Date:   7/26/2009 9:10:32 AM ( 15 y ago)
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Islam and the Cultural Imperative.

For centuries, Islamic civilization harmonized
indigenous forms of cultural expression with the universal norms of its sacred law. It struck a balance between temporal beauty and ageless truth and fanned a brilliant peacock's tail of unity in diversity from the heart of China to the shores of the Atlantic. Islamic jurisprudence helped facilitate this creative genius. In history, Islam showed itself to be culturally friendly and, in that regard, has been likened to a crystal clear river. Its waters (Islam) are pure, sweet, and life--giving but--having no color of their own--reflect the bedrock (indigenous culture) over which they flow. In China, Islam looked Chinese; in Mali, it looked African. Sustained cultural relevance to distinct peoples, diverse places, and different times underlay Islam's long success as a global civilization. The religion became not only functional and familiar at the local level but dynamically engaging, fostering stable indigenous Muslim identities and allowing Muslims to put down deep roots and make lasting contributions wherever they went.

By contrast, much contemporary Islamist (1) rhetoric falls far short of Islam's ancient cultural wisdom, assuming at times an unmitigated (un·mit·i·gat·ed adj. 1. Not diminished or moderated in intensity or severity; unrelieved: unmitigated suffering) attitude. Such rhetoric and the movement ideologies that stand behind it have been deeply influenced by Western revolutionary dialectic and a dangerously selective retrieval and reinterpretation (re·in·ter·pret tr.v. re·in·ter·pret·ed, re·in·ter·pret·ing, re·in·ter·prets To interpret again or anew.) of Islamic scripture in that light. At the same time, however, the Islamist phenomenon is, to no small degree, a byproduct (produced in the making of something else. 2. A secondary result; a side effect.Noun 1.) of the grave cultural dislocation and dysfunction of the contemporary Muslim world The term Muslim world (or Islamic world) has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Muslims, adherents of Islam. This community numbers about 1.5-2 billion people, about one-fourth of the world. . Culture--Islamic or otherwise--provides the basis of social stability but, paradoxically, can itself only flourish in stable societies and will inevitably break down in the confusion of social disruption δSocial disruption is a term used in sociology to describe the alteration or breakdown of social life, often in a community setting. For example, the closing of a community grocery store might cause social disruption in a community by removing a “meeting ground” and turmoil. Today, the Muslim world retains priceless relics of its former cultural splendor, but, in the confusion of our times, the wisdom of the past is not always understood and many of its established norms and older cultural patterns no longer appear relevant to Muslims or seem to offer solutions. Where the peacock's tail has not long since folded, it retains little of its former dazzle and fullness; where the cultural river has not dried up altogether, its waters seldom run clear.

Human beings generate culture naturally like spiders spin silk, but unlike spiders' webs the cultures people construct are not always adequate, especially when generated unconsciously, in confusion, under unfavorable conditions, or without proper direction. Unsurprisingly, Muslim immigrants to America remain attached to the lands they left behind but hardly if ever bring with them the full pattern of the once healthy cultures of their past, which--if they had remained intact--would have reduced their incentive to emigrate in the first place. Converts--overwhelmingly African-American--are often alienated from their own deep indigenous roots and native cultural sensibility through the destructive impact of culturally predatory Islamist ideologies from abroad. All the same, Muslims in America have been silently forging sub-cultural identities over recent decades around our mosques, in Islamic schools, at home, and on college campuses. (2) Some of these developments are promising. The upcoming generation has produced a number of notable Muslim American writers Lists of American writers include: United States
By ethnicity
African-American writers
Jewish American writers
Asian American writers
By field
journalists
novelists
playwrights
See also '', poets, rap artists, and stand-up comedians Famous stand-up comedians, by country of origin: Australia

Alison Bice
Christina Adams
Big Al
Michelle Anderson
Fox K
Dom Egan
Josh Parker
Andrew "Wee Waa" Schwager
Wil Anderson
Eric Bana
Celia Pacquola
Carl Barron

. We experiment with dress (special dresses from denim, for example) and coin words (like fun-damentalist) as parts of our daily speech. Cross-cultural and interracial marriages have increased and show that many Muslim Americans now find themselves more Muslim and American than Indian, Pakistani, Syrian, Egyptian, or anything else. In other ways too, the young generation shows signs of cultural maturity and is connecting on positive levels often unthinkable to their parents. Many of them are comfortable with their American identity, while cultivating a healthy understanding of their religion, pride in their past, connection to the present, and a positive view of the future. But, despite positive signs, much of the cultural creation taking place over recent years around the mosque, school, home, and campus has been without direction, confused, unconscious, or, worse yet, subconsciously compelled by irrational fears rooted in ignorance of the dominant culture and a shallow, parochial understanding of Islam as a counter-cultural identity religion. (3) The results--especially if mixed with culturally predatory Islamist ideology--may look more like a cultural no-man's-land than the makings of a successful indigenous Muslim identity. Development of a sound Muslim American cultural identity must be resolutely undertaken as a conscious pursuit and one of our community's vital priorities. It is not a problem that will sort out itself with time and cannot be left to develop on its own by default. Islam does not merely encourage but requires the creation of a successful indigenous Islamic culture in America and sets down sound parameters for its formation and growth. As we take on this commitment, we must understand that our revealed law and long history as a world civilization do not constitute barriers in the process but offer tremendous resources and latitude.

What Is Culture?

It is commonplace to identify "culture" with refined taste or "high culture" like the fine arts and humanities. In this vein, Matthew Arnold spoke of culture as "the best that has been known and said in the world" and "the history of the human spirit." However, culture as a modern anthropological concept and as treated in this paper refers to the entire integrated pattern of human behavior and is immeasurably broader than its highest expressions. (4) Beyond what is purely instinctive and unlearned, culture governs everything about us and even molds our instinctive actions and natural inclinations. It is culture that makes us truly human, separating people from animals, which frequently exhibit learned behavior but lack our capacity for the creation and adaptation of new cultural forms. Humankind has been defined as "the speaking animal," "the political animal," "the religious animal," and so forth. But speech, politics, religion, and all essentially human traits are fundamental components of culture, and, whatever else we may be, humankind is, first and foremost, "the cultural animal."

Culture weaves together the fabric of everything we value and need to know--beliefs, morality, expectations, skills, and knowledge--giving them functional expression by integrating them into effectual (ef·fec·tu·al adj.
Producing or sufficient to produce a desired effect; fully adequate) customary patterns. Culture is rooted in the world of expression, language, and symbol. But it relates also to the most routine facets of our activities--like dress and cooking--and extends far beyond the mundane into religion, spirituality, and the deepest dimensions of our psyches. Culture includes societal fundamentals like the production of food and distribution of goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. , the manner in which we manage business, banking, and commerce; the cultivation of Science and technology; and all branches of learning, knowledge, and thought. Family life and customs surrounding birth, marriage, and death immediately come to mind as obvious cultural elements, but so too are gender relations, social habits, skills for coping with life's circumstances, toleration TOLERATION. In some. countries, where religion is established by law, certain sects who do not agree with the established religion are nevertheless permitted to exist, and this permission is called toleration. and cooperation or the lack of them, and even societal superstructures like political organization. A working democracy, for example, is as much the fruit of particular cultural values and civic habits as it is the outgrowth of constitutions or administrative bodies. In our mosques, schools, and homes, many day-to-day aggravations are patent examples of cultural discord and confusion. Often, they have little to do with Islam per se but everything to do with the clash of old world attitudes and expectations--often authoritarian and patriarchal--with the very different human complexities, realities, and needs of our society.

