Essay Sample on Media, Islam and ICT: Impact of Global Village on Believers

Media plays a role in agenda-setting and representation. There have been changes brought about by information and communication technology in the life of humans. The world has been drawn closer as a global village with social media platforms. The media has had both positive and negative influences on Islam society. Islam has been strict on the actions of its believers where they have provided for Halaal and Haram. They have made provisions to guard privacy issues, respect, humility and also integrity among other values that instruct the Muslims to stay away from all acts that are against the Sharia.

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Social media can influence Islam in that it can be halaal where it promotes the values that are provided within the tenets of Sharia. There are certain grounds on which social media use threatens Islam religion in specific. It is evident that the Muslim world has continued to make tremendous contributions to the development of the world to be better and greater (Shehu & Osman 2017). Only true Muslims have been able to stick to the way of life that is required of them.

Social media has its vices which are totally un-Islamic as it has been influential in helping people exercise freedom of expression, optimize prospects for innovation and share with others. Social media will affect Islam because of promoting obscenity, increased social media influence and the intrusion of privacy which are all against Sharia (Shehu & Osman 2017). Social media will this threaten Islam through its hidden negative effects of technology and the consequences of moral and spiritual upbringing.

There are existing stereotypes about the image of Islam that social media continues to portray. It disseminates false information about the Islamic world, which may reduce the believers and how they view their culture (Shuriye, 2018). The highlighting of Islam in a negative and unfavorable manner contributes to distorting the image and reducing their capacity to defend themselves.

Islam religion may find it difficult to survive as the social media has generated the negative image of it being a fanatic and violent religion, women get repressed and a clear antagonism towards the ideas of freedom, human rights and democracy. In most cases during attacks, Muslims are the potential terrorists and most economic and cultural conflicts are towards Islam against other cultures (Shuriye, 2018). In this case, Islam will be affected by their people having fewer beliefs and that society will rather not recognize them.

Social media has the power to disrepute Islam and also restore the image of religion. Through the media, there could be proper propagation and understanding which will be enhanced by highlighting the values and teachings of Islam (Ishak, & Solihin, 2012). It is upon social media to avoid tarnishing the name of the religion and uphold the right information that will be shared to a large number of people.

It is vital that the Muslim world responds to the striking negative representation of their religion. Contrary to what the West has to say about it, Islam in its real essence means submission and peace and it is a religion that defends its values. Social media needs to further inform the public of the good sides of the religion without publishing biased reports on their violence. This way, the believers will receive no discrimination from the society and the conflicts will be minimal.

References

Ishak, M. S. B. H., & Solihin, S. M. (2012). Islam and media. Asian Social Science, 8(7), 263. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.825.4717&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Shehu, M. I., & Osman, N. B (2017). The Social Media and Islam. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323546940_THE_SOCIAL_MEDIA_AND_ISLAM

Shuriye, A. O. (2018). Impacts of New Media Technology on Muslim-Western Relation. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1112/8d7fec59f330f2ccc8523616ed3181c9eb04.pdf