Globalisation and Challenges of the Muslim Religion on Its Influence Essay

Globalisation and Challenges of the Muslim Religion on Its Influence to the Family and Its Function in the Middle East - Essay Example This essay declares that majority of the humans all over the world follow one religion or other. Even the non-believers might have followed some religion, before becoming non-believers. However, religion is not a static concept or entity, which will be contained in one place or in a particular period of time, but it could spread to various places, and importantly could evolve and change based on certain world events. One of the events, which is having impacts on religions, and thereby in the way that religion impacts lives is globalization. Globalization is the process, in which the geographical and other social boundaries are broken, with interaction happening between people in various spheres of life, including economics, social, cultural etc. Because of this interaction, and its impacts on various ‘spheres’, the religion also gets impacted. As the report stresses family is also an omnipresent concept followed in all the countries and cultures of the world. Humans will not normally exist or thrive in isolation, he/she will be in the midst of others, and family is something, which majority of the humans are born in. That is, with biological connection established, when they are born, families get formed naturally. However, in the current times, the definition of family has had some competing definition due to the nature of change in family dynamics and composition. In general, it can be defined as a thing, in which group of individuals will live collectively particularly in a house or home, preferably under the control of one head. â€Å"A family is group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adaptation and residing together; all such people (including related subfamily members of one family)† (Mather 2004, p.2). When one focuses on family from the perspective of Func tionalist theory, it is clear that the institution of family plays many key roles. As a vehicle of socialization of individuals with the family from birth throughout the life stages. Functionalist acknowledges the socio-emotional support. As a means of production Family as a means of regulating sexual activity. Transmits social identity and social status of individuals within a given family, community or society. However, with the rise of single parent families, families with same sex couples and even families where the partners live together outside of marriage, traditional definitions of family are being broken, particularly in the Western world. Dhami and Sheik (2001, p.57) ascertain that, â€Å"We live an era in which the nature, function, and structure of the family have been thrown into question. Many, for example, would consider an unmarried couple, a single mother, and homosexual couples as equally legitimate expressions of the family unit.† At the same time, when one focuses on the family from the perspective of Islam, the family is defined as ‘divine institution’. That is, Dhami and Sheik (2001, p.57) further argue that, â€Å"Islam takes a more conservative stance, arguing that the family is a divinely inspired institution, with marriage at its core.† Thus, when religion or particular religious beliefs are focused, it interprets family differently. Religion