A key measure for evaluating culture is its capacity to impart a unified sense of self and community and consistent, well-integrated patterns of behavior. A culture is "successful" when it imparts an operative identity, produces social cohesion, and gives its members knowledge and social skills that empower them to meet their individual and social requirements effectively. (5) Identity and social cohesion are fundamental outgrowths of culture. Community and self-determination also hang in the balance of achieving a "successful" culture. In the absence of an integrated and dynamic Muslim American culture, to speak of ourselves as constituting a true community--despite our immense individual talent and large and growing numbers--or being able someday to play an effective role in civic life or politics is little more than rhetoric or wishful thinking (wishful thinking Psychology Dereitic thought that a thing or event should have a specified outcome).
By setting the boundaries of the self and imparting a strong, unified sense of identity, a sound Muslim American culture would allow for dynamic engagement with ourselves and the world around us. It would also cultivate the ability to cope with complex social realities and negotiate productively the various roles which life in modern society require us to play, while maintaining a unified, dignified, and self-assured sense of who we are and a consistent commitment to the values for which we stand. People can repent from broken rules but not from broken psyches. The creation of a healthy Muslim American psyche is contingent onAdj. 1. contingent on - determined by conditions or circumstances that follow; "arms sales contingent on the approval of congress"
contingent upon, dependant on, dependant upon, dependent on, dependent upon, depending on, contingent
..... Click the link for more information. the creation of a successful, well-integrated indigenous culture. A well-integrated psyche and unified sense of identity make authentic Islamic religiosityre·li·gi·os·i·ty
n.
1. The quality of being religious.

2. Excessive or affected piety.

Noun 1. religiosity - exaggerated or affected piety and religious zeal
religiousism, pietism, religionism
..... Click the link for more information., true spirituality, and moral perfection a normative possibility within the American context.

Respecting Other Cultures: A Supreme Prophetic Sunna

The Prophet Muhammad and his Companions were not at war with the world's cultures and ethnicities but entertained an honest, accommodating, and generally positive view of the broad social endowments of other peoples and places. The Prophet and his Companions did not look upon human culture in terms of black and white, nor did they drastically divide human societies into spheres of absolute good and absolute evil. Islam did not impose itself--neither among Arabs or non-Arabs--as an alien, culturally predatory worldviewworld·view
n. In both senses also called Weltanschauung.
1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.

2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group.
..... Click the link for more information.. Rather, the Prophetic message was, from the outset, based on the distinction between what was good, beneficial, and authentically human in other cultures, while seeking to alter only what was clearly detrimental. Prophetic law did not burn and obliterate o·blit·er·ate
v.
1. To remove an organ or another body part completely, as by surgery, disease, or radiation.

2. To blot out, especially through filling of a natural space by fibrosis or inflammation. what was distinctive about other peoples but sought instead to prune, nurture, and nourish, creating a positive Islamic synthesis.

Much of what became the Prophet's sunna (Prophetic model) was made up of acceptable pre--Islamic Arab cultural norms, and the principle of tolerating and accommodating such practices--among Arabs and non-Arabs alike in all their diversity--may be termed a supreme, overriding Prophetic sunna. In this vein, the noted early jurist A judge or legal scholar; an individual who is versed or skilled in law.

The term jurist is ordinarily applied to individuals who have gained respect and recognition by their writings on legal topics.
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jurist n. , Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ibrahim al-Ansari, better known as Abu Yusuf (Arabic:أبو يوسف) (d.798) was a student of legist Abu Hanifah (d.767) who helped spread the influence of the Hanafi school of Islamic law through his writings and the government , understood the recognition of good, local cultural norms as falling under the rubricRUBRIC, civil law. The title or inscription of any law or statute, because the copyists formerly drew and painted the title of laws and statutes rubro colore, in red letters. Ayl. Pand. B. 1, t. 8; Diet. do Juris. h.t.
..... Click the link for more information. of the sunna. The fifteenth-century Granadan jurisprudent ju·ris·pru·dent
adj.
Versed in jurisprudence.

n.
See jurist. Ibn al-Mawaq articulated a similar outlook and stressed, for example, that it was not the purpose of Prophetic dress codes to impinge upon the cultural integrity of non-Arab Muslims, who were at liberty to develop or maintain their own distinctive dress within the broad parameters of the sacred law. (6)

The Qur'an enjoined the Prophet Muhammad to adhere toadhere to
verb 1. follow, keep, maintain, respect, observe, be true, fulfil, obey, heed, keep to, abide by, be loyal, mind, be constant, be faithful

2.
..... Click the link for more information. people's sound customs and usages and take them as a fundamental reference in legislation: "Accept [from people] what comes naturally [for them]. Command what is customarily [good]. And turn away from the ignorant [without responding in kind]." (7) Ibn Attiyya, a renowned early Andalusian jurist and Qur'anic commentator, asserted that the verse not only upheld the sanctity of indigenous culture but granted sweeping validity to everything the human heart regards as sound and beneficial, as long as it is not clearly repudiated in the revealed law. For classical Islamic jurists These are the variations of Islamic jurists:
Muslim Islamic jurists - Ulema
Non-Muslim Islamic jurists - A non-Muslim Islamic scholar studying Islamic jurisprudence
Muslim non-Islamic jurists - A Muslim studying for example, Brazilian Law.
in general, the verse was often cited as a major proof-text for the affirmation of sound cultural usage, and it was noted that what people generally deem as proper tends to be compatible with their nature and environment, serving essential needs and valid aspirations.

The story of the "sons of Arfida"--a familiar Arabian linguistic reference to Ethiopians--provides a telling illustration of the place of culture (here, of course, Black African culture) within the Prophetic dispensation DISPENSATION. A relaxation of law for the benefit or advantage of an individual. In the United States, no power exists, except in the legislature, to dispense with law, and then it is not so much a dispensation as a change of the law. . In celebration of an annual Islamic religious festival, a group of Black African converts began to beat leather drums and dance with spears in the Prophet's mosque Prophet's Mosque

House of worship built on the site of Muhammad's house in Medina, considered one of the three holiest places of Islam. It was originally a simple brick structure surrounding an enclosed courtyard where people gathered to hear Muhammad. . Umar ibn al-Khattab--one of the chief Companions--felt compelled to interfere and stop them, but the Prophet intervened on their behalf, directing Umar to leave them alone and noting to him that they were "the sons of Arfida," that is, not his people. The Prophet invited his wife A'isha to watch the dance, took her into the crowd, and lifted her over his back, so that she could watch them clearly as she eagerly leaned forward, her cheek pressing against his. The Prophet made it a point to dispel the Ethiopians' misgivings about Umar's intrusion and encouraged them to dance well and, in one account of this authentic story, reassured them to keep up their drumming and dancing, saying: "Play your games, sons of Arfida, so the Jews and Christians know there is latitude in our religion." (8)

The Prophet's intervention to stop Umar made it clear that the Ethiopians were not to be judged by Umar's indigenous Arabian standards or made to conform to Verb 1. conform to - satisfy a condition or restriction; "Does this paper meet the requirements for the degree?"
fit, meet

coordinate - be co-ordinated; "These activities coordinate well" them. The "sons of Arfida" had their own distinctive cultural tastes and conventional usages. The fact that they had embraced Islam did not mean they were also required to commit cultural apostasy apostasy, in religion: see heresy.
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Apostasy
See also Sacrilege.

