• “Suburban Capitalist Islam” – List of Beliefs – http://bit.ly/dB0nzq #
• "Suburban Capitalist Islam" – Response #1 – Islam is not a filter of Western Culture – http://bit.ly/ap6rR6 #

“1)  American culture is the primary definition of the way we dress, the food we enjoy, the entertainment we seek (Movies, TV, video games).

2) Islam can be understood practically as a filter of the ‘bad’ aspects of the American lifestyle out of ones life.    The bad aspects are the obvious haraam (forbidden actions).   It can also be an encouragement of the ‘good’ aspects of American life.”

Response:

A culture can be understood as the output of a ‘program’ with various inputs.   The inputs, in this case, are principles on theology, philosophy, human nature, rights, etc.

We can see this easily through examples.  If the input is the principle that all humans are equal in all ways, then a culture emerges which reinforces that position, with regards to the overall lifestyle including the art, entertainment, workplace,  definition of justice, and overall relationships.

The same can work in reverse.  If the input is that humans are not equal at all, then a culture emerges which reinforces the degradation of the unfortunate class, and this permeates through the culture down all the way to how news is reported and how different people are depicted in art, film and even casual conversation.

Everyone accepts this so casually that it is largely a matter-of-fact, and we end up with American slavery and the colonial era.

Western culture is the output based on its own inputs, and the fact of the matter is that it is too young to have any firm inputs.   The example of slavery is clear on this matter, within a few hundred years attitudes towards slavery changed as a result of new principles being applied.   Within another few decades attitudes towards everything from body image, sexuality and religion have dramatically changed.

On the other hand, Islamic cultures which developed out of 1400 years of exposure to Islam also have had their own independent inputs.   These principles have stood the test of time.  Further to this, Middle Eastern and Eastern cultures did not just deal with Islam as a matter of choice or an alternative lifestyle, it totally consumed their whole being.

This went to such an extent that even non-Muslims in the polity were affected by Islamic culture, much like today where the situation is reversed and Muslims are affected by non-Islamic culture.  And frankly, Muslims have been affected maybe even more than their non-Muslim counterparts were in Islamic times.

The situation with Muslims today is that the West defines principles (inputs), and we get a culture out of it (western culture), and then Muslims attempt to filter the result through ‘Islam’.   The problem with this approach is that Islam is not just a filter of culture.  It contains within it the seeds of creating new culture.

The principles of Islam, when applied in a thorough fashion, led people to a thriving, principally independent, culture from the west.   We see in history, when Islam was applied and Islamic societies emerged,  that Islamic art was not just ghetto art used now for Arabic calligraphy.  Islamic music was not harmonizing boy-bands singing about the Prophet (S).  Islamic family lifestyle was not the American dream.  Islamic governance was not democracy.   Muslim children weren’t raised on a Muslim muppet on TV.

But if Islam remains a filter, that’s all we’ll ever get.  A slightly adjusted version of a culture based on un-Islamic principles.  We won’t get music that’s entirely our own, we won’t get a dress that is entirely our own, we won’t get art that entirely our own, we won’t have a perspective that is entirely our own, and we certainly won’t get a spirituality that is entirely our own.

Historically, converts to Islam, and specifically we see this in the European converts of the pre-industrial age, were people who totally accepted adoption of faith, principles and culture.   When they converted, yes, they totally adopted the culture and perspective of the people which taught them Islam, and they abandoned that which was based on kufr in their hearts.  They had no alternative, really.  They knew what they were putting aside and what they were picking up.

But today, even Muslims born into the faith find it unfathomable to wrap their minds around the concept that the West needs to first be abandoned in order to build something Islamic.

We all know the maxim, “if you see something wrong the least we can do is dislike it in our hearts.”  But today we give excuses to this capitalistic materialistic society and try to find why it *is* Islam, and why its cultural output is ‘not so far’ from Islam.  Just let us tweak it here and there.  Add some minority-fiqh and it’s all legal too.

Forget abandoning Western culture and kufr based principles from which it arose, we don’t even want to dislike it in our heart.

Is it even possible to abandon the Western culture?  With commitment and a guide who is carrying that Prophetic message, yes, it is.   Because they replace that void with something fresh and growing and alive.

But at the same time we must know it is difficult to separate from any lover, even ones who are bad for us.   So, of course, inching progress will occur and compromises will be made.  But until this fundamental decision is made in the heart to (at least) incline away from the West, little progress towards a true Islamic lifestyle in one’s own household will be possible.

