Women In Islam Essays (Examples)

Women and Islam

Do Muslim women eally need saving?

Stengths and weaknesses

Between hee and thee: feminist solidaity and Afghan women.

Stengths and weaknesses

Do Muslim women eally need saving? Anthopological eflections on cultual elativism and its othes.

Topic oveview and famewok

The aticle deals with the topic of 'Wa on Teoism', the wa claimed to have been launched fo libeating the Afghan women fom Taliban and an agument with anthopological pespective to deconstuct the essentially flawed epesentation of Afghan women that Wa on Teoism hetoic makes. The aticle is aimed at investigating the nuances of identity that ae essentially devoid of histoical constuction of ole of women in Afghan society. The aticle also aims to identify the pocess though which women's ole in Afghan society is not constucted on anthopological gounds but athe influenced by one's own cultue, identity, and standads of living. Thus, cultual bias is said to…

references: Constructions of gender in the Bush administration discourse on the attacks on Afghanistan post-9/11. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 8(1), 19-41.

Stereotyped depictions of Muslim culture in the media make it seem that all Muslim women live in a Harem, following orders from their tyrannical husbands. On the contrary, many Muslim cultures have afforded women equal rights in the law and in the society. The Quran does not advocate the subjugation of women by men; in fact the Quran is arguably more egalitarian than the Old Testament upon which both Judaism and Christianity are based. Some passages in the Quran can be interpreted as advocating gender equality. If the Quran has been misinterpreted by some Islamic societies then it is not the fault of Islam but of corrupt political leaders. Seeking to establish clear-cut male dominance over women, such nefarious leaders have stripped women of their innate human rights such as owning property. Those sexist practices are not part of Islam but part of political regimes that distort the religion.

Muslim…

Esposito finds that the premodernist revival movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries contributed to the pattern of Islamic politics that developed and left a legacy for the twentieth century. These movements were motivated primarily in response to internal decay rather than external, colonial threat (Esposito 40-41).

At the same time, many areas of the Islamic world experienced the impact of the economic and military challenge of an emerging and modernizing est beginning in the eighteenth century. Declining Muslim fortunes also reversed the relationship of the Islamic world to the est, from that of an expanding offensive movement to a defensive posture. Muslim responses to these changes ranged from rejection to adaptation, from Islamic withdrawal to acculturation and reform. Some responded by secular reform, and by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Islamic modernist movements had also developed in an attempt to bridge the gap between tradition and modernity…

Works Cited

Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. New Haven: Yale University, 1992.

Binder, Leonard.

Islamic Liberalism. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1988.

Eickelman, Dale F. The Middle East: An Anthropological Approach. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1989.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

The religion of Islam is very misunderstood and pervasively skewed within its true meaning and original intent by extremists in the Islamic society. Never did the prophet intend that the abuses and oppression which today's Muslim women suffer should occur. It is the conclusion of this writer that extremists exist in all religions and these are those who garner the most attention and receive the most press however, those who are moderate and who adhere to the true beliefs and meaning of the Islamic religions receive little attention and little press and even littler in the way of chances to convey the truth of this religion to the world. The abuses and oppression will continue however, it is hopeful that the ignorance surrounding the Muslim religion will eventually lose out to better dissemination of information and to more intelligent reporting backed by diligent investigation of the facts.…

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Soares, Claire (2009) Delara Darabi: 'Oh Mother, I Can See The Noose'. The Independent UK. 4 May 2009. Online available at:  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/delara-darabi-oh-mother-i-can-see-the-noose-1678543.html 

Zahra, Sadaf (2005) Women in Pakistan -- Victims of the Social and Economic Desecration" In Defense of Marxism. 10 Oct 2005. online available at: http://www.marxist.com/women-pakistan-victims-of-desecration.htm

Ahmed, L. (1993) Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate

Yale University Press, 1993

Islamic women are now restricted from most activities, and their rights have been steadily decreasing. Her social and political as well as economic rights are all being violated everyday by unscrupulous men who have corrupted the very religion to their own advantage, and today, especially in most Arab countries, woman has become 'Awarah', or the very subject of concealment, wherein her public presence is banned; where even her very voice, must not be heard in public. (Women's Position, ole, and ights in Islam)

In India, there are only 960 women to 1000 men, a figure that when compared to the rest of the world, especially developed countries, which shows 105 women to 100 men, due to better health care for women, is quite miserable. It is in India that women are often considered to be burdens on their families, and the main reason for this is the 'dowry system', wherein…

References

Agarwal, Sita. Hindu Scriptural Sanction for the Crushing of Women. Retrieved at  http://www.dalitstan.org/books/gowh/gowh6.html . Accessed on 16 March, 2005

Gender Equality. 2004. Retrieved at http://www.faithnet.org.uk/Ethics/genderequality.htm. Accessed on 16 March, 2005

John, MacArthur Jr., Women's Roles. 20 March, 2003. Retrieved at  http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=205Accessed  on 15 March, 2005

Mbiti, John. The Role of women in African traditional religion. Retrieved at  http://www.afrikaworld.net/afrel/atr-women.htm . Accessed on 16 March, 2005

She is warm and straightforward, considerate and humble. She is not a hypocrite or a cheat, does not speak falsely and offers good advice in a prudent way and for the general welfare. She has a word and keeps it. She is modest in appearance and in manners. She respects others as she respects herself and keeps out of matters where she is not part of. She does not sow dissension or seek out hidden faults. No matter how achieved or excellent she may feel, she does not show off. She is not oppressive, but is, instead, fair and generous. She does not delight in the misfortune of another person but endeavors to help overcome it.

The bigots who put her down have ironically benefited the ideal Muslimah. They believe that the Muslim woman or any woman should keep her mouth shut as a result of her "original sin" in…

Bibliography

Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam. Yale University Press, August 19, 1993

Al-Hashimi, Muhammad Ali. The Ideal Muslimah. International Islamic Publishing House, 1998. http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/humanrelations/womeninislam/idealmuslimah

Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf. The Voice of a Woman in Islam. Sister's Page, Islamic World Net. http://www.islamic-world.net/sister/the_voice.htm

Godlas, a. Women in Islam: Muslim Women. Islamic Studies, 2004. http://www.arches.uga.edu/~godlas/Islamwomen.html

More recently, reports have begun coming from the Middle East that women will no longer be "expected" to participate in the pilgrimage to Mecca, thereby eliminating women from the holiest rite associated with Islam. Having once done that, it would then be easy to keep women physically, mentally, emotionally isolated within any Muslim society.

Of equal concern is the way in which the Koran is interpreted to facilitate and carry acts of terrorism. The Koran does call for the defense of Islam, that should Islam be threatened, it is the responsibility of every Muslim - presumably, women too - to rise to the defense of Islam."Islamic rulings of warfare are complex, appear to be contradictory and require careful analysis. The simplistic visions of paradise for suicide preached by militant jihadist clerics defy over 1,400 years of Islamic history and wisdom. Yet those like Osama bin Laden, yman al Zawahiri, or…

Aboul-Enein, Y. And Zuhur, S., p. 18.

Answers.com, Zahra Kazemi, found online at  http://www.answers.com/topic/zahra-kazemi , retrieved 10 January 2007

Aboul-Enein, Y. And Zuhur, S., p. 19.