Aholah and Aholibah

symbolize Samaria’s and Jerusalem’s abandonment to idols. [O.T. or become subservient to Arab customs. The Prophet allowed Muslim Arabs agency in their social expression and extended a similar right to non-Arabs. By his affirmation of the "sons of Arfida," he established an overriding sunna and abiding legal precedent for respecting different ethnic and cultural traditions and acknowledging the emotional needs, tastes, and cultural inclinations of all who embraced his teaching.

The Prophet cultivated openness and objectivity toward others--this was also part of his lesson to Umar--and such openness enabled his Companions to acknowledge the good in other cultures even when, as was the case with the Byzantine Christians (al-Rum), they were not only hostile to the rise of Islamic power on their southern flank but constituted Islam's most formidable enemy. When it was related to Amr ibn al-As--a Companion of the Prophet and victorious commander in the Byzantine wars--that the Prophet had prophesied that al-Rum (specifically the Byzantines but understood, in this context, as a general reference to Europeans) would predominate at the end of time, Amr responded to his informer Informer
Battus

revealed theft by Mercury; turned to touchstone. [Gk. and Rom. Myth.: Walsh Classical, 47]

Cenci, Count Francesco

old libertine ravishes his daughter Beatrice. [Br. Lit. :
If, then, you have related this honestly, know that they have four
excellent qualities. They are the most forbearing of people in times
of discord. They are the quickest of people to recover from
calamity. They are the most likely of people to renew an attack
after retreat. And they are the best of people toward the poor, the
orphan, and the weak." Amr then added: "And they have a fifth
attribute which is both beautiful and excellent: They are the best
of people in checking the oppression of kings." (9)



Amr drew attention to those European cultural traits which he knew and regarded as both compatible with Islam's ethos and universally desirable as human qualities. His response demonstrates his understanding that the future prominence of Westerners would be an outgrowth of their exceptional cultural traits, which his mind immediately began to search out after hearing the Prophet's prophecy. Four came at once to his mind, and the fifth ("they are the best of people in checking the oppression of kings") occurred as an afterthought but was clearly regarded among the most important (it was viewed as "beautiful and excellent").

The Cultural Imperative in Classical Islamic Jurisprudence Classical

Islamic law Noun 1. Islamic law - the code of law derived from the Koran and from the teachings and example of Mohammed; "sharia is only applicable to Muslims"; "under Islamic law there is no separation of church and state"
sharia, sharia law, shariah, shariah law did not speak of culture per se, since it is a modern behavioral concept. Instead, the law focused on what we may call culture's most tangible and important components: custom (al-'urf) and usage (al-'ada), which all legal schools recognized as essential to the proper application of the law, although differing on definitions and their measure of authority. (10) In Islamic jurisprudence, al-'urf and al-'ada connote con·note
tr.v. con·not·ed, con·not·ing, con·notes
1. To suggest or imply in addition to literal meaning: "The term 'liberal arts' connotes a certain elevation above utilitarian concerns" those aspects of local culture which are generally recognized as good, beneficial, or merely harmless. In no school did respect for culture amount to blanket acceptance. (11) Local culture had to be appraised in terms of the transcendent norms of Islamic law, which meant the rejection of abhorrent ab·hor·rent
adj.
1. Disgusting, loathsome, or repellent.

2. Feeling repugnance or loathing.

3. Archaic Being strongly opposed. practices like the ancient Mediterranean custom of "honor killings"--now reasserting itself in the context of contemporary cultural breakdown--or, at the other extreme, the sexual promiscuity Promiscuity
See also Profligacy.

Anatol

constantly flits from one girl to another. [Aust. Drama: Schnitzler Anatol in Benét, 33]

Aphrodite

promiscuous goddess of sensual love. [Gk. Myth. prevalent in modern culture.

One of Islamic law's five universal maxims declared: "Cultural usage shall have the weight of law." (12) To reject sound custom and usage was not only counterproductive, it brought excessive difficulty and unwarranted harm to people. Another well-known principle of Islamic jurisprudence emphasized this fact and advised: "Cultural usage is second nature," by which it implied that it is as difficult for people to go against their established customs as it is for them to defy their instinctive natures. Consequently, wise application of the law required broad accommodation of local norms, which should be altered or obstructed only when absolutely necessary. Being attentive to local norms implies meeting people halfway and leads necessarily to broad cultural resemblance. In this regard, Islamic jurisprudence distinguished between subservient imitation of others (tashabbuh), which reflects a problematic sense of one's own identity and was generally regarded as forbidden or reprehensible rep·re·hen·si·ble
adj.
Deserving rebuke or censure; blameworthy. See Synonyms at blameworthy.


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[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin repreh , and the mere fact of outward resemblance (mushabaha), which was required, recommendable, or simply neutral as the case may be. (13)

Abd al-Wahhab al-Baghdadi, a famous judge and legal authority of the eleventh century, declared: "The rejection of cultural usage has no meaning at all. To follow sound custom is an obligation." Al-Sarakhsi, a noted jurisconsult JURISCONSULT. One well versed in jurisprudence; a jurist: one whose profession it is to give counsel on questions of law. of the same epoch, emphasized: "Whatever is established by sound custom is equally well established by sound legal proof," meaning that Islamic law implicitly endorses all good aspects of local culture. The famous fourteenth-century Granadan jurisconsult, al-Shatibi--unquestionably one of the most brilliant minds in Islamic legal history--cautioned that juristic ju·ris·tic also ju·ris·ti·cal
adj.
1. Of or relating to a jurist or to jurisprudence.

2. Of or relating to law or legality.


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ju·ris incompetence could impose no difficulty upon a people harsher than to require them to repudiate TO REPUDIATE. To repudiate a right is to express in a sufficient manner, a determination not to accept it, when it is offered.
2. He who repudiates a right cannot by that act transfer it to another. their sound local customs and conventional usage. By contrast, he insisted that the art of handing down legal judgments in harmony with the good aspects of local culture fulfilled the fundamental Islamic legal objective of buttressing society's general well-being. In the same spirit, a later judicial authority, al-Tusuli, asserted: "Allowing the people to follow their customs, usages, and general aspirations in life is obligatory. To hand down rulings in opposition to this is gross deviation and tyranny."