Fill out a form, write your check, get your ticket, head down to the University.

Listen to Imam such-and-such speak, hang out with friends after and relax. Rinse and repeat.

This is the paradigm for Suburban Muslims which has been put forward to the youth, and it seems to be failing miserably.  Everyone knows someone who has left faith at some seminars doorstep.

The foundation of this approach is based on a few unspoken assumptions which no one questions.

I will question them.

First, they should be listed:

1)  American culture is the primary definition of the way we dress, the food we enjoy, the entertainment we seek (Movies, TV, video games).

2) Islam can be understood practically as a filter of the ‘bad’ aspects of the American lifestyle out of ones life.    The bad aspects are the obvious haraam (forbidden actions).   It can also be an encouragement of the ‘good’ aspects of American life.

3) Since Islam is a filter of good and bad, one needs to obtain ‘ilm’ (religious knowledge) in order to learn how to behave.  Studying ‘ilm’  is paramount in Islam, and most ‘ilm’ is in Arabic.

4)  What is taught by people in classes at seminars and ‘events’ is a translation and summarization of what is considered ‘ilm’.

5)  Your status is defined by how much of this seminar-event-based ‘ilm’ you know.

6) Your source of English-’ilm’ is infinitely better than other peoples source of English-’ilm’.

7)  If you learn Arabic yourself you will one day know exactly without a doubt that #6 is true.

8)  ‘Ilm’ can be expensive.

9)  What defines a good Muslim is how well integrated he is with Suburban-Middle-class Society (job, wife, kids, house) plus the combination of his ‘ilm’

10)  With real ‘ilm’ we can combat a Non Suburban-Capitalist-Islam.  The end result of Non Suburban-Capitalist-Islam is a lifestyle absent of the luxuries and principles of Suburban Capitalist Islam, primarily #1.

11)  Non Suburban-Capitalist Muslims are extremists of different sorts, and Suburban Capitalist Muslims are moderate.  They are moderate because they are largely indistinguishable from n0n-Muslim Americans within the workforce, except for a beard/Hijab and some dietary requirements.

12)  Isa’s (AS) return, Imam Mahdi (AS) and the Dajjal are topics of events far in the future.   They are so far that they are largely understood as metaphors without meaning.

13)  Islamic history is something left to be studied in a superficial manner, because most of Muslim history is filled with various mistakes and evil people.  It is far more important to learn about the primary sources of ‘ilm’ and attend more seminars.

14)  Actual change from a Western to an Islamic society will come from those who participate in the political and economic system and give Dawah within.

15)  Most immigrants have no idea about ‘ilm’, because they have never attended these seminars.   Therefore most parents are without knowledge.

I will add more later.   If you have some more to add, put them in comments sections and later I will flesh all of these out.

• Are you changing yourself to fit into Islam, or are you changing Islam to fit to you? #

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The “Noble Edict of the Rose Chamber” was an 1839 proclamation by Ottoman Sultan Abdül Mecid I that launched the Tanzimat period of reforms and reorganization within the Ottoman Empire.

Below is the text of the edict:
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
—-
All the world knows that since the first days of the Ottoman State, the lofty principles of
the Qur’an and the rules of the Sheriat were always perfectly observed. Our mighty
Sultanate reached the highest degree of strength and power, and all its subjects [the
highest degree] of ease and prosperity. But in the last one hundred and fifty years,
because of a succession of difficulties and diverse causes, the sacred Sheriat was not
obeyed nor were the beneficent regulations followed; consequently, the former strength
and prosperity have changed into weakness and poverty. It is evident that countries not
governed by the laws of the Sheriat cannot survive.

From the very first day of our accession to the throne, our thoughts have been
devoted exclusively to the development of the empire and the promotion of the prosperity
of the people. Therefore, if the geographical position of the Ottoman provinces, the
fertility of the soil, and the aptitude and intelligence of the inhabitants are considered, it is
manifest that, by striving to find appropriate means, the desired results will, with the aid
of God, be realized within five or ten years. Thus, full of confidence in the help of the
Most High and certain of the support of our Prophet, we deem it necessary and important
from now on to introduce new legislation to achieve effective administration of the
Ottoman Government and Provinces. Thus the principles of the requisite legislation are
three:

1. The guarantees promising to our subjects perfect security for life, honor, and
property.

2. A regular system of assessing taxes

3. An equally regular system for the conscription of requisite troops and the
duration of their service.

Indeed there is nothing more precious in this world than life and honor. What
man, however much his character may be against violence, can prevent himself from
having recourse to it, and thereby injure the government and the country, if his life and
honor are endangered? If, on the contrary, he enjoys perfect security, it is clear that he
will not depart from ways of loyalty and all his actions will contribute to the welfare of
the government and of the people.

