Brother Abdur-Rahman has written a long but very interesting post about the phrase “I’m just a Muslim” it’s history, it’s original meaning and it’s current meaning. Once again, this got me thinking about many of the people I have met in the past 13 years.
As the brother stated in the post, on the surface there is nothing wrong with being “just a Muslim” as it implies you do not discriminate on the basis of race or nationality. However, it has taken on some different meanings.
I think that most people nowadays mean that they do not belong to a cultish type movement, group, or particular sect. It means that I do not engage in groupthink or meanspirited demogoguery in the name of the religion.
However, I have also met those who mean it in a sort of “racial” connotation.
When I became Muslim, I began to go to the only halal meat store at the time in that particular town. There was a very nice man working in there and we used to talk while he was preparing my order. He spoke with some kind of accent, so I asked him where he was from. He told me that he was “from here”. (He was African-American) I was curious as to why he was speaking with an accent, but I did not ask him. He continued on to say to me that he doesn’t accept the nationalities and ethnicities (at all) and that he was “just a Muslim”. This is the first time I remember hearing this phrase. As time would pass, I would meet more and more brothers like this.
It is this understanding of being “just a Muslim” that I reject. You must - like the brother in the meat store - become a pseudo-foreigner of some type and adopt a hodge-podge of immigrant cultures rather than adopting Islamic values. Being “just a Muslim” has essentially come to mean running away from one’s family, and history in some attempt to “pass” into “non-blackness”. In addition they adopt a parochial and reactionary attitude and a paralyzing suspicion of all things American or Western.
Reflecting on my early years as a Muslim, I was not allowed to be “just a Muslim” in the strict sense in my early years. I can also remember an incident where I was berated by a Blackamerican brother who was “just a Muslim” for “holding on to jahiliyyah” because I was eating a sandwich. (The sandwich is a non-Muslim thing you know!) This is why you would find brothers bragging about not having had a hamburger in years - as if it were alcohol.
A friend of mine who lives in a city with a Muslim community with an overwhelming immigrant community was telling me a story. The small group of brothers that prayed fajr at the masjid would get together at someone’s home once a week (usually Sunday) for breakfast. Week after week they would have an Arab style breakfast with lettuce, tomatoes, boiled eggs and hummus. There is nothing wrong with that, but the brother - who was the only convert in the group - decided to invite everyone over to his home to treat them to a traditional American breakfast (eggs, beef bacon, pancakes, etc). However, when they came, they did nothing but complain and (unintentionally) hurt this brother’s feelings. His breakfast was just not acceptable. It was somehow “un-Islamic” and the brother felt alienated and stopped attending the breakfasts. He also refused to go along with the groupthink and went right on liking his foods rather than conforming to the conventional thinking of what an “Islamic” breakfast is.
In recent times there has been a synergistic coupling of being “just a Muslim” and being an immigrant in many places outside of the Northeast because of the increased percentages of immigrants in those communities. This means that the dominant immigrant group in a particular city defines being “just a Muslim”. In other words, it is getting to the point where to be “Muslim” in a place like Minneapolis or Columbus, Ohio is to be Somali and vice versa. Or in other cities to be “Muslim” is to be Arab or Pakistani and vice versa.
The cultural definition of the “Islamically normal” is defined by immigrant norms, so the convert is sort of forced to adopt these norms as they are associated with Islam itself while the surrounding culture is “un-Islamic”. This is probably why the brother felt the need to speak in an accent. Afterall, the Muslims do speak with accents right? This is why I get irked when someone asks “what about Muslim culture?” The implication behind that is that we must all become a giant monolith that never existed.
Accepting this puts converts in the awkward position of implicitly being measured (culturally, intellectually and otherwise) in relation to the immigrants’ culture in every way. The way the immigrants do things sets the very criteria for being “Just a Muslim”. This leaves the convert - desperately trying to be “Just a Muslim” - in the position of committing ethnic apostasy because he/she is trying to follow this “natural order”. They will completely transfer their identity to that of the Middle East or Pakistan. Hence we find particular convert Muslims completely beholden to an immigrant culture sometimes even speaking with broken English accents, pretending to not identify with American culture at all. Also because the immigrants set the criteria for being “just a Muslim” there is no problem in involving oneself in the issues of Muslim countries overseas, but speaking about issues of the local community is branded as “nationalism”.
