The Seperation of Church and Steak
The Muslim Diaspora in the West is finding it increasingly hard to balance the conflicting demands imposed by their religion and the Western ideology in a post 9/11 world. There is much at stake here. On an individual level it is the unfettered expression of one’s Muslim identity. On a collective level, it is the choice of political and religious trajectory the Ummah is faced to choose.
On an personal level, Muslims in the West faced with this issue find themselves increasingly embroiled in proxy wars in the shape of dinner-table skirmishes. Are Islamic schools better for our kids? Is Hijab mandatory or optional? Should there be dance and music in our parties? Is it all right to have a Christmas tree in your house? What is wrong with giving a nice little card to your wife on Valentine’s Day? Should my next house be Sharia financed? Should my steak be Zabihah? Is it alright to sent kids to Church schools? On the surface, these arguments are a petty waste of time. On a deeper level, they struggle to answer a fundamental question haunting Muslims in the West.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the Islamic injunctions for at least some of these issues are clear-cut. However, the problem is not the lack of knowledge about different injunctions. Gone are the days when you had to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles on a mule’s back to meet a teacher in remote accesses of foreign lands. The problem then is the willingness to learn and acceptance of the basics – or lack thereof. For some Muslims who are very thankful to be away from their dreary homeland lives, Islam very frankly, is becoming a liability that is not worth risking their jobs and lifestyles. Therefore, through denial, dissent, or doubt they are looking for alternatives and posing this problem in this way has ceased to be of any practical value. For most of us, the main question is this: do I leave my religion back home, as I go out to work? Is my religion a matter of personal choice? For obvious practical reasons a lot of moderate Muslims, find this paradigm shift quite appealing. What is wrong with doing what the Romans do while in Rome they ask? Is it not enough to be a good human being? God’s mercy would take care of the rest. At least we are not hurting anybody like the terrorists. Without going into its merits or demerits, this Muslim variant of Humanism is clearly another idea borrowed from the West. It stands on the pillars of acceptance of Humanistic ideals as well as revulsion to a carefully crafted caricature of Mula who is a corpulent, turbaned, belching, and bearded creature with a sword in his hand and a queue of concubines following him. However, its deeper implications are far reaching for in it is the implicit notion that being a good Muslim and being a good human being are two different things. A “good human being” is a welcome addition to the Western work force while a “good Muslim” is a gadfly to other fellow Muslims and downright dangerous to the Western ideals. In a post 9/11 either-you-are-with-us-or-against-us world, solving this predicament has become increasingly expedient.
The West went through the throes of this dilemma a few centuries back and out of it were born the twins of democracy and pluralism. It did not come easy though. It took two bloody revolutions and countless lives to settle the issue and no wonder the West jealously protects its Lockean ideology that is still warm with the blood of its ancestors. For Muslims this issue is still very much unresolved. The debate rages on while Muslims are torn between the ideas of Khilafat, kingdoms, military rules, dictatorships, and democracy willingly or by fiat. For the intelligentsia it is a matter of life and death, for the rulers this genie has to be kept hermetically sealed. The masses who are entangled in a struggle of survival by and large consider this discussion an intellectual luxury and a desolate outpost. For an outside observer it paints a picture of a psychotic Muslim society with multiple personalities. Its deeper implications are even more ominous. There is already an orchestrated chorus of voices in the West that staunchly believes that Islam is not compatible with Democracy (read: rationalism and tolerance). By this, I mean mainstream Islam and not radical Islam that is uniformly despised. More and more Muslims are starting to believe that too.
The crux of the argument is this: does everything in life fall under the canopy of religion (Islam in our case) or do we compartmentalize our lives between rationalism as our guide in daily lives and revelation our teacher on Fridays only. A few centuries ago, the West grappled with the same issue against the backdrop of the French and American revolutions. The West made up its mind and since then has moved on. From the Western perspective, Muslims need to go through the same evolution if they are serious about establishing tolerance, democracy, and pluralism in their societies. From an Islamic perspective, the whole argument is spurious and not even congruent with Islamic culture. Who is right? Only time will tell.
Note: This article was also published on the PakistanLink.com website with a different name.
Everything in life does fall under the canopy of Islam and Allah demands as much. The differenciation between a good human being and a good muslim is not justified though. We can still do all the things mentioned as being Islamic and still be a good human being . West, although frowns over some of these, has got no objection to practicing Islam at an individual level. It is when we talk about establishing an Islamic system that all the wrath falls upon us. We should understand that we have to establish that system in most of the so called Islamic countries first. There is basically no Khilafat and no Islamic country in the world at this moment in history. What Allah wants from us is again more than just practicing Islam at individual level. Islam demands establishing the sovereignty of Allah but we are far from it and with little hope of doing so in the near future. We should wait for the eventuality of ‘being replaced by other nations who can establish the sovereignty of Allah’ as announced in Quran.
Individual practices are nothiing more than dinner table skirmishes. We are facing much more serious alegation at the moment which is going to haunt us on the day of judgement. We prefer ‘Dunya’ over ‘Deen’. I dont miind my wife’s hijab or going to the mosque occasionally as a minor discomfort compared to the huge material benefit which comes with living in the west.
This article is not a criticism on any particular school of thought. It tries hard to avoid taking sides. It just tries to answer the basic question: Why we behave the way we do when it comes to our personal and religious identity in the Western world. It does not try to break any new ground but reinforces what we already know and believe.
“Who is right? Only time will tell.”
I think we might already know the answer to that question.
However, as someone said:
“all my life I knew what was the right thing to do. But I could’nt do it.
Why?
It was too damn difficult.”
I feel that in the West, ideals of honesty, hard work, and not harming others are better than what we currently practice in the Land of the Pure. I feel more comfortable (and safe, even!) going to the mosque here than in Karachi.
We cannot keep referring to the ‘glorious past’ of Islam and sigh wistfully. We need to move forward, as perhaps Zulfiqar was suggesting. The acts that are committed in the name of religion are truly awful, sometimes.
AOA
Dear Zulfiqar
Its been a while but I want to put in my two cents. To me it feels like that what you are suggesting that life in west is somehow incompatible with islamic teaching, and I disagree with that notion. Isalm is truly a universal religion.
A close study of Quran and Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) life, and it will become apparent that Tauheed is islam. Worshipping one an true God, i.e Allah, and there are plenty of Hadiths to support that believing in one God is essence of relegion. In todays world, we cannot recreate the society of 6th century Arab.
I think that a lot of confusion stems from the sayings of Prophet that were more appropriate for their society and culture, and just because he did certain things in a certain way dosent make it a religious decree ( otherwise we all should be riding and eating camels and drinking camels milk, and drink camels urine in certain illnesses), a rational approach towards reiligion is necessary, as there is Hadith about a companion who had a date(khajoor) farm and Prophet once ate it asked how he grows them , he explained it to the Prophet, and in reply Prophet said why dont you do the other way, the companion listened and followed Prophets advice and next year did as he was advised, but the crop was not very good and he came to prophet and said I did it the way you advised and Prophet of islam said that I am your teacher in religious matters and follow me there, but in your daily business that you know better, do it your way.
Sahih Bukhari – Volume 9, Book 93, Number 470:
Narrated Mu’adh bin Jabal:
The Prophet said, “O Mu’adh! Do you know what Allah’s Right upon His slaves is?” I said, “Allah and His Apostle know best.” The Prophet said, “To worship Him (Allah) Alone and to join none in worship with Him (Allah). Do you know what their right upon Him is?” I replied, “Allah and His Apostle know best.” The Prophet said, “Not to punish them (if they do so).”