Running Head: Radical, Peaceful, Sharia 1
Radical, Peaceful, Sharia: The Modern Day
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Radical, Peaceful, Sharia 2
Walking through the sun dried, sand ridden market of early 7th century Mecca, filled with
the sounds of traders from all walks of life bartering their goods, poets and story tellers reciting
their beautiful verses, and multitude of religious cults each worshipping one or many polytheistic
Gods. Children are seen running about in the streets from vendor to vendor, catching a glimpse
of what mysteries the traders have brought from foreign lands, and you might have run into or
simply ignored and walked past one of the most influential people in the history of mankind. At
the time you wouldn’t have known it, but who could imagine that a poor orphan from a tribe of
nomads would one day grow up to establish one of the largest and most controversial religions in
the world, a religion and empire that at one point in history stretched from the border of China
and India across central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain; A religion that founded
algebraic thinking and expanded the medicinal practices we use today. The young orphan and
founder of the Islamic faith is none other than the Prophet Mohammed.
Throughout history the human species has been compelled to do many astounding and
captivating things. Ordinary people like you and me have made decisions and inventions that
have had a major influence and changed the world in drastic ways. These changes have had such
profound impacts on the way people experience their daily lives that we accept these ideologies
without a second thought. Religion is one of these profound inventions that has guided mankind
throughout our history. Whether it is guiding a society towards peace, prosperity, and
understanding or down the darker road of violence and submission to an all-powerful deity is
really dependent upon how one interprets their belief system. Blind adherence to the laws of
religion without question is a major issue, which can have cataclysmic effects on humanity. This
is an aspect of all Abrahamic religions and is especially true in the religion of Islam. At the heart
of most religion is a peaceful message though when reading between the lines one may find more
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disheartening messages than they thought possible. Religion is an infallible belief system, where
one must put their faith before any doubts they may have in it. In Islam through the belief and
practice of unquestionable obedience and submission to Allah, the lack of a governing body to
interpret questionable verses of the Qur’an and other religious text, and the different way in
which the Qur’an can be individually interpreted, can be a catalyst to radicalism.
Religion is not a contemporary thought process; it is as ancient as mankind. Though the
way it is practiced has changed, the belief in an all-powerful god or gods has been obvious in
artifacts found all throughout the world. Religion is generally believed to have been invented to
keep order and promote peaceful interpersonal relationships. With the promise of eternal
salvation in heaven if one follows their doctrine or to be damned to eternal agony in hell if they
are evil or a disbeliever, is reason enough for some to cling on to faith. Religion can be
categorized into three general categories; polytheism (then belief in multiple gods), pantheism
(the belief that everything is god), and monotheism (the belief in one god) (Origin of Religion
2016). Polytheism is the most ancient of all the religious beliefs with Egyptians practicing
around 10,000 BC. Pantheism is more prominent in the Hindu and Native American belief
systems and is almost as ancient as polytheism. Monotheism is relatively new and it began with a
man named Abraham in 2000 BC (Origins of Religion 2016). From Abraham came the three
main religions we see in today’s society: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. That is why these
religions are classified as Abrahamic religions.
Religion is at the heart of most major conflicts in early human history and in today’s
political climate it is as prominent as it has ever been. There is an acceptance that because two
societies may believe in different gods or practice their faith differently that they are adversaries.
As much as every religion would like to point the finger at the other causes leading to war, the
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conflicts can generally be linked back to religious dissimilarities. The way in which this conflict
is catalyzed is evident in the infallible beliefs which each religion has. “Infallibility can refer to
both the absence of error or to the inability to err” (Vainio, O 2010). All Abrahamic religions
believe they have the true word of god, and the others are tainted by man or the devil. Though
they all worship the same god they believe the way in which they practice their belief is superior
to the other. Religious infallibility is abundant in all three of the Abrahamic religions and allows
for the specific sects of the faith to reject the possibility that they may be erroneous. One of the
many troubles that nonbelievers run into when questioning someone’s faith is the ever present
response of “Can you disprove God?” The burden of proof does not fall on the disbelievers; it is
the responsibility of the believer to prove their hypothesis. This compares to telling someone that
you can walk on water or fly, it is not their job to confirm you cannot perform such tasks but
