What Is Islamic Culture PDF
What Is Islamic Culture PDF
What Is Islamic Culture PDF
ISLAMIC
CULTURE?
DIN Publications
Basic TTC 101 Series
Foreword .................... vi
Acknowledgments .................... viii
Notes on Terminology and Transliteration xi
Preface......................................................... xiii
Part I: Islam and Cultural Diversity
1. Introduction.......................................... 1
2. Racism and Cultural partisanship.. 2
3. Criteria for assessing cultural practices. 3
4. The legal position of local customs ('urf) 5
5. Acceptable cultural practices............ 7
6. Unacceptable cultural practices........ 8
7. Conclusion......................................... 8
Part II: On Islamic Names and Dresses
1. Introduction.......................................... 11
2. Names and Dressing............................. 12
3. What is Islamic? ............................ 13
4. What names are un-Islamic? ........... 14
5. What to consider in an Islamic name 15
6. What is an Islamic dress? ............ 16
7. Conclusion: Use of the term Islamic 16
Bibliography......................................... 19
Recommended Websites.................. 27
FOREWORD TO THE SERIES
Use of
It is a time-honored and cherished tradition
among Muslims that whenever the name of any of
the numerous Prophets of God is mentioned,
peace and blessings of God are invoked upon him.
In line with this tradition and the injunction in
Qur'an 33:56, wherever the title the Prophet,
Messenger of Allah, Apostle of Allah, or the
Prophet's name, Muhammad, appears in this
text, the blessing in Arabic () appears next to it.
It means may the peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him. Contemporary writings on Islam by
Muslims use many variations and abbreviations of
this benediction in Arabic or English or other
languages such as S.A.W., s.a.s., s, p,
pbuh and others. In deciding which customary
symbol to use, it is worth mentioning that in
manuscripts belonging to the first two centuries of
Islam's intellectual heritage the writers did not
rigidly adhere to the custom of writing a
benediction after the Prophet's name, and hence,
there is no 'best' way of representing it.
References to ahadith and commentaries
drawn from computer software
Efforts have been made to ensure that all
ahadith (narrations or reported actions of Prophet
Muhammad ) in this material are drawn from
reliable and well-respected collections.
Reservations expressed by respected authorities
about the authenticity of any hadith have been
indicated in footnotes, even as its presence in this
text indicates that it is considered authentic by
other scholars of repute. An abundance of Islamic
classical texts and some of their translations now
exist on CD-ROMs. The present material has
made use of some of these CD-ROMs for
obtaining ahadith and their commentaries
(tafasir). The most commonly utilized CD-ROM
database of hadith in English has been the Alim
Version 6.0 software. Hence, references to hadith
collections that end with the phrase in Alim 6.0
throughout this material refer to those obtained
from the Alim Version 6.0 database (ISL Software
Corporation, 1986-2000). References to
collections of hadith commentaries which have
been drawn from other CD-ROMs have been
noted in footnotes throughout the text.
Transliteration of Arabic words
Modern Islamic literature in English utilizes a
number of transliteration systems for Arabic
words. With a few exceptions, this material has
followed the system used by the majority, the
details of which may be found in the International
Journal of Middle East Studies. However, for our
ease and simplicity, we have omitted the diacritical
dots and dashes which facilitate exact
pronunciations. It is expected that this should not
render the words unreadable.
PREFACE
Islam is considered by many observers to be
the worlds fastest growing religion, yet it is the
most misunderstood of the world's major faiths.
Some misconceptions about Islam stem from
calculated propaganda, but a good amount of it is
attributable to the ignorance of many Muslims
whose limited knowledge and practice of Islam
perpetuates these misconceptions. Many Muslims
grow up believing that Islam requires only blind
faith and invites no intellectual challenges. Often
when such people in due course interact more
broadly at school or in the work place, they find
themselves unable to explain or rectify
misconceptions about Islam.
In response to the need for empowering
Muslims to preserve their religion, and share its
beautiful message with the rest of humanity, this
work was begun.
The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of
Current English defines culture as the customs,
arts, social institutions, etc. of a particular group or
nation. Culture is therefore one way of
identifying distinctive groups or nations. Some
Non-Muslims and even Muslims have
unfortunately assumed that whatever is Arab is
Islamic, and whatever is Islamic is Arab. This has
led to the wrong conclusion that to become
Muslim necessitates abandoning all aspects of a
person's cultural heritage for that of Arabs, Indo-
Pakistanis, Hausas, or any other Muslim-majority
culture. The first part of this book addresses this
misconception.
The second part of the book looks into the use
of the term Islamic in describing various aspects
of culture, especially names and dresses of Arab or
non-Arab origin. It critically examines the criteria
for considering any cultural practice as Islamic or
not.
This effort is part of a greater project of
intellectual empowerment for the global Muslim
community. Among the tools designed by the
Islamic Education Trust over the past decade and
a half is the Train the Trainers Course (TTC) in
Islam and Dialogue. As its name suggests, the
TTC is designed to train da'wah volunteers in
answering misconceptions about Islam, handling
differences of opinions among Muslim scholars,
and personal leadership and development courses.
