Re: Concept of honor and respect
Seminole, generally it’s culture mixed with Islam where culture has the upper hand. Many of the Muslims that I know follow what I call a cultural Islam. This version perfectly fits their cultural background, beliefs, and practices and has some aspects of Islam as well.
Also, most individuals that I know usually have their parents teach them Islam, which is more or less the version that has followed by the forefathers. Usually this version of Islam is not checked for authenticity either.
Muslims usually read Quran in Arabic and don’t always bother reading the interpretation or anything else that could help them better understand what’s actually in the Quran.
By attend services, I think you are referring to attending the mosque for prayers. The imaam is not always a scholar. Therefore, an imaam isn’t always an individual one should look up to for religious rulings. However, many very conveniently refer to their local imaams as if they are the subject matter experts.
In my opinion, one should attend Islamic classes headed by proper and sound Islamic scholars to learn about Islam, or perhaps by reading authentic books.
Ideally, we are to strictly stick to Shariah; however, it isn’t something very common these days.
