Culture verses Islam
Culture verses Islam
Culture is defined as a people’s complete way of life. It consists of all the ideas, objects and ways of doing things created by the group. Culture includes beliefs, customs, language and traditions (World Book Encyclopaedia).
While there are numerous cultures and subcultures present in the world, of primary concern to us in this discussion are the two main opposing cultures in present-day society. One is the culture of Islam — the “complete way of life” set forth in the Qur’an and Sunnah. On the other opposing end is the Western culture. Both cultures present a “complete way of life.” However, both ways of life differ drastically.
The difference in the two cultures stems primarily from the source of the cultures. Islamic culture — the way of life of a Muslim — is defined by the Qur’an and Sunnah. It is the culture of Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam). It is that way of life upon which he established the Sahaaba (R.A.) after having turned them away from the culture of jahiliyyah (ignorance).
On the other hand, Western culture is fashioned by a host of people; Capitalists, atheists, people who believe in same-gender marriages and others of a similar nature. Such people determine the decadent culture of the West.
NO FLIRTATIOUS INTENT
The cornerstone of Islamic culture is morality (hayaa)and simplicity. Hayaa (morality / modesty) and simplicity are both qualities of Imaan. Thus the true Islamic society upholds the highest levels of morality and maintains simplicity in every aspect. Some of the salient features of this society are:
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No free intermingling between non-mahram (those who are not forbidden to marry) males and females. The laws of Hijaab will be observed.
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Modest dressing. Clothing will truly cover the body (also loose enough to cover the shape) and have no flirtatious intent.
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Men and women will fulfil the separate roles that have been apportioned to them — the husband as breadwinner and the wife as mother and one who fulfils the household responsibilities, etc. This is the foundation to a stable Islamic family which together with other such families forms a stable Islamic community.
Contrary to this, the cornerstone of Western culture is immorality and extravagance. The “live-in” culture where a couple live like man and wife but never marry — is almost the norm. While there are numerous aspects that highlight the immorality of Western culture, perhaps the most visible and marked expression of this culture is in it’s dressing. Shorter, tighter and more revealing is the rule by which the dress code keeps changing. Western clothing, instead of covering and distracting any wrongful glances, is by and large designed for flirting, attracting and arousing.
As for simplicity in Western culture, it is almost a kind of tragedy. Since the poor fellow cannot afford to indulge in anything extravagant, hence merely due to circumstances, he is forced to adopt a simple lifestyle. Fashion-slavery is part of western life. If one does not have a branded garment, it is tragic. If the real thing is not available, a fake will also do. If it is not a branded product, it is then only for the have-nots even if it is of a better quality and lesser cost.
While the above are some of the serious core differences between Islamic and Western culture, the most important aspect is the difference in the mindset of both cultures.
PURPOSE OF LIFE
The mindset of the Islamic culture stems from the conviction that Allah Ta’ala is our Creator and Sustainer. Hence in this short stay on earth, we are to serve Him alone in the manner taught by His beloved Rasul (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam). Thus the Islamic culture revolves around the firm belief that our mission in life is to establish complete Deen in ourselves and on the face of this earth. With this mindset, one will sacrifice one’s wealth, energies and time as much as possible for the purpose of life. Indeed one will acquire the necessities of life as well, but Deen will be the guiding light and driving force. Deen will dictate and all else will follow. The “purpose of life” will demand — and all else will submit. As a result if one does not acquire many comforts and luxuries, it will not matter. Rather, life will be regarded as a journey wherein the traveller is not too concerned about the luxuries and comforts en-route. The traveller is focused towards his destination. Yet, as a result of one’s obedience to Allah Ta’ala, one will be blessed with true peace, serenity and contentment.