Once the practice of Islamic worship the women of that region began to be subjected to stricter codes, from marriage to dress and the risk of honor becoming an even greater issue grew. The terrorization by the Mongols and Turks was quite different from the terror under Saddam. The Mongols and Turks utilized slavery, rape, beatings and murder. Saddam instead took on an entirely different approach. His first goal was fear coupled with violence to maintain the plans he made for the society and culture. He was less about Islam and more about self-promotion and the glorification of Iraq. This type of leader is most like Josef Stalin of the Soviet Union. One never knew when or why you might be targeted.

Following the fall of the Ba'th government, the population of women in Iraq was at approximately 60%. They are a definite majority and should be in a better…

Works Cited

"AEI - Post-Saddam Iraq Conference Series." Welcome to AEI. Web. 7 July 2010. .

Chesler, Phyliss. "Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence?" The Phyllis Chesler Organization. Web. 7 July 2010. .

Coleman, Isobel. "Women, Islam, and the New Iraq | Foreign Affairs." Home | Foreign Affairs. Web. 7 July 2010. .

"Culture in Post-Saddam Iraq:: Middle East Quarterly." Middle East Forum. Web. 7 July 2010. .

Women in the Major Religions

The role of women in organized religion has been an issue of discussion and debate for many years. It gained significant attention as the "women's rights" movement gathered momentum, and it has been fueled further by recent global events. After the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, interest in religious practices in Afghanistan gathered a lot of attention. That is because the recently deposed Taliban government had extremely harsh restrictions on virtually every aspects of an Afghan woman's life.

While most people realized that the Taliban held an extremely distorted view of what the life of a Moslem woman should be, many people didn't know what a more reasonable interpretation of women's role would be within Islam. In addition, little mention was given in the media to the role of women in other major religions.

This paper will look at how…

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arin, Canan, "Far Reaching Reforms-Legal Rights of Women in Turkey." Manushi, January, 1998, pp 12-18.

Author not available. "What the Koran Says About Women." Christian Science Monitor. December 19, 2001.

Author not available. "Women in the Church: Scriptural Principles and Ecclesial Practice, Part III." A Report of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations of the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod. September, 1985.

Author not available. "Woman's ordination: Rome's Position on Women's Ordination." Report of the Women's Ordination Conference. Accessed via the internet 2/16/02.

There is an obvious contradiction between what we think of Muslim women and their actual life. In order to better understand them and their social and civil life, we need to understand their religion and the way of thinking for both men and women.

Question

In the introductory chapter of the book "The war of Muslim Minds, Islam and the West," Gilles Kepel talks about the online article "Knights under the Prophet's anner," published on the Internet in December 2001 by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's most valued ideologue and Osama bin Laden's mentor.

According to his statements, the explanation for the attack of September 11 on the World Trade Centre is a simple and rather nationalistic one. Jihad activists came to face the disappointing conclusion that wherever they would go, Afghanistan, osnia or Saudi Arabia, jihad activist were unable to motivate and gather up the masses in order to fight…

Bibliography

Gilles Kepel, "The War of Muslim Minds, Islam and the West," The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England, 2004

Bernard Lewis and Robin Wright, Laith Kubba, "Islam and Liberal Democracy: Recognizing Pluralism," Journal of Democracy 7.2 (1996) 86-89

Meria, Middle East Review of International Affairs, Journal, Volume 3, Number 1, March 1999, Article "Islam, Islamists and democracy," by Ali R. Abootalebi

Zuleyha Keskin, "Status of Women in Islam," 2005

Women in Middle East

Western Influence on the Lives of Islamic Women

September 11th and the war on Iraq have managed to demonize and stereotype Islam in the popular Western mind even more than its foreign nature had independently achieved. In addition to the furor over Islam spawning terrorism, renewed attention has been pointed at the supposed oppression and abuse of women in Islamic cultures, to the degree that these human rights abuses have been cited as one of the justifications for Bush's war on Iraq. However, there remains among thinking people, particularly those with cultural, religious, or ethnic ties to both Islamic and Western cultures, as to whether or not Islam has a negative impact on women's rights in the modern and historical Middle East. Because the false dichotomy between "good" Western ideals and "bad" Islamic ideals has been propagated for so long, it might surprise a Western reader…

It was their right and duty as loyal followers, a way they could prove their faith and their commitment to God. This mindset is one reason the Muslims under Mohammed's leadership during his conquests were so successful, as described below.

Reasons for Success

Mohammed and his followers defeated migrants and other raiding parties in part because they decided to attack and defend their holy place during the holy month of Ramadan, something that was unexpected. Among those the Muslims following Mohammed opposed included a group named the Quraysh. During the infamous battle at adr Walls, Mohammed said to his followers about to engage in battle, that "no man will be slain this day fighting against them with steadfast courage, advancing and not retreating, but God will cause him to enter Paradise." Many Muslims following the messenger Mohammed believed that God sent to them 3,000 angels the day of the conquest…

Bibliography

Akbar, M.J. The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict between Islam and Christianity.

London: Routledge, 2002.

Ali, Ameer. The Spirit of Islam: A History of the Evolution and Ideals of Islam with a Life of the Prophet. London: Christophers. 1922.

Bainbridge, William Sims and Stark, Rodney. "The Rise of a New World Religion."

adud 10)

Female Circumcision:

Female circumcision, has been a point of contention for many years with regard to Islam, as Islam or more specifically the Quran and "secret" texts of it have often been used as the sited foundation of the practice. hat is abundantly clear is that this practice in its mildest to most extreme forms predates the Quran and the Prophet Mohamed. Once again this may be an example of a situation where Mohamed observed something that he believed was hurting women and he attempted to control the practice. Though there is also evidence that this is not something Mohamed would ever have observed, as it was a secluded practice, performed by women on women and that it was not prolific within the region, where he lived and traveled.

Gollaher 44)

Leonard 168) the Quranic evidence associated with circumcision is limited to two passages. One Hadeeth discusses circumcision…

Works Cited

Abu-Hamdiyyah, Mohammad. The Qur'an: An Introduction. London: Routledge, 2000.

Badawi, Jamal. "Gender Equity in Islam" webpage at  http://www.soundvision.com/info/gender/femalecircumcision.asp,2007 .

Cook, Michael a. The Koran: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Cragg, Kenneth. The Mind of the Quran: Chapters in Reflection. London: Allen & Unwin, 1973.

Islam

Select a eligion

eligion is considered to be belief and acts of worship, which concentrates on worshiping a deity and gives a detailed and comprehensive outline for the way of living. It teaches the difference between good and evil, right and wrong and morality and immorality. This paper has selected Islam as the religion to be discussed.

Analysis of Christianity

Analysis of Christianity

Analysis of Islam

eligion plays an essential role in providing spiritual, moral and ethical guidelines to individuals in order to apply it into their daily lives (Fisher, 2005). eligion is considered to be belief and acts of worship, which concentrates on worshiping a deity and gives a detailed and comprehensive outline for the way of living. It teaches the difference between good and evil, right and wrong and morality and immorality. There are several religions in the world, which includes Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism.…

References:

Fisher, M.P. (2005). Living religions (6th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

McInerney, W. (2003). Instructor's manual with tests: Living religions (5th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Religion of Islam.(2009). Minnesota State University. Retrieved from http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/islam/beliefs.html

estern world thinks of Muslim women, it is often in terms of Muslim women as an oppressed stereotypes. This includes images of women in hijabs, Turkish women in chadors and women who must be veiled in public at all times. Distorted beliefs about Islamic beliefs regarding polygamy and the subservient role of women further contribute to the stereotype that Muslim women are more oppressed than their Christian counterparts.

