Islam is a religion that is deeply rooted in its value of tradition. This value became more important during the time of colonization, when Muslims were being forced to homogenize with Western values. Like many religions, Islam has faced the oppression from the colonization of Muslim states. The colonization has affected how Muslims practice their religion today, after Muslim countries gained their independence, and is included in the history of their religion. Many Muslim countries have based their laws exactly the opposite of what Western beliefs were imposed on them.
To start off, a summary of some background of Islam is helpful. The main ideas that are central to Islam are the five pillars. The first …show more content…
This ended when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt, and this event sprouted European colonization in the world of Islam (Powers). European countries colonized a massive amount of land that belonged to Muslims; the French took over North Africa and Syria, the British took over Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, and India, the Dutch took over India, and the Dutch and the British took over Malaysia. Europe used a variety of strategies to colonize the Islamic nation, including the takeover of economic power, using their military to campaign, and “playing off rivals against one another” (Sonn 102). Colonization also spread sporadically. The tactics that the Europeans used were very subtle, and many times a country didn’t know that it was being colonized until it was too …show more content…
This is possibly due to the fact that Christianity and Islam have the same ideas about the afterlife. Both believe that “Hell is the grievous destiny of unrepentant non-believers - those who have rejected faith in and obedience to Allah and His messenger” (Fisher 377). This is the same idea that Christians have, except with the substitution of Jesus for Muhammed. Islam has faced the oppression of the colonization of the Muslim states and stayed a religion through it. Although Muslims would not have liked for it to change, it was affected by colonization. It would be very interesting to see how the Christians would react if history was the other way around and Muslims colonized Christian European