Sister Ginny,
You wrote:
What I don't understand is why African culture and Islamic practice
can't somehow coexist? Why should you give up African culture just to be
Muslim?
Let me rephrase yours question above by removing *African* out of it this
way the response is directed to all cultures.
Allah says in the Quran:
“This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon
you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion” (Holy Quran: 5:3)
“O you who believe! Enter perfectly into Islam (by obeying all the rules and
regulations of the Islamic religion) and follow not the footsteps of Shaitan
(Satan). Verily! He is to you a plain enemy.” (Holy Quran: 2:208)
When the noble Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) came to his people
what was their culture and tradition? They worshipped over 300 idols. They
buried their infants alive along many other gruesome acts? That is the
period of Jahiliya (Ignorance). Islam, which is light, came to eradicate
that “culture & tradition” (darkness) and replace it with something that is
better. But there are cultures and traditions that fall in line with Islam
and are not abandoned.
Allah says in the Quran:
And when it is said to them: “Follow that which Allah has sent down.” They
say : Nay! We shall follow what we found our fathers following.” (Would they
do that!) Even though their fathers did not understand anything nor were
they guided? (Al-Qur'an 2:170
When Abraham had dissuaded his tribesmen from polytheism, “They said:" We
found our fathers worshipping them." (Al-Qur'an 21 : 53)
“Say (O Muhammad sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam to mankind): "If you
(really) love Allah then follow me (i.e accept Islamic Monotheism, follow
the Qu’ran and the Sunnah), Allah will love you and forgive you your sins.
And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (Aali Imran 3:31)
“(The followers of the misleaders will say): "Nay, you (too)! No welcome for
you! It is you (misleaders) who brought this upon us (because you mislead us
in the world), so evil is this place to stay in!" (Sad 38:60)
From Sahih Muslim you will find:
Anas b. Malik reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying:
It is from the conditions of the Last Hour that knowledge would be taken
away and ignorance would prevail (upon the world), the liquor would be
drunk, and adultery would become rampant. (Sahih Muslim Book 034, Number
6451)
God's Apostle1 said: Verily, God does not take away knowledge from people
directly but he takes away the scholars and consequently takes away
(knowledge) along with them and leaves amongst persons the ignorant as their
leaders who deliver religious verdicts without (adequate) knowledge and
themselves go astray and lead others astray. (Sahih Muslim Book 034, Number
6465)
Now to Gambian culture/tradition and Islam. Some of our culture/traditions
are in line with Islam. The hospitability we show our guests, our relations
with our neighbors (Muslims and non-Muslims), respect for our elders and
mercy for our young and many more are all in line with Islam. But the
opposite is also true. We have culture/traditions that are in direct
opposition and compete against Islam. Black magic and sorcery, seeking the
aid or marabout as oppose to Allah, the way we marry and divorce, how we
treat our spouses etc. Some of these things amount to associating
partnership with Allah. Without one having sound understanding of Tawheed,
one wouldn’t know when one is setting up partners with Allah.
When I was a kid I remember people in my neighborhood celebrating events by
bringing in drummers. Women would take turns dancing in front of the lead
drummer and sometimes show off their stuff and the crowd would scream. In
trying to out dance one another things would get raunchy. This is a Gambian
tradition but every aspect of it is anti Islam. Sometime the drumming drowns
out the call to prayer or goes on while the prayer in on. A Muslim would be
wrong to try to hold on to such a tradition because according to Islam, this
is haram on so many levels.
Our problem is we (general) do not know our deen the way we are suppose to
(out of laziness Allah knows best) so we rely on other people to tell us
anything and everything without proofs from the two sources (Quran and
Sunnah). In the end we rely on opinions for our deen.
Questions like the one above are many should be directed to the scholars. If
you do not know ask the people of knowledge for they are the inheritors of
the Prophets and they can provide detailed answers with proofs. The Prophet
sallallaahu 'alalyhi wa sallam said:
"The superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like that of the full
moon on a clear night over the rest of the stars. Indeed the scholars are
the inheritors of the Prophets and the Prophets do not leave behind them the
deenaar nor the dirham as inheritance, they leave only knowledge behind as
inheritance. So whosoever acquires it, acquires a huge fortune."
Anything that I have related to you that is good comes only from Allah. Any
mistakes that I have made come only from myself, and I ask Allah to forgive
me. May Allah guide us to Islam and rectify our affairs.
Salieu Barry
>From: Ginny Quick <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: SV: SV: SV: SV: SV: Kanilai Cocktail - II
>Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 10:40:03 -0500
>
>Hello, what I don't understand is why African culture and Islamic practice
>can't somehow coexist? Why should you give up African culture just to be
>Muslim?
>
>I'm sure some people would sayt aht in order to be Muslim or Christian,
>that
>you'd have to shed your African or other identity, but why should you have
>to do that?
>
>Ginny
>
>¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
>Web interface
>at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>
>To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to:
>http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
>To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
>[log in to unmask]
>¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
|