However, while strict laws do present limits to the public lives of many Arab and Muslim women, these stereotypes do not present a complete picture of their lives. As ethnographer Susan Schafer Davis observed, Muslim women have and continue to exert considerable influence in the private sphere of family and women's associations. This gave them much more autonomy and power than Christian women of the same era.

This paper examines the scope of a Muslim woman's authority and power within the private…

Works Cited

Al Faruqi, Lamya. 1994. Women, Muslim Society and Islam. Plainfield, IN: American Trust Publishers.

Davis, Susan Schaefer. 1985. Patience and Power: Women's Lives in a Moroccan Village. Cambridge: Schenckman Books.

Harik, Ramsay M. And Marston, Elsa. 1996. Women in the Middle East: Tradition and Change. New York: Franklin Watts.

Islam-Husain, Mahjabeen. 1997. "It's Up to Muslim Women to Reclaim Our God-Given Rights," in Islam. Jennifer A. Hurley, ed. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.

Muslims are a family oriented people with religious centered traditions and government. They follow the law of Sharia based the Koran or Qur'an. The women experience a range of individual rights from dressing more liberally with colors and headscarves, to being unable to drive or dance in public. Although Westerners often paint a negative picture of Muslim culture, there are many wonderful and beautiful things to be learned of the Muslim faith and Muslim culture.

In recent times, many Muslims have adopted new ways of living, providing outsiders' access to their pursuits. From female racecar drivers to singing competitions, Muslims have grown and expanded their culture to embrace modernity and variety. The best example of this is Dubai. Dubai houses ultramodern skyscrapers and the latest in cars and fashions. Although separation of genders remains prevalent even in a more modern city like Dubai, that does not keep Muslims from enjoying…

References

Knight, K. (2006). My Muslim faith. North Mankato, MN: Cherrytree Books.

Modood, T. (2005). Multicultural politics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Pohl, F. (2010). Modern Muslim Societies. New York: Cavendish Square Publishing.

oman and Islam

Islamic religion has its established guiding teachings and principles that ensure its followers submit totally to the will of Allah for all the adherents. In effect, Islamic religion recognizes the fact that people and things around them affect their survival irrespective of their age, community, families, and the nation. The quality of life of the Muslims invariably affects the existence of the Islamic nations and religion as a whole. Muslim women are highly vulnerable to various health problems due to the strict religious ideation of most of the conditions that affect them. Islamic women as most of the women from other contemporary communities face numerous health challenges, including reproductive health problems such as increased cases of maternal death, destitution, poor access to maternal health services, and social violation of their human rights. As such, the health challenges make it necessary for the adoption of policies that recognize…

Works cited

Agnew, Vijay. Racialized Migrant Women in Canada: Essays on Health, Violence, and Equity. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009. Print

Aswad, Barbara C, and Bilge? Barbara. Family and Gender among American Muslims: Issues Facing Middle Eastern Immigrants and Their Descendants. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996. Print

Atighetchi, Dariusch. Islamic Bioethics: Problems and Perspectives. New York? Springer, 2007. Internet resource.

Cortese, Delia, and Calderini Simonetta. Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press, 2006. Print.

Islam

According to Esposito (1999), there is often a "bitter debate" over the role of women in Muslim society (p. 688). The different role of women in different Muslim countries reflects this debate. On the one extreme, the Taliban in Afghanistan have closed women's schools because it is believed that women should not be educated and should instead serve in their "primary roles as wives and mothers," (Esposito, 1999, p. 688). Similarly fundamentalist interpretations, or misinterpretations, of Islamic law are evident in Iran, Sudan, and Algeria, as well as a few other places as well (Esposito, 1999). On the other hand, some Muslim women in Turkey and other countries eschew the veil and other hallmarks of female Muslim identity. Gender roles and norms remain one of the most contentious issues in Islam today, and this issue is also one of the reasons why Islam is both misunderstood and maligned by…

References

The Oxford History of Islam, ed. John L. Esposito (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).

"Women in Islam," (2014). PBS Frontline. Retrieved online:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muslims/themes/women.html

It should be pointed out, however, that many of these issues exist for women in developed countries such as the United States.

Voices from Iran, however, also looks at aspects of Iranian women's power and influence, an issue that often receives little notice with Western scholars and activists. Iranian wives, the interviewees point out, possess a great influence over their husbands, giving them great power within their families. Among younger generations, women have made strides towards amassing greater social capital, through institutions such as education.

More than fifty percent of new college admissions, for example, are female students. After the Islamic Revolution (1978-1979), and the following war with Iraq, female college graduates began to enter emerging businesses and industries. Many women, for example, enter the publishing industry, open private medical clinics or enter artistic fields such as film. Younger women have turned to writing and graphic design. This influx has…

Islam and Human Rights

a Critique of Contemporary Muslim Approaches

The basic objective of this research is note the errors that are committed by Muslims in their argument of human rights in Islam or in other words to explore possible means of formulation of a more coherent alternative expression of values to point out the errors committed by Muslims in their attempt to argue the case of human rights in Islam in the hope that efforts and resources expended in that direction can be derived to a more agreeable end; which is the exploration of possible means of formulating a more coherent alternative expression of values to the so-called "Islamic human rights."

A considerable amount of literature has been produced on these issues by competent Muslim thinkers and scholars but because they either

purposefully or 2) inadvertently chose to follow almost the same style as explored in the Western tradition…

Bibliography

Hassan, Riffat, Ph.D. ( ) Are Human Rights Compatible with Islam? The Issue of the Rights of Women in Muslim Communities, University of Louisville, KY [Online available at: http://www.religiousconsultation .org/hassan2.htm

Islam 101 "Human Rights in Islam" 2005 [Online available at: http://www.islam 101. com/rights/index.Htm 'Allamah Abu Al'A'la Mawdudi at Tawid Journal 'Vol.. IV No. 3 Rajah-Ramadan 1407 ajab-Ramadahan 1407 Human Rights in Islam.]

Islam and the Clash of Civilizations

orld civilization has known in the last decades some of the most important political, economic, and in particular cultural developments of the 20th century. The era after the end of the Cold ar determined a series of events that triggered numerous conflicts around the world, from the war in Kuwait in the early 1990s, to the genocide in Rwanda, human rights abuses and apartheid in South Africa, to the escalation of the terrorist phenomenon to dimensions never attained before.

The peak of the terrorist threat was reached on September 11, 2001 when the attacks on the orld Trade Center in New York fully demonstrated the power, influence, and capacity terrorist groups can master. Along with the terrorist phenomenon, the other regional conflicts still ongoing in parts of the Middle East and Africa, point out the increased differences that exist throughout the world between different…

Works cited

Baxter, Kylie; Akbarzadeh, Shahram. 2008. "U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East." Routledge.

Huntington. S. 1993."The Clash of Civilizations?" Foreign Affairs, Summer.

