Originally Posted by waqarabbasi

Can Islam and west coexist?

Introduction

Ideology is no more the sole reason of split in west and Islam; they are separated apart by their cultures, values and practices. Affinities in faith no more bind them as people of book. This is the differing thinking which have made both of them a rival of the other. People in Islamic world consider west a cause of their destruction, and on the other side, the west feels danger from the unchanged characteristics of Islam. The centuries old tolerance practiced by Islam has been forgotten by the west; what it remembers is the intolerant nature of salafism. West considers the spread of Islamic values a threat to their dynamic and liberal life style. Mutual fears give birth to animosities, which often result in violence against each other. The unrest in Muslim world is an instance of west support for Muslim fragmentation. Irrespective of the fact that Muslim society lived peacefully in west and contributed to the development of the west, it is seen with suspicion. West is regarding Islam indigestible for it. they deem their toleration for Islam a mistake that will destroy their whole dynamic civilization


A. west regards this division a clash of values;

1. West emphasizes individuality whereas Islam stresses upon development of society.
2. Differences of opinion in punishing a criminal
3. Islamic laws are immutable and unchangeable and west considers its own laws as dynamic
4. Islam’s policy of apartheid; Islam does not give equality to nonbelievers.

B. west finds difficult to accommodate Islamic culture:

1. Western liberalism and Islamic conservatism
2. West struggle for gender equality and Islamic gender segregation
3. Islamic political system is devised by Quran and west separates the church and religion
4. Islam regards itself absolute religion; west also considers itself a supreme civilization

C. west fears Islam;

1. The rising awareness of Muslims of their resources and rights endangers the supremacy of west.
2. The rigid and biased version of Islam, the salafism, dreads west
3. They find Islam an attack on their liberal values
4. The immovable rules of Sharia are regarded as political doctrines of Nazism and fascism.

d. mutual fears and reactions to this rift

1. West supports divisions, monarchies and undemocratic culture and internal wars in Muslim world
2. Muslims retaliation results in incidents like Paris bomb blasts
3. Muslim immigrants suffer discrimination

e. tolerance may promote temporal coexistence, but clash of Islam and west is inevitable

conclusion