The second problem is that the “just a Muslim” mentality does not take into account the different problems that people may face and has a “one size fits all” approach. Since we are all “just Muslims” there are no particular problems and you use a “cut and paste” approach to Islam. A situation here, fits a situation there. There are no differences or peculiarities in the situations. All it takes is a canned method to solve problems.
Thirdly, being “just a Muslim” - in my recent experience - has often been used as a mantra to deny involvement in the community. No community clean ups or participating in homeless shelters for them because they are “just a Muslim”.
There is also a “soft racism” that underlies this “just a Muslim” type of thinking. Immigrant Muslims are expected to get a good education and become a doctor, lawyer and what have you while a black Muslim is expected to receive zakaah. A young immigrant Muslim is never berated about quiting school the way a Blackamerican Muslim is in the name of this thinking. It is because there is a “soft racism” of low expectations of blacks. While the (black) “I’m just a Muslim” Muslim will proudly speak of how many Muslim professionals there are, his “just a Muslim” blinders will keep him oblivious to the fact that relatively few of them are Blackamericans.
Muslims don’t talk much about race due to the ideology that “We Are All Muslims”. By insisting upon this, the intractable social problems of the Blackamerican converts can be obfuscated, while the fact that most of the extremely wealthy and educated are immigrant can be obscured.
It is perfectly fine for them to love their families, but we are somehow criminals for loving ours. It is praiseworthy for them to visit their family, but it is blameworthy for us to visit ours. It is fine for them to discuss the problems in their countries, but I am evil for discussing or trying to solve those in mine. That’s why I cringe when I hear Muslims falling into this trap, basically implying that Muslims don’t care about the downtrodden and must commit cultural apostasy.
Filed under: Black American Muslims
Good stuff as usual Tariq. The newest thing for the “just Muslims” is to actually TYPE in an accent. I have seen born American Muslims who speak very little or no Arabic starting to type posts in English and write “ya’ani” and “Is’rael”.
Do these people know just how silly that is? They need to embrace the FACT that they are Americans, they will never been anything else.
Instead of trying to be something they never will be, why not embrace the idea that they are part of a new culture, Muslim-Americans? We have our own unique culture, no need to steal anyone else’s.
LOL. What’s interesting is that when you do actually happen to live in the Middle East (where many people tend to be Arabs and speak the language), you start picking up the slang words people around you use, no matter how staunchly and vigilantly you protect your Americanness. I mean, Americans are totally known for never adapting the words, foods, clothing, arts, and music of other cultures! That must be the totally American culture we’re supposed to isolate ourselves in!
PS: It’s Isra’il, as it is transliterated from the Qur’an, not Is’rael.
I have really been through the wringer since becoming a Muslim in ‘96. Not only did I have to put up with Muslims trying to convert me to one Muslim movement or another, but it seemed like some of them were trying to get me to convert to their RACE. If I wore a Shalwar Kameez, my Pakistani friend would just beam with pride and try to parade me around the Masjid. Then when the “Jilbabi’s” caught wind of my Shalwar Kameez “transgressions”, they were all over me to wear a Jilbab and cook maklooba. It was like everyone wanted us to adopt their customs, cultures, dress….it was all pretty hysterical in hindsight. It definitely was a strange few years.
For the past two years, I have visited a a few mosques.Although I was impressed with the Jummah and what learned ( and continue ) to learn about Islam, I had initial apprehensions about my visit.. I was full of worry as I wondered about the modesty of my dress appeal and how would a non-muslim like myself be received by some fo the people at the mosque?
When I first got there, I needed directions getting inside the ladies Musullah and the only person there at the time was a guy. Eventually, I got to nerve to ask him, but I didn’t want to make myself look disrespectful towards him ot myself as I have heard some people say that it is considered to be inappropriate for a Muslim woman to initiate conversation with a man. I also remembered having a perplexed expression on my face as I expected the vending machines to be filled with healthy/Halal snacks , instead of the junk food/sodas that I seen some of the kids and their parents eating. If this seem like ignorance, forgive me for what I was “taught” about it.
I get annoyed when people do that. What they don’t realize is that when you put more focus on judging the outer actions of the person, you’re going to drive them farther from your cause. Even at the mosque that I have visited, some the members there didn’t like the Imam’s ” too liberal” style of running .There was also an Indian sister feeling frustrated of stuff like the one mentioned in the article and hoping that I wouldn’t have a negative view of the Muslim faith and I assured her that I wasn’t to the point where I’m considering reverting to it.
