The people's culture (al-Uruf or al-Aadah) plays a good role in the general application of the Shariah. Islam never came to call the bluff of people's culture and traditions rather to modify and regulate it.
The disparities in people's culture and how scattered people are, on earth are from the Signs of Allaah the Majestic.
Allaah the Mighty said:
'And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. Verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge.' Surah Ruum: 22
Interestingly, the above Verse is contained in a chapter of the Qur'aan named after the Romans.
Allaah the Mighty also said He created us into different tribes and nations:
'O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.' Q49:13.
So that diversity in the creation will bring in different cultures and languages.
Islam is a global religion. It does not shy away from a global reach albeit in the most effective ways. Islam does not force people to its way but it seeks to see to Allaah's laws be applied all over the globe. Yet it respects the cultures and traditions of people it comes across with.
The Prophets of gone nations were sent to their respective communities save Muhammad - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam - that was sent as a mercy to all mankind. Disbelieving this is an affront to the Creator.
Islam has a great appeal to the world such that hardly will it enter a region without making an eventual footprints. Yorùbáland as a casestudy. You can see the impact Islam is making in Europe and America today.
About a century after the Conquest of Makkah, Islam had travelled as far as the Indian sub-continent transversing the Caucasian and part of China. It later went to Europe, and passed Africa. It ruled Spain and Portugal, known as Andalusia then, for about 10 centuries, that was a whopping 1000 years.
Many scholars that would make good efforts for Islam intellectually were from the Ajam (the non-Arabs). Muhammad bn Ismail Al-Bukhari (the Collector of the popular Saheeh Al-Bukhari) hailed from Bukhara in the present day Uzbekistan. Muslim bn Al-Hajjaaj, Muhammad bn Eesa at-Tirimidhi, Ibn Maajah, An-Nasaaee, Abu Daawud, Abu Haatim, Abu Zur'ah, etc, were all non Arab scholars of Islam that did a great service for Islam.
The Mamelukes - former Muslim slaves - once ruled the whole of the Muslim world, from the 13th to 16th century they were majorly from the Central Asia. The Turks, that constitutued the popular Ottoman Empire, were still the rulers of the Muslims till early 20th Century.
Even in our era the likes of Muhammad Naasirudeen Al-Albaani, Aadam al-Ethiopee, Muhammad Aameen Ash-Shinkitee, etc, are all non Arabs. In fact many of them were prominent Muslim scholars of African descent. Al-Albaani was a pure European from Albania, while Al-Ethiopee, a pure African from Ethiopia.
So embracing Islam does not make you lose your heritage and values. You will always observe that Muslim figures will add an alias indicating their lineage to their names. Al-Bukhari, Al-Albaani, Al-Ethiopee, Ar-Raazee, etc, are examples. There was even an Al-Ilori in Nigeria some years ago.
It will interest you to note that Arab students freely learn Islam and its sciences under non-Arab Muslim scholars. In the olden days, the Arab students would travel to Rayy, Bukhara, Naisapur, etc, to learn hadeeth, when those cities were bastions of Islamic knowledge.
In Saudi Arabia today, where some unscrupulous people often cite as the bastion of cultural subjugation of other Muslims, black African Muslim scholars teach white Arabs Islam. Ash-Shaykh Aadam al-Ethiopee - Allaah's mercy on him - was a teacher at the Sacred Ka'abah for years until his death a couple of years ago. Al-Albaani designed the curriculum of the Hadeeth Faculty of Islamic University of Madeenah.
So Islam is not a religion of discrimination. It gives honour to whom it is due.
The legal maxim in Islamic jurisprudence is that
العادة Ù…Øكمة
'Customs and Traditions of the people are judicially noticeable.'
However for aspects of certain culture to be accepted, then it must broadly meet two conditions:
1. Those aspects of the culture must not contravene the Qur'aan and the Sunnah.
2. The culture must be generally used by the people of that culture, not a section.
Thus our types of food, as Yorubas of Kaaro Oojire, types of cloth materials and how we sew them, our farming methods, social life, social interactions, how we address ourselves, etc, are generally acceptable except with some modifications by the Shariah.
For examples there are certain foods and animals Muslim must not consume. Muslims don't eat pork and carnivores. They don't drink intoxicants such as Oguro and Gogoro. Muslims don't general eat filthy things.
The way Yoruba prepare their food, for instance, is one of those things Islam doesn't bother itself about. Eba, ÃŒyà n, Àmà là , Fufu, Eko AgÃdÃ, Ẹwà , Àṣà rò, are some Yoruba delicacies customs dictate its manner of cooking.
