isher (1999) calls the Muslims and Christian communities, are also a consequence of the ways in which Islamic and Christian societies and cultures are structured and have developed historically. Karen Armstrong (2000) commented that even before the Prophet Mohammed revealed the teachings that comprise the Qur'an after being inspired by Allah, the Arab people were largely a collectivist, tribal assortment of groups with a strong sense of kinship and its requirements and obligations. These relationships are further affirmed in the Qur'an, which emphasizes such matters as the obligations of man and wife, of parents and children to one another, of believers, of society as a whole, and of all social relationships (Irving, 1985). Conversely, in Western society -- particularly in contemporary Western society, which, unlike most Islamic societies, is increasingly secularized - these specific obligations have less significance. Though not absent from the cultural norms and mores evident in Western culture, the individualist strain that has taken root in the West has led to a greater emphasis on personal goals and ambitions than on the needs of the group, the family, or the community (Hofstede, 1
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