When Eastern and Western culture clash

When the Eastern and Western culture clash

By Wasi Siddiqui

(Member of the Canadian Authors Association)

It is often been said that when there is a hurricane in the sea, no matter how big the boat is, it will sink because the culture of the sea does not compromise with it�s furry whoever tries to come in it�s path, this is exactly what happened at the calm neighborhood of Mississauga, where a teenager was strangled to death by her father apparently for not wearing scarf or following Islamic culture.

When an immigrant family comes to Canada, there are lots of challenges to be face starting from not getting a job in their respectable fields, an engineer working as a security guard, a doctor working as cab driver, and then waiting for 3 months before applying for health card because getting sick during these 3 months might cost a fortune since medicines are so expensive to buy, any way this is just a start in getting accustomed to the tradition life of Canada then comes the most difficult part , when their children future when they seek  admissions in schools and colleges in order to give their children a new life in totally a different environment.

As soon as the immigrants start to settle down in Canada , their biggest fear becomes a reality when their children adopts something new in schools which is called � the western culture� the culture which is totally different from their homeland specially in a Muslim society where mingling with boys of girls are often regarded as bad and not allowed. All the religion has their limitation so does the Islam, where it is prohibited for a Muslim woman to frankly talking with a strangers or making boyfriends.

Although the wearing of scarf is compulsory, and it is always advisable for a Muslim woman to wear it as it avoid a stranger getting their attention, while the western culture called it veils are a sign of radicalization, a move to Islamism � the most extreme interpretation of Islam. The veil is often considered an obstacle to integration.�  And sometimes the headline read as �The Muslim woman needed to be liberated from veil�.  

The Quran says �  Tell the faithful women to lower their gaze and guard their private parts and not display their beauty except what is apparent of it, and to extend their scarf to cover their bosom
- Source: Quran, 24:31 (English translation)

It is time that immigrant families should know that when they have decided to come to Canada or any other western country they should sit down with their children to talk about the things which they like and what are those things which they will not tolerate, instead of starting a culture clash that reach to a boiling point when their parents decided to take the law into their hands.

The biggest concern for the Muslim families is that why in schools sex education are being taught in the name of education, this give their teenagers a freedom to engaging in sex with their partners even thought sexuality is a part of all human nature but this freedom is just more than necessary and thus come in contact with AIDS/HIV, or even left their own face with disgrace in the society. This is where the culture clash starts, they began to speak English only and forget their mother-tongue and wearing jeans and with  chewing gum in their mouth, with I-Pod in their pockets always listening to music, shaking their heads like monkey and speaking western style common word like �F� words, while they considered themselves above all and even above the law, as they adopt this new culture , their own culture becomes a joke where Muslims are required to pray five times a day , read Quran , lead a simple life , give charity , Hajj concept completely  forgotten and thus name of Islam became a history for them.

There are many Muslim families living in Canada who have made compromise with their children, in one of the case a Muslim woman marries to a Hindu man and then before their marriage, a celebration was held where strippers were hired to entertain the guests and Muslim parents were also present as a part of celebration. How shameful is this?

 In other such incident, in a Muslim family, a man who was sponsored by his wife to come to Canada was wrongly blamed as �sexual impotent� and then she gave him divorce and left to humiliation, now the same person married and living with his wife and 2 children.

 The clash of the eastern and western culture has now entered into a danger level, where anyone, anytime can become a victim of this new culture clash, a clash which will continue to happen unless today�s youth understand and return to their faith and culture because once they leave their home, it is not their parents watching them, but only Allah, whom they should be fearing all the time.

I actually feel that the parents do the right thing by trying to teach their children the right muslim ways.  I'm not talking about the cultural part of it, but the part that comes directly from the Quran and hadith.  It is more difficult in the west to enforce these beliefs on children, but I think if a parent is careful and sets a good example, it can be done.  I have seen some great muslim children raised who chose the hijab themselves and chose to follow the right path.  We will not be successful with every child.  Some children will go their own way no matter what we do and probably would have in the east too (though in a less obvious way than the west). 

I also know many Christian families tired of America's values getting out of hand.  Some send their kids to private christian school or home school them.  I know many Christian girls who dressed conservatively, didn't go out drinking and waited until marriage.  Why, because their parents put a lot of effort into raising them right and they instilled values.

It is important to instill values in a child early, set the right example and do give your kids the best environment you can.  I know in the United States many major cities have islamic schools you can send your children to that even require the hijab for girls and conservative uniforms for all the kids.  Many families bring their children to the mosque for Friday prayers, Ramadan, and Islamic and arabic classes.  We can't protect our children from everything in the west, but we can lessen the influence in many ways.

I think the extra effort is worth it for children if the parents want to give them better chances than they had in their home country.  This is just my opinion though.

Hi Israfil,

I would like to say that I am talking about all the Muslims no matter they are African, Serbian, or any one , Muslims religion is Islam and it teaches us and gives us a guideline to follow, thus all the Muslims have to follow it .

You will be shocked to know that I met a guy from Pakistan and he use to work with me , one day I saw him eating pork ,I approached him and said " dont eat this , this is haram", so he got angry and said today we Muslims are backwards because we fall into the Haram and Halal issue , see the europe how they are progressing it is just because they don't care , and now we Muslims should also stop saying what is halal and what is haram ?

So you will see how the muslims are behaving now-a-days , if we don't address this issue now , Islam will surely will be gone from our youth's mind.

As far as you are saying that there are Muslims immigrants who acclimate to Western society quite nicely, I can assure you they are not , and the reason is that Islam does not match with other cultures .

Trust me , Iam not wrong.

Wasi,

You are generalising. If you think the western society isnt suitable for muslims then why do you live in it? You will not be able to change society just because you are muslim.