Nasihah : : : :

And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colours, verily in that are signs for those who know. (al-Rum 30: 22)

Muslims in Britain have come from different parts of the Muslim world. They have come with some specific purpose in view either acquiring education and skills, or obtaining better employment or seeking asylum from oppressive regimes. They came with the intention of staying here for a short period of time and then returning back home and many did go back. On the other hand, a large majority stayed behind, brought their families over and settled here. Now there is a new generation of Muslims, who are born and educated here. Muslims with the various other communities are now part of a multi-faith and multi-cultural society. However, their presence in a non-Muslim country raises many problems. They have come from significantly different cultural and religious societies. The problem of settling in different cultural environment has yet to be solved.

As Muslims were exposed to different social values and culture their instinctive reaction was to safeguard their own values and culture. This initial reaction and attitude was to remain in isolation shutting themselves off from the rest of society in order to preserve their Islamic identity. Some still manage to remain in this state. We know the futility of such exercise. One cannot preserve one’s identity by shutting oneself from the rest of the world. This isolationist attitude has come under severe criticism from both official agencies and many Muslim organisations as well. The attitude of non-co-operation and non-communication is detrimental to both individual and the society at large.

There is another group of Muslims that wants to integrate completely by abandoning Islamic teachings. Such people are found in Muslim countries as well as over here. They are dazzled by the progress and material prosperity of the West and think that by adopting their ways will help them to modernise and prosper. Such blind imitation and aping will not help in changing the destiny of Muslims. We have the example of Turkey that has adopted Western laws and norms yet it has not been able to modernise and change the society.  Such capitulation is both irrational and disrespectful to one’s own identity.

More recently there is yet another group of Muslims who hate everything Western and preach confrontation. Open hostility and violence against the West and non-Muslims is their way of proclaiming the superiority of Islam.

So what is the best way for us to adopt from these extreme attitudes? We know that Islam wants people to be involved in the affairs of the community. We have been advised to follow the precept of Islam ‘accepting what is good and rejecting what is wrong.’ It is our duty to understand and evaluate the Western culture. It does not entail outright rejection nor it requires complete absorption or confrontation. We have to analyse all aspects of the Western culture and decide what similarities it has with our culture and what differences there are. Then decide what is desirable and what is not acceptable.   

In saying that we have to adopt an independent attitude of critical appreciation, we assume that we have an ideological and cultural personality of our own. This ideological and cultural personality is embodied in the basic guidance given by Allah and His Prophet (saws). This guidance teaches us to be conscious at all times our commitment to our faith.

One cannot form any relationship with the society if one is not clear about one’s own relationship with his Creator. In Islam Allah is the Creator, the Lord, the Nourisher and the Law Giver. The position of man is that he is representative of God on this earth. He has to live his life according to His guidance. This relationship with God is a principle of integration with the universe and with reality. Problems of alienation we find are the result of not understanding the reality of oneself and of the universe. Once a person establishes the right relationship with his Creator he integrates with reality and with his own self. 

The relationship with Allah also fosters meaningful relation with society. The Prophet (saws) enunciated the guiding principle for us. He once said:

Al-Din is Nasihah. The people asked “To whom?” The Prophet replied, “To Allah and His Book and to His Messenger and the leaders of the Muslims and their common folk.” (Muslim)

Nasihah is difficult to translate into English. It embraces sincerity, good advice and well wishing. The word has two meanings. One meaning is to clean, purify or improve something such as purifying honey from impurities and the other meaning is to unite or join something together as in sewing a garment.  In the Holy Qur’an this word is used to describe the task, which Prophets have performed in respect of their Ummah.

So Salih left them saying: “O my people! I did indeed convey to you the message for which I was sent by my Lord. I gave you good counsel, but you love not good counsellors. (al-A’raf  7: 79)

It signifies purifying relationship with society. It is heartfelt desire to reform and to build relationships on right lines wishing wellbeing of the whole community. So Nasihah is dynamic and purposeful activity. It involves a Muslim with his surroundings. Nasihah in respect of Allah is that we establish correct relationship with Him, that is accepting Him as Our Lord. Nasihah in respect of the Prophet is to accept him as the supreme guide and leader. Nasihah in respect of Leaders of the Muslim society and common folk is basically to give them good advice that is enjoining what is good and forbidding what is wrong.  Thus, a Muslim’s life is to be sincere to oneself and rest of the society.

With this duty of Nasihah as our motivating force we should embark upon critical analysis and deep thought.  When we are confronted with a different culture and environment we should questions: “Is it right to follow this custom?” “ Is this Islamicaly acceptable behaviour?” or “Should we pursue this course of action?” Thus, we have to make a conscious decision at each issue and adopt our course of action accordingly. Looking at some examples we can see that there are some institutions and features of the British society like democratic traditions, equality, honesty, fair dealing, punctuality and good manners, helping others etc. These are also Islamic values and Muslims should follow them. Muslims should willingly adopt all good things wherever they find them. But then there are other things prevalent in the British society such as sexual permissiveness, one-parent families, old people homes, pornography and hooliganism. Muslims cannot adopt these aspects of British culture, as we know they are detrimental for the society and violates the Islamic teachings. This should be the general attitude of Muslims living in Britain.

No doubt there is a section of Muslims who live in isolation to preserve their identity. They are in minority and they have to be persuaded to come out of their self-imposed shell and get involved in the task of reforming the society and make it better for everyone. The other important task we have to do is to get rid of the baggage of some of the cultural traditions that are not Islamic. For example forced marriages are void under the Islamic law. Yet there are many reported cases of such incidents. This tarnishes the image of Islam in this country. Arranged marriages that are prevalent in other cultures as well are of course different from forced marriages. Treatment of women by some section of the Muslim society is clearly against the teachings of Islam. Women have equal rights in pursuing education and contributing to the welfare of their families and the society. They should not be left uneducated and ignorant and confined to their homes.   

Historically Islam has tried to assimilate the local culture if it did not conflict with Islamic teachings. Right from Indonesia to Morocco there is diversity of culture despite all being Islamic. In time there will be European and even British Islamic culture. In contrast those who are so vociferous in preaching the Muslim about integration themselves when they colonised other countries maintained their culture and did not integrate with local culture!

Muslims who have now made Britain their home are exposed to many challenges and forces. These can only be met with by being conscious of our ideological and cultural heritage. We can meet this challenge and check the onslaught of alien culture first by adopting the Islamic values ourselves by seeing that our house is in order and following the precept Nasihah. We should take what is good and leave what is bad following the standards given by Allah and His Prophet (saws). These are skills and capacities that we require in meeting the challenges of our age.

Let us pray that may Allah (swt) give us this wisdom to discern between good and evil and guide us to the right path. (Amin)