Open AccessIslam as "The Middle Path"
Author(s) -
Larry Poston
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
american journal of islam and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2690-3741
pISSN - 2690-3733
DOI - 10.35632/ajis.v17i1.2085
Subject(s) - islam , christianity , meaning (existential) , religious studies , identity (music) , middle east , seekers , order (exchange) , history , sociology , philosophy , political science , epistemology , theology , law , aesthetics , finance , economics
This article describes an observable pattern in Western converts' journeyto Islam. It shows how at an early stage in their life, manyWesterners are disenchanted with their religion, Christianity orJudaism, and proceed to explore radical alternatives including new agereligion, eastern religions and even various cults. Their search for spiritualand religious identity is usually not satiated by these alternativesand so they gradually gravitate toward Islam. The author argues that inIslam these converts find reason, order, meaning, and a contemporaryrelevance that is missing in western as well as eastern religions. It is theopportunity to traverse the "Middle Path," familiar yet new, similar yetdifferent, which the author suggests may well be the reason why these"seekers" eventually find whatever they are looking for in Islam.