Umm Zaid,
Thanks for pointing out the typo. I do think it is more than a little bit over the top to start talking or typing in accents.
I am married to an Arab, have spent a couple of years living in the Middle East, taken four years of university Arabic, taken it in the Middle East at an Arabic institute there and taken advanced Arabic grammar for several semesters with a Saudi institute and still don’t speak English with an affected Arabic accent.
There is a Western lady here in the DC area who is married to the former Saudi Cultural Minister. She lived in Riyadh for TWENTY YEARS and speaks Arabic better than any non native speaker I have ever met. But guess what, she doesn’t affect a fake accent either.
If living in Saudi Arabia for 20 years and speaking fluent Arabic doesn’t give one accented English, nothing will.
It is fake and pretentious and no one buys it.
You and I have gone rounds before so I really don’t want to get into it. It is VERY clear to almost everyone, except those that do it, that fake accents are just that, FAKE! It impossible to divorce yourself from the country you grew up in and lived in for the vast majority of your life.
Besides, the point, why would you want to? Giving that I speak Arabic conversationally, have lived abroad for well over a decade of my life, I am still attatched to be an American. Being a Muslim doesnt change that. I am now a Muslim American. I feel no need to try to be someone else.
Let me tell you, it doesn’t make people accept you any more. As a matter of fact, 99% of the conversations about this subject with Arabs and Westerners, people who affect fake accents are scorned and ridiculed and rightfully so. It is a sign of either faulty thinking and or a self esteem issue. You can continue with your “ya’ani” and other nonsense, but it doesn’t make you any more Muslim, doesn’t make you a part of anything or make people respect you, nor does it even show that you can speak Arabic.
If you want people to think you can speak Arabic why don’t you post in Arabic? Typing “ya’ani” doesn’t mean you can write, read or speak Arabic. It just shows you can affect a fake Arabic accent.
///The second problem is that the “just a Muslim” mentality does not take into account the different problems that people may face and has a “one size fits all” approach.///
The implication behind this statement is false. One of the ulamaa, Shaykh `Alee Naasir Faqeehee (a lecturer at al-Masjid an-Nabawee and the Islaamic University of Madeenah, and Head of the Department of Knowledge Related Affairs at the King Fahd Qur’aan Printing Complex) said in response to a similar claim that Islaam changes from place to place:
“Their claim that this is a Western issue and that Major Scholars elsewhere do not need to be involved: We say to them that the same Islaam you have over there in the West is the same Islaam we have here. What is false and contradictory to Islaam over here is also false and contradictory to Islaam over there. Islaam is suitable for all times and places”.
—-
We are all the same: MUSLIM. What is good for one Muslim is good for another: Pure Islaam free and clear of innovations. If the Ummah united upon this then we could rise back to our days of glory and izzah. There was success in following this way. The Muslims were uppermost in the land when we followed the Sunnah. To the contrary, we became humiliated when we split into different “cultures” and methodologies. There is an Islaamic culture that each and every Muslim should follow: The Sunnah.
Islaam does not change from place to place or time to time. The latter part of this Ummah will not be corrected except by what corrected it first part (the Sunnah). The truth is that the past holds the blueprint for future action of the Muslims. There is no place for “culture” in Islaam. Go back to following the Sunnah and you will be successful
Aboo Abdillah,
When exactly did such a utopia that you are describing exist?
Your jargon relies upon us not doing the following — stop and think. (and perhaps read something other than propaganda)
You are counting on us not thinking and seeing through the selective memory you are trying to lay on us. There has NEVER been a monolithic “Islaamic” (”Islamic”?) culture where everyone dressed, ate and thought alike. If there was such an era, please direct me to it.
Salaam,
I hate the “I’m Just a Muslim” mentality. Sure you may identify yourself as a Muslim— but let’s be real and realize that you identify as this race, this nationality, and this gender. I happy with what God gave me, and I believe that God created me different from others with a purpose. When people deny the differences in cultures, language, and even skin colors I feel that they are denying the differences that God created amongst humans (***but of course there are many haraam things that people have created in their cultures***)!
