What Is the Relationship Between Islam and Modernity?

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What is the relationship between Islam and modernity? Change is an inevitable part of society imposing challenges amongst those undergoing this phenomenal concept. Modernity is a change that has been occurring rapidly throughout the past centuries and undoubtedly forming connections to other significant factors in an individual’s life, such as religion. Islam is a religion practised by over 1.6 billion (2011, Report/Pew Forum) Muslims, their idea of religion is not only believing in a set of rituals, but also in particular values and institutions, which also entails a thought system. Historical basis is a strong commodity in the practise of religion, as history has set traditions and practises that Muslims follow, till today. According to The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1993, Delhi) modern means “of the present and recent times” and “in current fashion, not antiquated”. Therefore, modernity is becoming a way of thought and of living in the contemporary world, by accepting and implementing change as part of society through political and cultural processes. Thus the question arises what is the relation between Islam and modernity and is it possible to maintain the legacy of religious traditions and adopt the attitudes of modern mindset. Modernity can be depicted as both a positive and negative aspect depending on one’s point of view; this aspect will be focused mainly on the struggle that Turkey faces with modernity, as being an Islamic nation in a dominated European society. The case study of Turkey is an exceptional example when often being described as the only Muslim democracy and is an effective study to discuss whether modern political systems influence Muslim countries (1994, Lewis B). The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of a secular state developed in Turkey depicting that both traditions of religion and the western political manner cannot
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