a great conflict between Islam and these other faiths and religions especially Christianity. Whereas Islam teaches about Allah and Muhammad, Christianity teaches about God and his Son Jesus who came to redeem the lost mankind. This has brought major differences in the world resulting to extensive conflicts. This has created enmity between regions and races which has led wars and tensions across the world threatening the peace that ever once existed. This paper shall find out if peaceful coexistence is possible with specifically looking into the future of Islamic religion.

The Future of Islam Religion

The Islam culture is made of strict doctrines, beliefs and perceptions that make followers rigid and tough. This has made the rest of the world to view Islam as a religion which is not a peace-seeking faith rather slavery. The negativity is created by the wrong perceptions and ignorance of the surrounding. By looking on the future of Islam, there is need to look into the past of the religion. Islam started in the Arabian Peninsula and survived its first century by spreading into the four continents (Mohaddessin, 153). The empires and conquests have largely been political for example the Mughals who labeled their conquests as jihad and had the intention of recruiting as many followers as possible into the religion.

Islam is viewed as a disturbing and dangerous religion in the world many people who are not the followers of the religion. This is the contrary to the opinion and the foundations of the faith. Some countries like Afghanistan and Iraq where basic Islamic fundamentalism is solid were doing very well until recently when problems arose. The problem is the region itself but something else. Muslims live just like any other people conducting their daily activities happily. The future of Islam is just like that of any other region. Every human being has a right and freedom to worship; therefore, Islamic region will ever exist as long as human beings continue to exist.

Islam just like any other religion has a law that guides it commonly known as the sharia law. Muslims simply need to make it clear that Islam is open to any person in the world no matter the class, race, creed or color. Muslims cannot be asked to abandon their religion for a better peaceful future. In fact Muslims date, drink, have premarital sex, take interest, gamble, eat pork and even curse God (Mohaddessin, 151). All these is against the sharia law, but aren’t they just Muslims just like any other? Yes, they are. What needs to be done is to give every individual liberty and this will promote peace in the world.

The western world has a strong conviction that Islam is the most irrational and dysfunctional religion in the world. It contradicts the normal human living as of morality, history and common sense. Further, the western believes that Islam is inhuman and that it treats non-Muslims as second class human beings. Further the prophet of Islam was a violent criminal with a main focus of blood shedding affair. Moreover, Islam condones slavery and it contradicts modern democracy, universal human rights and modern development of science (Mohaddessin, 164). The rest of the world is quickly running out of patience with this religion for the above reasons. It cannot be transformed into a peaceful organization that can lead to harmony and acceptable social relations.

However, Islam if vast growing across the world. This means that there are people who want strong beliefs in their lives and would want to live justly. Not long ago when Islam was believed to start the development of modern thought and pursuing science was seen as a progressive economic entity. But still in the eyes of western, the idea of Islam and its development is seen as backward. This is the major problem which has brought contention and misunderstanding across the regions. More and more people are finding the truth about Islam by themselves by reading Islamic texts and literature. This has made them to have a different changed perspective of Islam.

There is now a big debate about the future of Islam. Some people feel that is should disappear while others are in a great resistance on its disappearance. For instance, in Germany there are many Buddhist, Jewish and Islamic holidays as there are the Christian ones (Mohaddessin, 170). This is because, majorly the Germany citizens believe on neutrality of worship which is the main principle of religious foundations. Therefore, Christians do not have anything against the Islamic celebrations and holidays likewise the Muslims do not have anything against Christian celebrations for example Christmas holiday. This has led to harmonious coexistence in the region.

As earlier noted, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Some of the reasons as to this include, Muslims have more children compared to non-Muslims. The demographic reason here indicates that Muslim women have higher fertility and that they have a younger maiden age of 24 years to that of the non-Muslims which is 32 years (Mohaddessin, 152). More than a third of the Muslims live in Africa and the Middle East and these are the regions with highest population growth. Its conclusive that the future of Islam is an explosion of the religion into the regions which it has not reached therefore major growth. The only worry is if this will promote peaceful coexistence no matter the religion one is in and the foundations of his/her faith.

Is Peaceful Coexistence Possible?

Leaders in various governments are continuously engaging in talks that are majorly focused on peaceful coexistence no matter the region, religion and culture one is in. Muslims and non-Muslims have all along had conflicts purely because of beliefs and values of the religion. The principle of Islam at the Islamic texts indicates is the concept of humanity. This is based on the principle of equality of all mankind. In addition, the principle of harmony and peaceful coexistence is revealed in the Islamic texts and literature. This pronounces that Islam recognizes the existence of other religions in the world and thus the believers try to break barriers that prevent brotherhood. Human beings have equal religious, political and social rights and can live in the light of other guiding principles of other religions.

Contrary there is a hostile relationship between the Muslims and no-Muslims in some regions of the world for example Pakistan. It’s more profound than the principle of peaceful coexistence. Muslims always want to harass non-Muslims in the name of Allah Islam. As the enlightened put it, this is due to illiteracy, lack of accurate knowledge and misinterpretation of the Quran. Therefore, there is a great need to find the solution to this existing situation. Islam has introduced the principle of universal brotherhood and peaceful coexistence among different tribes irrespective of their values, culture beliefs and religion (Mohaddessin, 165). The Islam constitution also gives respect and equal status to all nations and different cultures.

Moreover, Islam prophet recognized the existence of different cultures and religions should give them equal status to that of the Muslims. This has created a strong bond between Muslims and non-Muslims thus promoting peaceful coexistence among individuals. The prophet also promotes respect to cultures. People live in different cultures and believe in different faiths and convictions. Dialogue too has worked greatly to promote peaceful coexistence between the Muslims and non-Muslims (Mohaddessin, 153). Whenever, the regions don’t agree, leaders engage in peaceful talks that try to unite the faces of various people across the world.

Conclusion

Peace is a very important factor in human kind. Without peace, wars and conflicts bring stress to people and in most times, it results to death. It’s with a reason that individuals have different religions. People have different cultures and thus this has a great influence on their belief and faith. This therefore calls for a peaceful coexistence among the individuals. Muslims and non-Muslims have ever had rankles since time immemorial simply because they differ with others’ faith. The purpose of tolerating each other and living peacefully with each other is to promote the earnest truth of coexistence because people need each other. Despite the religion, mankind is yearning for peace globally.

The Islam Quran negates the distinction on the basis of culture, religion, race and status. It’s against Islam to promote divisiveness and hatred among human kind based religious and cultural differences. Whereas, the western views Islam to be a religion of violence, it is actually a religion of peace as its indicated in the Islamic texts. Were it not for extremists among the Islamic followers, then there would have been peaceful coexistence among mankind especially in the affected regions like Syria. Actually, the word Islam itself means peace. To this end therefore, Islam will exist and it should promote peaceful coexistence among human beings in the world because this is a good thing for everyone.

Works Cited

Mohaddessin, Mohammad, “The Search for a Solution,” Islamic Fundamentalism. Seven Locks Press (1995): 151-156
Mohaddessin, Mohammad, “Modern, Democratic Islam: Antithesis to Fundamentalism,” Islamic Fundamentalism. Seven Locks Press (1995): 157-172