New Age In Contemporary Globalism: An Islamic Response

Abstract

This article investigates New Age and its challenge to religion, in general, and Islam, more specifically. The article is based on the empirical data gathered by Hugh Urban, Daren Kemp, and James R. Lewis. New Age will be situated within its socio-cultural context to better understand its appeal as an alternative to mainstream religion. The article will also investigate the Poet Muhammad Iqbal’s spiritual system as a means of finding an Islamic response to New Age. Rhonda Byrne’s popularity among Arab youth will be examined, as will the response to it by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih Al-Munajjid. The article proposes that educational syllabuses in Muslim higher learning institutions must be upgraded to include Islamic responses to New Age, by emphasizing Islam’s spiritual tradition. Currently there is a gap in the academic literature pertaining to New Age and Islam. This article hopes to provide a stimulus to great research in this area. The research uses comparative and qualitative method of content analysis. One of its drawbacks is that no empirical studies have yet to be done regarding Muslim youth perceptions on New Age. This research concludes that Muslim academics and educators must re-examine Iqbal’s spiritual paradigm in order to deal effectively with contemporary challenges such as the New Age challenge. This research is important because it will help to extend the scope of Comparative Religion in Islamic studies to include new cultural elements as New Age. It also may be suggestive of how Islamic studies departments, in universities and institutions, can update their syllabus to include responses to the latest socio-ideological changes amongst the younger generation. Finally, this research shows the vitality of Iqbal’s thought to contemporary issues facing the globe. This article will be useful to educators who are interested in engaging with Muslim Youth on the latest topics that may affect them.