American Muslim in Cairo
And article from the LA Times follows a young convert who visits Egypt and doesn’t find the utopia he was sold. He doesn’t seem to be as disenchanted as others that I have known to go looking for utopia.
Obviously there is nothing wrong with going overseas, but people need to stop selling it as some perfect place and level with people so that they do not become disenchanted. In fact, if you don’t go over there with pre-conceived notions of a utopia, or that every place should be like the US you may even enjoy your visit.
Highlights from the article are below…
This summer, the 22-year-old Portland State University pre-law student pursued a years-long dream. The young Muslim traveled to Cairo to broaden his understanding of his faith, following the path forged by Malcolm X, whose thinking about race relations changed after he visited Egypt and other parts of the Mideast and Africa.
[...]
But Ali brought his American tendency for criticism and skepticism to a part of the world that values obedience and cohesion above all. He challenged much of what he saw, and ultimately he found himself uncomfortable in the heart of the Muslim world.
“This place went from like cool to weird in the last week,” Ali said in the days before he left. “I’m ready to get back home. I’m kind of tired right now.”
[...]
But Ali belongs to a new group of African American Muslims who have encountered few such obstacles. In California and in college, he counts Arabs, South Asians and Iranians among his closest friends.
“In college we’re all one big group,” he said. “In the mosque we’re all together. Where I come from, there’s no, ‘that’s the black mosque and that’s the Pakistani mosque.’ “
But the petty ways some Egyptians viewed the faith he reveres rattled Ali. Once, he got into a cab with a driver who demanded he prove that he was a Muslim by reciting the fatiha, the opening chapter of the Koran.
That happened to me a few times while overseas. I even had to show a police officer in one country the Hajj stamp in my passport (proving that I’d made Hajj) to authenticate my Islam.
After five weeks in the Middle East, he realized he was far more comfortable with the hyphenated American Muslims back home than with those here.
He yearned to head back to the Portland campus for Ramadan. He and his fellow Muslim students are organizing their second annual holiday “fast-a-thon”: Non-Muslims can join in the traditional dawn-to-dusk abstention from food and drink.
People nowadays are trying to divide the world into good and evil. On the one hand you have those who say that the West is totally good and has no problems (past or present) and everyone needs to be like them while the Muslim world is irredeemably backward and in need of annihilation. While on the other hand many in the Muslim world think that there world is without problems and that the West is filled with immoral people that have sex in the streets and a REAL Muslim couldn’t possibly be from there.
Seems to be very few people who can admit that both cultures can learn from each other. Those people also tend to be rejected by both worlds
Filed under: Black American Muslims, The Culture of Denial and Pretense
It’s a shame. But it’s a reality.
Hedonism and ego are more important than everything else.
Indeed, very sad.
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum,
Perhaps if you are talking about Afro-American Muslims, I would have thought they might consider other parts of the world, particularly where there are other Muslims, better than the US rather than like it. Anyway, I spent a couple of months in Egypt in 1999 and wouldn’t like to live there. I didn’t notice the racism as such although I did have people not believing I was Muslim - particularly, in one case, a doorman (bawwab) at one of the less well-known mosques in Gamaliyya. My biggest impressions were that it was overcrowded and dirty and was disappointed that Egyptian booksellers had never heard of certain books I was after, such as those published by Dar al-Hawi in Beirut (even the guys in Dar al-Kutub al-Lubnani) or even al-Nawawi’s Maqasid. But I enjoyed not having to worry about whether food was halal (although it wasn’t much to write home about) and the fact that mosques were mostly very open and peaceful places.
I’m shoked ppl doubted his Islam, as a black man. In the Muslim world there is usually no questions as to a black person being a Muslim. A white Amerian will always raise doubts. It is in The states, that I found immigrants questions the deen of AA converts.
Before I converted to Islam, I read MANY books about the religion. I couldn’t wait to get involved in a masjid so I could interact with my new brothers and sisters. I soon became extremely disenchanted. Alhamdulillah that I had enough sense to realize that it is people who are not perfect. Islam is perfect.
Why should a trip to a Muslim “country” be any different?
Many Muslims born into Islam take the deen for granted. Some converts know the deen better than born Muslims. Very much like the average Christian in the USA.
Let take adab for example. Specifically, the adab/etiquette of eating. Gheez! My first iftar I attended as a new convert at the masjid I almost got seriously injured going through the line at the tables. I saw elderly people and handicapped people waiting it out before they went through the line. I had children butt me out of the way so they could reach for food. And afterwards, the place looked like a stadium after a football game, food in the carpets, garbage everywhere. We won’t talk about the bathrooms. Thank God a few Muslims stuck around to help clean up.
I have a friend who just returned from Morroco extremely disenchanted.
I would like to add that the Muslims I speak of in my other comment are those from the so-called Muslim countries.
Famously, Tariq Ramadan - grandson of the founder of the Muslim brotherhood - went to the Middle East and came back realising he was European. Now I’m very alert to the ‘othering’ of Arabs and Muslims, but I do confess that it was less of a culture shock working in Poland than walking into the university mosque. It’s a shame Muslims sometimes let themselves down - I wonder whether this is due to poor leadership and education.
