Women in Muslim Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Women in Muslim Society - Essay Example Therefore, the requisite of belief for Muslims is a relatively simple one; if you recognize that the ancient prophets had some conception of the true nature of God, then you are capable of leading a holy and virtuous path. Faith demands adherence to the code of laws, and a recognition of the nature of mankind and his place within the world. The Qur'an makes it clear that no restrictions should be placed upon who can be saved spiritually based upon sex, culture, race, class, or the actions of others. However, these stipulations upon entry into heaven do not formally empower women in their social relationships. Although a person of any sex or ethnicity possesses the capacity to recognize Allah as the one true God and Muhammad as his prophet in virtually all Muslim societies, many of these societies rely upon tribal law and gender traditions to determine particular power structures. The consequence of this is that in a number of Muslim societies women are explicitly identified as being inferior to men and, accordingly, are forced to occupy purely subservient positions. Of course, violence against women has been recognized as a global pandemic, which is not at all exclusive to the Islamic world: "The situation has lead public health experts to consider violence against women a global public health issue, one requiring a public health approach."1 Domestic abuse is common across virtually all cultures and religions to a very high degree; but in many Islamic societies - the Arab world in particular - violence against women could be far more prevalent than in the West, stemming partially from the underground, behind-closed-door character of women in these societies and partially from the widespread acceptance of domestic violence by the male-dominated, ruling sects. As a result, "Research carried out in several Arab countries, however, shows that at least one out of three women is beaten by her husband."2 It has been argued by a number of Western theorists that violence is endemic to Muslim societies; violence against those of other religions and violence against those occupying a lower-rung on the social ladder - women - are both justified within the overall Muslim worldview, according to these theorists. In Islam, within any given community, the rights of the underprivileged are such that they are justified in overthrowing those institutions that are deemed unjust, so long as the injustice lies clearly outside the teachings of the Qur'an. One of the difficulties with this position is that if the practices of other societies are unjust with respect to the teachings of Muhammad and Islam, then there is good reason to work to physically bring down these societies so they better adhere to the paths of virtue. So, quite often, cross-societal violence is clearly justified. But the reverse of this situation is also superficially justified; if the underprivileged of society are deemed to be behaving in an immoral manner, then violence against them is also justified. Although comprehensive studies and, therefore, accurate data is scarce, is has been often suggested that this justification for violence against women is quite prevalent in nations such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.3 Efforts to overcome these rationalizations for such violence have come largely from the West, though much of the propaganda has been aimed at appealing

The Paradoxical Relationship Between Atheism and Communism Term Paper

The Paradoxical Relationship Between Atheism and Communism - Term Paper Example On the other hand, communism was a sociopolitical movement which was made famous by Karl Marx in the early 19th century. This movement was related by Marx as the solution to the problems which the world was facing back then, and still is, the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Marx suggested that there should be a system in which all material goods are owned by the entire community so that the poor are not working to make the rich even richer. The society would have no class and the resources would be used keeping in mind the best interests of everyone (Marx & Engels, 1948). The relation between communism and atheism emerges where Karl Marx states, â€Å"Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.† It needs to be noted here that communism, th e idea which was proposed by Karl Marx is the one which incorporates atheism into it. Atheism does not incorporate into it any kind of social or political belief or agenda. Thus the relationship which is being discussed here is of the involvement of the idea that religion is detrimental to the human in communism. While atheism negates the idea of a religion being in anyway beneficial to man, it itself provides a belief system along with a set of rules to follow, in short, it provides a religion. While religion may make a man secondary to a deity or a God, it makes every man secondary to a power which is far greater than man himself where as communism in giving man the power to make his own decisions, provides him with a system to which he is secondary, a system that is ultimately run by a human. And as someone so eloquently put it, as long as it is human, it is flawed (Markham, 2010). While supposedly giving humans who are poor the freedom to not be forced to bring up their children in less then desirable conditions, communism impresses upon them the importance of following the system, again, where it gives freedom in one way, it takes it away on the other hand. One can say, while looking at this, that atheism while denying religion and grading it the root of all evils, provides to the people a system of belief. One very much like a religion, that would give people hope that someone up their, whether in the skies or sitting on a chair is looking out for their freedom and betterment. Here, atheism in relation to communism contradicts itself. While it denies people the right to follow a deity of their choice, it forces them to follow one which it puts into place. And while it claims that the human mind is free and should be developed enough not to believe in a deity or anything supernatural, it also makes it very clear that there is indeed a higher power which is communism (Marx & Engels, 1948). The problem which arises when communism and atheism are discussed i n relation to each other is the fact that all definitions of communism are decidedly vague. While it explains very clearly why communism would work, it does not say how. It explains how religion could be detrimental, but does not say why. There are no set of rules which put communism into action, thus the derivations of communism were many and varied. And by co-incidence or by pure irony,