Islam, not Culture?
📺 The BBC have recently aired a documentary called ‘Being British Bengali’ which I found interesting and recommend. Though only 30 minutes in length, it touched on some important topics regarding the social and economic development of the British Bengali community. This is my ‘two cents’ on the topic and how it all relates to being a British Muslim.
👴🏾 Today we are facing an identity crisis as young Muslims who cannot entirely relate to our parent’s and grandparent’s brand of religious conviction and prior social struggles, and yet can feel alienated by British culture as well. Modernity has baffled older generations as they refuse to navigate and adapt anymore and feel that subsequent generations have lost their sense of pride and love for the homeland.
🇧🇩🇬🇧 As British Bengalis have access to both cultures, an outsider may assume this is an advantage for one living in England, and it should be. But due to economic struggles, intolerance, and racial challenges, many of our youth have put their Bengali heritage of secondary value and commonly identify as ‘British Muslims’. I’ve come to understand that traditions, culture & language are all access routes to a more nuanced and deeper knowledge base and wisdom in Islam. I fundamentally disagree with the ‘Islam not culture’ movement that seems to be prevalent in our young community.
☝🏽 Those that promote this type of thinking really have not thought of the logical implications of such a statement. One implication to consider is that after 1400 years there are many cultures in the world that are deeply interwoven with Islam, and it is through these cultures that many Muslims know Islam. And so, telling them that they should follow Islamic practices and ignore their culture is like pulling the rug completely from underneath them, as many of them would have difficulty knowing culture from Islam. The majority of our parents and grandparents fall into this category, and it’s simply not valid to imply that their belief and Iman to be of less value based on a vague slogan. It is not a realistic outlook.
🗺 To some extent, I guess our parents and grandparents are right. The majority of our 3rd and 4th generation British Bangladeshis have almost completely lost touch with what their parents and grandparents call their motherland. This is natural. With each passing generation, cultural traditions evolve into something that can be unrecognisable or fade away into obscurity until all that latter generations can recall are myths and legends. As Bengalis, our heritage and history have great significance, and it is our innate disposition to pass this knowledge onto our children.
🥘 Culture is defined as food, clothing, language, traditions, habits, arts, music, and any other cultural aspects that define a group. Islam has set a clear standard for believers to see each other as brothers in faith, and it prohibited retaining any cultural norms that contradict Islam. However, Islam tolerated most differences and history is enough to show this. What is important is our identity is fundamentally based upon a common brotherhood. Even the tribes of Madinah (where Prophet Muhammad ” governed from) had different cultural traits and these tribes were not eradicated nor their cultures.
🕋 Another implication of the ‘Islam not culture’ movement is risking the promotion of an abstract understanding of Islam as we see in some circles. As humans, we can only understand the world through interacting and understanding the things in it. The Messenger was not abstract, rather he was raised and was part of a particular culture, and Islam engaged with many cultures of the world through the ages. The Quran was revealed within a particular time frame and was understood by a particular group of people of a particular culture and tradition, who spoke and understood each other in a particular manner. It is intellectually unsound to suggest that Islam of any era and region can be interpreted or understood without first understanding the culture and tradition it flourished in.
👍🏾 British Bangladeshis have come a long way and have become part of the British way and life. I have no doubt that our community will grow and flourish in the coming generations and will continue to contribute in many ways to the British way of life. But many are becoming detached from their cultural heritage due to several contributing factors. Indeed, having a British Muslim identity is yet another cultural identity that many people see themselves as part of in various degrees. The irony is that many of those that like to push the slogan ‘Islam, not culture’ have grown up or identified themselves as British Muslims.
✍🏾 We ourselves tend to invent divides between different cultures and traditions and call for integration, when in fact they all start to blend into one another eventually. I disagree when people push the notion of ‘Muslim integration’. Integration happens naturally and over a span of time, it cannot be achieved overnight or be forced. I’m of the opinion that ‘integration’ has lost its real meaning in the UK today. And rather than throwing around vague and ambiguous terminology, the real key to community cohesion is to encourage and promote better understanding and awareness of different cultures and traditions. For most young British Bengalis, it’s not a question of integration and incompatibility that is causing them to become detached from their cultural heritage, but rather a lack of understanding overall of cultural heritage and history. Promoting a healthier understanding of different cultures and traditions will highlight differences but not the incompatibility of social and communal interaction. Islam is not a religion that doesn’t have mechanisms in place to ensure social cohesion with other ways of life and religious beliefs.
