Islamic Issues and Solutions

Islamic issues and solutionsAbstract

Pray for Paris! This slogan once was everywhere. On the evening of November 13, 2015, a series of terrorists attacked Paris. This attack was so critical that it was regarded as the 911 in Europe. After a while, ISIS declared to be responsible for this event. With reading a large amount of materials, I think the mixture of three facts leaded to this tragedy: the conservative of Islam, free and open in France, and the neglected of security. I need to point out that I just talk about things related to our subject. So it’s possible that I can’t give you a whole grasp of Islam.

Key words: Islam; Paris attack; Security

Why ISIS?

This problem is kind of complex. First of all, we should have a grasp of Islam. Islam is a young religion created by Mohammed in 7th century. Mohammed spread the doctrine of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula and attracted a lot of people [1]. After his death, his heirs, called caliph, opened up the territory, invaded others and finally built some big Islamic empires as time went including Umayyad Dynasty (AD 661-AD 750), Abbasid Dynasty (AD 750-AD 1258), and Ottoman Empire (AD 1281-AD 1926). These countries had one thing in common: all the guidelines should follow the Qur'an or Mohammed’s behavior, which is one rule of Islam. This phenomenon leaded to some defects such as the unity of church and state and the unequal treatment of female. After the World War I, the Ottoman Empire disintegrated, and the Islamic Golden Age is over. So Muslims wanted to revive Islam, but the doctrine of Islam itself prevented the modernization, which could be explained by one rule of Islam referred above. The gap between the Islamic world and the modern world was growing. How to catch up with other non-Islamic countries? Part of the Muslims’ approach was to return to God's side, and all the code of conduct should be in accordance with the Qur'an to follow the original doctrine. The consequence of this was obvious to all, they still could not catch up with the pace of modern world. When these Muslims saw the situations, they refused to carry out religious reform., and believed that it’s non-believers that should be to blame. At the same time for some reasons (not explained here), Muslims are divided into two factions, causing internal war. Western countries intervene in this matter, resulting in a number of Muslim being discontent. Muslims stirred up their hatred, and more and more radical Muslims grew up. Then, ISIS was generated, as the most powerful Islamic terrorist organization. The purpose of ISIS is to create one big Islam empire and destroy non-believers, which is the reason why it’s really brutal.

Why France?

Contrasted with Islam countries, the Christian states have completed modernization. The reasons for the modernization of Christian countries are more complex, but mainly historical factors. From the cultural point of view, early, from the Enlightenment and the Renaissance began, the community more emphasized on "people", payed attention to human values, promoted the spirit of humanism, played the role of ideological emancipation. At the same time, the rise of the natural sciences was also part of the impact of Christianity, such as Darwin's theory of biological evolution which made people know that people don’t come from the creation of the God. Later, the two industrial revolutions further promoted people's perception of reality, as well as religious thinking. More importantly, Christians are not stubborn, they carried out a series of religious reforms, and established a system of separation of church and state which was more conducive to the development of modernization. From an economic point of view, the emerging capitalist economy in Europe is in fact an invaluable to the modernization and secularization of Christianity, which advocated freedom of speech and openness and promoted religious reform to meet the development needs of capitalism. All in all, people are increasingly aware of the fact that religion and reality are two things and the Bible was worthy of respect but not the only criterion. Christianity did not hinder the modernization of the Christian state, but instead gave them a more open and inclusive culture.

France and Islam, a free and open country and a stubborn religion, between which the conflict is inevitable. First, the boundaries of freedom of speech in France are too wide, and people can discuss Islam absolutely freely. Some people even caricature Islam. The assassination of Charlie Weekly in 2015 was a counterattack to excessive freedom of speech in France. Second, the French Muslims in the other non-Muslims’ contrast is extremely in arrears, even not fitting in with the modern life. They are increasingly marginalized, which leads to their jealousy and resentment against others. Third, France's involvement in the internal conflict of Islam has also aroused dissatisfaction by the Muslim community.