Culturally Muslim

My entire life, I defined a Muslim as an individual who believed in the oneness of God and that Muhammed, peace be upon him, was the last messenger (give or take on the latter part of this declaration because of the various sects Islam has nowadays). It never mattered to me whether the person was devout or non-practicing, as long as he/she believed in the basic premises of Islam, then he/she was, in fact, a Muslim.

I believed that Islam was not something that could be "inherited" through blood. That meant that just because my father was Muslim, did not mean that I was automatically a Muslim. Our blood did not make us special-- we chose to be Muslims and, therefore, we were Muslims. 

"All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black, nor a black has any superiority over a white- except by piety and good action." ~ Some translation (I obviously found and copied/pasted from the internet) of Prophet's last sermon.

We have free-will. We get to choose our faith. I believed in that so much because unlike Muhammed (S.A.W), I was not Arab. I was just this Desi chick in a White world who did not really fit the mold of what was considered to be awesome-sauce. So, there was no way that I would willingly follow a faith that saw me as second-class. I did not need that bullshit. Similarly, that was the reason I was glad that Muhammad was Arab. Most of the lovely prophets before Muhammad were Jews. He (S.A.W) was just this oddball that added another color to the mosaic glass that was meant to describe prophet-hood (no pun intended).

Anywho, I did not think Islam was meant for a specific group of people. That being said, if someone did not believe in the declaration of faith, then he or she was not Muslim. In my family, I have a few people that were not Muslims, and I chose to make sure that I did not consider them Muslims. Not because I was some pretentious butthole, but because I thought it would be disrespectful to my religion and to the people who had left that faith. Why be labeled as something that you have no connection or feelings for?

But I digress, recently I had a conversation with two people, and it slightly changed how I viewed religion, especially Islam.

 

Person 1:

She claimed that she was Muslim, but she neither practiced nor believed in God. While I questioned her out of sheer curiosity, she stated that she grew up with Islam. It was part of her culture and how she was raised. Even though she verbally expressed that she did not believe in God, she had moments and still has moments when she calls out to Allah when placed in troubled situations. "I might not believe, but maybe my subconscious does.

It took me a while to completely soak that in and attempt to understand its complexity. I was raised to believe in God. I've tried not to believe in Him, and I just could not do that. Regardless of being "conditioned", I still found myself a bit upset that I could not discover this path without it being "passed down" to me (I'm also really grateful for it, but that is a different story). I felt a little startled from hearing her because I knew people who left Islam after practicing it since birth; I did not consider them Muslims because that was not who they were. However, after hearing her, I stepped back a tad bit; I do see the influence Islam and the Islamic culture still has on those people. Some of their actions and reactions toward certain things show how Islam continues to play a role in their life for the good, the bad, the pretty, and the ugly.

 

Person 2:

This particular person talked about a Muslim she was close to. At a very young age, the Muslim person was forced to leave his country because of his religious beliefs. Eventually, this person was raised in the U.S. He never practiced Islam and knew anything about it. Nonetheless, he still considered himself to be Muslim even when some community members believed otherwise.

This story was easier for me to process. The person's community was being persecuted for their belief system. Whether the person chose to practice it later on in life was not important. The person's childhood was drastically changed because of religion!!

Now, I'm still  fascinated because Islam could be seen as a culture in the greater scheme of things. I may never completely accept it, but I can see and fathom it! If this person wanted to be known as a Muslim, then I have no right to say he is not. He went through more obstacles for being a Muslim than I possibly ever will