Islamic Thoughts

• ANALYSES
• 1 Behavior code of Muslims toward non-Muslims
• 2 September 11 (2001) attacks on America not compatible with Islam
• 3 Ways To Defuse Religious Tensions
• 4 The Value Of The Ten Commandments
• 5 Bright Spot Of The Us Constitution: Religious Freedom
• 6 Lessons from the prophet's hudaibiah treaty.
• 7 Rulers' roles in promotion of christianity.
• 8 Exploring a model definition of 'religion'
• 9 Where islam stands as a civilized religion?
• 10 Proving god's existence through experimental science.
• 11 Roles of man as necessary & God as sufficient condition.
• 12 Human kindness is a shadow of god's kindness.
• 13 Why islam is the best choice for the Africans?
• 14 In Old Age, All Roads Lead To Death.
• 15 No Creations Are Without Purposes & Uses.
• 16 Prayer Prevents People From Bad Actions.
• 17 When Haram May Be Excusable: Five-Step Conditions.
• 18 Islamization Of Some Un-Islamic Cultures.
• 19 Greater The Faith, Tougher The Test.
• 20 How Science Can Make A Difference For Muslims?
• 21 The Time Gap Reality Between Sin & Punishment.
• 22 Good & Bad Days Alternate In Cyclic Order.
• 23 Let Moon-Sighting Unite & Not Divide The Muslims.
• 24 Faith Crisis Among Some Intellectuals.
• 25 Islamic Policy Toward Animals.
• 26 Improving The Muslim Performance (Aamal) Standard.
• ARGUMENTS
• 27 How Middle Course Better Than Conservative And Liberal Extremes?
• 28 Why God Is The Best One To Be Worshipped?
• 29 Costs And Benefits Of Belief In The Afterlife
• 30 Bible Is Similar To Hadith But Different From Quran
• 31 Defaming Islam: Freedom Of Speech Or Violation Of Rights?
• 32 How Islam Compares With Democracy?
• 33 Who Is Responsible For '0' Small Pox Since 1980?
• 34 Timeliness Is The Leading Condition For Prayer.
• 35 Ten Arguments For Women's Education.
• 36 Why Physical Fitness Matters For The Muslims?
• 37 Homosexuality Vs Adultery: Which Is Worse And How?
• 38 Countering Abortionist Argument
• 39 Which Is Better: Open Or Secret Prayer?
• 40 Small Or Large Recitation: Which Is Better In Prayer?
• 41 Personal Or Social Suffering: Which Is More Painful & Why?
• 42 Cultural Slavery Vs Cultural Diffusion.
• 43 Why Should America Ban Religious Defamation?
• ASSORTMENTS
• 44 Visible Action Of Invisible God: From Author's Diary.
• 45 Optional Good Deeds Are Like Bodyguards For Compulsory Ones.
• 46 The Gravitation Law Of Performance (Not One Of Newton).
• 47 The Theory Of Relativity (Not That Of Einstein).
• 48 In Good Deeds
• 49 "Rob Peter to pay Paul" is not for islam
• 50 Muslims Cannot Be "Penny Wise And Pound Foolish".
• 51 Islam Endorses Salad Bowl & Not Melting Pot Theory.
• 52 100% Homosexuality Means Prospect Of 'O' World Population.
• 53 Sinning In Teens To 40's & Suffering From 50's To Death.
• 54 Revenge May Be Lower But Not Greater Than Harm.
• 55 Why Karl Marx Is Irrelevant Forever?
• 56 Is God The Same One For All Religions?
• 57 How God Controls Economy And Livelihood?
• 58 How Muslim Repression In Myanmar Violates Buddhist Principles?
• MISCELLANEOUS
• 59 Grim Reality of Death: Unfailing Lesson for Everyone

9. Where Islam stands as a civilized religion?

Islam is casually labeled as an "uncivilized" religion by isolated critics or highly selective groups. Now we are going to examine the validity of this criticism and reveal the truth. In order to do so, we first need to figure out the basic criteria of 'civilization' and then check if Islam satisfies them.

Modern Definition: Most historians agree on some common elements of civilization. The word civilization comes from Latin word "civilis" or community of citizens. The book "World History: Connections to Today" (Ellis Esler, published by Prentice Hall, New Jersey) identifies eight features of civilization as: settled life, government, religion, job specialization, social class, writing, public works and art/architecture. Now we make item by item analysis to see if Islam fulfilled these elements.

Criterion#1: The Prophet and his followers enjoyed settled life at the city of Medina from the very beginning of Islam and he emphasized communal life based on mosque. #2: He was the ruler of a very efficient government based in that city. #3: He founded the 2nd largest religion of the world named Islam. #4: His society was classified into various social and economic groups such as into masters and servants, leaders and followers, business owners and associates and so on. #5: Jobs were economically divided and specialization developed for farmers, artisans merchants etc. Particularly, Arabians were among the best traders in history. #6: The culture of writing (ex: copying of the Quran, decorative calligraphy) was widely prevalent among early Muslims. #7: Various public-oriented programs like zakat based relief etc. were a priority for the early Islamic governments. #8: The element of art and architecture like Islamic design of dome, minerats etc. and by extension remarkable scientific achievements of the early Muslims were envy of history.

Crucial Element: It appears clear from above that Islam is nowhere near deficient in any of the 8 elements of civilization; instead it is highly efficient in all of them. On top of that, Islam excels in other aspects that cannot be ignored as elements of civilization. For example, Islam appears to be without any equal in respect of its emphasis on moral decency and sexual purity maintained through decent clothing and modest behavior. Islam rescued the humanity from savage culture of nudity and body exposure that did belong to the primitive people. It therefore appears from the above that Islam is not only qualified as a civilized religion but is also much more than that.