Is a Clash between Islam and the West Inevitable

1036

Abstract:

Religion and religious issues have increasingly moved into political and public life around the globe. Instead of using religion as a tool for promoting peace, it has been manipulated for political and economic purposes. Confrontational religious issues are creating an environment of intolerance that leads to conflicts among civilisations. The contemporary debates about the clash between Islam and the Christian West demands comprehension of the deeply divergent values between both the civilisations. While it is mostly discussed that the Islamic world does not share the liberal values or the electoral democracies present in the Western world, the political reforms initiated in Islamic world exemplified in Turkey, Indonesia and many other parts of South Asia are often ignored. Moreover, the policies and wars and the role of the West in Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen and many others and the reaction to it clearly illustrate the fault lines between the Islamic and Western societies. The question, however, remains whether a clash between the two worlds is inevitable or not.

Read More