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National Geographic : 2002 Jan
Contents
Whoever killed a human being, except aspunishmentfor murder or other villainy in the land, shall be deemed as though he had killed all mankind. Koran V:32 Land, including the Christian shrines of Jerusalem, from Muslim control. Though fragmented and initially overcome, Muslims rallied to ultimately defeat the invad ing Christian armies, whose blood-soaked legacy-the indiscriminate killing of thou sands of innocent Arabs, Muslim and Christian alike, as well as the Jews of Jerusalem-lives on in the minds of Middle Easterners to this day. As Europe rose to glory during the Renais sance and beyond, the Islamic world continued to thrive after the creation of the Ottoman Empire in the late 1200s. This powerful state fell at the end of World War I, resulting in the subdivision of its mostly Muslim lands into the Middle Eastern countries we know today. Although a few Muslim nations are wealthy from oil resources, most are poor and increas ingly demoralized by their position in the world. Few Muslim societies enjoy the range of civil liberties that Western nations take for granted, such as freedom of expression and the right to vote in a fair election. And their popu lations are booming: Four people out of ten in Muslim countries are under the age of 15. Disaffected and disenfranchised, many people in these societies are turning to Islam, and to Islamic political movements, to assert their identity and reclaim power over their own lives. In addition many Muslims, especially in the Arab world, are angry at the United States for its support of Israel, its military presence in Saudi Arabia, land of Muslim holy places, and its continuing economic sanctions against Iraq, which are widely perceived to have spared Sad dam Hussein but hit the people of Iraq-fellow Muslims-right between the eyes. Muslim societies also have a long-standing love-hate relationship with U.S. popular cul ture, and these days those intense feelings may be closer to revulsion Explore Islan than respect. a listing of W "To many Muslims, especially and share yc those in traditional societies, our forum at American pop culture looks a lot graphic.com like old-fashioned paganism, a cult AOL Keywor ni feb yur na /n 1: that worships money and sex," says Imam Anwar al-Awlaki. "For such people, Islam is an oasis of old-fashioned family values." Some Muslim nations, like Iran and Saudi Arabia, today base their governments on sharia, or Koranic laws and teachings, which are themselves subject to debate and interpre tation. Others, like Malaysia and Jordan, com bine these traditional principles of justice with more modern, secular forms of government and society. OR MOST of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, Islam is not a political system. It's a way of life, a discipline based on looking at the world through the eyes of faith. "Islam gave me something that was lacking in my life," says Jennifer Calvo of Washington, D.C. Calvo is 28 and looks as if she just stepped out of a painting by Botticelli, with aquiline features and striking blue eyes, set off by a white head scarf tucked neatly into her full length robe. Calvo was raised Catholic and works as a registered nurse. "I used to get so depressed trying to con form to our crazy culture and its image of what a woman should be," she said, "the emphasis we put on looking good-the hair, the makeup, the clothes-and our hunger for material wealth. It left me feeling empty all the time." Two years ago, as people have done for 1,400 years, Jennifer became a Muslim by simply declaring the words: "La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad rasulAllah-There is no god but God, and Muhammad is his Messenger." "Everything is so much simpler now," she said. "It's just me and God. For the first time in my life I'm at peace." For Calvo and most Muslims nAmerica, find on Earth, that is what Islam's call resources, to prayer represents. Kneeling to thoughts in God five times a day, in unison, itionalgeo facing Mecca from wherever they gm/0201. happen to be, they find peace in NatGeoMag an act of surrender. r IN FOCUS: THE WORLD OF ISLAM
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