Inglehart, Ronald, and Norris, Pippa. "The True Clash of Civilizations." Foreign Policy, Mar/Apr2003, Issue 135

Krishna, S. 2008. Globalization and post colonialism. Hegemony and resistance in the twenty first century. Rowman, Littlefield Publishers, New York.

Islam and Terrorism

Is Islam Somehow Correlated with Terrorism?

Background of Islam

Stereotypical Perceptions of Islam

Public Opinion Polls

Islam in the Media

There is a common stereotype that persists in the est that associates the Islamic faith with violence and terrorism. This mindset has been perpetuated through many individuals who base their opinions on past conflicts and influential events that have occurred in recent history. This perception has created tension between cultures that based on misunderstanding and should be corrected. Islam is the fastest growing beliefs systems in the world today and is known as one of the seven primary world religions. Yet, primarily due to violent extremist groups within the religion, Islam has been perceived by many to be a brutal religion that includes provisions for terrorism; specifically through its concept of "Jihad."

Yet the vast majority of Islamic practices are pacifist by nature. Thus it could be…

Works Cited

AFP. (2008, February 27). Major survey challenges Western perceptions of Islam. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i5ajtNJ0qTTRMBSFpYngMOjrmDbQ

Imam, M. (N.d.). The Perception of Islam and Muslims in the Media and the Responsibility of European Muslims Towards the Media . Retrieved from Cuturelink:  http://www.culturelink.org/conf/dialogue/mesic.pdf 

Kidd, T. (2009). American Christians and Islam: Evangelical Culture and Muslims from the Colonial Period to the Age of Terrorism. Princeton University Press.

Lostopedia. (N.d.). Syid Jarrah. Retrieved from Wikia:  http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Sayid_Jarrah

He pioneered sweeping reforms in the Egyptian education specifically focusing on the schooling of women. (p.90) Ali Abdal aziq discusses he authority of the caliphs and argued that Islam can never constitute the legitimate basis of a nation state. He was criticized for reducing Islam to a purely spiritual system. aziq stressed that an individual Muslim community were entitled to choose their own caliph if they wanted one. That meant that a decision by any authentic Islamic society was itself by definition Islamic. (p.91) Ayatollah Khomeini revealed that it was the duty of religious leaders to bring about an Islamic state and to assume legislative, executive and judicial positions within it. This particular form of government was to be referred to as "ule of the Jurisprudent." The highest authority was to be a religious scholar who held absolute executive power and who was qualified to hold office on the basis…

References

Rippin, a. (2005) Muslims: Their Beliefs and Practices. New York: Routledge

Mernissi, F. (1992) Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World. Cambridge: Perseus Books Publishing.

Elias, J. (1999) Islam: Religions of the World. London: Routledge.

Lee, R. (1997) Overcoming Tradition and Modernity: The Search for Islamic Authenticity. Boulder: Westview.

The presence of a parliament does not a democracy make.

Mernissi's assertion that the Third orld has enabled much of Arab and Muslim societies to be cut off from the philosophical underpinnings of democracy can easily explain why Islam seems incompatible with secular humanism. Arabs, "like the rest of the citizens of the third orld, have never had systematic access to the modern advances rooted in" the Enlighenment (Mernissi 46-47). Mistrust of colonial overlords has fueled an anti-estern sentiment. This also prevents democracy as a worldview from taking root, let alone democracy as a reality. The result is that people in the Muslim world are experiencing "modernity without understanding its foundations, its basic concepts," (Mernissi 47).

In the Arab world "the state and its public schools...remain the only means of creating and propagating democratic culture and educating tolerant citizens," (Mernissi 47). The goal is to interject democratic principles into teachings…

Works Cited

Berman, Paul. "The Philosopher of Islamic Terror." The New York Times. March 23, 2003.

Eickelman, Dale F. Bin Laden, the Arab "Street," and the Middle East's Democracy Deficit."

Klausen, Jytte. Faith and politics. Chapter 3 in the Islamic Challenge. Oxford, 2005.

Mernissi, Fatema. "Fear of Democracy" Chapter 3 in Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World. 2002.

Islam is a religion of war and hatred.

Islam

One cannot highlight too much the difference amid Islam, which is plain and Islam, with a fundamentalist version. Islam is the religion of approximately one billion people, as well as is a quickly increasing faith, predominantly in Africa but also elsewhere in the globe. The United States, for instance, boasts, approximately, a million converts to Islam (in addition, an even superior number of Muslim settlers).

Islam's believers find their faith hugely appealing, for the religion possesses an internal power that is quite astonishing. As a primary figure in the Islamic Republic of Iran maintains that any Westerner who really understands Islam will desire the lives of Muslims. Far from feeling embarrassed in relation to it's being temporally the last of the three major Middle Eastern monotheisms, Muslims considered that their faith progresses on the earlier ones. In their interpretation, Judaism, as…

Bibliography

Annemarie Schimmel. Islam An Introduction. State University of New York Press, 1992.

Islam is a religion of war and hatred

S. abruptly pulled funding from the area, leaving many former allies feeling abandoned and as if they had been misled. Many of these disenchanted warriors formed the backbone of the Taliban.

These initial members were able to prey upon the poverty that plagued Afghanistan and Pakistan and recruit numbers of young males for Islamic extremism. This was due to the fact that both countries suffered from extreme poverty and were not able to fund schools for young males. Both the Taliban and Al Qaeda built radical madrasahs offering boys an education. Since families saw the education of their children, especially their sons, as the primary way to escape from crippling poverty, they would send their sons to the madrasahs for an education. In the madrasahs, the children were steeped in Islamic fundamentalism. Part of the education focused on the resource disparity between people in the U.S. And other western countries…

The doom tree is presented as a mythical eagle, an ancient idol, the river -- "a sacred snake, one of the ancient Gods of the Egyptians"(Salih).

People in this remote and stuck in time village have dreams about the past, some prophetic dreams and some other dreams that are yet to be interpreted. The efforts to reconcile modern life, represented by the city and tradition, represented by the village are seen through the lenses of religion. The villagers did not need the teachings of another preacher, and it seemed that every time when the government sent someone to bring something new in there, it was doomed to fail. On the other hand, the villagers thought they new and had everything already and this appears to be a mistake as well.

The water pump, the stopping place for the steamer, the new agricultural scheme and other symbols of the evolution of…

And just as different divisions of Christianity are more or less fundamentalist in their interpretation of religious texts and traditions, different divisions of Islam are more or less strict. The most fundamentalist version of Islam, one that is primarily associated with Saudi Arabia, is Wahhabism. Muslims who follow this minority version of Sunni believe that they are the only true Muslims and that other branches of Islam are illegitimate (Cleveland, 2004, p.123). In some ways, the division between Wahhabism is like that between Catholics and Protestants during the eformation and Counter-reformation or that between Orthodox and eform Judaism. All major religions have internal divisions, and all major religions -- including also Hinduism and Buddhism -- can be organized along a spectrum from most conservative to most liberal.

Some followers of Wahhabi Islam have been responsible for horrific violence. There is no justification for their actions. It is true that --…

References

Cleveland, W.L. (2004). A history of the modern middle east. (3rd ed.) Boulder: Westview Press.

