Globalization: The Impact of Religion on Arab Culture

As religion is a main factor in the process of globalization, it is vital to study the role of religion in daily life: How was it influenced by globalization and how is it affecting local cultures? It is said that globalization does not necessarily encourage disbelief, but rather it encourages rational belief, that is belief based on doctrine, on principles, on texts; however, with regard to Islamic belief, it seems that globalization has intensified irrational beliefs. Globalization may bring about the unpacking of local cultural complexes, but in the process it creates multifarious local identities and criss-crossing frontiers, so that diversity comes to rule more than ever before, even if similarities across social and spatial distances also become ever more evident. The main purpose of this paper is to provide and discuss the issue of religion and culture in the contemporary Arab world. The focus will put into consideration the impact of religion on local culture. This can provide answers to some major questions such as how does the religion of Islam - in the Arab culture - evolve under the conditions associated with globalization? How does globalization influence the religion of Islam?