Search the Community

As-salāmu ʿalaykum brothers & sisters Recently, I've seen a few posts wherein people have mentioned that there is a difference between Islam & "Islamic/Arabic culture". Namely, that there are practices and customs that people at the masjid or in the wider ummah might insist that I take up as a recent revert- but that have nothing to do with Islam or anything that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) encouraged. I understand the idea, because Christianity (especially evangelicalism) has this phenomenon as well, but I can and already know those. As I am a "baby Muslim"/new revert, I will not be able to recognize these on my own, so I want to start a discussion about what some examples of those might be so that I can more easily identify them when I am put into a situation wherein I encounter them. I appreciate your help in advance, thank you.

Salam Alaikom! Marhaba! Hej på er! Hi all! I've encountered some nationality problems! I'm fine with being mixed but what I'm not fine with is how people react because of it. Here are few examples:: 2 months ago I went to an arabic speaking husseiniye close to my home and alhamdollilah was met with much respect. Although I told people there I was mixed but they refused to believe me. They said (la inti mo 3ajmiyeh!!!! Stop saying that! You speak Arabic perfectly, you look like us, you're 100% Arab and you should be proud of your origin... come here more often....) Well, I thought I should try another husseiniye! Because I like meeting people from all around the world. This time I went to a Farsi/Persian speaking one, and to my surprise they told me exactly the same thing. (Baba to ke Irani hasti! Arabaro vel kon, hamishe beya inja.... Hamvatane aziz) After those events I started 3 weeks practice in the largest hospital in my town and most patients (muslim and non-muslim) kept asking me the same question.... Dr, where are u originally from? Even my mentor said (on the 1st day):: When I read your name I thought this is another foreign doctor who can't speak Swedish well! But to my surprise you speak it fluently... next time don't highlight in your CV that you're a mix. If you want to become successful, talk only in Swedish and no other language..... you're after all a swede who happened to have a multi-national background. But honestly, why is it so important where I'm originally from? I don't feel like I belong to a certain nationality. All that really matters for me is that I'm a good Muslim and I respect people from all different nationalities, racial backgrounds, religions. Why don't they approve when I say I'm proud about being mixed.

Selam everyone, I am deeply in love with an Afghan girl, I myself am from Turkish/Zazaki(iranian/kurdish) origin. We have a normal relationship for one year now, I am really certain this girl is the perfect one for me and we havent done anything but hold hands and talk and walk. I want to ask for her hand like it is normal in both our cultures, first we ask the girl hand and then we get engaged an evenually marry after a few years. Her father is very strict and saw us at the bus station one time and he wants her to marry her cousin, this is what old school people that are stuck in the time do, they dont let her have any saying in this. Her mother and grandmother and sister have fought for her decision to stick with me and after 6 months it seemed to help. Her father seemed to realise that if he keeps going on like this he wil tear his family apart. He finally accepted his daughters choice and we both were so happy, after university so after 2 years we could get engaged. But now her father changed his mind again and want her to engage her cousin, she threatened to run away from home and now her father is afraid so they dont talk to each other for now. How should I approach this situation, we still see each other every day at school and we are truly in love, we want to do this the proper way through our culture and religion ( both muslim ) but her father stands in the way of her and her sisters and mothers happiness. he simply thinks his pride and honor outweigh everything else in this world and wants everything his way. Everyone of her family supports us and even her father truly knows I am really serious with his daughter. I really appreciate your help in advance, thanks everyone!

Okay, I understand we are all very proud of our heritage, but this is just hypothetical and for fun not to promate racism or prejudice of any sort...... If you could become any other race or ethnicity other than the one you already are, what would you be? Personally I would like to be Asian for a day.(Chinese, Mongol...) Those guys are frickn ninjas!!!!! And they are so smart and cool.(not saying everyone else isnt cool, but Asian cool is a different kind of cool)

This is an interesting video i came across from Baba Ali: "One thing i always find funny is how people take so much pride in things such as race and color. But what did we do to be proud of it? You can "oh I was born in this country!!!!" , but why do think you deserve credit for that... others say "I was born into this family"... but what did you do to be proud of those achievements of your culture or ethnicity? The truth is you didnt have a choice over any of those things, it just happened. You did nothing to gain your race, your family, or the color of your skin. Isn't it very stupid to have so much pride in something you have no choice over. So why are people so much attached to those factors to the point where they put it before Islam?" Quran-49:13 "oh mandkind, we have created you from a male and female,and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another..." we have people that claim to be Muslims, but instead follow their cultures and claim they are following Islam, but are really just following their own culture. This is one of the reasons for the sad state of the Ummah today" This attachment to our cultur over Islam is what divides the world today. It has come to the point where we hate eachother. I mean, we always blame westerners for being racist, but we ignore the fact that we are the most racist people of all. I hate to point it out, but middle easterners, Pakistanis, and Persians are the worst offenders. They constantly talk about how they are superior. I mean, how often have you heard Persians calling themselves "pure Aryans" and claiming their ancestors were "blond haired, blue eyed nordic", saying how much they hate Afghans and Arabs. Or Arabs saying they are pure Semetic and talking about "impure African/Asiastic blood" and Pakistanis saying they are 100% non- Indian. Though your culture may have made great advancements and achievements in the past, what have you done to claim their achoievements as your own, other than being born into the same race? How much will your culture or how much you did to support it help you on the day of judgement?