Understanding Diversity Islamically...

 

"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 honorable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has the most fear of Allah. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware." [49:13]

"that you may know one another" Meaning: So that you may know one another and how close you all are to one another in lineage, but not out of boastfulness. Then Allah informed us that the most elevated amongst them (i.e. the children of Adam) are those who fear Allah the most. The Prophet (saws) said: “Learn your lineages so that you can maintain ties of kinship." [At-Tirmidhi - Sahih]

Ascription to a tribe and a nation is affirmed in Islam. The companions of the Prophet (saws) used to ascribe themselves to their tribes and their people in the presence of the Messenger (saws) and he never disapproved of that.

The Messenger (saws) said: "Indeed Allah has removed from you the pride of the pre-Islamic period and its boasting about ancestors. One is only a pious believer or a wretched sinner. You are sons of Adam and Adam (was created from) dust. Let the people abandon boasting about their ancestors, for they are merely fuel in Jahannam; or they will become more insignificant in (the sight of) Allah than the beetle which rolls dung with its nose." [Abu Dawood - Hasan]

 

The Messenger (saws) said, "Whoever is held back by his deeds, his (nobility) of lineage will not push him forward.” [Musllim]

Imaam Nawawi said, "Its meaning is that the one whose deeds are deficient and he does not catch up with the performers of (good) deeds, then it is obligatory upon him not to crown himself with nobility of lineage and the virtues of his forefathers, whilst he is lagging behind in (performing good) deeds.” [Sharh Sahih Muslim]

Customs and Cultural Practices:

Imaam Ash-Shatibi stated in Al-Muwafaqat that customs are many different types - some are good and others are corrupt. The good customs are those that neither oppose the Shari’ah texts nor lead to losing an affair deem to be beneficial by the Shari’ah, nor lead to an affair which the Shari’ah deems to be corrupt. As for the corrupt customs, they are those that oppose the evidences in the Shari’ah or some of the principles of the Shari’ah, such as some of the customary dealings in usury and those deeds deemed to be evil by the Shari’ah which the people engage in during occasions of happiness (or rejoicing etc).

Imaam Ibnul Qayyim said: "Hardship is only encountered by the one who abandons the Ma’loofat and Awa’id (i.e. those habitual things, deeds, practices, customs etc) for other than the sake of Allah. As for the one who abandons them truthfully and sincerely from the bottom of his heart - for the sake of Allah alone - then indeed he does not encounter any difficulty due to abandoning them except in the beginning, in order that he is tested as to whether he is truthful or untruthful in abandoning them? If he exercises a little bit of patience, its (i.e. that abandonment) will alternate into pleasure. Ibn Sireen said that he heard Shurayh swearing by Allah that “A servant does not abandon anything for the sake of Allah and finds a loss in that.” And their statement (i.e. the people of knowledge) that ‘whoever abandons something for the Sake of Allah, Allah will replace it with what is better.” This is true. This compensation is of different types and the best of that which a person is compensated with is: the desire and yearning to get close to Allah, seeking after Allah’s pleasure, love of Allah and the heart granted - by way of it - tranquility, strength, enthusiasm, happiness and being pleased with its Lord." [Al-Fawaa’id]

Imaam Abdul Azeez Bin Baaz said: "It is obligated on every Muslim that he does not depend on custom; rather he presents it to the pure Islamic legislation [to be judged], so whatever the Islamic legislation affirms is permissible and whatever it does not affirm is impermissible. The customs of the people are not proof to determine the lawfulness of anything. All the customs of the people in their countries or tribes must be presented to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saws) for judgement, so whatever Allah and His Messenger made permissible is permissible, and whatever they forbid, then it is obligatory to abandon it even if it is the custom of the people." [Majmu Al-Fatawa 6/510]

Imaam Muhammad Bin Saleh Al-Uthaymeen said: "The customs cannot make something that is not legislated (in the divine revelation) as something legislated, because of Allah’s statement: "It is not Al-Birr (piety, righteousness, etc.) that you enter the houses from the back" [2:189], despite the fact that it was something they took as their custom and considered it to be an act of righteousness. Whoever takes something as a custom and believes that it is an act of righteousness, then it should be presented to Allah’s divine legislation." [Tafseer Surah Al-Baqarah]

Imaam Muhammad Bin Saleh Al-Uthaymeen also said: "Extremism in related to customs is stringent adherence to old customs and not diverting to what is better than them. As for if the customs are equal in benefit (i.e. the ones judged to be permissible by the divine legislation), then a person remaining upon what he is upon would be better than going along with the new (or emerging) customs." [Majmu Al-Fatawa 7/7]

Languages:

"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." [30:22]

Shaykhul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said, “The one who does not know the language of the Prophet’s companions- the language they used when speaking to (one another), the (language) used by the Prophet (saws) when he spoke to them and the manner in which they spoke in general, he will change words from their right places. For indeed many people are nurtured upon the idioms of their people and their customary usage of words, so he finds those words in Allah’s Speech or the speech of Messenger or that of the Prophet companions and thinks that what Allah intends or what His Messenger (intend), or what the companions (intend) is what is intended by the people of his custom and their oral expressions, even though what Allah and His Messenger intend is the opposite of that. This occurred from a group of people- the people of philosophical rhetoric, the people who spoke about Fiqh, the people who spoke about the Arabic language, the common people and other than them. And there are others who deliberately devise other meanings for the words of the Prophets and that of their (true) followers-meanings that are in opposition to their (true) ones. Then they spoke with those words whilst intending to aid themselves, saying: "Indeed, we are in agreement with the Prophets." This is found in abundance in the speech of the heretical philosophers, the Isma’iliyah (Rawafid) and those similar to them amongst the heretical philosophers, rhetoricians and the sufi's. The one who (truly) knows the Prophets and what they intend (by their speech) he will know by necessity that the (speech of those heretics) is not what is intended by the Prophets.” [Majmu Fatawa 1/175]

Traditional Foods:

Narrated Abu Hurairah: "The Prophet (saws) never criticized any food, but he would eat it if he liked it; otherwise he would leave it." [al-Bukhari]

Imaam Abdul Azeez Bin Baaz said: "This is from his (i.e. the Messenger (saws)) noble manners. He would neither say that it is salty nor the opposite of it. Question: What if one says the food is such and such in order to warn (or notify the people)? Answer: There is no harm in doing so, for warning (or notifying) is something else because it is done to educate (people about food etc)." [Al-Hulalul Ibriziyah Min At-Taliqat Al-Baziyah Ala Sahih Al-Bukhari]

Ibn ‘Umar reported that there were some people with Allah’s Prophet (saws) among his Companions, Sa’d being one of them. There was brought to them the flesh of the lizard when a lady amongst the wives of Allah’s Prophet (saws) said: ”It is the flesh of the lizard.” So Allah’s Messenger (saws) said, ”Eat, for it is lawful, but it is not my diet.” [Muslim]

Ibn Abbas reported: I and Khalid bin Al-Waleed went to the apartment of Maimonah along with Allah’s Messenger (saws) and there was presented to him a roasted lizard. Allah’s Messenger stretched his hand towards it, whereupon some of the women who had been in the house of Maimonah said: Inform Allah’s Messenger what he intends to eat. Allah’s Messenger lifted his hand. I said, ”Messenger of Allah, is it forbidden?” He said, ”No. It is not found in the land of my people, and I feel that I have no liking for it.” Khalid said, ”I then chewed and ate it, while, Allah’s Messenger was looking (at me).” [Muslim]