Islamic Religion - Cultural Religious Aspects

Islam’s Cultural Religious Aspects

Religion is a diverse aspect of life that has influenced the way a society and culture functions. Whether it is indicating right from wrong from the scripture you have faith in, or simply the reason for various disciplinary approaches. It can effect people and be discriminative causing unneeded drama throughout a society. In this paper you will recognize how differently vile a legal situate can be due to a belief, and the consequence it can have on your acceptance.

Islam is a monotheistic faith and is considered the world’s second largest religion. Islam itself means “Submission, to the will of God”. Being a Muslim in Islam dictates many of their everyday decisions, behavior, and aspect on life. Religion has a major impact on the Islamic Law. Their whole society has consisted of enforcing their religion into the Islamic Law. This can have a huge impact on their culture, and their reaction to situations legally.

In general, Muslims believe that God revealed his direct word for mankind through many prophets. This would include Muhammad, Jesus, Abraham, and David. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the seal of prophets. They believe that his preaching’s will last until The Day of Resurrection. They also believe that the Qur’an,

which is their “bible”, is a correction of the Jewish and Christian scriptures; therefore, it is the final revelation. Islam is described as the “way of life”, to the submission to God.

According to wikipedia.com, there are seven articles of belief that are shared by all Muslim’s:

1. Belief in God (Allah), the one and only one worthy of all worship.

2. Belief in Angels.

3. Belief in the books sent by God:

a. The Suhuf-i-Ibrahim (Schools of Abraham)

b. The Tawrat sent to Musa (Moses)

c. The Zabur sent to Daud (David)

d. The Injil sent to Isa (Jesus)

e. The Qur’an sent to Muhammad

4. Belief in all the prophets and messengers sent by God

5. Belief in the Day of Judgment

6. Belief in Fate

7. Belief in life after death,-heaven and hell

There are two different branches of the Muslim belief, as there are many throughout any religion. One is the Sunni, and the other is Shia. They both agree on the following five obligations as a believer. Sunnis call these obligations the Five Pillars of Islam and Shia would consider them to be elements to the Roots of the Religion.

- Shahadah- testifying that there is none worthy of worship except God and that Muhammad is his servant and messenger.

- Salah- Performing five daily prayers

- Sawm- Fasting from dawn to dusk in the month of Ramadan. (Celebration of the Islamic calendar)

- Zakat- Giving clarity

- Hajj- The pilgrimage to Mecca during the month of Dhul Hijjah, which is once in a lifetime for one who has the ability to do it.

Many Muslims do not fall into any denominations listed above as stated in wikipedia.com, but these people still classify themselves simply as �Muslims’.

The Islamic Law, which can also be known as Sharia in Islam, covers all aspects of life. This can vary between the broad topics of governance, foreign relations all the way down to issues of daily living. Of the 350 legal verses in the Qur’an, close to 140 relate to code of belief and devotional matters, including such practical duties as ritual prayer (Esposito, 1999). It is possible for instance to develop a legal ruling from the parables of the Qur’an.

The religious and civil aspects of the Sharia tend to enforce one another in that legal observance, for Muslims it is a religious duty. For non-Muslims living under the Islamic Law, the law takes on a civilian character. Thus, the legal status of one act may differ in the judicial context from what it might be in a religious perspective. Judges do not issue judgments on religious considerations alone. Many Muslim jurists often define their legal status in relationship to particular cases. (Esposito, 1999).

Within the religious authority, there is no power figure that can decide whether a person is accepted into the community of believers. Islam is open to all, regardless of race, age, gender, or previous beliefs. The only requirement is, you must truly believe and say that you are a Muslim in order to be accepted in the community. Some Muslims have not respected other religions within their state. Islam’s history itself consists of once being conformity to a state religion; therefore there was little tolerance for any other religious practices. Many Jews and Christians were allowed to privately practice their faith and allow their family law, but had fewer legal rights and obligations than the Muslim people. This discrimination and rejection is still the basis for conflicts today. Many people throughout the Middle East are believers of the Muslim faith, and take it into deep perspective. They live their lives greatly influenced