CHASING FUN
Conversely, the mindset of Western culture is that the purpose of life is worldly enjoyment. Every comfort and luxury that can be acquired must be attained at all costs. Everything centres around entertainment, chasing fun … and chasing more fun. There is no mission in life. No objective. Merely the pursuit of temporal pleasure permeates every cell of the mind. And yes indeed! The constant pursuit of greater comfort and luxury and continuously chasing fun demands loads of money. Thus life revolves around making money — from early morning till late at night — and having fun. If anything comes in the way of this fun, it must be removed. If looking after elderly parents “spoils the weekends and holidays” they should be dispatched to the old-age homes. If children come in the way of earning extra money to afford “the better quality of life,” they can be entrusted to day-care centres where they are treated almost like mechanical objects. There is no concern for proper upbringing. In order to “enhance the quality of life” (which means making more money to have more luxuries and more fun) anything can be sacrificed — parents, children and even religion. It is an extremely hollow existence without any peace or contentment — which only stops when one is placed in the hollow of the grave!
It is thus evident that Islamic culture and Western culture are worlds apart. The problem is that when people of different cultures live together in the same community, the process of enculturation takes place where people from one culture adopt traits, customs, habits and ideas from the other culture. There is no doubt that this enculturation has occurred in our communities. Many Muslims have tragically become greatly Westernised in their mindset, in adopting a very extravagant lifestyle, in their dressing, in making life revolve mainly around chasing money and fun, etc. Deen for such people has become a “side-line.”
Why has this enculturation occurred? The answer is alarming! According to social scientists, people abandon their own culture and borrow from another culture when they regard aspects of the other culture as “better” (World Book). Encyclopaedia Britannica (CD version) highlights this aspect in the following words: “To be sure, a culture trait must offer some advantage, some utility or pleasure to be sought and accepted by people.” Allah forbid! Due to the weakness of Imaan and ignorance, the Sunnah culture is being abandoned by Muslims for some Western way which they regard as “better” or as having more pleasure and advantage than the Islamic culture! This is no different to a child who gives away a priceless diamond in exchange for an insignificant shiny stone. He has no idea of the value of the gems he is abandoning and is duped by the shine on the stone.
“FOOLS”
Western culture is being glorified and vigorously promoted by the media as the culture. The media message simply is: “If you are not following the Western trend, you are old fashioned, backward and maybe dumb.” However, these slogans should not make us lose our priceless gems for worthless stones, rather, poisonous pebbles. Instead we should adopt the stance of Hazrat Huzaifa bin Yamaan (R.A.). While eating in the court of the Persians, a morsel of food fell from his hand onto the floor. In emulation of the Sunnah, he picked it up to eat it. Somebody next to him cautioned him that to pick up a fallen morsel was against the culture of the Persians. He should therefore follow their way and refrain from picking up the morsel. His spontaneous response was: “Should I leave the Sunnah (culture) of my beloved Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) for these fools?”
Adopting Western culture will bring along its severe negative consequences. Some of them are:
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A materialistic society with no mission in life
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Indulgence in drugs and immorality “for fun”
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Break-down of respect for parents and elders
* Disintegration of family structures
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High divorce rate, etc.
Every effort must therefore be made to preserve the culture of the Qur’an and Sunnah. This requires adopting the company of those who are sunnah conscious, learning about the various sunnats and making an effort to bring them alive in ones home, community and the Ummah at large.
If Western trends take root, besides harming ourselves, we will also lay the foundation for the destruction of future generations. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, “once established, culture has a life of it’s own ... it flows down through time from one generation to another.” It is therefore imperative that we guard against this.
The only success for us in this world and the Hereafter is in upholding the way of life of the Qur’an and Sunnah. May Allah Ta’ala keep us steadfast on His Deen. Aameen.
I am SICK and TIRED of stupid backward desert heads bashing the lovely and FREE and Democratic and Civilized and Clean WEST. Are you too blind to see the difference between incredible backwardness and hypocracy and uncivilization in Qatar vs. US or Canada??????????
Life in the west is so much easier from freedom to infrastructure to shopping to services with smiles to civilized behavior and nice driving to education and schooling to GOOD government by the people for the people....
Life here is a toil and very damn hard compared to the West especially North America & Australia.
