Lebanese Society and the Consciouness of Young Muslims : Identity and Conflict of Young Lebanese Muslims

MIO Makoto

doi:10.24498/ajames.11.0_341

Based on the questionnaires and participant observations conducted in March and July 1995, this paper tries to portray the consciouness and feelings of young Muslims in Lebanon which, one hopes, may in turn shed some light on Lebanese Muslim society. The contents of the questionnaires are as follows: 1) family composition 2) religious consciousness as a Muslim 3) dating between the opposite sexes 4) sexual consciouness 5) equality of the sexes in relation to the Qur'an The findings indicate that in Lebanon where Christian influence is stronger than in other neighbouring Arab countries for various reasons, there exists a conflict between Muslim identity and the Islamic social norm on one hand and prevailing society on the other. The paper proposes the hypothesis that in order to ameliorate this conflict, Muslims in Lebanon have developed an attitude of relative tolerance towards others. Needless to say, Lebanon is a multifaceted society with many religions, denominations and ethnicities in a complex topography, spiced with Phonecian merchant tradition which is conciliatory in nature. This tradition survived the rubble of the 1975-90 civil war. For all to coexist peacefully with each other, tolerance for different religious and ethnic backgrounds is particularly important. Today Muslims constitute a majority in Lebanon and thus have an important part to play.

Lebanese Society and the Consciouness of Young Muslims : Identity and Conflict of Young Lebanese Muslims

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