Religious Studies and Theology (Research Paper Sample)

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Religious Studies and Theology
Introduction
The paper seeks to examine various matters in regard to religious studies and theology. It will examine the aspects of the mid-age crusades, the fundamental elements of the Islamic thought, and finally, explore the Sunni and Shia’s view on leadership in the Muslim community.
Significance of the Crusades for Islamic Civilization
Some of the elements that cannot be changed or deleted from the world history of civilization are the first and the second crusades. For close to 200 years of the mid ages, the Christian Crusades caused turmoil all over Europe as the Christians to control of the Palestine region against their rivals, the Selcuk Turks. They occurred in a series of invasions between the Christians’ Crusades and the Muslim’s Holy Wars, and both were associated with various serious outcomes (Biblical Archeology Society Staff). For instance, the Crusades were linked to vast expenses in treasures and suffering, disorder, and violence. In the contrast, the Holy Wars were thought to be useful indirectly for they are associated with far reaching benefits. Among the leading effects of the crusades were experienced in facets such as trade, discovery, commerce, social, and political. When the Crusades declined, both the Christians and the Muslims had changed views about each other. Notably, the Muslims, the losers in the contests accepted defeat. They ended their resistance towards the Christians and perceived the crusaders as very strong. They no longer attack because the feared the consequent frustrations because of the large numbers of the Christian crusaders. They retreated to reunite the Islam, which was falling (Biblical Archeology Society Staff).
Themes in the Development of the Islamic Thought
The foundations of the Islamic thought were based on three elements namely divine, justice, and human freedom. However, there was a substantial difference when the elements were viewed in reference to the different schools of thought namely Kharijites, Murji’ites, Mu’tazilites, and the Ash’arites. To start with is divine, a category concerned with questions and knowledge that a person has to be familiar with and believe. The different schools of thought disagree as to what were the essential fundamentals of a religion. As a result of the differences, there was a need for more expounding (Mutahhari). Secondly is the element of justice, which deals with matters relating to performance and mechanics of acts of worship and overall, the law. According to the Islamic belief, these encompass issues of the justice relating to marriage and divorce, the jihad, fasting, sale of goods, and forbidding the evil. The schools of thought hold different views on what the law means, and this was what led to diverse versions of the sharia law. Some believed that God is just while others held the belief that God is incapable of doing just (Mutahhari). Finally is the aspect of human freedom. The various schools of thought held a joint belief that Islam is a religion of freedom and peace. They emphasized that Islam upholds human liberty in all aspects of life such as the political, economic, and social matters. They also reach an agreement that Islam is a religion that advocates the principles of freedom (Mutahhari). However, a clear difference emerges when some schools hold that it is not religion that matters but the religion’s social carrier and religious thought and interpretation.
The Sunni and the Shia Muslims view on Leadership in the Muslim Community
Both the Sunni and the Shia Muslims share important Islamic views and objects of the Islamic faith. However, they also depict major inconsistenci...