Islam however says your food source must be lawful. It encourages eating with three fingers (you can use spoons too as the case may be), it also encourages that we allow space for water and breath in our belly. When we eat in a company, we eat from what is closer to us and we should not seek to outpace our partners on the table. A body of healthy and beautiful ettiquettes, if you like.
In manners of dressing, Yoruba wear all sorts of cloths viz. Agbada, Sanyan, Dansiki, Dandogo (though this seems to come from the north). Islam however says the cloth must must not be revealing. Men cannot wear silk (as well as as gold). It must not be a cloth of fame and extravagance. Men's upper and lower cloths must not exceed the ankles. As for Muslim women they are expected to cover themselves up as far as the face (in one of the opinions).
The Jalabia style some Muslims men wear in Yorùbáland is for convenience. Sadly, the Yoruba styles of cloth are going extinct if nit Agbada, Buba and Sooro. The European culture is very dominating in this wise. Every young and adult Yorubas today spend a lot on what they call designer wears. You will see some of them blowing their hair, making it into different colours while some of the men shamelessly wear earrings.
Wearing turbans by Muslim men is believed to be a religious obligation. This is not true. There is no specific rewards attached to wearing turbans or even caps, though it was never in the habit of the Prophet of Islam - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam - to walk about bare headed, he would put something on be it a turban or a cap or a piece of cloth called khimaar (which is worn by religious figures today in Saudi Arabia as Simaagh).
Turban is more or less a part of the Arab culture which Islam passed on and which found its way into other Muslims. Even the manner of the wearing of Turban by the Prophet of Islam - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam - is not as some Muslim figures in Yorùbáland, for instance, land wear it today. His own turban - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam - was not massive, just some little extension down the shoulder.
Language is another area. Islam does not ask non Arabs to abandon their languages.
Arabic is the lingua fraca of all the Muslims, no doubt. It brings a sense of unity to all the Muslims where they meet. That is why the global Muslim greeting is 'Salaam Alaykum', a greeting of peace. And when a Muslim say 'Wallaahi' everyone knows he wants to swear (saying much of it is discouraged however, you only say it where it is extremely necessary).
Muslims are greatly encouraged to learn proficiency in Arabic - reading and writing. It is hard to really understand and appreciate the Qur'aan and Sunnah without the requisite knowledge of the Arabic. It is the Qur'aan that is recited in Arabic that is rewardable. In fact Qur'aan in other languages is not Qur'aan rather the interpretation of its meaning. Therefore, Muslims are to pursue the knowledge of Arabic to the utmost. The Arabic Language refreshes the brain. It is simple to learn and not as clumsy as the English Language.
Muslims use the Arabic in their routine Salawat (five times a day). Their kids memorize the Qur'aan effortlessly. The Qur'aan remains the best memorized religious book in the globe. Do you know there had been a time when the best Quraan teachers were non Arabs. The Qiraa'aat Knowledge of the Qur'aan had its major chains back to the Prophet - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam - via some prominent non Arab scholars like al-Kisaa'ee (who was a Persian) and Qaloon (whose great grand father was a Roman).
However, Islam does not say you should abandon your local dialect. In fact, for Da'wah purposes your local dialect is very important.
In Yorùbáland, Arabic has contributed a lot to the growth of Yoruba Language. It is a fact that Muslim scholars speak better Yoruba than other people. If not academic environment, you hardly hear the Friday Sermon being interpreted to English Language. It is often Arabic and Yoruba, and sometimes, Yoruba Language only (though the khutbah supposed to be in Arabic to accommodate those who don't understand local dialects).
The first form of writing known in the history of the Yorùbá was via the early Muslims. The Latin script in which Yoruba Language is written today was introduced by Samuel Ajayi Crowther who first translated the English Bible to Yoruba Language. The writing before then was Ajami (the type on some Nigerian currencies today), the art of using Arabic letters to denote local dialect. Christians like Samuel Ajayi Crowther would definitely prefer what their colonisers and converters brought for the obvious reason.
There are several other areas Islam has allowed many aspects of culture to go side by side with it.
The major issue has been in the area of worship. Yorùbáland for instance was and is rife with fetish practices that directly came in conflict with the belief of Islam. Yorùbáland is also a land of endless taboos. You don't whistle in the night, you don't wash in the rain with soap, you don't sit inside the mortal, a lot of them. Not to talk of curfews during Oro Festivals. Islam came and removed all that.
Giving tribal marks to kids is also prohibited by Islam. All this Gombo, Abaja, Pele, etc, is not acceptable. Islam censures those who make marks or tattoos on the body.
We continue in the next piece Inshaa Allaah.
In the past series:
