Are Muslim and Western Values Generally Incompatible? the Case of Turkey and the Eu.
Are Muslim and Western values generally incompatible? The case of Turkey and the EU.
An easy answer to this question would be a decisive yes. Many argue that the Muslim and Western world are completely different as they are based on different religions, Christianity and Islam. In the Christian Bible there is a definitive separation of church and state, it documents Jesus Christ as saying “Give to Caesar what is Caesar 's and to God what is God 's” (Matthew 22:21). Islam, on the other hand, is an 'encompassing religion that addresses all aspects of individual and social life. In Islam, 'religion and politics are not separated, but intertwined with each other ', leading to the problem of how 'some Islamic principles and norms contradict modern western values ' (Bogdani, 2011: 51-4). The fundamental Islamic principle of a poor tax (Zakat) fits in well with the idea of the welfare state, something central to European identity (Gerhards, 2007). Other Islamic principles, however, do not fit so well with modern western values. Principles of religious intolerance are rooted in the holy Sharia law which some Muslim countries use as the basis for their legal system. Then there is the fact that the Islamic holy book, the Qur 'an, encourages the principle of Jihad to enforce the non-Muslim world to accept or submit to Islam. These are obviously at odds with the Western values of democracy, tolerance, human rights, equality, liberty and separation of church and state (Bogdani, 2011). Huntington outlined this view of how Islam and other civilizations are incompatible in his seminal 1993 paper The Clash of Civilizations and this is a view held by many.
However, if one looks deeper they will find that there are a heterogeneous range of Muslim societies, ranging from fundamentalist Sharia Law-abiding countries such as Iran, to Muslim democracies such as Turkey, which will be the basis of this essay. The question I will attempt to answer is whether Turkey, a secular state
An easy answer to this question would be a decisive yes. Many argue that the Muslim and Western world are completely different as they are based on different religions, Christianity and Islam. In the Christian Bible there is a definitive separation of church and state, it documents Jesus Christ as saying “Give to Caesar what is Caesar 's and to God what is God 's” (Matthew 22:21). Islam, on the other hand, is an 'encompassing religion that addresses all aspects of individual and social life. In Islam, 'religion and politics are not separated, but intertwined with each other ', leading to the problem of how 'some Islamic principles and norms contradict modern western values ' (Bogdani, 2011: 51-4). The fundamental Islamic principle of a poor tax (Zakat) fits in well with the idea of the welfare state, something central to European identity (Gerhards, 2007). Other Islamic principles, however, do not fit so well with modern western values. Principles of religious intolerance are rooted in the holy Sharia law which some Muslim countries use as the basis for their legal system. Then there is the fact that the Islamic holy book, the Qur 'an, encourages the principle of Jihad to enforce the non-Muslim world to accept or submit to Islam. These are obviously at odds with the Western values of democracy, tolerance, human rights, equality, liberty and separation of church and state (Bogdani, 2011). Huntington outlined this view of how Islam and other civilizations are incompatible in his seminal 1993 paper The Clash of Civilizations and this is a view held by many.
However, if one looks deeper they will find that there are a heterogeneous range of Muslim societies, ranging from fundamentalist Sharia Law-abiding countries such as Iran, to Muslim democracies such as Turkey, which will be the basis of this essay. The question I will attempt to answer is whether Turkey, a secular state
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