Jenkins, P. (2009, March 8). Dark passages. Retrieved from  http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/03/08/dark_passages/ .

The groom is required to pay a dowry to the bride, as a form of consideration, and the amount is stipulated to within the marital contract.

Interestingly, a man may marry up to four women so long as he can treat them all equally. However, a woman may only marry one man. Divorces are allowed, but are easier for a man to initiate than the female. Popular media portrays Islam as a sexist culture that requires women to such practices as veiling and seclusion. However, there is great debate within the Islamic community on whether the holy texts actually justify these practices. In the twentieth century, social reformers argues against these and other sexist traditions, including polygamy. On the other hand, many individual women are striking a balance between tradition and living an active life within traditional modesty.

Clearly, Islamic traditions play an important part in society, especially when Muslims…

Bibliography

Turner, Colin. (2006): Islam: The Basics. London: Routledge.

Waines, David. (2003): An Introduction to Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Weiss, Bernard G. (2002): Studies in Islamic Legal Theory. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers.

His proposals received a strong opposition from the side of the religious leaders who were dissatisfied both with the fact that women were given the right to vote and the land reforms (idem).

After Khomeini was sent into exile, the shah's leadership, greatly supported by the U.S., became dictatorial. By choosing to put the country under an authoritarian regime with little or no real opposition, Mohammad-Reza Shah, like his father, almost a quarter of a century ago, signed his own end as a leader of ran. Some of the reforms made during those years were restoring women's rights. The Family Protection Law, passed in 1967, brought women's issues related to marriage and divorce closer to the laws of the civilized world. but, the Shah was too much obsessed with building a huge military power, proving himself to the U.S. As the pillar of stabilization in the Middle East.

ranian women…

Iran. Role of Women. Source: U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved: Feb 17, 2009. Available at  http://countrystudies.us/iran/53.htm .

White, J.B. 2004. Money Makes Us Relatives: Women's Labor in Urban Turkey. Routledge.

The Republic of Turkey. Principles and General Objectives of Education. Retrieved: Feb 17, 2009. Available at  http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/archive/Countries/WDE/2006/CENTRAL_and_EASTERN_EUROPE/Turkey/Turkey.htm

(Prophet Noble Drew Ali)

Ali came to Chicago in 1925 and his movement took on its greatest force here. He saw Marcus Garvey as a motivation for his own work. Ali, like Garvey preached the significance of forming unity among all the people of the African Diaspora. Marcus Garvey was particularly acclaimed as a John the Baptist who set the way for the emergence of Noble Drew Ali at Moorish Science Temple meetings. (What was the relationship between Noble Drew Ali and Marcus Garvey?)

Warith al-Din Muhammad:

Many foreign countries have exercised substantial power on the lives of American Muslims by ascertaining to increase the religious knowledge. Saudi Arabia has enhanced the image of Islam in the West. It has supported the actions of the Muslim World League -- MWL in America. Saudi Arabia has also promoted good relations with the Afro-American Muslim community. In all possibility, under foreign pressure,…

omen's Rights

Traveling outside one's own homeland will present certain challenges if not problems. It is important to realize that the world is a diverse place where many standards of action vary from place to place. This variance requires an individual wishing to navigate a culture without issue to inform himself of the cultural differences that may arise in this advancement.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the role of females in Saudi Arabia to contextualize the larger argument of the importance of knowledge in dealing with foreign cultures and scenarios. This examination will demonstrate how the culture of Saudi Arabia contributes to the general interpretations of gender role expectations and affect our own personal behavior. This essay will examine if these occurrences rest upon social class as a factor for promoting our acceptance.

Pejman (2004) described the situation for women in Saudi Arabia as complex and very…

Works Cited

Coleman, I. (2013). Saudi Arabia's Timid Flirtation With Women's Rights. The Atlantic, 16 Jan 2013. Retrieved from  http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/01/saudi - arabias-timid-flirtation-with-womens-rights/267245/

Pejman, P. (2004). Saudi Arabia: Women Say Religious Traditions Block Their Rights. The Religious Consultation., 30 Mar, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.religiousconsultation.org/News_Tracker/Saudi_women_say_religious_traditi ons_block_rights.htm

This suggests that while slow, progress is being made by Muslim women throughout the world, and supported by the UN.

eferences

Al Faruqi, L.L. (2005). Islamic traditions and the feminist movement. Islam101.com.

etrieved October 15, 2007: http://www.islam101.com/women/feminism.html

Cooke, M. (2000). Women claim Islam: Creating Islamic feminism through literature.

New York: outledge.

Fattah, a.A. (2006). Status of Muslim women. etrieved:

http://www.muslimedia.com/archives/movement00/wom-status.htm

Statham, P. (2004). esilient Islam: Muslim controversies in Europe. Harvard International eview, 26(3): 54.

Wyche, K.F. (2004). African-American Muslim women: An invisible group. Sex oles:

Journal of esearch, 51(1): 319.

efers to 1975 launch of "Decade for Women" program lasting 10 years in response to women's activities and networking; focus included drawing attention to injustices against women and to help women realize their power.

Cooke, M. p. vii Women Claim Islam: Creating Islamic feminism through literature.

Op cit Ibid.

Op cit Ibid, viii.

Op cit Ibid. 152

Statham, Paul. P.…

References

Al Faruqi, L.L. (2005). Islamic traditions and the feminist movement. Islam101.com.

Retrieved October 15, 2007:  http://www.islam101.com/women/feminism.html 

Cooke, M. (2000). Women claim Islam: Creating Islamic feminism through literature.

New York: Routledge.

A view of this event captures an incredible sea of worshippers flowing like a human river in the footsteps of the prophet Mohammed, who it is said arrived at this spot some 1400 years ago to pay homage to Abraham.

The role of the woman as it is understood through the ritual reenactments are quite different from the unequal stance which is often assumed of Muslim women today, with Hagar and Ishmael given tribute as well. Exiled to the dessert valley that would become Mecca, Hagar would give birth to the numerous Arab peoples, and would be enabled to do so by the salvation of the angel Gabriel. In many ways, this story parallels the matriarchal role of the Madonna to Christianity, who was likewise guided by an angel in a time of crisis. Islam tells that Gabriel was sent down to bring water to Hagar in the desert in…

Bibliography

AI. (1999).

Pakistan: Hounour Killings of Girls and Women. Amnesty International.Online at http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engASA330181999

Al-Uthaimeen, S.M.A. (2006). How to perform the ritiuals of Hajj and Umrah. Princeton University. Online at  http://www.princeton.edu/~humcomp/hajjguide.html 

BBC. (June 2003). Pakistan's Sharia Law Is Criticized. BBC News. Online at  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2958316.stm .

To improve the role of women, the government must take an active role in promoting educational opportunities for girls and instating vocational education programs for all women, regardless of age, to better enable them to establish some degree of economic autonomy. This will improve the economic status of Afghani families as a whole, and also ensure that women who face violence at home will not feel compelled to stay in untenable circumstances. One of the reasons women stay in bad marriages, agree to arranged marriages, or do not leave home even after coming of age is a fear of being unable to support themselves. This can serve as part of a larger agenda of educating the Afghani people in viable skills that will enable the nation to compete in the modern world.