Times change, and viable cultures adapt. It was a matter of consensus among Islamic legal thinkers that the legal judgments of earlier times had to be brought under constant review to insure that they remained in keeping with the times. A standard legal aphorism aphorism (ăf`ərĭz'əm), short, pithy statement of an evident truth concerned with life or nature; distinguished from the axiom because its truth is not capable of scientific demonstration. declared: "Let no one repudiate the change of rulings with the change of times." By the same token, Islamic legal consensus renounced mechanical application of the law through unthinking reiteration of standard texts. The eminent nineteenth-century Syrian legal scholar Ibn Abidin Ibn Abidin, honoured as Allama Ibn Abidin (1198 - 1252 AH.) is a well known Hanafi Sunni Islamic scholar. Works

Radd al-Muhtar ala al-Dur al-Mukhtar
Risa'il Ibn 'Abidin [1]

warned that any jurist who held unbendingly to the standard legal decisions of his school without regard to changing times and circumstances would necessarily obliterate fundamental rights and extensive benefits, bringing about harm far exceeding any good he might possibly achieve. Ibn Abidin asserted further that such blindness constituted nothing less than oppression and gross injustice.

Al-Qarafi, a renowned thirteenth-century jurist, declared similarly:
Persons handing down legal judgments while adhering blindly to the
texts in their books without regard for the cultural realities of
their people are in gross error. They act in contradiction to
established legal consensus and are guilty of iniquity and
disobedience before God, having no excuse despite their ignorance;
for they have taken upon themselves the art of issuing legal
rulings without being worthy of that practice.... Their blind
adherence to what is written down in the legal compendia is
misguidance in the religion of Islam and utter ignorance of the
ultimate objectives behind the rulings of the earlier scholars and
great personages of the past whom they claim to be imitating.



These words resounded well in the ears of Ibn Qayyim, a great jurisconsult and scholar of the following century, who commended al-Qarafi by saying:
This is pure understanding of the law. Whoever issues legal rulings
to the people merely on the basis of what is transmitted in the
compendia despite differences in their customs, usages, times,
places, conditions, and the special circumstances of their
situations has gone astray and leads others astray. His crime
against the religion is greater than the crime of a physician
who gives people medical prescriptions without regard to the
differences of their climes, norms, the times they live in, and
their physical natures but merely in accord with what he finds
written down in some medical book about people with similar
anatomies. He is an ignorant physician, but the other is an ignorant
jurisconsult but much more detrimental. (14)



Reflecting on Islamic Cultural History

Unity in cultural diversity was the hallmark of traditional Islamic societies. Ibn Batuta Ibn Batuta (ĭ`bən bät`tä), 1304?–1378?, Muslim traveler, b. Tangier. No other medieval traveler is known to have journeyed so extensively. In 30 years (from c. , the renowned fourteenth-century Moroccan world traveler, traversed over twice as much territory as Marco Polo Marco Polo: see Polo, Marco. , his older European contemporary, who, in his celebrated expedition, found himself in an essentially alien world only a few-days' distance from his native Venice. Ibn Batuta, by contrast, hardly ever left behind the Islamic cultural zone familiar to him. Even when his travels took him as far afield as the heart of China, the Indian Ocean Indian Ocean, third largest ocean, c.28,350,000 sq mi (73,427,000 sq km), extending from S Asia to Antarctica and from E Africa to SE Australia; it is c.4,000 mi (6,400 km) wide at the equator. It constitutes about 20% of the world's total ocean area. islands, and sub-Saharan Africa, he generally felt at home. Despite their distinctive local color local color
n.
1. The interest or flavor of a locality imparted by the customs and sights peculiar to it.

2. The use of regional detail in a literary or an artistic work. , the Muslim societies he witnessed reflected traditional Islam's cultural instinct for balancing regional diversity within the overriding framework of the revealed law's transcendental unity.

On the material plane, Islamic architecture exemplifies the same spirit of unity in diversity. The Prophet's mosque was modest and rustic with neither dome nor minaret--both later regional accretions--but it provided the underlying ideas and basic purposes informing the spirit so elegantly expressed in the mosques of later Islamic civilization. In all regions, the great mosques of Islam translated functionality into beauty in a manner suitable to their physical environments and cultural contexts. They gave fullness to stone, wood, and other materials by borrowing basic motifs from local traditions and transforming them into epiphanies of light and easily recognizable precincts of sacred space sacred space,
n space—tangible or otherwise—that enables those who acknowledge and accept it to feel reverence and connection with the spiritual. . Andalusian and North African North Africa

A region of northern Africa generally considered to include the modern-day countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.


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North African adj. & n.

Adj. 1. mosques gracefully combined elements of the native Roman basilica Noun 1. Roman basilica - a Roman building used for public administration
basilica

Roman building - a building constructed by the ancient Romans with Visigothic elements like the horseshoe arch. The Ottomans adopted the lofty domed structures and basic outlay of indigenous Greek churches along with pencil-thin, obelisk-like minarets based on native Anatolian themes. In China, the mosque brilliantly incorporated ancient ChineseList of ancient Chinese is a list of noteworthy people of ancient China. Different definitions of "ancient" China exist, but most agree that it is before the Tang dynasty. Related lists
A general listing of existing lists related to this topic.
..... Click the link for more information. symbolism of the sacred, while the mosques of East and West AfricaWest Africa

A region of western Africa between the Sahara Desert and the Gulf of Guinea. It was largely controlled by colonial powers until the 20th century.


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West African adj. & n.
..... Click the link for more information. captured a distinctly African spirit in local materials. In a similar vein, the mosquelike Taj Mahal Taj Mahal (täzh məhäl`, täj məhŭl`), mausoleum, Agra, Uttar Pradesh state, N India, on the Yamuna River. It is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and the finest example of the late style of Indian flawlessly blended Indian and Persianate elements to become one of the most successful cultural statements of Muslim India, so effectively expressing the sub-continental ethos that it became the symbol of India around the world.

The ancient Islamic culture of ethnic Chinese Muslims (the Hui) is especially instructive for us in America today, since it flourished within the confines of a consummately brilliant non-Muslim civilization. Chinese Muslim culture Muslim culture is a term primarily used in secular academia to describe all cultural practices common to historically Islamic peoples. As the religion of Islam originated in 6th century Arabia, the early forms of Muslim culture were predominantly Arab. empowered the Hui psychologically, allowing them to maintain a unified sense of self, take interpretative control of their faith, and work out an authentic Islamic self-definition, which was at once authentically Muslim but open to the Chinese ethos around them. Chinese Muslim culture did not develop by chance but enlisted some of the most creative of Chinese Muslim minds. It took the rich traditions of Ancient China fully into account, defining Muslims and articulating Islam in a manner intelligible and respectable to those around them.

Chinese civilization cultivated calligraphy calligraphy (kəlĭg`rəfē) [Gr.,=beautiful writing], skilled penmanship practiced as a fine art. See also inscription; paleography. European Calligraphy


In Europe two sorts of handwriting came into being very early. , and Chinese Muslims took care to preserve that legacy, while developing their own brush-painted and reed-written Arabic calligraphic cal·lig·ra·phy
n.
1.
a. The art of fine handwriting.

b. Works in fine handwriting considered as a group.

