Arabization

Recently I watched an old documentary about Sharia law in a non-Arab Muslim-majority country. An interviewee expressed discontent as he claimed that since he was not in an Arab country, his lifestyle should not be impeded, let alone prosecuted due to Islamic values. Despite saying so, he ironically associated himself with a Western subculture, and an anarchical one at that. How ignorant. The reporter for the documentary, being from the West herself, in all her arrogance also could not grasp the fact that non-Westerners have different values and sympathized with the 'oppression' of her interviewees. This is just an example of displaying the colonial inferiority complex. To think of a culture, tradition or religion as foreign and imposing, yet, not questioning the authenticity of one own's practices and values but taking it as de facto.

When I was young, I used to think that English was the language. It is spoken worldwide and as compared to my mother tongue, "feels modern". Therefore, the books and media I consumed was mainly in English and I paid almost no attention to my mother tongue. However, by doing so, I was already unintentionally limiting the scope of my worldview. Growing up into my adulthood was when I realized that the English language is just a language amongst thousands of other spoken and written languages. The only reason for English to be so widely spread is because of their expansionist efforts (geographically, intellectually and technologically) and not necessarily due to any positive inherit traits of the language itself.

In this globalized world, it is inevitable that cultural lines get blurred. And if one digs deeper, they will realize that behind the curtain of "freedom of expression", cultures fight in a battle for dominance and survival. There is no surprise there, as culture is part of the human condition, and it just normal for humans to fight. As people start to adopt or mimic other cultures, it just becomes a matter of time before their own gets suppressed or even forgotten. Islamic culture is no different from this trend, as Islam presents itself as comprehensively having the best way of life. When Islam enters a culture, it also actively seeks to rid that culture of any practices which it considers to be oppressive such as superstitious beliefs, gambling and sexual immorality. While this can itself be seen as 'oppressive' to others, we must then be consistent in our judgement. Each and every culture - even liberal ones - have boundaries of which crossing might be seen by society as inappropriate, rude or just unacceptable. Should every culture then be considered as 'oppressive'? If so, it is just a matter of whose boundaries (or 'oppression') you are willing to follow.

In Islam, the Arab language plays an important part as it is the language our most holiest text: the Quran. Muslims also hold Arab culture with some degree of importance - our Prophet himself being Arab, our holy sites situated in Arab countries and our renowned scholarship usually coming from Arabic education. Hence as Islam becomes increasingly popular in a society, Muslims will start incorporating more and more of their religion in their everyday lives, with varying degrees of Arab culture inevitably thrown into the mix.

Naysayers will then start to classify it as 'Arabization' of their culture. However, the term 'Arabization' is thinly veiled as an anti-Islamic rhetoric. Why? Because I believe that whilst Islam does actually affect the practices of a culture, it does not entirely change or erases it. Islam also nowhere suggests that a culture must adopt the Arabic culture. So rather than outright saying one is anti-Islam, he may say he is anti-Arabization to make himself seem more neutral or acceptable as he thinks he has a stronger (or easier) case if he would to argue against the Arab culture rather than argue against Islamic values.

Hence if one were to be apprehensive of foreign cultures, then they should be consistent. People adopt Western languages, dressing and values as the 'standard' in society, even though it may be as geographically and culturally foreign as Islam and Arabic.

The point of this post is not to say that we need to completely abandon all Western culture, or to be a try-hard Arab/Muslim culturist, or to behave in a way that is unacceptable for the norms of where we live (unless not doing so is haram of course). I'm just saying that cultures come and go. We should all reflect on practices, whether it is something we have been doing or something we are about to adopt. To put importance on weighing the pros and cons of each practice, instead of "going with the flow". The culture we practice is very much the identity we make for ourselves and is the outward manifestation of our beliefs and inclinations, so we must really think about who we want to mimic.

May Allah instil in us love of that which Islam has brought, amin.

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