Culture is an essential means of identity to many of us. We celebrate, dress, and behave in such a manner that is parallel to the customs of our particular culture. For those of us who were not raised in a society that practices the culture of our parents, we are domestically coerced to not only withstand this foreign practice, but uphold its traditions.
Without any objections to our parent’s demands, we reluctantly engage in these cultural practices. What we don’t apprehend is how strongly the beliefs of these cultures infiltrate into our psyches and seamlessly influence our daily decisions and mould our developing characteristics. This occurrence becomes problematic when it contradicts or questions religious compulsions.I’m not pointing fingers but I would say majority of the cultures that I have come across are guilty of instilling practices that are not condoned in Islam. When Islam is constantly under a microscope by the mass media, it is common that some peculiar cultural practices by Muslims are directly linked back to the religion.
Personally, I believe culture should define us in terms of our dress and delicious cuisines (so long as it is in accordance with the deen), further division from other Muslim states, that consequently causes pride and other such sentiments is not necessary. It is especially imperative and liable upon Muslims to filter out the extra baggage carried by cultural norms when approaching religious matters.
Here’s a video that I viewed on this topic given by one of my favourite Dacees, Yasir Qadhi. He brilliantly explains the perfection of our deen and how unknowingly some cultures introduce beliefs that only end up tainting the perfectly structured deen subhanaAllah...
Without any objections to our parent’s demands, we reluctantly engage in these cultural practices. What we don’t apprehend is how strongly the beliefs of these cultures infiltrate into our psyches and seamlessly influence our daily decisions and mould our developing characteristics. This occurrence becomes problematic when it contradicts or questions religious compulsions.I’m not pointing fingers but I would say majority of the cultures that I have come across are guilty of instilling practices that are not condoned in Islam. When Islam is constantly under a microscope by the mass media, it is common that some peculiar cultural practices by Muslims are directly linked back to the religion.
Personally, I believe culture should define us in terms of our dress and delicious cuisines (so long as it is in accordance with the deen), further division from other Muslim states, that consequently causes pride and other such sentiments is not necessary. It is especially imperative and liable upon Muslims to filter out the extra baggage carried by cultural norms when approaching religious matters.
Here’s a video that I viewed on this topic given by one of my favourite Dacees, Yasir Qadhi. He brilliantly explains the perfection of our deen and how unknowingly some cultures introduce beliefs that only end up tainting the perfectly structured deen subhanaAllah...
1 comments:
I agree. Sometimes people see their parents doing something and you don't so much as question it, it just becomes the norm and subhanAllah there's twisted rationale as to why it's done and you don't dare say anything that contradicts their stance or else you're being "disrespectful". "There's no obedience to creation where there's disobedience to the Creator".
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