Reply to Be Wary of Racism and Islamophobes

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Literacy does not preclude faith or iman. Islam is a belief system and adherence to proper conduct. If one lives thousands of miles from the local literacy teacher, would Islam say that person may not love Allah/God? What if a person lives in poverty and there are no schools where they live, does that mean Allah/God rejects their devotion? Of course not! [b]It is understood that the Muslim must try hard to learn to read Quranic Arabic[/b], but if extenuating circumstances can not permit it, Allah/God is merciful. [/quote]
It actually isn't.  It's just Arabs trying to be special again.[/quote]

Where are you getting this from? Just your opinion? [/quote]

My opinion too.  What is required of Muslims is practice of the five pillars.  You can be a devout and practicing literate (or illiterate) Muslim even if you never cracked open the Quran or learned a single hadith.  [/quote]
You can call it my opinion backed by 40+ years among Muslims.

Arabs, especially Gulf Arabs, as people invest their identities deeply in being the nation that brought forth Islam and Prophet Muhammad. That makes them feel special and superior among other Muslims - a position that is subtly and sometimes not-too-subtly reinforced by the Islamic establishment.   That being Arab is special, and that Arabic is a special language is a very deeply held article of faith among them.  While not acknowledged in public (and while in direct contradiction to the Quran and records of Muhammad), Arabs feel they are superior Muslims and human beings over Pakistanis, Indonesians, Malaysians, god forbid Africans, and don't even mention the Iranians, just because they are Arabs, and just by virtue of their birth have a stronger claim to Islam than anyone else, and are therefore a higher brand of humans, because "you can't really know Islam and Quran without learning Arabic".  This is why an Arab can be friends with a Pakistani, but a thought of his sister marrying a Pakistani will make him apoplectic because "Arabs are wife takers, not wife givers".  Arabs use it to blank out the fact that post the Andalus era, Arabs and specifically Gulf Arabs as a group of people and countries have contributed precious little to the coffers of world civilization - not in science, not in literature, not in music, not in art, not in politics, not in technology - but gosh darn it, we are Arabs who gave the world Islam and hold the key to its meaning, not available in any other form, and we are (still) special.

Is this racist? Of course. Does this have anything to do with what the Quran says? Absolutely not.  Muhammad's last sermon specifically said black and white, Arab and non-Arab is the same.  But culture influences practice, it certainly influences scholars and lawmakers, and it most certainly shapes public discourse.  The Islamic discourse and mainstream Sunni Muslim scholarship is driven - and funded - by this culture. If you are from that environment, you will deny this but secretly you will know that this is true. [/quote]

There is much truth to this.  And this view has become contagious in that it's spread north in the Arab world and is indirectly responsible for groups like ISIS.

I will say I do find all of this a great shame.  I grew up in a Gulf country before the surge of money and was deeply impressed by the devout adherence to prayer--I recall lone trucks pulled off otherwise empty roads with the driver praying beside it surrounded by a vast desert. Yes, the strict adherence was probably driven by Wahhabism, but it was practiced out of deep personal piety (no one would know if the driver had prayed or not) and there was no arrogance associated with it. [/quote]

This is also why a brand of expansionist, aggressive Sunni Islam intrudes into other countries - whether militarily (like ISIS) or culturally (like KSA-funded mosques) - it takes great pains to impress or force the local population to believe that the only way to be true Muslims is to behave and look exactly Arabs.

Stupid, petty example - Muslim women in the Caucasus cover their hair and always did.  Their native style of hair covering is a Bosnian-style headscarf tied on top of the head with a knot in the back, ends of scarf down the back, neck open.  They've done it for centuries - a culturally acceptable, climate-appropriate way of signifying their Islam.  Once Saudi-Wahhabi money and imams came over, they started to enforce turtle-style hijabs covering the entire torso - something that has NEVER been practiced in that culture. See? Take something that only Arabs do and enforce is as the only way to practice Islam. [/quote]

Different women cover in different ways. Its just not as big a deal among Muslims as you are making it out to be. [/quote]
So why not let different women cover in different ways? What's with the weird urge to Arabize everyone?[/quote]

Arabs can only "arabicize" people in their own countries.[/quote]

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