To demonstrate the changed role of women, the government must aggressively prosecute instances of domestic violence, forced marriages…

For centuries women have entered into political struggle in order to secure the livelihoods of their families and communities." What is new is the advent of women in leadership positions and political office who have incorporated women issues into their programs which offers new hope and presents new possibilities. Just as British women felt their country was full of freedom even though they did not have the right to vote there are cultures in the world that freedom within that specific society would be prison within another in the view of women.

In order for feminism to become transnational the elite women in the richer countries must be able to consider and conceive the plight of the rural women in a third world country and as well all within the feminist movement must be able within their own consciousness to cross a deep chasm in order to comprehend women of…

References

Brenner, Johanna (2003) Transnational Feminism and The Struggle for Global Justice [from New Politics, vol.9 no.2 whole 34, winter 2003) Online available at  http://www.wpunj.edu/~newpol/issue34/brenne34.htm .

Grewal, Inderpal & Kaplan, Caren (2000) Postcolonial Studies and Transnational Feminist Practices San Franciso State University and University of California Berkley Online available at http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert/v5i1/grewal.htm.

Moghadam, Val (2005) Transnational Feminism and Afghan Women's Rights Rubrique: Femmes & Mondalisation Online available at  http://www.peuplesmonde.com/article.php3?id_article=269 .

Moghadam, Val (2004) From International to Transnational Organization: A Century's Feminist Journey- Against the Current Online available at  http://www.solidarity-us.org/atc/109moghadam.html .

In some ways, the men who practice violence against women and attempt to control them to the degrees that the Taliban has decreed are simply carrying out the violence and the repression that was practiced against them; though it serves no constructive purpose and is indeed highly detrimental both to women and to the country as a whole, the Taliban's action against the women is at least partially a result of the cultural psychological repression that Afghanistan has suffered for thirty years. That, and the fact that a common enemy in women makes the Taliban that much stronger in its operations and control of the government and society as a whole, can be seen as the primary psychological motives for the Taliban's treatment of women.

Women in Islam

According to the Taliban themselves, however, their actions and attitudes towards women simply carry out strict Islamic law, and are necessary for…

References

Sengupta, Kim. "Abuse of Afghan women: 'It was my decision to die. I was getting beaten every day'." The Independent, 24 November 2006. Accessed 20 February 2010.  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/abuse-of-afghan-women-it-was-my-decision-to-die-i-was-getting-beaten-every-day-425580.html .

Skaine, Rosemarie. The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000.

178). For example, Sakkal reports that, "The measuring system of Ibn Muqlah is based on a circle with a diameter that equals the height of the letter Alef. It controls the correct proportions of the letters by comparing them to the circle, and by diagonal dots written with the calligraphy pen" (1993:9). In his analysis of Ibn Muqla's role in the standardization of the geometrical basis of Arabic writing, Ernst, citing an early treatise, illustrates the religious significance of the circle as being an integral part of these revisions to calligraphic script: "God (glory be to the Most High) created the world in a circular form. The master Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al- Husayn ibn Muqla the scribe (may God have mercy on him) realized that writing could be made circular. He transmitted that method of [round] Kufic in this fashion that is now current, so that it…

Works Cited

Brown, Keith, Anne H. Anderson, Laurie Bauer, Margie Berns, Graeme Hirst and Jim Miller.

Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics. Boston: Elsevier, 2006.

Blair, Sheila S. And Jonathan M. Bloom. 2003. "The Mirage of Islamic Art: Reflections on the Study of an Unwieldy Field." The Art Bulletin 85(1): 152-154.

Eaton, Gai. Islam and the Destiny of Man. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press,

Gender and Islam Books

The war in Iraq has shone attention on the plight of women in the Middle East. For many scholars, the issue of the rights of women as mandated in Islamic texts and the role of Muslim women in the contemporary Islamic world is one of the most pressing issues.

This paper examines two works that shed light in this regard -- Islam, Gender, and Social Change edited by Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and John L. Esposito and Leila Ahmed's Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate.

Both books provide a rich background of the history and modern-day context women living under the Islamic religion. The first part of this paper gives a summary of selected readings from Islam, Gender, and Social Change and of Ahmed's work. The second part then gives a critique of the works. In the final section, the paper relates…

Human rights are the activities, freedoms and conditions that all human are entitle to enjoy, and these rights include economic, political, cultural and social rights. Putting differently, human rights are inalienable, inherent, indivisible and interdependent, which cannot be taken away, must be respected, and which the governments are to put in places the instrument to regulate laws and policies for human rights protection. Similarly, international human rights are the set of rules that guide the conducts of state's behaviors. Globally, countries enter into treaties to guarantee certain rights and refrain from violating these rights within their jurisdictions. (IJRC, 2016). The historical facts of human rights started from the declaration of universal human right rights in 1948, and the expressions are referred as aggregate rights of humans. The UDHR ("Universal Declaration of Human Rights") (IJRC 2016 p 1) was ratified by 48 countries with some Muslim countries such as Iran, Iraq,…

Nor could a man repudiate the oath made by any of his female relatives." (Azeem, 1995)

VI. The ROLE of the MOTHER

Part two of the work entitled: "Women in Islam vs. Women in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: The Myth and the Reality" states that in relation to 'mothers' from the viewpoint of the Old Testament, there are several commandments concerning the necessity for kind and considerate treatment of parents and a condemnation for those who dishonor their parents. In Islam, the mother holds a very special place and as described by the Prophet Muhammad as follows: "A man asked the Prophet: 'Whom should I honor most?' The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your mother!'. 'And who comes next?' asked the man. The Prophet replied: 'Your father'" (ukhari and Muslim;…

Bibliography

Hughson, G., Johnston, S.A., Bisman, D. (nd) Understanding the Three Abrahamic Faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Dunedin Jewish, Christian and Muslim Community Liaison Group.

Q&a on Islam and Arab-Americans (2001) USA Today. 30 Sept 2001 Online available at  http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/islam.htm 

Azeem, Dr. Sherif Abdel (1995) Women in Islam vs. Women in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: The Myth & the Reality. Part I. Online available at  http://www.themodernreligion.com/women/w_comparison_full.htm 

Kingston, SM (1995) Women in Islam vs. Women in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: The Myth & the Reality. Part II. Online available at: 10 Feb 1995 Online available at  http://www.themodernreligion.com/women/w_comparison_full2.htm

In fact in some instances women are not even treated like human beings. However, in other parts of the world Muslim women enjoy relative equality and freedom. It is important to recognize that not all Muslims are extremists or violent towards women.

Men in Islam

As it pertains to men in the Islamic world, their positions in Muslim society are significant. The Islamic religious leaders are and have been men ever since the inception of the religion. Men hold the highest positions in the Muslim faith and they still dominate positions in government in Islamic nations.

The dominance in men in Muslim society is the most prevalent in the Muslim home. As with other aspects of Islam, the amount of power or dominance that men have has a great deal to do with the nation that they live in. However for the most part Muslim men are seen as the…

Works Cited

Hekmat, Anwar. Women and the Koran the Status of Women in Islam. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1997.

Knapp, Michael G. "The Concept and Practice of Jihad in Islam." Parameters 33.1 (2003): 82+.

Tell, Carol. "The Women of Afghanistan." Social Education 66.1 (2002): 8+.