2. Handwriting. styles, often using Chinese on the same inscription to translate the Arabic. Upon entering a Chinese mosque, for example, one may encounter a prominent inscription with the ideograms kai tian Tian
or T'ien
(Chinese; “Heaven”)

In indigenous Chinese religion, the supreme power reigning over humans and lesser gods. The term refers to a deity, to impersonal nature, or to both. gu jiao jiao also chiao
n. pl. jiao also chiao
See Table at currency.


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[Chinese ji (the primordial religion from the world's beginning). Instead of calling their faith yisilan jiao (the religion of Islam)--foreign sounding and essentially meaningless construction to native Chinese ears--Chinese Muslim culture chose to name Islam in a manner both intelligible and intriguing for other Chinese: qing zhen jiao (the religion of the pure and real). The words implied that Islam was not alien to their people's legacy but belonged to the very ethos of Ancient China, representing the best of its religious and philosophical traditions. Qing (pure) implied that Islam was lucid and pure, predicated upon outward purity and inward purification, self-discipline, and the removal of selfish delusion and desire. Zhen (real) asserted that Islamic teachings embodied eternal, unchanging truths--the timeless universals that had preoccupied the Chinese tradition for millennia--and that Muslims cultivated the natural self and sought to live by such truths in a manner that was genuine and unfeigned.

Unlike China, Muslims along the East African Adj. 1. East African - of or relating to or located in East Africa coast did not encounter an ancient civilization with an established literary tradition but tribes and peoples wedded to the beauty of their native Bantu tongue, which East African Muslims adopted as their own and worked into a powerful cultural vehicle for Islam, creating the Swahili language Swahili language, member of the Bantu group of African languages (see African languages and Bantu languages). Swahili is spoken by 30 million people, chiefly in Tanzania, Kenya, Congo (Kinshasa), Burundi, and Uganda, and serves as a lingua franca for additional (al-sawahilliyya: the language of the coastal areas). Over the centuries, Swahili-speaking Muslims produced a voluminous and stunning literature, ranking as one of the world's richest, which to this day has not yet been fully catalogued.

Like others, Swahili-speaking Muslims took pride in classical Arabic Classical Arabic, also known as Koranic (or Qur'anic) Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in the Qur'an as well as in numerous literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times (7th to 9th centuries). , cultivated it fully, and gave it deserved prominence, especially in the teaching and recitation rec·i·ta·tion
n.
1.
a. The act of reciting memorized materials in a public performance.

b. The material so presented.

2.
a. Oral delivery of prepared lessons by a pupil.

b. of the Qur'an. But they carefully employed Swahili for all religious knowledge and other cultural purposes, creating a Swahili intelligentsia throughout the coastal rim, which caught Ibn Batuta's attention during his visit. To be a Muslim in East Africa meant to master the Swahili tongue, take on Swahili Muslim culture, and enter into Swahilidom (Uswahili). Facility in Swahili--especially at the literary level--became central to full social integration and the quintessence quin·tes·sence
n.
1. The pure, highly concentrated essence of a thing.

2. The purest or most typical instance: the quintessence of evil.

3. of being civilized. Muslims from abroad who had not mastered Swahili--like Ibn Batuta--were welcomed as honored guests but were not wenye ji (among those who belong), although they could quickly earn that distinction upon mastery of the Bantu tongue. Swahilidom integrated certain modes of behavior into local Muslim identity, especially personal dignity expressed in politeness and good comportment com·port·ment
n.
Bearing; deportment.

Noun 1. comportment - dignified manner or conduct
mien, bearing, presence

personal manner, manner - a way of acting or behaving . Swahilidom enshrined qualities like patience, kindness, and understanding. Impatience, quickness to anger, and greed--qualities that the Swahili Muslims readily identified in Portuguese sailors upon their first sixteenth century colonialist encroachments--were identified as juvenile, uncivilized, and un-Swahili, tolerable in children but odious in adults.

Intelligent use of indigenous language Noun 1. indigenous language - a language that originated in a specified place and was not brought to that place from elsewhere
language, linguistic communication - a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols; "he taught foreign has been an aspect of Muslim culture wherever it flourished. One finds the pattern repeatedly in West Africa, where Islamic culture, in its earliest stages, formed around the resilient cultural institution and agrarian-based corporate entity of the Mandingo (Mande-Dyula) trading village. Like the Muslims of the Swahili Rim, those of West Africa cultivated classical Arabic but drew confidently upon the rich treasury of regional tongues like Mandingo, Fulbe, and Hausa, transforming them into powerful socio-cultural mediums.

Hausa-speaking Muslims cultivated their language at all levels from folklore and popular song to elegant poetry and refined academic language. Our indigenous tales of Br'er Rabbit Br'er Rabbit (also spelled Bre'r Rabbit or Brer Rabbit) is a central figure in the Uncle Remus stories derived from African American folktales of the Southern United States. and Br'er Fox, after having miraculously survived the Middle Passage of the trans-Atlantic slave trade slave trade

Capturing, selling, and buying of slaves. Slavery has existed throughout the world from ancient times, and trading in slaves has been equally universal. Slaves were taken from the Slavs and Iranians from antiquity to the 19th century, from the sub-Saharan , hearken hear·ken also har·ken
v. hear·kened, hear·ken·ing, hear·kens

v.intr.
To listen attentively; give heed.

v.tr. Archaic
To listen to; hear. back to the ubiquitous animal stories of West African West Africa

A region of western Africa between the Sahara Desert and the Gulf of Guinea. It was largely controlled by colonial powers until the 20th century.


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West African adj. & n. folklore. These folk tales were ancient, sometimes dating back to the Neolithic period Neolithic period or New Stone Age. The term neolithic is used, especially in archaeology and anthropology, to designate a stage of cultural evolution or technological development characterized by the use of stone tools, the existence of , thousands of years before Christ before Christ
adv. Abbr. B.C. or b.c.
In a specified year of the pre-Christian era.

Adv. 1. . Consequently, they contained creation myths and cosmologies imbued with animistic an·i·mism
n.
1. The belief in the existence of individual spirits that inhabit natural objects and phenomena.

2. The belief in the existence of spiritual beings that are separable or separate from bodies.

3. values and beliefs. Instead of rejecting the tales, Muslims retold re·told
v.
Past tense and past participle of retell. them by adopting Auta (the baby of the family), a primary character who, like the Lion King, is typically the object of envy but ultimately wins out over his enemies by virtue of basic goodness Basic goodness is the belief that human beings are essentially good, and that the experience of this is available to all. This idea is at the core of the Shambhala Vision of Chögyam Trungpa, and experiencing it is the main topic of Level One of the Shambhala Training curriculum , blessing, and good fortune. They transformed the baby of the family into an Islamic cultural hero, who constituted a role model, represented Islamic norms, and helped pioneer the construction of an integrated vision of an indigenous West African Muslim culture. Popular stories and simple didactic poems like The Song of Old Red Iron Legs vividly portrayed the theological realities of the Resurrection, Judgment, the Fire, and the Garden. Hausa-speakers utilized other poetic genres to sing the praise of the Prophet Muhammad. A lucid Hausa idiom was used for special legal texts, which were studied in addition to standard Arabic compendia com·pen·di·a
n.
A plural of compendium. and contained responses to fundamentally West African cultural concerns not treated in Arabic, while a more highly refined Hausa was developed to articulate the refined concepts of Islamic theology and theosophical the·os·o·phy
n. pl. the·os·o·phies
1. Religious philosophy or speculation about the nature of the soul based on mystical insight into the nature of God.

