The Anthropology of Islam

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the nations of the Islamic world represent one of the great battlegrounds between modernity and tradition. It looks at how freed only recently from the yoke of colonialism, they struggle to find their way in a rapidly changing world, hoping on the one hand to preserve the sacred tenets of their religion, while on the other embracing the temporal wonders of industry and technology. It also examines how the native-born citizens of Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, and other Middle Eastern Muslim states, find themselves caught between the forces of fundamentalism and globalism.

From the Paper:

"The centrality of Islam in traditional Middle Eastern life has contributed to the significance of revivalist movement sin many parts of the region. The Saudi government has always subscribed to the fundamentalist Wahabi tradition, while Iran has, for the past thirty years, been controlled by an equally fundamentalist form of Shiism. In the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Iraq, and other areas of open conflict, religious fundamentalism is behind various terrorist movements. Jihad is seen as a way of propagating Islam and its values at the expense of the alien ideas of the West. The violence of repressive Western-sponsored regimes is met by the actions of warriors for the faith, suicide bombers who blow themselves up in marketplaces and other prominent venues. The desire to restore a traditional Islamic way of life motivates many who give themselves over to such violence. In places controlled by these groups women are forced to assume the veil and are prevented from being schooled in the Western manner. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bar, S. (2004). The Religious Sources of Islamic Terrorism. Policy Review, (125), 27+.
• Marin-Guzman, R. (2003). Fanaticism: A Major Obstacle in the Muslim Christian Dialogue. the Case of Twentieth Century Islamic Fundamentalism. Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), 25(3), 63+.
• Simon, D. (2006). Separated by Common Ground? Bringing (Post)development and (Post)colonialism Together. The Geographical Journal, 172(1), 10+.

More papers on The Anthropology of Islam:

• Essay # 3637 : "The Venture of Islam"
• Comparison Essay # 98154 : "Islam"
• Research Paper # 51949 : "Islam in Africa"

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