Circle: An Islamic Culture

Sorry I've been a bit quiet, I haven't had much to say. But I thought I'd mention what was talked about in Circle since so many have been talking about culture. We discussed how to develop a new culture for our generation that combines the culture of the parents (or Eastern Culture), American Culture, and Islam. All of the youth present were very interested in finding a way to break down some of the un-Islamic practices of the Aunties and Uncles and to find a way to start emphasizing what Islam really says. All were interested in trying to stop the backbiting that is heavily present in the mosque. What I gathered from them was that in the Desi (Indo-Pakistani) community gossip is a huge problem. Its all people do at the mosque. And of course their was an interest in loosening some of the separation rules between the men and women that didn't exist in the prophet's time (complete separation, no conversations with opposite sex, not knowing your spouse at all before marriage etc). These are very cultural practices that history clearly states were not the only way to do things while Muhammad (as) was alive (everyone prayed together, he had conversations with women, the Prophet was friends with his wife first etc). There was also a great interest in breaking down the racism and prejudices present in different ethnic communities so the first generation could be more free to befriend and/or marry whomever they please. Yes, there are even some parents who won't let their kids have friends outside of their ethnicity much less outside of their school or religion. Its a big problem when trying to create unity and spreading a good image of Islam.

But how do you change the behavior of your elders when you are told to respect them? One young man brought up the verse about how you should obey your parents unless they are asking you to do something which is against your religion. Many of these elders are asking just that of the youth (backbiting, limits on marriage due to prejudice, barring the women from the mosque etc). Another suggested that you need to befriend someone who is more influential at the mosque and when you have a good idea respectfully suggest it to that person and then let that person suggest it to the community. They all agreed that we can't change the elders but we can slowly change the behavior so by the time we are the elders changes will have been made for the better of the second generation.

And we kinda had to stop there because it got really late.

What do you think, as first generation and converts and students/friends of Islam, we can do to improve the condition of the ummah and wipe out some of the un-Islamic things present in our communities today?