Progressive Islam and Environmental Research Paper

Progressive Islam and Environmental - Research Paper Example Any change in Islamic region has often been resisted because it was seen as bringing about western values into the religion. However, with globalization there is need for inter-religious interaction. This necessitates for religions being more accommodative to other religions. This is why many organizations have come about to bring about progress in Islam. This is aimed at making the religion more flexible and only to be based on Islam values and not on strict and rigid rules. This paper discusses the progressive Islam and the environment in which it operates. It is first important to look at the history of Islam in order to discover the need for progressive Islam. By the end of the section you will discover that Islam in itself was not such a strict and rigid religion. The pre-Islamic Arab society was made up of unbelievers. There was need for change at social and political and moral and spiritual level. The need for change at moral and spiritual level met greater resistance than nee d for change at social and political level. This is because the Meccan Society was spiritually and morally stagnant. The spiritual and moral values kept going down. The tribes in the society carried out trade, which brought profits and great wealth. The wealth was concentrated in the few which led them to neglect others. There were all sorts of Idol worship and superstitions in the society. This sort of spiritual degradation was common among the Meccan Arabs. Their customs and traditions became an obstacle to change. Examples of this included burying girl child alive, maltreatment of women and sexual immorality. During this time there were no teachings or writings that could guide the society. The society worshipped the ancestors. There was great religious vacuum in the society. The religion that was around the Arabs was Christianity which they were unwilling to accept because it was associated with Roman dictatorship, which they were against. They argued that accepting Christianity was like losing their independence. The gap between the rich and the poor began causing tensions among the Meccan society. This led to the rise of Qur’an teachings. The teachings responded to these tensions by stressing on knowledge, justice by redistributing wealth in the society and spiritual and moral uplift. This was to solve most of the problems in the Meccan Society. As it can be seen, Islam arose not only as a movement for change but also as a moral and spiritual force. Its insistence on knowledge, social justice, spiritual and moral justice makes the religion inherently progressive. Islam taken from its origin does not need advocating for progressiveness. It responded to moral spiritual and social needs of all. The Qur’an teachings are sympathetic to the weak in the society and gives equal rights to women as men in the society. The Qur’an gives out the rights of women in marriage and inheritance of property and states that women should be given equal di gnity. For this religion to be progressive it must accept the gender equality. The progressive aspects of Islam were lost. The pre-Islamic traditions were not abandoned even after embracing Islam. The poor attitude towards women remained. The people even attempted to interpret the Qur’an together with their traditional believes. This led them to develop their own rules alongside the Qur’an. These laws were known as Sheri’ah. Some of these laws went against the teachings of Qur’an. Take for example allowing triple divorce which was a condemned