Muslim Thought

Written by Danish S.

FINDING REAL SOLUTIONS

Surmounting the challenge we’ve discussed will not come with empty slogans and clamor. As any dietitian or fitness expert will tell you, when it comes to losing weight, it’s not just about diet and exercise, it’s about changing your attitude, your behavior, and your lifestyle. In the case of Muslims and the struggle to indigenize and integrate, we have to identify why we’ve been unsuccessful on a larger scale thus far (excluding Blackamerican Muslims). At the crux of that problem we will find much of it can be linked to the lack of this unique culture. The lack of it leads to an inability to connect our priorities to our reality - to put America first. Just being able to read and process the last phrase of that previous sentence without feeling alienated will require a complete change of mindset and character.

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Written by Danish S.

MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Islamic jurists (fuquha) often include culture as a determining factor when issuing religious rulings and edicts. In religious terminology the term “‘urf” is often used to denote a similar concept. The word urf is commonly defined as “custom” but its didactics in Islamic law equates to what is referred to as “culture” in the West. For example, when Islamic scholars ask about the urf they mean in plain language, “What is the cultural norm [of a region, country, or society]?”

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Written by Danish S.

This article will be released as a series over the coming days. Please continue to check back with us and remember to help spread the word!

INTRODUCTION

Many who will read material from this site will wonder “What’s the big deal about an American Muslim identity?” or “What’s wrong with our parent’s cultures?” Some immigrant Muslims will feel slighted and others even insulted. There will be many second generation (and beyond) young people who will be further confused as their try to “fit in” in America.

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