Convergence in the World of Islam and Newly Emerging Cultural-Religious Challenges

During the recent years, the world of Islam – in comparison with other political and cultural arenas in the world - is suffering from violence, conflicts and wars so that there is no promising prospect for integration and Islamic unity. This paper intends in its ultimate end to review and analyze the most important challenges before integration in the world of Islam and propose solutions for overcoming those challenges. In this paper, we will show that the role of cultural and religious issues is fundamental in the relationships between the Islamic nations. Therefore, it is our hypothesis that these factors are influential in the lack of integration in the world of Islam. The principal question of this paper, then, is this: “What cultural-religious challenges is the world of Islam facing with in the contemporary age?” The hypothesis presented as a quick response argues that the “the weakness in rationality and moderation as well as problems associated with identity crisis coming from the developments in modern communication tools are among the most outstanding cultural-religious challenges in the world of Islam during the current period.” The findings of this paper, developed based on the theory of integration and through an analytical-interpretive method, suggest that applying a superficial attitude toward the Holy Quran and the Islamic traditions, enacting rules and laws outside the fabric of rationality and moderation, as well as promotion of ignorance on one hand, and on the other hand, the globalization of culture, that have simultaneously created extremist and non-religious identities in the Islamic communities, are among the most pressing cultural challenges in the world of Islam at the current age.