The Main Purpose of Great Muslim Leaders - Essay Example

Islam Islam is a religion that s back to many decades ago. People who follow Islam religion are called Muslims. Islam religion was founded with the core aim of serving all people in the world. That why it was spread one time to many nations whom have embraced them. In this new world, as other religions are facing problems fitting into the current times, Islam is also faced by the same challenges as it is being influenced by western cultures. As the world is changing, Islam is also forced to change in order to retain followers. Also, in terms of its culture and traditions, a number of people are shifting to Islam due to a number of benefits. This paper will try to discuss about how Islam is experiencing changes in this current world and means they could use to adapt (Behdad & Nomani 12). Nowadays, all nations in the world are concerned about the Muslim people since they are associated with acts of violence. With the rise of terrorist groups in many groups like the Al Qaeda, the Al Shabaab, many people began wondering about the teachings of Islam. The sole purpose of Islam religion was to bring unity among the whole world. Islam religion was built on principles which were termed civilized. In the past, Islam were cultured and respected due to the enriched culture that they possessed (Behdad & Nomani 34). With time, some rebellious groups emerged to deface the Muslims by committing heinous acts in the name of Jihad. In the past couple of years, such groups have entirely defaced what people really believed to be a cultured religion and made people believe it teaches violence. Muslims have gained enemies from many states. In as much as there are many good Muslims, the way the world views them has made some of them adopt modern means of living rather than the traditional means in order to fit into their society. Take for instance a Muslim living in America post September, 11the attack on twin towers. Such Muslims most likely changed their ways to the western lifestyle so as not to be recognized easily by the Americans. After that time, the Muslims gained much segregation from the rest of the world leading to some of them adopting their ways despite remaining in Islam religion (Behdad & Nomani 41). In order to remove the negative publicity Muslims have got over the past years, the root purpose of the reason why Islam religion came to being should be encouraged. Islamic reformers, Islamic activists and Islamic thinkers should be encouraged to come up with means that could help Islam regain its past glory. They should hence come up with means that they could use to educate the general public the sole purpose of creation of the Islam religion. They should convey to the general public that not all Muslims are terrorist and should look at them from the humanistic point of view. Though it will be a big huddle to convince the whole world that some of them are innocent and it is only a few of them that are tainting the Islam religion. These guys should go to the basics of creation of the Islam religion and try to popularize it among its members first. It is believed that the terrorist groups which emanate result due to misinterpretation of the main reason for the creation of the Islam religion. With time, it is expected that this teachings will have an impact on the people who become terrorists in the name of being Muslims (Behdad & Nomani 57). On the other hand, a proper explanation of Jihad should be given to the Muslim community and the general world. Jihad is basically a holy war fought by the m\Muslims against its enemies. Are some countries like United States enemies of the Muslim world? A common enemy is what constitutes an enemy in the Jihad setting. But, an enemy that is created is not a common enemy but incitation. Terrorists attack countries and certain people and try to frame other Muslim people as being their common enemy. This is not the case and Muslims and other people should be educated about this concept in order to avoid being segregated and discriminated. All in all, in understanding why Muslims go to war and separating it from fake wars should be forefront in improving their relations with other countries (Behdad & Nomani 98). Another thing that needs to be addressed in order to bring pragmatic change in the Muslim society is the issue of the quality of Muslim leaders. In past years, the Muslim society has realized a deterioration of the kind of leaders they get. In order to refurbish their image, the Muslim people need to come up with inspiring leaders that could create better relationships with other nations. Since leaders are supposed to be spokesmen of the Muslim people, good leaders will become a blessing. In the past years, we have had cases of leaders who have joined certain terrorist groups and encourage terrorism in other countries. Leaders are supposed to be protective in nature and stick to the main goal of Islam creation. The leaders should be people who encourage peace and unity among countries and not people who encourage to cropping up of wars. Identifying of good leaders though might be a challenge, still such people exist. Finding a good leader can result in change in the way the general world view the Muslim community (Behdad & Nomani 83). . Currently, the Muslim world is under clash with the West. Since the September 11th attack on the American and America invasion of the Muslim world in such of terrorist, there is much tension that has developed in the air. Ever since the attack, Muslims became discriminated in the west since they were all tagged as terrorist. Strict policies were put in place when it came to Muslims relocating to the western world in an attempt to curb terrorism after the attack. This led to innocent Muslims being caught and charged with charges of being terrorist. Back in the Muslim world, as the war against terror continued, the Muslim terrorists also capture, tortures and killed innocent people from the West as pay back. In the end, there was a being rift between the two people created and has been worsening with time with the cropping of other terrorists groups and attacks (Behdad & Nomani 67). .This poor relationship build between the Muslims and the West led many Muslims who lived in the Western countries to become westernized. Such Muslims did that so as not to be segregated by the Western people. Some of them have become modernized in the way they conduct their things though in spirit have remained Muslims. Women mostly have been forced to undergo these changes (Behdad & Nomani 78. Some of these changes include wearing of jeans, and leaving wearing Hijab so as to avoid unnecessary discrimination when living in the Western world. This brings in place the issue of cultural conflict. Such Muslims have been forced to adopt the western way of lifestyle in order to avoid discrimination. On the other hand, western people living in the Muslim countries have fled or some of them adopted Muslim ways of living so as not to arouse suspicion and become terrorist victims. All in all, Islam as a religion is being faced by a great challenge which needs to be addressed. In the current world, terrorism tainting the name of the Muslim people needs to be curbed or eliminated in the world. Also, the root teachings of Islam need to be thought among the Muslim community and the general for people to have a greater understanding of what Islam entails. In addition, in order to have progressive change in the Muslim world, great leaders need to be identified. The main purpose of great Muslim leaders would be to create a better image for the Muslim people plus establish rapport with the western world. In the end, changes expected to take place will aim at encouraging worldwide unity and harmony. Despite the tension between the Muslims and the Western countries, hope exists that on day that can be changed (Behdad & Nomani 115) . Works Cited Sohrab Behdad, Farhad Nomani. Islam and the Everyday World: Public policy dilemmas. San Francisco: Routledge, 2010. Print. Read More