Hypocracy is the name of the game here and all you see in newspapers is thobe-and-ghutra dudes giving and receiving awards for some supposed achievement... Hell even Ashghal morons have tons of awards and certificates and smiles in the newspapers...
Alexa: rofl :)
PM: Exactly, the fealing i have is that some people would like God to be their private "property".
Only God Can Judge Me
الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي
I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer
أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ
Knowledge: I can debate if that's what you want, but should warn that i'm an "westerner" who has converted to Islam, i'm still leurning but 1 thing i do know, Good and Bad are everywhere, maybe later i'll add something more, but before i forgot, i remember someone saying last week that the westerner muslims weren't as good as the ones from the ME.
It's a shame that Islam is used to "show how muslims in the midle East are better than all the others".
Only God Can Judge Me
الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي
I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer
أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ
Oh, here we go again......another Western versus Islam post...why is it that the West is always mentioned in these so called religious posts....Peace and Harmony?!Bananas! I'm sorry but no wonder the West is underfire if people read and believe this utter tripe!....
I feel sad seeing people promoting Islam but at the same time bash western culture as if they practiced Islam perfectly. This is not what our beloved Prophet did. Honestly, in some cases, western applies Islam values better than many moslems do.
Without imagination their is nothing!
THE REAL PURPOSE OF MY LIFE IS TO LIVE WITHOUT BEING A SLAVE TO ALL THIS CACA!
Without imagination their is nothing!
THE REAL PURPOSE OF MY LIFE IS TO LIVE WITHOUT BEING A SLAVE TO ALL THIS caca
Without imagination their is nothing!
No islaam4U, the purpose of life being to actually ENJOY your life would be foolish. Instead the purpose of your life is to lead it as boringly as possible, and the more you can actually torture yourself the better!
There is a real Purpose of our life...we are not in this world like animals to just eat, drink,work,sex,travel and then die...!! www.purposeofcreation.com
Islaam4u
Live your life without all the unnecessary CACA and enjoy your life to the fullest , LIFE IS TOO SHORT!
Without imagination their is nothing!
Duh!!!
Another one... Yawn!!!! am off.
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Listen to Many..Speak to a few.
Darn check your inbox!!!!
i dont care if you are a buddhist or whatever... ;)
I don't care what religious affiliation (if any) you have.
so am i a jew ?
Are you one of those immoral, decadent western Canadians that you villify here, or did you just take a Canadian passport to make your life easier?
If you're going to bash western culture and you think it sucks so badly, then simply don't partake of its fruits, as marycatherine said. Don't wear western clothing or listen to our music or watch our TV shows -- but then you also shouldn't send your kids to our schools because they're better than yours, you shouldn't fly off to our medical clinics because we've got the state-of-the-art treatment that you need, and you shouldn't hire our citizens to come into your country to help you extract the natural resources that are the main source of income for your region because your own citizens aren't trained, humble, or hard-working enough to do it themselves.
If you're tickled pink to be a hard-core Muslim, then I'm glad for you. But as a Muslim, you really should have better manners than to go around insulting another's culture, especially when the people you are insulting are GUESTS that YOU have invited into your country for ASSISTANCE.
We never claimed to be perfect. But I think most of us westerners kind of like our culture -- the freedom of expression most of us have, the variety of choices in nearly every aspect of life, the many opportunities afforded us...
Yeah, I think we're a happy bunch. So if you don't like the way we live or the choices we make, it doesn't really bug us. But don't bash us on the one hand while you drive away in your Suburban, with your Nokia phone in your pocket, heading off to pick up a Starbucks latte on the way home...
But it always strikes me as funny how people like Knowledge perceive Satan as a pagan figure head, when in truth he is actually the inception of the monotheistic religions and even funnier still how any one who claims to be a satanist absolutely refutes the idea that if they believe in Satan then they therefore must have some belief in God....
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died....Chad Kroeger
Sorry Miscat, was quoting knowledge of light. I don't consider them to be in the same catergory at all.
