One particular guppy - not naming who :halo: - has recently been implying that cultural ties are way more important than religious ties.
Maybe I’m misinterpreting them - I dunno.
But, given the fact that South Asian muslims have shared cultural traditions with South Asian hindus over so many centuries, then, what obligation do we have to our “motherland” to incorporate hindu traditions into our lives.
For example, there is a thread up in religion about why we can’t give our babies hindu names, and why we focus on arabic or persian names when we aren’t arabs or persians.
Etc. etc.
The purpose is not specifically to discuss the naming debate, but rather, what obligation we have to give into one cultural way over another?
I say this because Pakistan is at a very strategic location between India and Iran - and it faces influences from Hindu culture as well as Iranian culture. So, there is some persian influence, and it will always be there. Why do we have to give into Indian ways?
I can imagine that if I was speaking to a balochi instead of a punjabi, they would lean more towards the persian cultural aspect rather than the hindu.
And why do we have to feel obligated to incorporate these cultures into our way of life? Shouldn’t we try to take the best from each culture and incorporate the good things into our lives?
Work like a Chinese pheasant, love like a Brazilian, and have the heart of an African!
Culture is definitely primary force driving people's lives, thus it is more important then religion. Religion is nothing but a sanctuary for those who can't cope with the realities of life.....
IF you wanna compare the example of those who prefer culture over religion, here is what Firao’n and his companions had to say about Musa:as: and Haroon :as:
20:63 They said: "These two are certainly (expert) magicians: their object is to drive you out from your land with their magic, and to do away with your most cherished institutions (Culture).
isnt it a bit of a stretch to claim that verse refers to the whole of Culture in general.. when Culture is a very blanket term and includes standing up for parents or opening doors for your mother?
certainly, aspects of culture that would go against the sprirt of the religion, but the Prophet and Prophet Moses exhibited different cultural behaviour, but followed the same religion.
certain actions arent halal or haram but mubaah, and I think a lot of cultural actions can fit into that.
perhaps thats translation bias or inaccuracy, but the literal translation doesnt seem to mean culture in general. the closer translation would be 'norms', and in no way does the verse (speaking specifically of just this one without context) say all norms/culture are being done away with.
culture is a broader term, norms much less so. and again, even if the distinction seems academic, the ayat does not make the case for invalidating all culture/norms, but the specific ‘treasured’ norms Prophet Musa was breaking.
i do i guess but my beef was with writing culture in brackets at the end of the verse, implying to the reader that Prophet Moses sought to eliminate all of culture. if we agree that theres nothing wrong with cultural behaviour so long as its not unislamic then theres nothing to talk about :)
however i doubt that was the point of this thread. we can seek to emphasise culture more than religion, and though what we emphasise may not be unislamic, there is certainly the question of our priorities being screwed up.
personally, as far as this thread goes, I dont believe culture is something one should worry about as 'important' culture is self enforcing. one automatically observes cultural practices that are important to him. whereas it is important to try to follow religious injunctions, all of them, even if you dont feel like it.
so Hazrat Musa and Prophet Muhammad followed Islam right? Give me an instance when Hazrat Musa showed interest in javelin throwing and horseback racing.
alrite. my point was though that if you observe a lot of the behaviour of our prophets and their lifestyles, all of that isnt tied as much to religion, some of it is cultural. the types of food they ate, the dress they wore, what language they spoke, whether or not they recited poems before battles, how many times they married, what they used to brush their teeth etc etc etc .. all of that is cultural behaviour bounded or guided by religion. it trivialises religion to say that meccan dress is more shar'ii than egyptian dress because Prophet Muhammad's sharia invalidated Prophet Musa's.
Im speaking of this statement, which is categorical, non-context specific:
[quote]
Originally Posted by ravage
Prophet Moses sought to eliminate all of culture.
actaully he did :-) with the Shariah he was given.
Same happened in Arabia 1400 years ago.
[/quote]
given that both obeyed the culture of their times that wasnt against their religion, they didnt eliminate all of the existing culture with their shariahs.
Nothing wrong with observing a particular culture, as long as it doesnt clash with religion. In pakistan we have some good traditions that we've picked up from the eastern civilizations and incorporated into our daily lives, but at the same time, we have a lot of time wasting show off traditions that have no part in religion at all.
Should culture dominate over religion ? nah..ultimately our duty is to Allah, not to some particular festivity, and keeping that in mind we should always think about weather a certain activity is pleasing in the eyes of Allah or not.
Take those overly glamerous displays at a wedding for example, peple literally spend 100's of thousands..if not millions on weddings, just to provide a few days of festivities and perhaps show off their money or what not. All that money couldve gone to the poor and needy, or spent in the causeof Allah. Same goes for basant, and other time / money wasting traditions.
I fear this thread is gonna turn into another arab bashing thread as some people are gonna come in and start complaigning on how we 'lick arab arses', when all im trying to do is just follow my religion.
Thanks