These people are trying to make being a “Muslim” a race… and that disturbs me. Can you imagine if they succeed?
I’m really glad that I grew up with a strong mother who rejected a lot of the garbage that is out there that speculates about what it is to be Muslim. I have totally rejected so much of this that I have grown a hatred— a knot in my stomach— when I see black Americans and white ones dressed like foreigners at Eid. I purposely dressed Western at these functions just to show other Americans that they don’t have to accept all of this foreign cultural stuff to be a Muslim.
::sighs:: but we will still be having this conversations even after I die.
I agree with Abu Sinan although I think your response was rude. I honestly I don’t think people realize that its fake. Muslims aren’t the only ones who do it though. I live in England years ago and met Canadians and Americans who lived there for over 25 years and they sounded completely the North American. And yet, students who were there for less than a year would come back with fake British accents. I think I even used to slip up and use “quite this or lovely that” . You don’t realize that you are doing it, so I don’t think its intentional but its definitely affected. Its not that you have lost your accent naturally. Your accent is pretty much set once you become an adult.
Speaking of being pretentious: Must you mention being married to an Arab in every post. We get it, your marriage makes you an expert in all things Arab.
Aboo Abdillah,
I agree 100% with your post, however I challenge you to speak to those very scholars and see if they can utilize Islam in America, as a tangible solution, to drug abuse, depression, fornication. How can they (we) utilize Islam as a solution to under achievement in our communities, spousal abuse and all of the other ills that affect our communities, not just MUSLIM. Let’s not forget that Islam is the solution for all issues.
It is my opinion that we need to now take issues to the scholars (to include Sherman Jackson) and request solutions that are systematic and provide legitimate avenues for change. We must become solution oriented, we have spent the last 10 to 15 year acquiring the correct fundamental understanding of the religion, NOW IT’S TIME TO TAKE IT A STEP FURTHER AND BECOME SOLUTION ORIENTED.
Mohamed Witten
Masjid Al-Hikma
11064 Livingston Rd. Unit L (101)
Ft. Washington, MD 20744
301.292.9009
Peaches, sister you have made some good observations. Many non-Muslims do feel this sense of otherness in a lot of Mosques here. Muslims need to be more friendly towards other people. Plus we need to get rid of that Gothic frown from our faces. Islam is a great religion, we just need to practice it a bit more sanely.
Akhee Mohamed Witten
Although you agree with my post, I must take issue with yours. Our scholars should not busy themselves in the affairs of these kufaar, but rather they should be teaching us the affairs of tawheed as they have been. If there was any good in the things you mentioned, then they would be the leaders in speaking on those things.
Secondly, there are no scholars in the West, much less the likes of Sherman Jackson who divides the Muslims by calling some of us “Blackamerican” and is against this blessed dawatul haqq. I reject this label for myself and free myself from the problems of those people and free myself from this man
KNOWLEDGE proceeds action. We have not been instructed by our ulamaa to waste our time in the “community affairs” but rather to learn tawheed. We have nothing to do with these people akhee
Anon,
I only mention that I am married to an Arab to provide context. I also mention it because in the past I have failed to do so and been accused by some of trying to pass myself off as an Arab because I speak Arabic and use an Arabic nickname online. I guess I am damned if I do, damned if I dont on that issue.
I think the fact that I actually speak Arabic and have lived in the Middle East is much more important.
Either way, it is plain that the vast majority of people would think such a thing is fake, affected, and more than a bit stupid.
As to being rude, sorry you took it that way.
Having lived well over a decade, a third of my life abroad, I have seen stuff like this many times and it is very annoying. From a religious perspective I find it odd that immitating another CULTURE makes one think they are more RELIGIOUS. Culture and religion are two very seperate things.
I lived in the UK for three years. I think there is a difference between a native English speaker taking up a few phrases in a language that is their own (although different dialect) and a person who does not even have the ability to speak a foreign language taking up the slang of that language in writen or spoken form.
Amina,
Initally, that was an adjustment for me , but I ‘ve gotten used to it. .In spite of it, I didn’t develop negative feelings about it as I thought that was part of the Islamic religious culture. I’m still got some learning to do about it, but so far, I’m loving it to the bones.