AA-
I’m finding it hard to comprehend this phenomenon. Do people not realize that the world is made up of humans with very human faults (Muslim or not)? Where are we getting these false images of angelic Muslims populating Muslim nations?
Thankfully I haven’t come across such naivety here in Saudia. Most Western Muslims who come here seem to be well aware of the Saudi ‘idiosyncrasies’ - I guess Saudis have a reputation.
Folks need to get out of the Malcom X mindset. Anyone who goes for Hajj will instantly come to realize that Muslims across the world are not the Sahabah we so desperately seek.
I think much blame must go to those crooked individuals who are painting a black/white (or good/evil as Tariq mentions) picture of the world. They claim that the Muslim world is the panacea for all our problems while the West is mired in hedonistic materialism. So when American Muslims come over to visit, their bubbles get burst very quickly.
For example, they’re looking for this other-worldly sense of brotherhood, when in reality such brotherhood is more apt to be found in the West than in any Muslim land.
I spoke of some of these problems that we’re facing in Riyadh in a recent post.
To me, it seems to be mainly the older (40+) immigrants who extoll the virtues of the Mozlem lands (while often, in many cases, also singing the praises of Amreeka the Beeyootifull). But I have found no shortage of immigrants (young or old) who have almost nothing good to say abuot “The Mozlem World(tm)” and who actively encourage American Mozlems not to go there.
At the same time, you have a very large, loud, growing number of Amerikan Mozlems who have absolutely nothing good to say about “The Mozlem World ™” and slag it off — even though many have never actually been there (though they may have a gamut of “good” excuses why not). But let’s not worry about checking the growing anti-not-Amreekan-Mozlem sentiment growing among converts and their children. Perhaps, after all, we are superior to them, even as we complain about “their” belief that they are superior. There has never been a lizard hole that we, as a people, haven’t rushed to descend into. We’re #1! We’re #1!
In any case, it’s all local and personal. Na’eem talks about brotherhood more likely being found in the West, when that has 100% not been my experience, and that of many women I know at all (perhaps gender plays into it?). The truth is that there are 6 billion worlds out there, and 6 billion truths. That is Na’eem’s truth, maybe a few others as well. Each one has differing realities within that truth. It’s all meaningless, in the end.
Personally, I think the only utopia is 7-11, where one can buy a Slurpee or Dr. Pepper, and get a brownie or a really suspect taquito. And half the time, there’s a Mozlem of some sort behind the counter (bonus!).
Pee Ess: I forgot one observation or thought.
Many, though certainly not all, of tha Mozlems who extoll the virtues of da Mozlem world ™ probably left before this major social revolution taking place. They left when it was completely unacceptable for people to publicly date. They left before Nancy Ajram and Haifa Wehbe and all the rest of it (including — proof that hip-hop is dead — Arabic rap). They left when hijab was the domain of old women and a few pious ladies not a fashion trend, which it is now (I really do hope it goes out of fashion again soon). Before pornography was easily available over the internet or on cheaply copied DVDs in the marketplace.
Frankly, I hope this thing plays out soon. Let hypocrisy out. Let it all out. People here (here I mean da Ay-rab world, though it may apply elsewhere) do still cling to this idea that they are morally superior to others — sort of like how we Amreekans believe it about ourselves — but “truth stands clear” and we shall see. Let it all out. Let us sort ourselves out. I’m tired of the hiding game, the crying game, the lying game among tha Mozlems (all of us).
AA- Umm Zaid,
Very nice. After peeling away the multiple layers of cynicism, I think I understand your points. I especially like the part of the 6 billion truths. However, your conclusion can be challenged.
I agree that every individual has his/her own differing reality. However, in cases when those varying realities begin to coincide and start to be more similar than different, we can take some lessons. Otherwise, how would we humans ever learn and adapt socially?
Of course there will always be exceptions to shared realities and there are lessons to be learned there as well. So lets keep the experiences coming while we sit and enjoy our Slurpees.
http://al-istiqamah.com/PP/Dan1.htm
I have been to the Middle East and North Africa. As an American who was born in Europe and lived in Europe, I always find that even if I am Muslim that Europe is a place I feel more comfortable with.
Sure, this is mainly for cultural reasons, but I also realise that the “unIslamic” nature of most places in the Middle East; including the culture, is a real turn off.
When I went to the Middle East for the first time I didnt have illusions. People are people. I have known converts who head to the Middle East, even Saudi Arabia, thinking they will find a Muslim paradise, and when they dont their deen is shaken to the core.
Me? I went with the quote from the famous writer George Bernard Shaw in mind that “Islam is the greatest religion, but it has the worst followers”. I kept that in mind and wasnt disappointed.
[...] Tariq Nelson from the LA [...]
ASA:
Having traveled and spent time in Palestine, Turkey, UAE, Egypt and making Hajj, I was never under the misperception that I would find a utopia in any of those places for a couple of reasons.
1) In being a student of Muslim history especially the time period of the Salaf (the best generations), there were always social problems from racism to Muslim on Muslim murder. Why would it be any better in those lands today when the people are further away from Islam than the Salaf?
