By Ali Rashid Al
Nuaimi
December 1, 2020
The Western
world continues to battle the challenge of disenchanted young Muslims, rooted
in a “home country” that in many cases they’ve never visited, and to which they
have no real ties. Yet they remain feeling like outsiders in the countries that
have allowed them to take refuge within their states. The fact is, the ways of
interpreting and understating Islamic teaching need a radical overhaul. We have
a responsibility to ensure Islam is no longer hijacked by extremist and
outdated ideologies that keep the religion bound to history rather than taking
it into the present and guiding its progress into the future, in turn,
disconnecting young Muslims from the countries in which they are living.
Muslim
Women recite sunset prayers outside ICE’s New York field office in New York
City in 2018. (Photo Credit: Amr Alfiky/ Reuters)
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The answer,
simply and without prejudice, is that most contemporary Muslim immigrants
cannot differentiate between religion and culture. They do not know the
difference between Islam and the traditions, customs and habits of the
societies from which they migrated. They do not realize that culture is not the
same as religion, and that they must not adhere to culture and die for its
sake. Religion has thus become synonymous with culture, and customs have been
turned into doctrine.
The Muslim
world must now realize that we live in a different time from that of our
ancestors. There are no more empires or caliphates, and there is no open,
unclaimed geographic space. We live in a global world in which the movements
and actions of humans – regardless of culture and religion – are controlled
according to standards using tools such as nationality, identity and passports.
Undoubtedly,
in our time, what the global Muslim communities need the most are brave
scholars who can meet the demands of the challenges that face us and who can
show the Muslims around the world, especially the youth, the sharp and subtle
differences between religious constants and historical variables. This process
entails determining the differences between religious revelations, historical
applications and solutions that emerged at a certain historical moment to
address matters specific to that particular society, whose circumstances differ
from those of our society, and may even contradict them.
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Muslims
have left their homelands bearing heavy cultural burdens. They carried this
weight to their new homes, and they shaped their communities according to the
model of their countries of origin. They convinced themselves that these
customs and traditions were Islam itself, and that if they were to abandon
these traditions, they would lose their precious connection to their religion.
They tightly gripped the culture of the society they had left and rejected the
culture of their new society.
Thus,
culture remained a considerable barrier between them and their new homes, even
though they would go on to become naturalized citizens of their new
communities, live out the rest of their lives and be buried there.
Paradoxically, these immigrants have remained committed to the culture of their
original homeland, though they know that they will not return.
THE
QUESTION here is, why have there been no European, US or Australian versions of
Islam? Why are Muslim communities in these areas keen to live as they used to
do in the communities they have left? Why do they think that preserving the
culture of their societies of origin is equivalent to the preservation of Islam
itself? Why do we still see hundreds or thousands of young Muslims from the
likes of Europe happy to leave for terrorist training camps in the name of
Islam?
The
emergence of violent terrorist organizations was neither a transient event nor
a natural phenomenon. It was a logical outcome of an educational system that
has focused on teaching the past. That system has produced generations of lost
people who live deep in the past, are absent from the present and have no
expectations for the future. These generations joined various terrorist groups
in which they learned about the past and attempted to live in it. They wanted
to revive and repeat the past because, in their view, it represented pure
Islam.
Education
is a planned process used to design the future. Its aim is to produce people
who carry their culture, identity, religion and values forward into that
future. Education may borrow certain beliefs, values and cultural
identifications from the past, but it cannot borrow actual historical events,
outdated behaviors or ways of dress and appearance.
Our
societies will not develop unless they realize that education is a
future-oriented process and project, not just a way to recreate history and
squeeze ourselves into past glories that we can no longer replicate. In this
context, the process of renewal must be carried out by competent authorities –
namely, professional experts in theology, pedagogy, sociology, anthropology and
psychology. We must have a variety of task groups and subject matter experts in
all necessary fields who will cooperate closely to accomplish their mission. We
must not leave the reform process to the theologians or religious scholars
alone.
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Dr. Al Rashid Al Nuaimi is the author of National State: Reimagining a
World without Hateful and Narrow Nation States, released this month by
Bloomsbury. He is a member of the UAE Federal National Council for the Emirate
of Abu Dhabi, and chairman of the council’s Defense, Interior and Foreign
Affairs Committee. He was previously chancellor of the United Arab Emirates
University and is currently the first chairman of Hedayah, the Centre for
Countering Violent Extremism, based in Abu Dhabi.
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Original Headline: How to overcome the
disconnect of Muslims in the Western world
Source: The Jakarta Post
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-west/muslims-western-world-realize-that/d/123667
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