I am fascinated by this discussion. Now that some of us are enlightened enough to recognize who we are, and that being American, black or white and dressing our style and eating our style is not an issue of faith or lack of it. Lets not get too carried away. That’s just one hurdle we’ve gotten over. The seeds that of religious dysfunction were planted in American Muslim minds before many of you were born. Abu Sinan, blazing the new culture of the independent minded, spiritually healthy, American Muslim, that’s your job and people like you. Some folks already missed that boat and many others will . Don’t get frustrated, send them salaams, flowers and some date, say al-hmdu lillah and get busy being part the next level American Muslim. Enlightenment is not a religion, it’s just a tool that get us to the next step. Brother want to wear a thobe at Eid. Let him have his peace.
Abu Abdilla, love your spirit. By the way, theres plenty of room for culture in Islam. What do you think blogging is? It’s not ibaadah. It’s culture and a useful one for us. Islam will always be the same in that is is not always the same. If you are home in your city, you pray four rakaats. If you travel, you pray two. It’s Ramadan, if your are young and healthy go ahead and fast. If you are a feeble old man. Feed some people and you get the same reward. Same deen, different program. America is very different from Saudi, trust me. If our women aren’t allowed to drive. half our children would probably starve cause they don’ have fathers pops. Same deen, different ruling. Which is why I urge you to learn from he scholars, but remember, they can only tell you what they know of. If they come to America and actually see what crack can do to a Muslim family, then maybe they can help in a meaningful way, if they stick around long enough. People are not allowed to rule on matters that they are not familiar with. That part of the deen too. It applies to the teacher as well as the student. Allah created made this deen so it can serve everyone with what they need. We all don’t always need the same things. What’s good fo one Muslim is not always good for the other. Sorry bro. “The Prophet (SAWS) said that there are people whom if Allah were to make then rich, it would corrupt them so He keeps them poor, and there are people whom Allah knows that if they were poor, it would corrupt them, so He keeps them poor” .Fortunately for us, no one owns Islam. If all Muslims were the same, you wouldn’t have anyone to debate with or to take knowledge from. What fun is that. Abu Sinan, as for the brother who wants to be just a Muslim, don’t spoil his moment. Some people need a moment where they can ignore the reality of our condition. we are just one big happy family. Its not a sin for someone to be naive, that’s how some people maintain their piety. The just Muslim people have a role to play. Remember ikhwaan, it’s all about maintaining the brother and sisterhood at all costs. And you are right, we do have our own unique culture. But it’s okay if we see something we like and can make use of, to take something from other culture as long as it’ halal. Allah places good wherever he wants. Which of the favors of your Lord will you deny.
Imam Luqman Ahmad
http://www.imamluqman.com
Alhamdulilah, what beautiful reminders brother, Imam.
Abu Sinan
I think there is a difference between using words from another language and thereby acting like you’re someone else or you just use them because you’re influenced by people/culture.
If you pretend to be someone else, that’s faking it. I agree. But just because I sometimes choose Arabic words instead of English, doesn’t mean I’m faking it. I am who I am, and I don’t try to be an Arab. Sometimes I chose to use certain Arabic words instead of the Urdu words while speaking in Urdu. It still doesn’t mean I’m faking it.
Some people just develop an accent, other people have to work hard/choose to keep their old accent.
It could be that some people change to fit in better, what’s wrong with that? If a person has been in Saudi Arabia for 20 years and that influences his/her accent, so what? It’s quite natural, not necessarily fake. Or what’s wrong if they are fascinated by another culture?
My point is, just because a person uses ya’ni or Isra’il every now and then, doesn’t mean that they are faking it. I’m not an American, but I talk with a very American accent. I should be speaking English with a Norwegian accent, but I don’t. And trust me, my intention with this is not to act like an American. It’s just that i truly dislike the Norwegian accent.
I think you missed what I said. I made a point that the women who lived in Saudi for 20 years didnt change her accent. Why would she?
I am completely fascinated by Arabic culture. So much so that I lived there, took four years of Arabic at university, listen to Arabic music, even married an Arabic lady. I listen to more Arabic music than my wife, doesnt mean I am going to go around saying “ya habibi” all of the time.
However, this doesnt mean I want to be an Arab nor does it mean I would do anything to change who I am.
If you talk with an American accent because you learned your English here that is fine. Do you speak your Urdu with an English accent as well? That is what I am talking about. If oyu actively went out of you way to change the way you speak to suit others that it wrong.
