One of the important responsibilities in Islam that proves time and time again to be a wellspring of religious motivation (and justification/rationalization) is “Amr bil maroof wa nahi anil munkir”. We see the tablighi jamaa’at as one of the largest groups of organized Muslims formed on that principle and attracting a large number of people to its kind.
Shouldnt this spirit then propel the Muslim clergy with equal urgency and vigour to encourage integration. Integration in a way that maintains Islamic duties, with a view towards presenting Islam in a way culturally relateable to their host country.
There are huge numbers of Muslims in the west, and wherever they are in significant number they cluster together. Molanas typically are hesitant or against integration, and often molanas dont even know english, or enough english to talk about religion in a scholarly way. Shouldnt the same religious zeal that makes them go on gashts etc encourage religious Muslims to integrate in order to spread the Islamic message?
Born again Muslims for example, people who used to be very westernized then became more religious normally play that role. But they’re quite small in number compared to the two extremes of completely secularised Muslims and insular closed off culturally displaced religious types.
Shouldnt conservative/orthodox/rigorous Muslims also not feel duty bound to make what they believe to be the true face of Islam understandable to the western world. Again this does NOT mean losing Islamic values, but taking on Islamically valid cultural traits that would make its adherrents as a whole more relateable.
I am totally against this 'amar bil maroof' stuff.. apnee qabar seedhee karo and leave the other guy to deal with his Creator himself.. half of the problem of the whole Ummah would vanish ovrenight if people stopped trying to be Allah mian's 'khaleefa' on this earth going around telling others how to interpret and follow Islam.
SubhanAllah
Allah says:
[3:104] Let there arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining Al-Ma'ruf and forbidding Al-Munkar. And it is they who are the successful.
[3:110] You are the best of people ever raised up for mankind; you enjoin Al-Ma'ruf and forbid Al-Munkar, and you believe in Allah.
Shouldnt this spirit then propel the Muslim clergy with equal urgency and vigour to encourage integration. Integration in a way that maintains Islamic duties, with a view towards presenting Islam in a way culturally relateable to their host country.
There are huge numbers of Muslims in the west, and wherever they are in significant number they cluster together. Molanas typically are hesitant or against integration, and often molanas dont even know english, or enough english to talk about religion in a scholarly way. Shouldnt the same religious zeal that makes them go on gashts etc encourage religious Muslims to integrate in order to spread the Islamic message?
Born again Muslims for example, people who used to be very westernized then became more religious normally play that role. But they're quite small in number compared to the two extremes of completely secularised Muslims and insular closed off culturally displaced religious types.
Shouldnt conservative/orthodox/rigorous Muslims also not feel duty bound to make what they believe to be the true face of Islam understandable to the western world. Again this does NOT mean losing Islamic values, but taking on Islamically valid cultural traits that would make its adherrents as a whole more relateable.
The muslims in the west "import" Moulanas from back home to west, who themselves require lot of time to integrate in the muslims community of west, let alone the western culture.
Muslims in west need to open up Madrasa'a in west, where the OLD MOULANA's can produce young people who can do this job. You cannot expect this from people coming from Pakistan/India or Egypt.
completely agree icono. and it is understandable that "imported" molanas will find it difficult to take on a new culture. but I wasnt so concerned about the capability of religious Muslims to integrate but why it isnt encouraged as necessary to fulfill a religious imperative they otherwise go great lengths for.
politically this is in context of recent statements here against "muslim ghettoes".
Maybe Turks or Arabs can do that but Desis are too obsessed with their gay Indian culture to integrate. We can’t compromise on the religion but we can on other aspects of culture so that people will be accepting of our religion.
We need clerics fluent in English and in tune with Western society to bring the message of Islam to the natives, a lot of them are quite open to Islam when it’s presented in a way they can understand because they are spiritually starved.
Mosque leaders should make an effort to present Islam that is not alien but a Abrahamic religion which can be as western as it’s predecessors Judaism and Christianity.
Clerics should dress in semi-formal western clothes instead of foreign skirts and dresses (I’m sure they look pretty in Chatna Patna but this is Manchester mate), of course Arabic should be retained as liturgical language because it preserves the nature and essence of Islam but it should be accompanied with English whilst languages such as Urdu, Gujarati and Bangla should be done away with in liturgy, there is no iconography in Islam so all foreign symbolism, art and architecture which has nothing to do with the spirit of Islam should be done away with, Arab/Indian/Iranic style Mosques or Paki incense sticks are irrelevant to the faith and message of Islam so contemporary western styled buildings would fit right into the landscape instead of the onion domed buildings which are an eyesore and look horid.
Women don't have to wear those black post boxes for Niqaab, they can wear lighter coloured and looser Niqaabs which would look less intimidating and daunting to those around them. I must admit I'm a Muslim and I respect women who cover but there's something about those black letterbox Niqaabs which our Gujji sisters wear that send shivers down ones spine. Something like Farhat Hashmi (Paki Islamic Scholaress) wears combined with western coats instead of Arabic Jubbas would look spot on.
We can’t compromise on clear Islamic edicts such as the order for women to cover or men to grow their beards and wear their garments above the ankles but we can on neutral cultural issues.
We can't expect all Kuffaar to accept us for what we are (I've given up on that) and I'm not saying we should change ourselves to please them but more for the sake aesthetics and making Islam more palatble to people without comprimising anything of course.
Hm. Cant say I agree with the basic premise of your post, that our culture is more insular than others. The fact that migrants cluster together and retain their culture is true of every significant migrant community, whether hindu or nigerian, arabs or jamaican.
the drive to culturally adapt for the sake of propagating the religion has to come from the religious tabqa (molanas waghera), and I dont think the arabic or the turks are any more religiously motivated to integrate than we are.
I agree with Smurf on everything except the dratted niqaab issue and the bearded issue. I think its high time we give that nonsense up as being "mandatory" which it really isn't, and leave it up as personal choice among people.
I like the idea of mosques being made with western and modernistic architectural styles in mind. I personally love the domes, but why is it necessary?
I would agree with you on the incense sticks, but...muslims can be very smelly people despite the fact that Islam stresses on how much to keep clean (amazing how they remember a ninja dress, but they forget to brush their teeth and use some mouthwash and deoderant). So incense has to stay.
Shouldnt this spirit then propel the Muslim clergy with equal urgency and vigour to encourage integration. Integration in a way that maintains Islamic duties, with a view towards presenting Islam in a way culturally relateable to their host country.
There are huge numbers of Muslims in the west, and wherever they are in significant number they cluster together. Molanas typically are hesitant or against integration, and often molanas dont even know english, or enough english to talk about religion in a scholarly way. Shouldnt the same religious zeal that makes them go on gashts etc encourage religious Muslims to integrate in order to spread the Islamic message?
Born again Muslims for example, people who used to be very westernized then became more religious normally play that role. But they're quite small in number compared to the two extremes of completely secularised Muslims and insular closed off culturally displaced religious types.
Shouldnt conservative/orthodox/rigorous Muslims also not feel duty bound to make what they believe to be the true face of Islam understandable to the western world. Again this does NOT mean losing Islamic values, but taking on Islamically valid cultural traits that would make its adherrents as a whole more relateable.
Can you give some more specific examples? I'm not sure I understand what you mean by integration.