2) I’ve witnessed the hyper-religious senstivities of some Muslims, who were born in those countries that live here as well as the lack of religious practice of their kin while in America. I knew that the side effects of colonialism and desire by some to emulate the colonialists would translate into such behaviors.
So when I went to Al-Madinah before making Hajj and was told “ruh `abdi” by a Kuwayti, I was peturbed, but it was no shock that this man would beckon me to hasten like a good “slave.” Before making Hajj, I had already spent time in the Arab world and had been called a slave before.
And brothers and sisters, who are Arab that read this, please do not tell me that he meant nothing by it and that calling black people “slaves” is just an idiom in the Arab world. Besides the Prophet (SAAS) stating, “Do not call anyone `abdi, for all of you are slaves of ALLAH,” calling someone a slave means that their is lower estimation in the human worth of the person.
AbuSinan,
Do you have source (citation from a book or something else) of George Bernard Shaw’s quote
Thankx
Yeah Abu S…do tell. It is a fashionable cop out for you guys aint it? Yeah…the Religion is da greatest…yeah…but dem Mozzies….damn they just dont get it do they. (All spoken in Seinfeldian lingo).
Maybe Abu S, you can drop those glasses and start doing some real thinking for a change. Like how can you have a Mozzie world that is so f***ed up that it just begs for some serious stereotyping. To say that most Muslims take their religion seriously and then not to expect a blowback on da ‘Greatest Religion/True Religion’ for the fuck ups that these places are, is living in cuckoo land. Or living in Mozzie land. Great places for some selective Amnesia I hear.
Amused,
Even the Hindu Times admits that it came from Bernard Shaw. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/op/2001/11/27/stories/2001112700030100.htm Let me guess………..now Hindus are doing the work for Muslims? LOL!
Real thinking? I certain have and do. I think you need to get out more, do some traveling, meet people outside of your normal sphere. You wouldnt be so closed minded.
Are you aware that the German world’s greatest writer was very fond of Islam as well? Not that I expect you are too familiar with Goethe.
“He only whom Allah doth bless with his smile
Is train’d and is nurtured with riches and life. ”
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/poetry/ThePoemsofGoethe/chap41.html
“Whether the Koran is of eternity?
I don’t question that!…
That it is the book of books
I believe out of the muslim’s duty.”
Notes and Essays to the Divan (WA I, 6, 203)
I have to sit here and laugh at those who are so worried about “the West” aree usually the same sorts who have ZERO idea about what makes the West so great. It is usually these types that populate the WORST of what the West is all about.
You want find many Goethe or Schiller readers amoungst them and Kid Rock is more their genre of music rather than Beethoven or Wagner.
If left to these types the West is more at danger than anything from the Muslim world. But hey, you guys can continue with your “Trailer Park Residents of the West Unite” theme.
http://www.london.diplo.de/Vertretung/london/en/05/News__and__Events/2007/Goethe__175__Anniversary/Goethe__Islam__seite.html
Yeah…Abu S…you followed the script alright. NEVER discuss what is fucked up now or today…Look over your shoulder for the ‘glorious past’ and rest easy. Yeah we were great once…and the rest of teh world better beg to THAT fact..yeah.
I mean you guys can sit on your white butts and actually come out swinging with that in my face! Sheesh…i mean…get a life guys. You are going down the tubes like you are on a rollercoaster.
heres a thought for ya…Lets say we assume that the Moz world is more sinned against than sinning (i know, i know humor me).
Lets say they win and want to impose Shareeah on my sorry ass and give me a enriching life and make me meet my creator all at the same time.
On the other hand is teh decadent west with it’s moral atrophy and meritocracy and free loving people and strip bars and gang rapes and what ever the hell you can think of.
Yeah gimme that choice and see where i want to be. Maybe that is something you can put in your pipe and smoke.
By the way …i did study Goethe - well at least a poem by him. Was he really enamoured of a politically dominant force or was he just being PC…we’ll never know would we? But dont let little things like that get in your way.
Rock on in your little nether world of hijabs and thobes and salats while you can also strap a couple of bombs and blow the lights out for the rest of us.
Lets see whos the last left standing….
I never said the Muslim world doesnt have issues. You’d be hard pressed to find a bigger critic of the Muslim world than myself. Your Islamophobia seems to be blinding your sight.
As to Goethe being “PC”, I wasnt aware that there was a PC movement in Germany in the 1800’s. Care to give me a reference for any such movement?
I guess your study of one poem by Goethe didnt help you much. There was no PC movement in Germany (the areas that now make up Germany that is) during Goethe’s life. I guess I will try and educate you some about your own history. If you want to know about one movement Goethe was consider a member for awhile look up the “Sturn und Drang” movement.
PC? You accuse me of being lost in the past, but with trying to apply modern concepts, ideas and movements to someone who lived 200 years ago; you are completely lost in the present. Get a clue, and a univeristy education wouldnt hurt either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturm_und_Drang
[...] This post got me to thinking about what the Islamic lands are expected to look like from a convert’s perspective [...]