agree with dawood. it is not qualitatively much different from the first muslims’ experience at the time of jahiliyah, except without the benefit of the actual presence of the Prophet. every one of the difficulties brought up in the articles has already happened – many more than once – in various eras of humankind, and also within the Islamic centuries inside the empires. Let’s not kid ourselves. There has been and always will be people at various stages of faith, falling back, coming forth again, new entries, those who fall away.

Zubair:

My point is that there are Muslims out there who look at Islam and look at the sunnah as inferior to Western culture; as a result, they try to adapt to modern western culture.

But the fact of the matter is that the Qu’ran and the Sunnah are the ONLY means to attaining salvation in this world and the next. I should have put “culture” in quotations. I didn’t mean to literally say that Islam is a culture. I’m only explaining it in the way other people compare Islam to Western society, as a culture.

Also, I should have been more clear about the Shelvar Kameez. Yes, it isn’t part of the Sunnah. You are right. But the whole point is to dress appropriately and modestly in society. We understand that. But the brother I mentioned DOESN’T understand that. But I’m not saying that you can’t wear western clothes with following the shariah.

I’m explaining this in respect to what this brother says. That is probably why there is some miscommunication.

Assalamu alaykum
Ali

I admire your love for the Sunnah, but I’d just like to point out a few things:

– Shalwar Khameez are not “sunnah” dress. As Imam Suhaib said, “show me a picture of an Islamic dress in any of the major fiqh books.. you won’t be able to.” Islam lays out specific guidelines with regards to the clothing (loose clothing, covering the aura, etc), but doesn’t dictate that you have to wear shalwar khameez and that you can’t wear jeans and a shirt…

– I would have to disagree with you about Islam being a culture. Islam is a way of life, and even though we try to follow the Prophet (sw) as best as we can, Islam is for all places and all times. That means that you can adopt the Western culture which doesn’t contradict the Shari’ah, and you can still be a good American Muslim.

Sorry I don’t have much time to elaborate more, but I hope you understand my points.

Akhuk Zubair

The main point here was the issue of balance, Islam isnt an intolerant religion, and Allah has made it to tailor with His creation, the Prophet (saw) exercised the best compassion, as well as the best admonishing.

There is a difference between being lenient and tolerant towards people who commit acts that are less than perfect, and believing that their acts are permissible. I think our Ummah is strong enough to resist the corruption of our Fiqh. Many times I have heard scholars and preachers say things like: “If you are not praying, then start with one prayer, and when you are comfortable with that, then add another one, and eventually you will want to add a third, and then you will desire to add a fourth, until you reach a point where you cannot stand to miss any of the five prayers.” But these scholars are in no way about to believe that it is okay to pray only once or twice per day.

Perhaps we can think of Islam as coming to people in successive waves. Recall that alcohol was prohibited in 3 steps, not in one fell swoop. So the first task is to bring people into Islam, to help them to love Islam, etc. Then the task is to strengthen their practice and their faith, until they eventually reach a high level of Ihsaan.

I think it is also worthy to remember that Islam has withstood all sorts of innovations and heresies throughout its history. There were people who said that only wine was prohibited and beer was fine. There were people (who ruled huge chunks of the Muslim lands) who believed in strange doctrines about Allah being beyond being, and the universal intellect emanating from Him, and then the universal soul, and then the world coming about from these things. But all of these strange ideas were marginalized, they could not stand the test of time.

So I don’t think we should be harsh and intolerant out of a fear of diluting Islam. So long as we are clear about what is right and what is wrong, there is nothing wrong with giving people space and time to come to terms with that.

Please forgive me and correct me if I have erred.

Although I agree with the premise of the article, there are two issues I’d like to talk about.
First of all, it is very important to look at the bigger picture than to get lost in details. What if, (and it has happened many times), one drives people away from Islam by imposing things on them. It is not the ideal picture, but it is more important that people be saved by being believers in la ilaha illAllah, than being shut out of Islam because of their lack of compliance. It is well-known principle of usulul fiqh to choose lesser evil when there is a situation involving two evils. Ofcourse if their evil is so contagious that it is contaminating the eeman of others, one must worry about saving one’s eeman, and that is a different situation.

Secondly, we should try to raise the bar for ourselves, and try to have good opinion of others. What I have seen is that we are more concerned about others than ourselves. After all on the day of Judgment it will be just ‘nafsi, nafsi’ and we will not care to cast a look at the other person.

I am not saying that we should not be concerned with the state of our community and give up on enjoining good and forbidding evil, but hilm and hikma are traits of our Prophet sallallahu alyhi wa sallam. Giving advise to anyone is like sowing a seed; one has to soften the soil of one’s heart by building trust and then can one plant the seed of advise. And trust is only built if we have a beautiful character that influences others.

Please don’t be offended by my comments. I, like everyone else, have commented on the state of other people, while finding solace in the fact that I wear hijab and try to practise Islam. But there are times, in the middle of the night, I reflect and realize my state of heart may be uglier than what my ego may project to fool myself. Just a few things to think about and Allah knows best.

The problem with our society is that we are sacrificing the Sunnah of the Prophet (S) to the culture of the west, which goes totally against what Allah (SWT) says in Surah Hujurat:

‘O believers! Exceed not over Allah and his Messenger and fear Allah. Undoubtedly Allah Hears, Knows (Surah Hujurat:1)

This article is actually very relevant to what happened Wednesday at a local high school interfaith. A staff member, who is also Muslim, a newly converted Muslim, might I add, came up to the stage and said to the audience something to the extent of “What’s up with the Muslim youth these days? These kids are going back to the times of the Prophet (S), wearing Shelvar Kameez on the streets. These kids need to realize we’re living in America and we need to adapt.” (By the way, the interfaith was in a classroom, and because of lack of planning, only Muslim kids were present. Only mentioning this so that you guys don’t get the idea that he told this to a huge crowd.)

This is definitely a major problem in Western societies, the discarding of the Sunnah of the Prophet (S). What we need to come to realize is the Sunnah of the Prophet (S) IS our identity, and it is critical that we make his sunnah, his example, our identity, and the way in which people identify us as, because if we don’t, then how can we call ourselves Muslims?

However, we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves, let alone the Muslim Ummah, for being sympathetic of our identity. It is hard to live in a culture totally opposite of Islamic culture. Islam teaches humility and thankfulness, whereas Western culture teaches Riyaa (showing off) and arrogance and self absorption.

And the sister beautifully pointed out the cause of it, which is laziness and the easy way out. This culture is so easy and appealing. People don’t want to think about how this culture can screw you over in many ways in this life and the next because it looks so good and fun and appealing.

The fact of the matter is that we need to come to a realization, as an Ummah, that Western culture is not THE culture; Islam is THE culture. Once we realize this, then as an Ummah, as a Ja’maah, we need to work to better ourselves, make ourselves more diligent in practicing the Sunnah. Why a Ja’maah? Because Umar (R) says that “There is no Islam without a Ja’maah.”

Please forgive me if I offended any of you guys, and correct me if I am wrong.

Assalamu alaykum
Ali