When someone goes out of their way to do things to make people think they fit in more, you are right I do not agree with that. People should accept you for who you are, not because you wear the clothes they want you to, eat what they want you to, or affect a fake accent.
In the long run it just doesnt work. People will NOT accept you quicker or better if you mimic them. I have seen the exact opposite, rather people make fun of those who actually go out of their way and try to conform to something that isnt natural.
When I speak Arabic, I speak Arabic. Of course I have an accent, but that is because of who I am, not something I try to do. When I speak English, I speak English. The ONLY Arabic words I will throw into an English conversations are ones that have to do with God. Alhamdullillah, Insha’Allah, Bismillah, ect. Even then I dont always do that. More often than not I’ll use the English words instead.
For a person who doesnt speak Arabic to use a word like “ya’ani” is completely affected and when written it is over the top. The person would actually have to sit and think about using “ya’ani” whereas when an Arab uses it, it comes out without thought. Something like that is not something you can come up with naturally in a couple of years, even many years.
How many Arabs have I known who have been in the US for 20 years or more who still use “ya’ani” because it is instinctual, not something learned? Heck, my wife has been here since she was 5, with the exception of some years in her late teens and early twenties, and she STILL says “ya’ani” because Arabic is her native lanuage and using the English “um” would be something that is not natural to her.
As American Muslims we must forge a path ahead that is unique to us as Muslims. We wont get there by acting like others, affecting fake accents and trying to mimic others.
I look at the American Muslims who do this about the same way I look at the idiots on Dandan, Rotana and other Arabic music-video channels I get who try to act like they just came out of Compton or Philly when the truth is most of them have never left Beirut, Cairo, or wherever they come from.
Just another instance of someone trying to be something they are not instead of working to forge their own identity.
I am an American Muslim of European background. When I changed my religion I didnt change my culture. I didnt want to, I dont have to and I shouldnt.
I am 36 and have lived 12 years plus outside of the USA. It has not diminished my culture or my accent one bit. Sure I know a lot about other peoples around the world and in some cases I am almost crazy in my respect and love the culture, the Middle East and Ireland comes to mind here, but I would never change anything about myself to try to fit in or prove anything.
I lived in Belfast for a period of time and have visited a dozen times or more but you’d never catch me saying “A wise a bap” or “catch yourself on” in a Andytown accent. My favourite football (soccer) team is in Glasgow Scotland and I used tor travel every Saturday for the footie games for years. You’d never get me trying to immitate the Glaswegian accent.
LOL, if I did you can bet that the “lads would have taken the piss”.
People who do this are not respected nor do they fit in better. They belittle themselves and more often than not people make fun of them. It is well known that people who do this usually have an issue with self esteem.
Trying to fit in? I have always kind of liked being the one that was different. Usually it is this confidence that gets you accepted into a social circle quicker, not trying to be more “Pakistanti than the Pakistanis” or what have you.
Abu Sinan
No, I didn’t miss the point. I was just saying what IF she had changed her accent, it wouldn’t be wrong. But she chose not to, that is fine too.
I know many people who moved to America, and their English accent changed. Some few people decided not to change it. Both is fine. Others are incapable of changing it. I agree that one should be proud of one’s own culture, but adapting other cultures sometimes isn’t wrong. Somethings happen naturally, but if you force it, it is first then you can call it fake.
And no, I didn’t learn English in America. I’ve been in Norway my whole life, I don’t know why but I just preferred the American English when I was a kid and tried to get the American accent. However, I didn’t consider myself an American.
For someone whose mother tongue is Urdu, but speaks Urdu with an English accent on purpose, it’s indeed silly. An English man faking an Arab accent would also be silly, but for him to use certain Arabic words is not ALWAYS silly. Likewise, it’s ok for the Pakistani to occasionally use English words. Therefore, I don’t see why a person can’t write/say ya’ani. This is where I agree with Umm Zaid.
However, in Pakistan you have people who speak more English than Urdu, and just refuse to speak in pure Urdu. Now this is definitely weird to me, because they are trying to be someone else.
Many Pakistanis in Norway have a bad habit of mixing Urdu and Norwegian. I can speak whole sentences in Norwegian without any problems, but still sometimes we use both languages in one sentence. It just happens, it’s completely natural. We are mixing words all the time. In reality it’s a bad sign, because it indicates that you don’t master at least one of the languages (in our case, it’s Urdu). But then I’m sure you will say that this is a part of my identity and therefore not fake. Yes, okay. But then my point is, sometimes we even do this while writing to each other. Sometimes it’s just feels okay to do it. Likewise, it can be naturally for someone to use ya’ani.