What Is the Difference Between Sunni and Shiite Muslims -- and Why Does it Matter?  http://hnn.us/articles/934.html

The Representation of Muslim Women in Eastern and Western Literature: A Comparison

Representations of women in Middle Eastern literature represent a means by which the appreciation, perspective and overall role of women and how they are viewed by society can be determined. While some argue that literature and actually lived daily life are separate, literature serves as a measuring stick by which one can ascertain a definitive viewpoint on what the experience of being a Muslim woman is, and how such women are viewed. Literature can tell one volumes about how societies work and underscore the role that women play or don’t play and how others see them. While both eastern and western literature is incredibly vast, it is possible to get a definitive sense of how Muslim women are viewed; however, it is possible to get an overall sense of certain trends that arise over and over. This paper…

Future of Nursing Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The primary objective of this book is to provide the reader with evidence-based nursing education and practice principles. The goal of this work is to help nursing educators and nurse practitioners develop evidence-based nursing education standards and curriculum while providing nurses with effective examples of patient-centered care that is both high quality and cost effective. Patients and family members in Saudi Arabia have needs and expectations that nurses should seek to meet and fulfill. To that end, this book aims to support nurses and nurse educators.

The cultural values of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are also an important component of this work, as it is the culture of this country that supports and advances the aims of the nursing profession. This is seen in every aspect of the nursing profession -- from the earliest days of the first nursing…

References

Aldossary, A., While, A., Barriball, L. (2008). Health care and nursing in Saudi Arabia.

International Nursing Review, 55(1): 125-128.

Al-Hashem, A. (2016). Health education in Saudi Arabia. Sultan Qaboos University

Medical Journal, 16(3): e286-e292.

No doubt, such feelings are greatly exacerbated by the current hard-line policies of the U.S. government in the Middle East,

Conclusion

There is a general perception in the estern world that the religion of Islam is inherently incompatible with the ideals of democracy such as individual liberties and freedom of speech. The recent controversy over the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, published by a Danish newspaper, and the violent reaction of Muslims has further solidified the impression. A deeper look at the basic Islamic beliefs and history indicates that such a perception may be misplaced. The apparent unbridgeable gulf between Islam and modern day democratic societies can be breached if the commonalities between the two instead of their differences are highlighted.

orks Cited

The Internal Jihad." BBC ebsite. 2006. November 12, 2006. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/jihad_2.shtml

Is Islam Compatible with Democracy?" Oxford Analytica International. September 14, 2004. November 12, 2006. http://www.cmf.ch/transfert/_sCrans/press/INTERNATIONAL_%20Is%20Islam%20compatible%20with%20democracy_.pdf?PHPSESSID=a38d9661926c82c05cced11e8feee1a2

The Last ord:…

Works Cited

The Internal Jihad." BBC Website. 2006. November 12, 2006.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/jihad_2.shtml 

Is Islam Compatible with Democracy?" Oxford Analytica International. September 14, 2004. November 12, 2006.  http://www.cmf.ch/transfert/_sCrans/press/INTERNATIONAL_%20Is%20Islam%20compatible%20with%20democracy_.pdf?PHPSESSID=a38d9661926c82c05cced11e8feee1a2 

The Last Word: Flemming Rose." Newsweek International. February 13, 2006 issue. November 12, 2006.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11179140/site/newsweek/ 

Mcnern, Ethan. "Holocaust Cartoons." The Scotsman. February 09, 2006. November 12, 2006.  http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=204162006

Women are just mere followers of what the males would decide.

In Taoism

Taoism is a combination of psychology and philosophy and evolved into a religious faith in 440 CE when it was adopted as a state religion. Taoism, along with Buddhism and Confucianism, became one of the three great religions of China. Taoism currently has about 20 million followers. About 30,000 Taoists live in North America, 1,720 in Canada (http://ssd1.cas.pacificu.edu/,2005).

Taoist concepts, beliefs and practices include (http://ssd1.cas.pacificu.edu/,2005):

Tao is the first-cause of the universe. It is a force that flows through all life. "The Tao surrounds everyone and therefore everyone must listen to find enlightenment."

Each believer's goal is to become one with the Tao.

Taoists strongly promote health and vitality.

Taoists believe that the five main organs and orifices of the body correspond to the five parts of the sky: water, fire, wood, metal and earth.

Each person…

Reference List

Buddhism." 2005.  http://www.fwbo.org/buddhism.html 

Buddhism and Gender Equality." 2006. http://www.faithnet.org.uk/KS4/Social%20Harmony/buddhismequality.htm

Inglehart, Ronald. 2002. "Islam, gender, culture, and democracy." International Journal of Comparative Sociology. E.J. Brill

Kohn, Livia. 2006. "Are Women in Daoism Different From Women in Chinese Society." Department of Religious Studies. Queen's University Kingston, ON Taoism."2005. http://ssd1.cas.pacificu.edu/

Women's choice lead a celebate life, remain a virgin, a rejection societal expectations? A conclusion drawn thesis question. I attaching suggested books citation. Essay 12 pages length counting citations bibliography.

Was a Women's choice to lead a celibate life or remain a virgin a rejection of societal expectations?

The role of women in the society has been widely debated throughout the history of both philosophical thought and social sciences. Women have a particular place in society since ancient times and there are clear indications, in the religious literature, that women have had specific views and opinions regarding their own place in the society. In this context, the current research discusses the choice of women to lead a celibate life or keep herself a virgin and whether this choice was a reaction to societal expectations and social pressures. The perspective of the research analysis is focused on Christian traditions from the…

Kung, 2001, p22-3

Karant-Nun, 2003, p10

idem, p11

women were restricted in many ways during the Suharto period (was this partly because of Suharto policies or practices -- YES this is explained in the essay) but that since that time, reforms have been undertaken to improve their status and freedom of action.

Short summary of a few statistics with regards to the country and its women rather than 'statistics' per se, augment the problem as stated above with information about the previous state of women. -- statistics are just background intro, they also include women

Why the country has been and is so interesting to study leading to argument of paper the reader is not interested in why it is interesting to you. The reader is interested only in following the theme/argument of the paper. -- this also relates to women, it's just an attention grabbing technique and doesn't take more than one sentence.

c. Specific statement of…

Tales from the Thousand and One Nights and compares and contrasts them in order to reveal the depiction of women in them.

The depiction of women in the Nights is diverse in nature. On the one hand, there are many female slaves and concubines who must obey the men who own them. On the other hand, there are not fully independent but self-confident women whose courage and wit save many human lives. An example is that of Shahrazade who gathers the courage to marry the King and heal him of his insane distrust of women. This in turn saves the lives of many women.

Similarly, in the "Tales of the Hunchback," wife of Badr Ul Din Hasan, is shown to be an extremely faithful woman, who was arranged to marry a hunchback but was instead fated to marry Badr. Though Badr is transported by djinns to another place, where he…

In conclusion, it is easy to see that women are depicted in different ways in different tales. They do not have the strengths or weaknesses of the modern western woman but she has her own set of them.

REFERENCE

Dawood, N.J. Tales from the Thousand And One Nights. Penguin: 1954.

Islamic movements come to dominate the political landscape of Iran and Saudi rabia in the last thirty years?