The write ups that constitute this series evolved
from teaching manuals from the TTC. It is hoped
that this publication will serve as intellectual
resource material for Muslims of different
backgrounds.
What is ISLAMIC Culture?
PART I: ISLAM AND CULTURAL
DIVERSITY1
1. Introduction
Islam acknowledges the diversity in people's customs,
race, languages, dress, food, and other cultural expressions,
as not only legitimate but a sign of Allah's bounties. Islam,
however, also disapproves of and even condemns those
aspects of a culture that contradict its teachings and
principles. No culture, Arab or otherwise, may therefore be
regarded as completely Islamic or completely un-Islamic.
Allah says And among His signs are the creation of
the heavens and the earth, and the diversity of your
tongues and colors: for in this, behold, there are messages
for all who are possessed of (innate) knowledge! (Qur'an
30:22)
In another verse, Allah says, O mankind! We created
you from male and female, and made you into nations
and tribes, that you may know each other. Verily, the
noblest of you in the sight of God are the most deeply
conscious of Him. Behold, God is All-Knowing, All-
Aware (Qur'an 49:13).
1 For some very informative sources on this topic, see Umar Faruq
Abdullah's three essays, Islam and the Cultural Imperative, Innovation
and Creativity in Islam, and One God Many Names; also, Faruqi and
Faruqi, The Cultural Atlas of Islam; Ridzwuan Wu (ed.), Readings in
Cross-Cultural Da'wah; Ibn Ashur, Treatise on Maqasid al-Shari'ah
trans. M. El-Mesawi. Proceedings of Cross-Cultural Dawah
Workshop, 3rd & 4th Nov. 2007, Darul Arqam, Singapore.
It is therefore Allah's will that there be diversity in the
various nations, communities and tribes of humankind. It
is also decreed that there is no inherent superiority of one
nation, tribe, or race over another since the noblest of you
in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious
of Him.
Arab culture is not the basis for Islam, nor is it the
practice of the majority of Muslims. In fact, most of the
followers of Islam live in
Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Only 15-20% of the
and India. Arabs only make up 15- world's Muslims are
20% of the followers of Islam.2 Arab.
Hence, although the majority of
Arabs are Muslim, an Arab is not necessarily a Muslim, and
a Muslim is even less likely to be an Arab. There is, indeed,
at least an 80% chance that a Muslim is not an Arab.
1. Introduction
Some Muslims, particularly converts (reverts),20 raise
concern when other Muslims insist that their names and
dressing should be changed to conform to what is
recognized as more Islamic. Very often, it is believed
that the more Islamic names and dress styles are those
that are held by the dominant Muslim cultural group(s) in a
particular society. Even books on Muslim names
contain largely Arab and Indo/Pakistani alternatives,
thereby reinforcing the stereotype. Hence, the new Muslim
is placed in the difficulty of not just changing religions but
also abandoning one culture and heritage for another.
The convert's family is, moreover, often deeply
offended by the rejection of their bestowed name and
customs. The impact of this has been, in many cases,
alienation and the loss of important da'wah opportunities
between new Muslims and the community they no longer
identify with. The expectation of suffering so drastic an
outcome is also a major obstacle to some new Muslims,
thereby making a difficult choice even harder.
In recent times, critics of Islam have exploited the
stereotype of Islamic names to further their agendas,
either through publishing books under Arab pen-names or
through the frequent mention of names containing ibn
3. What is Islamic?
The truth is that anything, be it a name, dress, food,
etc., that does not violate what is permitted by Islamic
textual evidence (from the Qur'an and Sunnah) may be
called Islamic. For instance, some of the Prophet's closest
companions, such as Bilal (from Abyssinia21), Salman al-
Farisi (from Persia), Umar (from Arabia), and indeed the
overwhelming majority of his other companions (sahaba),
held the same names even before they became Muslims.
The Prophet () never asked them to change their names
upon conversion.22
Other Islamically acceptable names include Asad
(meaning lion), Ghazali (Gazelle), Badawi (Bedouin),
Khadir (Green), Zahrah (Flower), Maher (Skilled One or
Expert), and Abu Hurairah (Father of a Kitten, or kitten
man). Some popular names such as Khan, Adam,
Maryam, Suleiman, Musa, Asiya, Isma'il, Ishaq, Idris
and Ibrahim have non-Arab origins. The Qur'an lists many
good and great names that are in fact Hebrew in origin.
Well-known Muslim scholars also took their names from
the lands they came from, such al-Bukhari from the
Uzbek city of Bokhara, and al-Qurtubi from the Spanish
city of Cordoba.
21 Abyssinia is the historical name of the East African region that now
comprises Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti.
22 As will be discussed further below, the Prophet () only asked
Alim 6.0.
under the category of prohibited names, all other names,
whether their meanings are known or unknown, are left to
individual preference, even if it is a cultural variation of an
Arab name. For such cultural variants as are commonly
found in Muslim countries, there is no religious basis for
their condemnation. This follows the same principle that is
applied to choice of food, clothing, and other areas of
social affairs (mu'amalat).