When a person lives in an Arab country, he/she might adapt different things. You didn’t, others can. It still doesn’t mean they are being fake. By using the word ya’ani, I am by no means trying to be someone else. In many cases it will be fake, but not always. It depends on whose saying it and what he’s trying to prove, that’s all.
There is a difference between adapting from other cultures and being ashamed of your own.
I think most people would agree that a fake and affected accent is pretentious and a bit absurd. I guess as a person who has affected an accent themselves you wouldn’t feel this way. I guess since I have lived in England I could affect a fake English accent, I lived in the Middle East, so I could speak and type “ya’ani” even though it is not something that is natural to me.
To each their own, I still contend that people who change themselves to be something they are not have some serious self esteem issues.
Be proud of who you are and demand that the people around you respect and accept you for who you are. You can never make people around you like you if they do not want to nor will they accept you any quicker if you rush to change yourself to suit what you think they want.
Sa7? LOL!
I think it’s absurd to accuse people of being fake and have low self esteem just because they type ya’ani, even though it’s completely natural for them.
And I don’t know what sa7 means =)
You miss the point again, the term “ya’ani” is not a term that comes naturally to anyone who doesnt speak Arabic, and that fluently. It is something that doesnt come naturally, that is why it is affected.
If it was being done completely natural I’d have no issue with it. Someone who doesnt speak Arabic and hasnt spent years in the Middle East isnt going to come up with “ya’ani” naturally.
This is exactly why Arabic speakers who have spoken English for 20 years will still use “ya’ani” instead of the standard American English “um”. Because it is something that is instinctual to native speakers of a language.
Someone that cannot hold a conversation in Arabic is not going to use “ya’ani” without first thinking about it, that is the definition of “affected”.
Sa7 means “correct” in Arabic. I was being facetious.
Taha:
Uff Da! I am oh so offended about you not liking the Norwegian accent !!! I happen to think it’s a perfectly lovely accent -it reminds me of my bestamor and bestafar
Me too! On that note maybe it is time for lutefisk tonight!
Converts to Islam are always expected to take on the culture of dominant ethnic group. Take heart, brothers and sisters, that it is pervasive here in the US and outside as well. To give you an example, when a non-Muslim becomes a Muslim in Malaysia, the non-Muslim family always refers to the daughter or the son becoming a Malay. This is because the convert is expected to give up ALL of his or her ethnic heritage. My father even complained about my sister in law continued use of chopsticks. We Muslims have to change this kind of mind set and focus on more serious issues.
Irisblue
Hehe, of course it’s lovely if it reminds you of bestefar og bestemor! =D
I think l I was a bit too harsh on the Norwegian accent so I’ll take some of my words back. It’s mostly ok and sometimes even cute. It’s just that we get a little bit nervous when we are to speak English =)
Abu Sinan
I think you missed my point as well because I am not disagreeing to everything you said. You gave the example of a person who has never lived in the Middle East and doesn’t speak Arabic, and for him to use ya’ani is fake. I never once disagreed with that, and I also don’t call that to be natural.
At my school we were allowed to choose between learning British or American English. And when one is to learn a language, one should try to learn it completely. So if I learn a language and thereby actively try to talk with the proper accent, then there is nothing pretentious about it. (You pointed out that I had affected an accent, and also that to affect an accent is pretentious and absurd).
Khair, I don’t have anything more to say regarding this now.
And I know you weren’t being facetious, but I still didn’t know what it meant
Ops! I meant to say I know you were being facetious. Sorry about that.
Abu Sinan,
I didn’t know you lived in the Middle East….. Of course, I have heard about your Saudi wife many times but had never head you lived and studied here. When was this and do you ever think of coming back to live in the ME?
Tariq: LOL about the sandwich!
BTW, Tariq,
I use the term “just a Muslim” in response to those who assume I “made Hijrah” or talk about Salafi this and that. Yuck.
PM,
The employer I had before I married my wife had me travel all over the world on various duties. Several of these places were in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
My ex wife and I both worked for the government and were sent many different places in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. I am not even sure I have ever mentioned that I was married before, on-line anyway.