2. mysticism.

Envisioning a Viable Muslim American Culture

As along Africa's Swahili Rim and elsewhere in the traditional Muslim world, Islam in America must become wenye ji, something belonging here. It must be indigenous--not in the sense of losing identity through total assimilation or of being the exclusive property of the native-born--but in the word's original sense, namely, being natural, envisioned, and born from within. Regardless of birthplace, Muslim Americans become indigenous once they truly belong. Islam in America becomes indigenous by fashioning an integrated cultural identity that is comfortable with itself and functions naturally in the world around it.

Building a successful indigenous Muslim culture cannot be left to occur haphazardly, unconsciously, or without direction. The process requires deep knowledge of Islam, history, the humanities, and social sciences and must be based on cognizance The power, authority, and ability of a judge to determine a particular legal matter. A judge's decision to take note of or deal with a cause.

That which is cognizable to a judge is within the scope of his or her jurisdiction. of how viable cultural traditions are formed. It must enlist the most gifted and resourceful men and women in our community and liberate our Islamic cultural imagination. Constructing a sound Muslim American culture requires taking into account what is already established, especially the community's successful initiatives. Promising directions must be identified and mistakes rectified. Managing the mosque sub-culture is the biggest challenge, since it has already become second nature for a vocal minority and difficult to reorient Re`o´ri`ent

a. 1. Rising again.
The life reorient out of dust.
- Tennyson.

Verb 1. , despite the fact that it alienates a substantial part of the community.

We must be producers of culture, not passive consumers of it. A successful Muslim American culture must provide psychological space for all constituents of our highly heterogeneous community, taking on a cosmopolitan cast from the outset like a nationwide peacock's tail reflecting our rich internal diversity. One size does not fit all. Culturally speaking, what is right for the suburbs may not be right for the inner city. What suits African-American or Asian-American identity may not always suit others. But to embrace all and foster a true sense of continuity and community among us, our culture must address Islam's transcendent and universal values In philosophy, universal values is an attempt to establish a finite set of concepts that are recognized by all human beings as morally good.

The discussion of universal values is quite unsettled (often controversial), and therefore, can start from many different places: , while constructing a broad national matrix that fits all like a master key, despite ethnic, class, and social background. This overarching cultural template must allot al·lot
tr.v. al·lot·ted, al·lot·ting, al·lots
1. To parcel out; distribute or apportion: allotting land to homesteaders; allot blame.

2. generous sub-group space for each individual entity to foster its own self-image and unique cultural expression. It must facilitate dynamic internal diversity, while promoting mutual understanding among groups, cross-cultural communication Cross-cultural communication (also frequently referred to as intercultural communication) is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds endeavour to communicate. , and interfaith cooperation with the larger American society. In drawing upon the fertile resources of the American cultural legacy, we must pay special heed to the rich and often neglected heritage of Native Americans and Hispanics as well as Anglo- and African-Americans.

A successful Muslim American culture would produce mosques which--like those of the traditional Islamic world--express fully the universal idea of the mosque in consonance con·so·nance
n.
1. Agreement; harmony; accord.

2.
a. Close correspondence of sounds.

b. The repetition of consonants or of a consonant pattern, especially at the ends of words, as in blank with Islamic transcendental norms while creating American sacred space in harmony with an indigenous ethos and normative aesthetic sense. We should establish special clinics and hospitals in the best tradition of the medical endowments of Islamic civilization and other institutions that meet our communal needs and reach out to American society through beneficial social and civic services. Counseling is central to the Islamic tradition, and we should become active participants in the search for solutions to substance abuse, psychological disorder Noun 1. psychological disorder - (psychiatry) a psychological disorder of thought or emotion; a more neutral term than mental illness
folie, mental disorder, mental disturbance, disturbance , domestic violence, and similar endemic problems in modern society. We must develop a sophisticated culture of direct political involvement, especially at the grass roots grass roots
pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
1. People or society at a local level rather than at the center of major political activity. Often used with the.

2. The groundwork or source of something. level and working upward. Our growing educational institutions should foster sound cultural expression, while being designed to meet all our educational needs. We must progress beyond our often myopic my·o·pi·a
n.
1. A visual defect in which distant objects appear blurred because their images are focused in front of the retina rather than on it; nearsightedness. Also called short sight.

2. focus on professional careers--generally scientific and medical--to assure the production of authentic Islamic scholars and qualified religious leaders.

The Islamic legal tradition must not be seen as a program of detailed prohibitions and inhibitions but made relevant to the day-to-day imperatives of our lives with an eye to fostering positive identity and dynamic integration into American society. We cannot remain true to the sacred law, if we are unable to see the forest for the trees Forest for the Trees was the brainchild of Carl Stephenson, an eclectic producer known for his work with Beck. Difficult to classify, Forest for the Trees is probably best described as experimental psychedelic trip-hop. . While cultivating sophisticated knowledge of the Arabic tongue, we--like other non-Arab Muslim cultures before us--must embrace our indigenous tongue, the English language English language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. , and make it the primary vehicle of our culture. We must continue to develop humor and various literary and musical forms but also cultivate film--especially historical fiction--theater, and art, including interior decorating and fashion design. Muslim Americans have already made a name for themselves in sports and should continue to provide excellent role models for ourselves and others. The full breadth of our religion, history, and intellectual tradition must be made accessible in skilled English translations with commentaries and carefully researched secondary studies. Muslims already contribute to American academic life, which must continue in all fields but especially Islamic studies
''This is a sub-article to religious education, academic discipline, and Islam.
Islamic studies is an ambiguous term; in a non-Muslim context, it generally refers to the historical study of Muslim religion and , anthropology, sociology, psychology, the humanities, and other disciplines that provide the wherewithal for the creative development of indigenous culture.

Cultural development must be intentional and proactive, focused on clear and valid goals with a concrete vision of how to attain them. We are inundated in·un·date
tr.v. in·un·dat·ed, in·un·dat·ing, in·un·dates
1. To cover with water, especially floodwaters.

2. by language, symbols, ideas, and technology, none of which is neutral. We must define where we stand with regard to them and adopt appropriate intellectual and behavioral responses, if we are to be champions and not victims. Beyond the building of more mosques and institutions, our primary object must be the constitution of a unified self, congenial and self-assured, culturally and Islamically literate, capable not just of being a productive citizen and contributor to society but a leader of the cultural vanguard in America. Culture is integrated behavior, and a viable Muslim American culture must produce fully integrated patterns of thought and behavior that permit a unified cultural persona, able to negotiate modernity and tradition freely and move effectively among the complexities of today's society. A successful culture "goes to bat" for its participants by imparting social skills and a powerful capacity to respond to new situations. (A person reared in a culture valuing generosity, for example, knows how to receive guests even if they arrive at the middle of the night). By enabling us to advance beyond day-to-day problems and issues of identity, a successful Muslim American culture would generate generous psychological space, freeing us to focus on the most important concerns of existence and civilized development.

