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When Eastern and Western culture clash

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wasi siddiqui View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote wasi siddiqui Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 December 2007 at 2:22pm

Hi martha ,

I am not saying that western society is bad , but what I am saying is that Muslims should continue to live like Muslims , whether they are living in their homeland or in a western country.

I wonder why you are not trying to understand the issue , nobody can change the society but why don't you follow what your culture ask you to do , and let other follow their culture.

If you give up your culture , you will be in a no-man land , and those who are western culture followers will laugh on you , they will make fun of you that you have no identity and no culture and also why don't you also stop calling yourself Muslim as well, you will be like a distitute person who have no home , no religion , and no culture like a man who lost his own diginity.

If you like to do as the western society ask you to do , then you are free to do.

Enjoy your way of life !!!!

 

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Hayfa View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hayfa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 December 2007 at 12:02pm

Hmmm

It seems to me we need to be more specific, about specific issues or examples of "culture." Just using the word culture conjures up different images for different people.

For example, there is nothing wrong with say, A Muslim taking up ice skating or cross-country skiing for exercise. These tend to be seen as "Western" pursuits of exercise or family enjoyment in the winter.  

Another would be drinknig cocktails before a meal. Clearly something that would be haram but some Muslims may feel compelled to do to "fit in."

Are we talking about dress, food, we need to be specific. For example there are the Amish the Hasidic Jewish folks, other peoples who have "limited intergration" and what if anyone else does it affect. How do we define intergration. Are the Amish wrong for not having TVs and computers? Heck they don't believe in a secular education past the 8th grade level.

Martha,  I understand your point, but keep in mind that most people come here for economic reasons. If this is where you can work, you don't always have the time or wherewithall to plan that stuff ahead.

For me the two differences are:

what is considered public and private

the value of the individual vs the community

These are not always able to be discerned from afar. I know a number of people who came here to work and sent their kids back to their home country due to the negative social influences on their children.   Yes some young people grow up just fine, and there are many others who do need more social pressures /  cohesion to give them the discipline. 

To me we need to define in what ways people need to intergrate? And why should they? As long as they obey the rules why can't they live in more inclusive areas? I know many people from the subcontinent who bond not over religion (Muslim, Sihk, Hindu) but over shared food, language etc.  It is all fascinating.

 

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. Rumi
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herjihad View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote herjihad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 December 2007 at 4:01pm
Salaamu Alaykum,

An African saying that we all know is that it takes a village to raise a child.  The village can be deficient in the West or East. 

Concepts and ideologies are fine, but reality rules in the lives of children.  Who do they have to care for them?  Love them?  Guide them?  Who can they play with or study with where they live?  Who are their genuine role models?

And maybe:  Who of all these people will stand beside them and put UP with them for those teenage years when their hormones outreach their brain capacities?!

I know many cases in both the East and the West where children did not succeed Islaamically when these, and other important elements, were lacking.  We need to stop finger pointing, and just lend each other a hand more often!
Al-Hamdulillah (From a Married Muslimah) La Howla Wa La Quwata Illa BiLLah - There is no Effort or Power except with Allah's Will.
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Angel View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Angel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 December 2007 at 1:27am

Originally posted by Hayfa Hayfa wrote:

Another would be drinknig cocktails before a meal. Clearly something that would be haram but some Muslims may feel compelled to do to "fit in."

there's non alcoholic cocktails, think they are called mocktails.  

~ Our feet are earthbound, but our hearts and our minds have wings ~
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Angel View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Angel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 December 2007 at 1:40am

I don't know, i think there will always be somekind of culture clashes, always has been. I don't think clashes are bad/negative per se, life is diversity or diversity is life, that is how we evolve and grow and learn of different things. I think its in how we handle the clashes is probably the issue, some people feel threaten or its too much for them so they lash out violently or have wars, some people are not bothered by it and take it in their stride.

I believe the muslims in africa (anywhere) differ than muslims in the middle east.

 just something.

~ Our feet are earthbound, but our hearts and our minds have wings ~
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martha View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote martha Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 December 2007 at 6:17am

 Wasi, you said:-

I wonder why you are not trying to understand the issue , nobody can change the society but why don't you follow what your culture ask you to do , and let other follow their culture.

If you give up your culture , you will be in a no-man land , and those who are western culture followers will laugh on you , they will make fun of you that you have no identity and no culture and also why don't you also stop calling yourself Muslim as well, you will be like a distitute person who have no home , no religion , and no culture like a man who lost his own diginity.

Wasi, I do understand what you are trying to say. But if I followed what my culture said then I would be doing those things that western people do! Can you begin to imagine how it is for me? I always lived in the western culture. I have been muslim for 4 years. So I had to make a complete turn as far as my family, friends and culture are concerned. So now because I am muslim they make fun of me! I did lose my home, my children and became destitute. For the sake of Islam.  But I did not lose my dignity. So tell me, what part do I have to play in my culture? What now is my culture? I have changed and at great cost. I am neither accepted by my own, or by those of 'muslim culture'. Yes brother, I am in a no-man land.

 

 

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