If there is an absence of security for property, everyone remains indifferent to his
state and his community; no one interests himself in the prosperity of the country,
absorbed as he is in his own troubles and worries. If, on the contrary, the individual feels
complete security about his possessions then he will become preoccupied with his own
affairs, which he will seek to expand, and his devotion and love for his state and his
community will steadily grow and will undoubtedly spur him into becoming a useful
member of society.

Tax assessment is also one of the most important matters to regulate. A state, for
the defense of its territory, manifestly needs to maintain its borders, the costs of which
can be defrayed only by taxes levied on its subjects. Although thank God, our Empire has
already been relieved of the affliction of monopolies, the harmful practice of tax-farming
[iltizam], which never yielded any fruitful results, still prevails. This amounts to
handing over the financial and political affairs of a country to the whims of an ordinary
man and perhaps to the grasp of force and oppression, for if the tax-farmer is not of good
character he will be interested only in his own profit and will behave oppressively. It is
therefore necessary that from now on every subject of the Empire should be taxed
according to his fortune and his means, and that he should be saved from any further
exaction. It is also necessary that special laws should fix and limit the expenses of our
land and sea forces.

Military matters, as already pointed out, are among the most important affairs of
state, and it is the inescapable duty of all the people to provide soldiers for the defense of
the fatherland [vatan]. It is therefore necessary to frame regulations on the contingents
that each locality should furnish according to the requirement of the time, and to reduce
the term of military service to four or five years. Such legislation will put an end to the
old practices, still in force, of recruiting soldiers without consideration of the size of the
population in any locality, more conscripts being taken from some places and fewer from
others. This practice has been throwing agriculture and trade into harmful disarray.
Moreover, those who are recruited to lifetime military service suffer despair and
contribute to the depopulation of the country.

In brief, unless such regulations are promulgated, power, prosperity, security, and
peace may not be expected, and the basic principles [of the projected reforms] must be
those enumerated above.

Thus, from now on, every defendant shall be entitled to a public hearing,
according to the rules of the Sheriat, after inquiry and examination; and without the
pronouncement of a regular sentence no one may secretly or publicly put another to death
by poison or by any other means. No one shall be allowed to attack the honor of any
other person whatsoever. Every one shall possess his property of every kind and may
dispose of it freely, without let or hindrance from any person whatsoever; and the
innocent heirs of a criminal shall not be deprived of their hereditary rights as a result of
the confiscation of the property of such a criminal. The Muslim and non-Muslim subjects
of our lofty Sultanate shall, without exception, enjoy our imperial concessions. Therefore
we grant perfect security to all the populations of our Empire in their lives, their honor,
and their properties, according to the scared law.

As for the other points, decisions must betaken by majority vote. To this end, the
members of the Council of Judicial Ordinances [Mejlis-i Ahkam-i Adliyye], enlarged by
new members as may be found necessary, to whom will be joined on certain days we
shall determine our Ministers and the high officials of the Empire, will assemble for the
purpose of framing laws to regulate the security of life and property and the assessment
of taxes. Every one participating in the Council will express his ideas and give his advice
freely.

And he (Dimitrie Cantemir d. 1723) concludes with these lines, having challenged his European readers: “I dare even say that Turkish music is much more perfect than that of Europe towards the measurement and the proportion, and it is also so difficult to understand that there are only three or four people who were familiar with the principles and the delicacies of this art “(HEO, II p.178).”

We emphasize this point about the complexity of music that “is much more perfect than that of Europe towards the measure” because we have actually experienced, out of only the nine makam we selected, the following (or beats) 14 / 4, 16 / 4 10 / 8, 6 / 4, 12 / 4 48 / 4 and 2 / 4. And of these seven measures only the rhythms 6 / 4 and 2 / 4 are common in the Western world.

-Jordi Savall – Istanbul (“The Book of the Science of Music”) -