Culture enables us to be comfortable with who, where, and what we are. Muslim Americans who are comfortable with being themselves have taken the first major step in becoming role models for their children and others and radiate ra·di·ate
v.
1. To spread out in all directions from a center.

2. To emit or be emitted as radiation.


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ra a sense of direction and credibility. Identities that are rooted in deep cultural contradiction are easily thrown into states of confusion and doubt. True religiosity and deep spirituality require inner consistency and stability, which are only possible within a sound cultural nexus. When adults are confused about themselves and live contradictory lifestyles--one persona at work, another at home--they can have little of value to impart to their children, who are likely to be even more confused about who they are, a perilous state of affairs in today's youth culture.

Beyond identity formation, a successful Muslim American culture would serve as the basis of social development and communal self-determination. But this requires not only taking interpretive control of our religion, ourselves, and our community but developing a healthy social-psychology that provides authority without authoritarianism, continuity and tradition without blind conformity. A successful Muslim American social-psychology must be at the center of our culture just as it is at the core of the most successful social classes around us. Our social-psychology must allow for the full and dynamic participation of both genders on an equal footing. It must be genuinely transparent, identify problems honestly, facilitate discourse, and seek real solutions on the basis of mutual respect, cooperation, and collective thinking, healthily rooted in the past with an intelligent vision of the future.

Conclusion

Many in our community today look askance a·skance also a·skant
adv.
1. With disapproval, suspicion, or distrust: "The area is so dirty that merchants report the tourists are looking askance" Chris Black. at culture but with only the vaguest notions of what culture actually is and the fundamental role it plays in human existence. For them, "culture" is a loaded word, something dangerous, inherently problematic, and "un-Islamic" (a deeply ingratiated Islamist neologism A new word or new meaning for an existing word. The high-tech field routinely creates neologisms, especially new meanings. Years ago, there was no doubt that a "mouse" referred only to a furry, little rodent. ). Culture, for them, is a toxic pollutant that must necessarily be purged, since Islam and culture are mutually exclusive Adj. 1. mutually exclusive - unable to be both true at the same time
contradictory

incompatible - not compatible; "incompatible personalities"; "incompatible colors" in their minds. Some foolishly or ahis-torically regard Islamic culture--legacies like the Taj Mahal, for example--to have been chief causes of Muslim decline and fall in history. Their mindset mind·set or mind-set
n.
1. A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations.

2. An inclination or a habit. reflects the general malaise of the modern period and the breakdown of traditional Muslim cultures, leaving chronic existential alienation and cultural dysfunction in its wake. Such cultural phobia phobia: see neurosis.
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phobia

Extreme and irrational fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation. A phobia is classified as a type of anxiety disorder (a neurosis), since anxiety is its chief symptom. is untenable in the light of classical Islamic jurisprudence and is antithetical an·ti·thet·i·cal also an·ti·thet·ic
adj.
1. Of, relating to, or marked by antithesis.

2. Being in diametrical opposition. See Synonyms at opposite. to more than a millennium of successful indigenous Islamic cultures and global civilization.

We must insist upon the traditional wisdom of Islamic law and deconstruct de·con·struct
tr.v. de·con·struct·ed, de·con·struct·ing, de·con·structs
1. To break down into components; dismantle.

2. the counter-cultural paranoia among us. But, if the counter-cultural identity religion unconsciously developing around many of our mosques, schools, homes, and college campuses is not brought under control and redirected, it will imperil im·per·il
tr.v. im·per·iled or im·per·illed, im·per·il·ing or im·per·il·ling, im·per·ils
To put into peril. See Synonyms at endanger. the growth of Islam in America. As for those immersed in this counter-cultural paradigm, explication ex·pli·cate
tr.v. ex·pli·cat·ed, ex·pli·cat·ing, ex·pli·cates
To make clear the meaning of; explain. See Synonyms at explain.


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[Latin explic of Islam's culturally friendly jurisprudence and talk of creating a Muslim American culture often awakens deep anxieties, subconscious fears, and implacable misgivings. Assurance that Islamic law sets down parameters for indigenous cultural growth rarely allays their apprehensions, because they are rooted not in rationality but a substratum sub·stra·tum
n. pl. sub·stra·ta or sub·stra·tums
1.
a. An underlying layer.

b. A layer of earth beneath the surface soil; subsoil.

2. A foundation or groundwork.

3. of the subconscious that has been trained--often since childhood--in the defective ideas and false universals of an alien ideology. Creating a sound Muslim American identity is a difficult and hazardous undertaking and requires personal integrity as well as knowledge and understanding. But there can be no safe retreat from the task, and the dangers of failure are devastatingly great. Failure to foster a successful Muslim American culture would not only threaten our continued existence but constitute an inexcusable betrayal of the divine trust and unique historical opportunity we have to make Islam work in America. Our sacred law requires us to undertake the task. The work before us is a matter of true ijtihad, moral commitment, and dynamic creativity. In the spirit of the great jurists The following lists are of prominent jurists, including judges, listed in alphabetical order by jurisdiction. See also list of lawyers. Antiquity

Hammurabi
Solomon
Manu
Chanakya

of the past, any failure on our part would constitute "iniquity INIQUITY. Vice; contrary to equity; injustice.
2. Where, in a doubtful matter, the judge is required to pronounce, it is his duty to decide in such a manner as is the least against equity. and disobedience before God," except that, in our case, the "gross error" we commit pertains not to an isolated legal ruling and a few individual cases but the ruin of an entire community. A famous Mandingo adage states: "The world is old, but the future springs from the past." We must engender a Muslim American culture that gives us the freedom to be ourselves. And to be ourselves, we must have a proper sense of continuity with what has been, is, and is likely to be. Only in the context of a viable cultural presence can we hope for a bright Muslim American future to spring forward from the richness of our past.

Notes

1. "Islamist" should not be confused with "Islamic" or "extremist." I use it to refer to various highly politicized twentieth-century revivalist movements with essentialist interpretations of Islam, generally advocating particular state and party ends as Islam's chief or virtually unique focus. Islamists tend toward literalism lit·er·al·ism
n.
1. Adherence to the explicit sense of a given text or doctrine.

2. Literal portrayal; realism.


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lit but selectively retrieve the texts they follow, often contravening well-established interpretations within Islam's scholarly tradition. As culturally predatory as they often are regarding traditional Islamic and modern humanistic culture, their general attitude toward culture entails the grave oversight of looking upon modern technology as "culturally" neutral without addressing its sociological underpinnings, especially the implications of the skills, assumptions, and expectations required to produce it.

2. The development of "sub-cultures" within the broad cultural matrix is natural, and mainstream cultures often produce viable sub-cultures. For some people and certain groups, a healthy cultural identity is only possible through belonging to an appropriate sub-culture or affiliating with a group of sub-cultures within the mainstream. In light of the great heterogeneity of our community, the overall picture of a functional Muslim American culture requires sound coordination between an overarching cultural matrix and a variety of integral sub-cultural modes.