When I divorced I moved back to the USA where I met my current wife. We have made several trips to the Middle East since we married, although not since both the boys came. Insha’Allah when they get a bit older we will travel there.
As to living in the Middle East, we wouldnt live there any time soon. I want to make sure our boys get the best education they can and that certainly isnt in the Middle East. There is a reason why so many Middle Eastern kids come to the West for school.
I could make a lot more money in the Middle East but the future of my children is more important to us. I am not really into material things that much anyways.
When the boys are done with school we have actively thought about it. Of course Saudi wont be an option unless our marriage is recognised by then, Insha’Allah.
We will probably be living in North Africa on and off in a couple of years. We have decided when the boys get a couple of years older we will buy a place in Morroco and spend the summers there. Who knows, maybe that will end up being our retirement home.
Allah Ma3aki.
[...] the “hood” has lowered the status of Islam among Blackamericans, not to mention “I’m just Muslim” Blackamericans — which a whole other issue — who eschew any responsibility in [...]
[...] or not) in the “hood” has lowered the status of Islam among Blackamericans, not to mention “I’m just Muslim” Blackamericans — which a whole other issue — who eschew any responsibility in assisting the [...]
I came to this post from Sister Margari Aziza’s post on a similar topic.
I just wanted to say to the two brothers having the extended conversation about using Arabic words, ‘faking an accent’ etc.
I think each person will have a unique set of circumstances about why they may be speaking in a particular accent, use particular words.
I mean, I may also think that some people using an Arabic accent when they have been nowhere near the Middle East would be a little strange, but if they’re around a lot of people who use a particular set of words/idioms etc, its not necessarily true that they are using them ‘fakely’, it might be that they’re just using the language of their clique.
I sometimes change the set of words I’m using in the US, because using the Australian (I grew up in Australia) equivalents sometimes doesn’t get understood (eg mobile phone vs cell phone). I don’t think I’m faking it. Sometimes I’ll use the Australian one so that people might notice I’m Australian (usually trying to break the ice with women hehe
Other times, I pick up some of the local lingo because that’s how some people speak (eg use of the word dawg, yo, what up etc), and because those words are cool
Yet other times, some people’s ‘home’ accents tend to soften up after years of being around people who speak with a different accent, once again not intentional. In fact, I think I sometimes have to soften my accent so an American will understand what the bloody hell I’m saying.
In summary, who knows whats in somebody’s heart, and why they do what they do. I do believe that its wrong for Muslims that somehow think being more Arabized makes them more Muslim (esp as a Turk, I will go out of my way to make sure people don’t associate with me being an Arab. I wouldn’t hate being an Arab, I just don’t think being Muslim should somehow be exclusively associated with being from an Arab culture).
Be proud of who you are people, I believe that God created us in varieties so we may know each other!
[...] this brings me to the “just a Muslim” posts, that I’ve been reading on Tariq Nelson’s blog. Strange segway, I know, and I [...]
Abu Sinan,
Not everyone has the same set of circumstances. Some people learn a language and completely immerse themselves into it, such that it becomes hard to transition back to their mother tongue with ease. I am an American, but I do speak with a slight Arabic accent. This is from years of being exposed to Arabic speakers, living with them, and being in situations where I literally had to change my English pronunciation in order to be understood. Living like this from day to day has greatly affected the way I speak English when I am around English-speakers. Like it or not, this is not fake/pretentious (I don’t get any benefit from it, anyway), and not everyone can be like you or the woman living in Saudi Arabia for 20 years. Some people are much more in control over their accents than others.
That is true. Depending on your environment,the people you hang around, you can develop an accent. Though I was born and raised in the South, there are some people who have ( and continue ) to mistake me from being up North, West and even from another country.( One of my ex’s who was a native of Cote D’Ivoire. Before we dated he thought that I was a native of Africa or the West Indies because of my speech).
I’ve never lived in Africa, the West or The North but I do not know how I developed the accent. The only thing that I can come up with is with my upbringing. Though my parents were both from the South( Georgia and South Carolina), they never had a Southern accent. As a matter of fact, we spoke like they spoke. Then I lived around a lot of different people. With the exception of the Jews and the American born-Greeks, that I lived around, the only people that maybe I developed the accent from was from the few Vietnamese people we lived around.