Building a Muslim Identity

The seventh reason: developing a Muslim identity. There is a global culture that has been forced down the throats of everyone on the face of the earth. This global culture is protected and promoted. Thomas Friedman, a famous writer in the US who writes for the New York Times, says: the hidden hand of the market can't survive without a hidden fist — McDonald's will never flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-15. In other words, this is not really a global culture that is benign or compassionate; this is a culture that gives no choice. Either McDonald's is accepted, or McDonnell Douglas will send its F-15s overhead. It is a very intolerant culture that can't coexist with anything else — it uproots every other culture on the face of the earth; it just cuts the roots of it. There is a quote here by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the famous Russian historian and writer. He says, "To destroy a people, you must first sever their roots." So it is really a destruction of the peoples of the earth, because every other culture is being demolished. This is not a global culture that will coexist with others — it will replace others. The only ideology standing up to this global culture is Islam.

But still, as Muslims, and especially Muslims living in the West, there is a serious identity crisis. It is often found that even though the brother or sister is practicing Islam, the Islamic identity itself is lost. The person would have more in common with a rock star or a soccer player than they would have with a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). It is often found that Muslim youth know more about pop stars than they know about the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) — in fact, even sometimes more than the anbiyāʾ. How many Muslim youth know the names of all of the anbiyāʾ of Allah? But ask the same person to name the soccer players on their favourite team, or their best basketball players, and they will go down the list.

So there is a serious identity crisis going on among Muslims, and the way to counter that, the way to develop a Muslim identity — the first, by having a strong study of Islamic history, which is made up of the lives of the prophets of Allah, the life of Muhammad (peace be upon him), the life of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and then learning Muslim history in general after that. So that is the first: an identity is developed by having an attachment to history, because history is our umbilical cord, that is our lifeline. Muslims are an extension of an ummah; there is no separation, there is no severing from these roots. Muslims are part of a glorious ummah that rewards study.

The second: by being part of the worldwide Muslim ummah, local identity should not override Muslim identity. Identification with Britain, or America, or Pakistan, or Kuwait, or any other country, should not override Islamic identity. This nation-state concept is something that Islam came to abolish. There is loyalty to Allah (swt) and to the religion, and there is being part of a worldwide ummah. Therefore there needs to be study, there needs to be learning about Muslim brethren all over the world. What happens in Palestine should concern every British Muslim. What happens in Kashmir should concern every American Muslim. What happens in every corner of the Muslim world should concern each Muslim as if it were happening within their own house.

So these are the two important elements in building an identity: the first, having a deep understanding of history, and the second, being part of the ummah and caring about the ummah. And again, the saying of Alexander Solzhenitsyn is, "To destroy a people, you must first sever their roots." These are not roots that should be severed; these are roots that should run deep. Studying the life of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is the most important ingredient in that history.