3. "Counter-culture" is likely to bring to mind the 1960s' American counter-culture. The "counterculture coun·ter·cul·ture
n.
A culture, especially of young people, with values or lifestyles in opposition to those of the established culture.


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coun " I have in mind, however, is more like that of the medieval Iberian hidalgo Hidalgo, state, Mexico
Hidalgo (ēthäl`gō), state (1990 pop. 1,888,366), 8,058 sq mi (20,870 sq km), central Mexico. Pachuca de Soto is the capital. (literally, "son of something")--lower Castilian nobility--which played an important role not only in the destruction of the Jews and Muslims of Iberia and Native Americans of the New World but in the development of Western racism and nationalism. Hidalgo identity was rooted in the negation of the Other, especially the Jewish and Muslim Other in Muslim Spain and Portugal. The hidalgo class defined itself not so much in terms of what it was as what it was not. A hidalgo was intrinsically noble because he was neither Jew nor Muslim and shunned occupations and crafts associated with them. America's 1960s' counter-culture was positive in that it asserted the humanity of the Other, for example, Blacks, Native Americans, and the Vietnamese. Hidalgo "counter-culture," on the other hand, was predicated upon the denial of the Other s humanity and, consequently, was culturally predatory and potentially genocidal.

4. There is no universal agreement among anthropologists on the meaning of culture. Given "culture's" genesis in the context of Western colonialism, the term has had a checkered history and often dubious association with issues of power and disparity, cultural domination, race and racism. Traditionally, the anthropological enterprise went hand in hand with colonial expansion at the expense of indigenous peoples The term indigenous peoples has no universal, standard or fixed definition, but can be used about any ethnic group who inhabit the geographic region with which they have the earliest historical connection. , which was often facilitated by the study of their cultures, and this became a fundamental concern of the field during the 1960s and 1970s. Today, mainstream anthropologists are cautious about invoking culture in issues related to power, disparity, and similar matters.

5. Culture per se can be anything and has no specific content. A culture should be judged on its own terms and is successful in terms of what it wants to achieve. If, for example, our goal as Muslims in America is to function effectively in American society with a unified sense of identity, then the success of our culture will be measured in terms of how well we accomplish such purposes.

6. I am indebted to my former colleagues and teachers Shaykh Abdallah ben Bayyah and Dr. Khaldun al-Ahdab; most classical references are taken from my friend, colleague, and former student, Dr. Adil Abd al-Qadir Abd al-Qadir: see Abd al-Kader. Quta, Al-Urf, 2 vols., (Mecca: al-Maktaba al-Makkiyya, 1997). Most subsequent citations may be located in their primary sources by consulting the following references in Quta: 1:58-77, 129, 138-141, 180-181, 208-211. I would also like to express my intellectual indebtedness and deep gratitude for the best ideas and expressions in this paper to Drs. Sherman Jackson Sherman Jackson, professor, is an American expert in Arabic/Islamic/Oriental studies.

A native of Philadelphia, he received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Oriental Studies –Islamic Near East in 1991. , Timothy Winter Timothy J. Winter (also known as Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad) is a prominent British Islamic thinker and scholar, and a lecturer in Islamic studies in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. He is a convert to Islam. , Ingrid Mattson, Sulayman Nyang, and others.

7. Qur'an, 7:199. Muhammad Asad translates the verse: "Make due allowance for man's nature, and enjoin To direct, require, command, or admonish.

Enjoin connotes a degree of urgency, as when a court enjoins one party in a lawsuit by ordering the person to do, or refrain from doing, something to prevent permanent loss to the other party or parties. the doing of what is right; and leave alone all those who choose to remain ignorant."

8. The story is related in Bukhari and Muslim, Islam's most authoritative sources of the Prophetic Tradition; the concluding references is taken from Musnad al-Humaydi.

9. Transmitted in Muslim.

10. The Hanafi and Maliki schools gave culture greatest reign, and most of the citations in this paper are taken from jurists of those schools. In the Maliki school, the authority of cultural norms may be invoked to specify or restrict the application of contrary, general legal precepts on grounds of judicial preference (istihsan). In Eastern Islamic lands during the classical period, a man's going about in public with an uncovered head indicated lack of probity PROBITY. Justice, honesty. A man of probity is one who loves justice and honesty, and who dislikes the contrary. Wolff, Dr. de la Nat. Sec. 772. , and his legal testimony was generally rejected in court. The cultural norm in the Muslim West (Andalusia), however, was that men customarily went about in public bare-headed. In view of that custom, Maliki law in the Iberian Peninsula did not regard uncovering the head in public as impinging on one's integrity.

11. Blind acceptance of cultural norms is not only contrary to Islamic jurisprudence but averse to the cultural creation we must engage in. Both in Islamic law and modern anthropology, the acceptance of new cultural modes cannot be done without a critical analysis of them based on how we understand culture and the goals we intend to achieve through it.

12. The five maxims (al-qawayid al-kulliyyat al-khams) were matters of consensus among all schools and are listed as follows:

* "Matters shall be judged by their objectives" (al-umur bi-maqasidiha).

* "Certainty shall not be removed by doubt" (al-yaqin la yazul bi-l-shakk), often invoked with special reference to Islamic principles like things are deemed permissible until definitively shown otherwise, that innocence is assumed until proof of guilt, and so forth.

* "Hardship shall bring alleviation" (al-mashaqqa tajlib al-taysir), meaning that the law shall not validly require anything which people are incapable of fulfilling without undue difficulty.

* "Harm shall be removed" (al-darar yuzal), which invalidates rulings that lead to harm, even if technically valid.

* "Cultural usage shall have the weight of law" (al ada muhakkama). The maxim is also read as al-ada muhkma, "cultural usage is definitive," implying that customary usage has authority similar to fundamental textual precepts of the law.

13. Injunctions regarding being different from Jews and Christians fall under this category and had a particular historical context. Reference has already been made to the view of Ibn al-Mawaq. As presumptive pre·sump·tive
adj.
1. Providing a reasonable basis for belief or acceptance.

2. Founded on probability or presumption.


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pre·sump proof that it is futile for Muslims to attempt rapprochement with Jews and Christians, one may often hear Muslims today citing the verse: "The Jews and Christians will never be content with you, [O Prophet,] until you follow their religious community" (Qur'an 2:120). The verse was addressed to the Prophet personally in the formative period of the revelation and references the feelings of the Arabian Jewish and Christian communities toward him and their insistence that he follow them and not establish a new universal dispensation. Generalizing about the verse to exclude all positive relations between the Abrahamic faiths in all possible contexts is mistaken and also belies the harmonious relations that often existed in Islamic civilization between the three faith communities.

14. Both quotations are from Adil Quta, Al-Urf, 1:64-65.

This article originally appeared as a Nawawi Foundation paper, posted August 1st, 2004. See the following: http://www.nawawi.org/courses/index_reading_room.html

COPYRIGHT 2006 Association for Religion and Intellectual Life
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
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