Islamic Studies A History of Religions Approach

Question: Discuss the different approaches towards the academic study, in universities, of Islam and Muslims. Draw upon critical perspectives to inform your answer. Answer: Introduction: The Islamization of knowledge including the conventional structures of thoughts related to Islam and the Islamic science and Islamic economics fall under the widely used term Islamic studies. It is dealt in the Muslim context. But the non-Muslim set of circumstances refers the historical study of the Islam as the Islamic studies. The civilization history of the Muslims, the laws in Islam, the study of the God and His attributes to the world, and the philosophy of the Islam are dealt with the study of historical Islam. One of the rapid growing religions of the world is Islam. There are innumerous followers if Islam religion in the western countries and there exist a wide range of diversity in the race, ethnicity, language differences all over the world (eprints, 2008). The emotional connection between the people of the western culture and Muslim people has helped to develop the religion to be one of the fast growing in the world. This has contributed to the establishment of the Islamic studies in the western countries. There have been some of the similarities in the ideologies that the followers of the western culture and religion and the Muslim people hold for their respective religious and cultural thoughts. There had a tendency to gain the trust of the Muslim people against the Soviets and the concept of the Cold War contributed to the popularity of the Islamic studies in the western countries like America and Europe (Nyang, 2015). Body: There has been many of the manifestations of the terrorist activities in the name of Islamic religion which have impacted not only the media communication channel and the educational sector but also the security and safety of Muslim people all over the world especially in the western countries. There had been mixed beliefs and acceptability criteria regarding the studies of the Islam the Islamic studies have been taken as the mode of study which desires to establish a control through the various lessons or knowledge(Iqbal, 2001).The media has been one of the ways through which the young generation could be motivated about any information or knowledge and the media sometimes affect the Islamic studies negatively through providing wrong notions about any particular religion especially the Islam (Mohammed, 2014). There are many of the administrative structures which are made only to make the religious studies all over the world established. The western countries should get the educational knowledge about the Islamic studies from the faculties not from any religious person (Martin, 2016). The education regarding Islam in the western countries should be given by the trained faculties so that they could provide with the students and the learners the knowledge unbiased and unaffected by any particular belief. The concept of the Islamic Theology has been initiated by the Academy of World Religion which has emphasized on the pluralism regarding the religion and the cultures(Tayob, 2011). The Islamic studies have been designed to provide with the students the knowledge regarding the growth of the thoughts related to the Islam religion and the attributes of the religion on the mankind. The history of Islam religion and the other related elements of the studies have been provided by the Islamic studies (C.Martin, 1996).The conventional trends of the Islam religion and the lessons that could make the followers and the students to make their own ideologies about life and the impacts of the studies on their lives have been explained in the Islamic studies(unimelb, 2012). In the western counties it is observed that the Muslims are constantly negotiating with the thoughts and ideologies of the Islamic though with their own perspectives. The Islamic studies make the students understand the secularism of the religion and the negotiation of the Muslim people about the thoughts of the religion (archive, 1999).The interaction with the Muslim people and the students has shown their perspectives about the Islamic study. The Islamic studies are well established in the western countries and have made the religion and the study popular all over the world (Saeed, 2015). The Islamic studies have been made popular in the western countries and there are many people who always take the studies of the Islam seriously. The Islamic studies have been explained the history and the origin of the religion and the secularism of the religion. The people all over the world came to know about the various components and the aspects of the religion from the Islamic studies(Fierro, 2014). The Islamic studies have been given the tough of the western culture through the people of the western countries and the popularity of the religion has been well established (oxfordislamicstudies, 2015). Conclusion: The Islamic studies have been established all over the world since a long time age. The western countries have initiated the studies through the secularism. The Islamic studies have made the understanding of the people about the religion in a better way than before. The knowledge and the learning that the people get form the Islamic studies make the people to know about the elements of the religion. The western countries in particular have made the study of the Islam in a broader way. There have been many of the developments in the field of Islamic studies through the years. The educational development in the Middle East countries has been popular but the Islamic studies in the western countries have also been popular since a long time. The people residing in the western countries have learnt to associate with the elements of the Islamic studies with their personal views and perspectives. There are many agencies which are non-Muslims and they are making valuable contributions to the developments of the Islamic studies in the western countries. The governing bodies are also extending their hands for the purpose. The Europeans and the Americans are also trying to help the spread of the studies in the western countries so that there remains no discrimination in the societies. Education is the only way to establish the secularism among population. References: Archive, 1999. Children's Islamic Educational Series - Islamic Studies - Grades 01 to 12. [Online] Available at: https://archive.org/details/ChildrensIslamicEducationalSeries-IslamicStudies-Grades01To12 C.Martin, 1996. Islamic Studies: A History of Religions Approach. [Online] Available at: https://cslr.law.emory.edu/publications/publication/title/islamic-studies-a-history-of-religions-approach/ eprints, 2008. International approaches to Islamic Studies in Higher Education. [Online] Available at: https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/52069/1/rd07_08.pdf Fierro, M., 2014. New Approaches to World Islamic and Middle East Studies. [Online] Available at: https://www.mcgill.ca/islamicstudies/news-events/new-approaches-workshop Iqbal, M., 2001. The Phenomenological Approach In Islamic Studies: An Overview of a Western Attempts to Understand Islam. [Online] Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1478-1913.2001.tb03725.x/abstract Martin, R. C., 2016. Rethinking Islamic Studies. [Online] Available at: https://www.sc.edu/uscpress/books/2010/3892.html Mohammed, K., 2014. A Muslim Approach to Western Studies of Islam. [Online] Available at: https://iiit.org/Research/ScholarsSummerInstitute/TableofContents2008/AMuslimApproachtoWesternStudiesofIslam/tabid/256/Default.aspx Nyang, S. S., 2015. The State of Islamic Studies in American Universities. [Online] Available at: https://iiit.org/iiitftp/PDF's/Islamic-Studies.pdf oxfordislamicstudies, 2015. Islamic Studies. [Online] Available at: www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0395 Saeed, A., 2015. ISLM30001 Islam in the West. [Online] Available at: https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/view/2015/ISLM30001 Tayob, A., 2011. Muslim Schools and Education in Europe and South Africa; https://books.google.co.in/books?id=RWqjAoRGxUcCpg=PA128lpg=PA128dq=Discuss+the+different+approaches+towards+the+academic+study,+in+universities,+of+Islam+and+Muslims.source=blots=gNYPbc-gyVsi. s.l.:The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. unimelb, 2012. Islamic Studies. [Online] Available at: https://coursesearch.unimelb.edu.au/majors/128-islamic-studies