I beg of you do not put Paganism in the same context as Satanism, you of all know better than that.
As for you Knowledge Lowlight or whatever it is, paganism only practiced the the ritual killing of certain animals and even that, given Neopaganisim and what it stands for these days is long lost.
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died....Chad Kroeger
one need to see the mirror, analyse and identify what one is following and where the road is leading towards/destination.
Yet for some reason they are common in this area...hmmmm. So the Islamic nations are also influenced by a Satanic/Paganistic culture?
I'm guessing honor killings and other things like human sacrifices are of Satanic and Paganistic culture... maybe?
ufff.. that was tooo much !!!
--
rms..!!
Honour killings aren't Western culture either knowledge is light, so where does it come from then? By your theory it should be one or the other. Also there's no call in Islam for niqab, so where does that come from?
really dont have anything to say so all you will do is get on some islamic website and copy paste it here on QL tryin to impress QLers with your stupidity which isnt working enough so better stop it bugger knowledge_is_light yea you really need to go get some laser lights on your dumb head.
Most Muslims these days do follow culture over Islam...in some Arab countries the women will not marry outside their race becuz they will lose their benefits (citizenship maybe and house). So I guess they would rather be spinsters.
Niqab is not Arab culture...Muslim women from all over the world wear it.
Honor killings are not part of Islam either.
"And it does not behoove a believer to kill a believer except by mistake, and whoever kills a believer by mistake, he should free a believing slave, and blood-money should be paid to his people unless they remit it as alms; but if he be from a tribe hostile to you and he is a believer, the freeing of a believing slave (suffices), and if he is from a tribe between whom and you there is a convenant, the blood-money should be paid to his people along with the freeing of a believing slave; but he who cannot find (a slave) should fast for two months successively: a penance from Allah, and Allah is Knowing, Wise.
And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his punishment is hell; he shall abide in it, and Allah will send His wrath on him and curse him and prepare for him a painful chastisement." (An-Nisa’: 92,93)
Abdullah ibn Mas`ud, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, "The blood of a Muslim may not be legally spilt other than in one of three [instances]: the married person who commits adultery; a life for a life; and one who forsakes his religion and abandons the community." (Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
About the designer abayas and purses in my opinion.... they are being too extravagant. The Prophet (pbuh) said that the wasters (of money or food) are the brothers of Shaitan...
Since when did QL become a religious website? Let's leave the whole religious education thing to actual SCHOLARS and respect the fact htat there are most likely different cultures and religions on here....Bashing religion at other people doesn't exactly look good...
OK then:
Do not allow expats to live or work or visit in Islamic countries
Ban access to the internet and books and news and any form of telecommunication where people might be exposed to decadent "Western" values and immorality or ideas
Prohibit marriage across cultures
Prohibit access to any medical or educational facilities or treatment that are not invented by and provided by believers.
That way it won't be necessary to worry about Western influences.
"you can't fix stupid"
Oh...no, not again...! One more US n THEM self-righteous, religious topic...hav had my fill...am outta here, ofcourse, to commit as much sin as I can! Coz if ppl like me are not ther to be projected as all that should not be in god's world, how can u guys feel all pious and wonderful about posting these kinda stuff!
What about Arab culture and the way it's corrupted Islam? (ie niqab, honour killings etc).
Not to mention designer named abayas, purses, etc. Wearing designer labels and bling is just as bad here.
Once again, the western culture is the Big, Bad Boogie Man!
"If western trends take root...we will also lay the foundation for the destruction of future generations"
AND
"It is imperative that we guard against this"
Too late. Western trends have "taken root"
Flood gates have already been opened.
yes, it is culture to treat the maids and labourers the way they treat here in this region. Yes, it is cultural to hold one's passport until they are released for their freedom? Yes, it is cultural to penalized a rape victims? Yes, it is.............
"dgoodrebel will always be the rebellious good one"
cars they drive, how they drive and what penalty they get when they kill someone because of their driving behavior?
"dgoodrebel will always be the rebellious good one"