Why have democratic advances been so limited in these two countries? Is there any relationship between these two trends or are they independent of each other?

In both modern Iran and modern Saudi rabia, over the past thirty years, two fundamental forces have dominated the discourse of these nations -- that of Islamic Fundamentalism and a hatred of Western, specifically merican intrusions of 'modernity,' in cultural and political forms. In the absence of the ability to compete, technologically with the West, or culturally on a global level, these nations have turned inward, and some historians might say 'to their pasts' and attempted to create Islamic rather than secular renditions of modernity. However, because of the corresponding lack of democratic structures within these referenced traditional Islamic political modalities, and the association of the…

After the Islamic revolution in Iran the new political structures that were instated ensured that fundamentalist Islamic point-of-view became synonymous with the new Iran. For instance, in 1982 Khomeini insisted that Iran's courts discard all secular legal codes and base their decisions solely on Islamic regulations. (Cleveland 423) To oppose Islamic fundamentalism in Iran was not only to stand against the new regime, it was to engage in an act of heresy. Democracy was decadent, and Western, and to adopt the Western political mindset was to disastrously weaken the nation.

In this text, Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam Gilles Kepel in Chapter 5 states that Iran, in the wake of the death of Khomeni, has since attempted to reform some of its strictures, instating democratic but still Islamic elections, for instance, that has created some semblance of what one might call 'democracy' in the nation. Even more recently, the arts have begun to be resurrected in Iran. There has even been a return to pre-Iranian cultural institutions, such as the presence of Western music and movies within the republic.

Likewise, nascent Saudi Arabian feminism has manifested itself as women have protested their inability to drive, or made use of mandatory 'all female' enclaves such as banks, to discuss and create sites of discussion and debate. The private/public dichotomy of female dress and both male and female behavior in both countries may hold the seeds of a kind of revolution or renegotiation of Islamic identity. But it will be a revolution on Islamic and Middle Eastern cultural terms, a negotiation rather than a revolution in the Western sense of uprooting the old entirely -- for what is Islamic in these nations is not really 'old' at all, as William Cleveland suggests. Rather, Islamic fundamentalism is more of a delicate negotiation, socially, politically, and economically, in both Saudi Arabia and Iran, in an effort for these nations to remain distinct in a world and even a region they see as increasingly dominated by American needs and influence.

Islamic and democracy existing side by side in Pakistan. The research proposal will revolve around factors and evidences which shows connection between the Islam and democracy. Muslims have been denied there democratic rights by their leaders claiming to follow Islamic religion thereby creating public interest of ways in which Muslims democracy in Pakistan can be upheld.

Justification of the research

It has been widely portrayed that Pakistani Islamist parties have since enjoyed widespread support only after joining pro-democracy movements, (Nadeem F. Paracha, 2013). This was evidenced in 1980s when the Jamaat-I Islamic, Maududi's party joined Benazir Bhutto in fighting dictatorship; another case is the recent one when members of the Jamaat joined Imran Khan's Movement for Justice (PTI), (Daniel Jacobius Morgan, 2013). Therefore political parties who advocates for democracy should be given much support by the Muslim and Western democrats in their quest to fight for this democracy in Pakistan…

References

Daniel Jacobius Morgan, (2013). "The complex relationship between Islamism and democracy"

NewStateman, (2012).  http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/religion/2012/08/complex-relationship-between-islamism-and-democracy 

David Bukay, (2007). "Can There Be an Islamic Democracy? Middle East Quarterly"

Spring.  http://www.meforum.org/1680/can-there-be-an-islamic-democracy

Spread of Islam in Africa and Asia Along Trade Routes

The Islam religion spread in Asia and Africa mainly due to trade of such goods as spices, gold, as also due to slaves. The advantages of proximity with the greatly profitable and powerful traders of the Islam religion triggered the conversions of merchants and rulers' into Muslims. Islam spread slowly; it took centuries, but in most places where the conversion took place, people still hold on to the religion (Debrouse). This paper explores the reasons of spread of Islam religion along Asian and African trade routes, particularly centering on the success of Islam in Middle Asia.
Early Trade Connections

Since the era of Muhammad, it has been believed that trade is closely related to the religion as well as its development. Inmecca, the people of the Qurayshtribe were leaders in business. They extended their connections and influence to Syria and…

In order to understand the position of women in Iran as far as their roles, rights and empowerment is concerned, it is significant to understand the wider picture of the prevailing condition in the Middle East and the contrast that there is in the West. These two represent different polarities in the context of culture, perspective on women, roles assigned, rights granted and the positions that women hold in these two societies. There is a still not an in depth understanding of the lives of women in the Middle East and the roles that they are meant to play. In majority of the societies therein, women are hardly seen carrying out any meaningful role, let alone being heard. They are assigned a background role in this Muslim world and the persistent stereotypes and judgments about the social practices form a single dimensional depiction of women that rarely reflects the real…

Likewise, other passages create more problems than they solve from a modern perspective: "Why did Rachel remove the teraphim, the sacred images, when she left her father's house? Why Rachel and not Leah, the eldest? Teubal, though, points out that if these events are viewed in terms of the fundamental humanity of the individuals involved, their actions and motives becomes more clear to modern observers. "These episodes, and many others in the Genesis texts, are bewildering only if they are seen as occurring in a patriarchal society." Notwithstanding the high regard that women were almost universally provided in terms of their supportive counsel and motherly devotions, these attributes did not carry with them any sense of social authority in a patriarchal society, but were rather confined to the homes of the individuals involved. According to Teubal, "The vivid stories depicting Sarah's removal of Ishmael from the line of inheritance, Rebekah's…

Bibliography

Bacon, Benjamin Wisner. 1892. The Genesis of Genesis. Hartford, CT: The student publishing co.

Bruno, J.E. 1973. God as Woman, Woman as God. New York: Paulist. In Phipps, 1989.

Eichrodt, Walther. 1961. Theology of the Old Testament. Philadelphia: Westminster.

Headlam, Walter. 1934. "Prometheus and the Garden of Eden," Classical Quarterly 28, pp. 63- 7. In Phipps, 1989.

belief systems of Christians and Muslim, particularly in how they view angels. Both religions believe angels exist, and that they are an important part of their religious beliefs. They both believe angels can guide and support people here on Earth, and they are messengers of God or Allah. They also believe they can be vengeful and destructive, and angels play an important role in the stories of the Qur'an and the Bible. Angels are only one of the commonalities between these two religions, but they are an important link to two very diverse religions, and they show that many religions have core beliefs that link them together, whether they want to admit it or not.

Comparing Angels in Islam and Christianity

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the topic of Islam and Christianity issues. Specifically it will compare and contrast the faith doctrine of angels…

References

Akbar, M.J. (2002). The shade of swords: Jihad and the conflict between Islam and Christianity. London: Routledge.

Ali, A.Y. The holy Qur'an. London, UK: Wordsworth Editions.

Gauss, J.A. (2009). Islam and Christianity: A revealing contrast. From Christian Broadcasting Network. Retrieved June 11, 2009 from  http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/BibleStudyAndTheology/perspectives/Gauss_Islam_Christianity.aspx .

Holy Bible (New King James Version). (2009). From Bible Gateway. Retrieved June 11, 2009 from  http://www.biblegateway.com/ .