Ishwa helper Reged: 03/03/02 Posts: 553

Re: The Misconception [Re: Sharmini] #13382 - 03/14/02 04:43 AM Edit Reply Quote

Every civilization is a mixture of older and newer, foreign and own. India has proven to the world it can adapt, respect and still be Indian. You can see in every civilization the ownness of every indigenous culture. Every superimposing culture has vanished and will always be vanished, by itself. It's like a natural law in history or any field. What is so strange for me, why it is important for especially (Muslim) politics (I'm deliberately not talking about religion, though these two are actually very identical in Islam) to have one monotonous unified culture on the model of an Arabic system. Unifying is a nobel thrive, but nothing in nature is the same. Diversity is the very key of creation in nature and creativity in human nature. Practisized Islam itself is not monolithic so it also can't bring one unified system. Look only for the differences with their lawmakers or knowers, the different schools like the Hanifi, etc. Or the different sects which have bitterly fought each other through history. Islam in practual use itself is as divers as there are countries where they're preached. That's only natural. But why the Arab elite doesn't give the freedom to other Islamic countries to practise their own kind of islam, i don't understand. Indonesia for instance was one of the most tolerant Islamic countries with own indigenous social behaviour in the world till somewhat last decennium. What I see, is that Islam in practice has a relatively very bitter and cruel past (which almost hide the merits behind veils). It is in a moral crisis in recent days: how to adapt to modern society and still be generally accepted. Muslims have to internally reform, something Muslims want, but the elite doesn't allow this. In some cases the elite stands for the Arabs, sometimes for the parents, sometimes the religious controlling group, sometimes for the social controlling group, etc. The problem is thus twofold: There's no real connection with the own country, and there's too much connection with the foreign Arab homeland. This is thus not much of help to integrate for Muslims. Muslims have a lot of work to do. They're a relatively very young religion. They can learn something from Christian cultures how you shouldn't have done it and learn how they're now tackling the problem. Or they may look to the oldest living culture which has survived each crisis and invasion and still is basically the same non-imposing inspiring culture of the world. Muslim Culture must be more open and raise this question: What other cultures can teach us. (Not to annihilate, but to adapt)