a new approch to what muslims think: read on........?

Question

i have asked a few questions about what worries me about islam, but this seems just to put muslims on the defensive, and not open up...so..
ill put the question the other way round, so muslims can be positive in their replies.
i would prefer in depth replies with some substance rather than a one sentence reply
anyway..

what do muslims think they would actually lose, if [hypothetically] their culture was to become totally westernised [not what is bad about western culture- but what things about their own culture that they value most, would they hate to lose?]

Answer 1

I am a moderate Muslim and I do not find your interest on enquiring such understanding of the Muslim perspective disturbing. Its not that they Hate the Westernised Culture.

I mean some modern country, Like Singapore for example, has a large Muslim population, yet they are modern and adaptive towards the western culture although we do not embraced it totally. We do adapt some liberal aspect of it.

This is not due to the fact that the Western culture is wrong, its just that some of the modern culture practised by the Western society goes against the teachings of Islam. This create a dilemma for some of the Muslim Society.

Like the Holy teaching, dictates that one should follow a certain respectful behaviour towards a particular person in the family. Human Rights Groups would deem it as barbaric or a lost of ones free will. So there is always a constant contradiction between being a Westernised individual.

Plus the Western Culture are portrayed as being too liberal that one are allowed to do anything as they had free will. Having too much freedom and free will can be a hazard as it can jeopardise respect or dignity.

Hope I did not offend you or anyone as All I wanted to do is to help you understand better about understanding the Muslim Culture.May God be with you always and brings you wisdom in the days ahead my friend.

Answer 2

There is no such thing as Islamic culture.Therefore,losing culture is irrelevant.What we are protecting here is Islamic values.
Any culture may it be Eastern or Western shall stay if the ritual itself does not contradict with any the Islamic values.
Islamic values on the other hand is very flexible and can be implemented when conditions permitted.

Answer 3

Let me answer your question in a very practical way. The traditionalist muslims would probably find it hard to live in a western country because of its totally different culture. The old muslims would probably die as muslims no matter what happens. But the problem they'd probably be pondering on is how can they tell their growing up or teen-age children to live as muslims in a westernized country where they'd be exposed to everything the world has to offer. Can their parents prevent them from, say, going to moviehouses showing xxx movies, not observing their religious practices, having boyfriends, having girlfriends, sex outside marriage, and so forth and so on. In other words, they (the muslim parents) cannot and will not have a hold on their children in rearing them up to be muslims.

Answer 4

this is really a smart question...
and my answer to u is...
muslims aint afraid of westernization nor even globalization...thing is and till this very day what people dont understand that religion is whats in the heart, true religion aint expressed by uniform or a certain attitude or style in life.... so who ever says all that doesnt understand a thing about whats truly written in all holy books - yes not just Qura'an
all human beings were made to be equal but due to human nature people forgot about all this and now u can see different trends and racism till this very day
so basically what im tryin to say is when u get a chance to read the whole Qura'an and understand it ull find out that all this is just a mes created by media cause believe me all this stuff thats on tv these days has nothing to do with religion....its all about corruption and greed

Answer 5

Just to comment on what morning7 said, the second generation of muslims who grew up in this country tend to be more religious and much more devout than their parents, rejecting the western culture to a far greater extent than their parents whom they often look on as having done the wrong thing in coming to a western country. Just look around you. Jon Snow made the same comment on his recent documentary. Those young Muslims reject the west and its moral values and many are looking to leave. Just wanted to clear that up.
And in response to the question. Poki poki had it pretty much dead on, Muslims have a deen or way of life which is in their opinion perfect, they do not want to exchange any of it. Muslims have experienced a better way than westerners, so naturally they dont want to swap it for a worse one.

Answer 6

every one answered here have no idea about us Muslims.
to know the answers of all your questions you have to live among there to understand them.
so....
we are the Muslims don't refuse the western culture but we refuse every thing against our religion.
for example :
we Muslim woman go to school and college and work and every thing cause it is not against Islam....
but we don't live alone "without family" before marriage.
no Muslim have sex with someone did not marriage.
it is thing we can't do because Allah"god" said so.
and we agree cause when we think about it,we find it right.
so we hate to lose our religion.
we hate to lose faith in Allah and we never lose it even if the all world against us.
i am a Muslim woman wo like my religion.

Answer 7

Many cultures are afraid of losing those aspects that make them unique.

As with the First Americans, their whole culture was sublimated: no living in Tepees, not speaking their native tongue, no wearing their traditional garb.

I feel they do not want to embrace Western Dress, Western Attitudes or Western Morals, as it is incompatible with their beliefs.

Answer 8

i'll tell you what we will lose but FIRST define westernized!!

because i can tell you what's good and what's bad.
certainly the loss will be from what's bad which is what Christians here are fighting as well.
ALL THE MORALS AND GOD'S LIMITATIONS FOR MAN KIND.
for instance.
1- Homosexuality being accepted as natural
2- Gambeling being accepted as natural
3- getting drun being accepted as natural
3- premarital sex being accepted as natural
4 adultry being accepted as natural
5- rape will be bliss
6- pedophelia
7- incest
8-crimes

see, ALL those 8 points just from the top of my head the western culture has the Highest rates of and especially the US.

so what do you think we will lose? many people will lose their morality and will end up in Hell.
not to mention our OWN culture?!!!
peace.

Answer 9

Islam is not a culture ,i t is a religion,i am american and i am Musim so culture is has nothing to do with it,i follow the teachings of the koran and sunnah and i dress accordingly i pray as commanded ,i submitt to the one true God .

Answer 10

For a Muslim, "religion" is the translated word often used for the arabic word DEEN. Deen means "a complete way of life." So, you have your deen and we have our deen. Your traditions are a part of your deen, our traditions are our deen / way of life. So, by abandoning any part of our traditions, we are abandoning a part of our religion.

And as you probably know, any time you compromise your beliefs, it is a slippery slope - that only spirals downward. Yes, one sin leads to another.

There are, simply put, harmful effects of sins. Then we become more a slave to our sins and to a non-reality based type of thinking that is so prevalent in the society. We choose to prefer modesty over immodesty and morality over immorality, etc. As do some devout christians and jews.

We also choose to live peacefully in coexistance with any non-Muslims who do not fight us on account of our religion.

Quran 60:8 - Allâh does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of religion and did not drive you out of your homes. Verily, Allâh loves those who deal with equity.

Quran 2:190 - And fight in the Way of Allâh those who fight you, but transgress not the limits. Truly, Allâh likes not the transgressors.

109:6 - "To you be your deen (religion/way of life), and to me my deen."


You start with conceding to one thing - say, your clothes. Next, it is something else, then something else.

The Noble Qur'an 2:120
Never will the Jews nor the Christians be pleased with you (O Muhammad Peace be upon him) till you follow their religion. Say: "Verily, the Guidance of Allâh (i.e. Islâmic Monotheism) that is the (only) Guidance. And if you (O Muhammad Peace be upon him ) were to follow their (Jews and Christians) desires after what you have received of Knowledge (i.e. the Qur'ân), then you would have against Allâh neither any Walî (protector or guardian) nor any helper.