By We’re placed into a world without consult or consent.
We aren’t asked our opinions on where or when we will be born.
We enter with a culture, race and place of origin attached to us.
Where we come from has the ability to contribute in the shaping of our person, but how much should we allow that to define us? Do we allow ourselves to become nationalistic? Should we voice only the struggles of our country…chanting “our” victories, wearing them as our sole pride? Or do we venture out of our cultural niches and immerse ourselves into the cultures of the unknown, delving into their world with curiosity, empathy and compassion?
If we fail to venture out, it may cause a sense of exclusion and creates a fragmented and disconnected Muslim community.
This is often something that I ask myself while observing the world through my lens. Being a product of multiple cultures and growing up as an American Muslim has led me to question the cultural binaries that exist within all of us, especially for us Muslims growing up in America.
How does an ex-marine become accused of terrorism?
How does a person born on U.S. soil have their allegiances to their country questioned?
There is a conflict of cultures which American Muslims often face — it has become a dichotomy of itself, and the American Muslim’s identity is split in two: Their religion and their “Americanness.”
Restrictions are put on sons and daughters as to whom they can and can’t marry due to race; there is a gravitation to befriend like-cultured people; and, there is even a preference as to what race our children can intermingle with.
Some background for you: the ex-marine aforementioned was my mother, born a Hispanic Catholic in Los Angeles, California. My father, also an ex-marine, is African American and was born Christian in the windy city of Chicago.
One would conclude that this background gives me “firm American roots,” but this is completely disregarded once my Muslim identity has been identified. Because of the cultural conflict this creates, when I was younger, I sought for consolation in my identifiable identity: a Muslim.
Islam is a religion in which class, gender, race and all other worldly definitions are disregarded. In Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) last sermon he said:
“All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; a white has no superiority over a black, nor does a black have any superiority over a white; [none have superiority over another] except by piety and good action.”
It is without doubt that these words speak to our generation. This is a timeless concept that applies to all generations as human nature has the tendency to create groups and subgroups and niches within niches.
As humans we tend to separate ourselves and create inclusion with the byproduct of exclusion. Unfortunately, the Muslim community is not exempt from that.
Restrictions are put on sons and daughters as to whom they can and can’t marry due to race; there is a gravitation to befriend like-cultured people; and, there is even a preference as to what race our children can intermingle with.
All of these I can attest to as they come from firsthand experience. There was a point when I became slightly disenchanted with the Muslim community due to this exclusion.
I realize that these cultural attitudes are deeply rooted, but they can be changed steadily through conversation, action, writing, and communication.
We should follow the example of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and treat the close-minded with patience and compassion. But we must also help ourselves and have conversations with people who possess older mindsets.
As it is said in surah Ar-Ra`d:
“Allah does not change the condition of people until they change what is within themselves.”
We cannot wait passively for this issue to be resolved; we must be the contributors to a better community for our children to live. Culture can add to the dimensions of an individual with its rich teachings and traditions, but we must remember that cultures that create fragmented communities stifle growth.
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Contributed by Cherice Jones
Image: Flickr
“EXCEPT BY PIETY” so are you superior to me, because i’m not pious?
Or me—Maybe I’m pious to the wrong God. Good grief, a French priest has just been decapitated today on the altar of his own church by Muslims, and it’s apparently not worth addressing on this website—instead we get more of this “poor me, no one likes us in the West” nonsense that they usually churn out. Did they even bother talking about the major attack in Nice? Does it not occur to these writers that the incessant terrorism by their coreligionists might be the reason why nobody with a sense self-preservation likes or trusts them? It was one thing when you could pass off an occasional attack as the act of a deranged fringe minority, but now we literally can’t go three days without some horrific atrocity committed by Muslims in the West.
well shirk is considered the greatest sin/evil in islam. and if that priest is deifying jesus, he is committing shirk.