Wonder how is your writing coming along ?

Since you don’t have a computer available always, I am sure you must be thoroughly enjoying the privilege of using a pencil or a pen on paper.
Count your blessings.

But just how did you use the quill ?
I am asking , because I had tried it myself but couldn’t manage to get a smooth flow ! I got more smudges than fine lines
Maybe the quill wasn’t of a good quality ? No. This is NOT a case of a bad workman blaming his tools : /

By the way did you notice , my avatar here is using a quill ?

Victorian. Very Victorian.
Um… British

All praises for Allah SubhanoTa’laa !

Thank You for your appreciation.

You are right in saying that carrying out a practice in a society that is not used to it, might invite trouble. But that is the beauty of Islam . No, I don’t mean inviting trouble is the beauty (I could almost feel the Islamophobics jump with delight on reading this line )
The beauty of Islam is, that it universalises practices for it’s believers across the globe ! If all Muslims were to practise their daily activities according to Islam , as it were meant to be, won’t it mean one culture too across the world ? No Islamic practice would be alien in any country ! But oh ! for my wishful thinking !

Coming back to the point, trouble or skepticism will be involved when it involves opposite genders. I don’t deny that. Maybe, when beliefs are refined further, this skepticism can be done away with later, for things such as greetings at least.
Speaking about cultural practices, I recollect a day when I had to visit the jawaazaat office in Saudi Arabia for my jawaazaat (documents), and of course since I couldn’t drive and needed my husband’s help since he is more fluent in Arabic than me, I tugged him along. I must say I was amused as well as offended by the discomfort that some of the staff members there, felt at my presence in an all-male office. And this was despite the fact that I was fully covered in my perfect abaya, with my face covered AND my husband with me ! On my second consecutive visit, the secretary to the Director ,asked my husband to leave me at home the next time he came along. I jutted in to say , it was my documents that we were visiting for. On the same visit, when I saw the Director also avoiding looking at me, I opted to stay at home the next time onwards and asked my husband to follow up my case

But this was just an example of how a cultural practice can go wrong and be carried to an extreme.
This is happening in a place, where a common woman had in the middle of a gathering that Hazrat Omar (RAH) was addressing , challenged him openly regarding a decision he was about to make. Hazrat Omar did not object to the woman speaking to him and neither had the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) ever objected to women speaking to him or vice-versa. The restrictions on how a conversation should be conducted between the oppsosite genders, of course you know about it. For those who don’t know, I can’t cover it in the scope of this reply, which has lengthened already.

So yes, ultimately it boils down to one’s neeyah (intentions). But I still feel it would be a good thing to introduce this practice (or for that matter any Islamic practice ) even in places where they are not familiar with it or are not used to practicing it anymore. It will atleast raise their curiosity (and perhaps generate their interest) besides bringing in the sawaab of reviving a Sunnah

Thanks for checking out my blog! You do some very insightful writing here.

Having experienced this phenomenon across various regions too, I agree it is cultural.

In a lot of non-Muslim societies (North America being an example) it is considered culturally uncivilized to not wish greetings to strangers under certain circumstances, etc.

One would obviously have to modulate one’s behavior according to group mentality. Although the Sunnah is to go out of one’s way to initiate the Assalamualaikum wrwb greeting, doing so in a social herd that’s not exactly used to this practice could invite trouble. Especially when the interchange is between opposite genders! Regardless of what you choose to do under a specific circumstance, Allah SWT looks at niyyah for reward . Even the fikr you have on this topic is something rare, mashaAllah. May Allah SWT grant us the taufeeq to improve ourselves in our heart and in our actions.

–
ctwayfarer

I would like to mention that today in Worli (Mumbai) I happened to meet two Sudani ladies. As usual while sitting next to them , I reflexly greeted “Assalaam Alaikum” and Alhamdulillah to my relief they spontaneously replied “Walaikum Assalaam” .

Honestly I was very pleased. What a change (from the usual response in Mumbai) !

This only re-enforced my observation on cultural differences vis-a-vis religion.These women very different in appearance, colour and dress , yet could identify with my greeting and responded as reflexly as I greeted them.

Made me bask in the feeling of ‘Different Races but One Ummah’

With man getting more and more self-centered, preoccupied with procuring the material things of life, he has less time and no interest in pursuing interests that actually make life worthwhile and one of those interest is reaching out and connecting with real people in real life.
With the advent of internet, socialising has become largely restricted to the virtual world and has become the preferred medium of ‘socialising’, little realising that this has been leading to more and more isolation from ‘real’ people in real life and as such from life itself.

Dwindling levels of trust also play an important part in this isolation.

Yes, it is the cultural difference that is responsible and has nothing to do with religion.
Religion and culture are two different things.

Unfortunately religion ( here I am talking about Islamic practices and beliefs ) in Asia , particularly in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh has got influenced by local cultures which in turn carry a flavour of Hinduism. For those who don’t know, Pakistan and Bangladesh are offshoots of a nation (India), where Hinduism and Islam exist as next door neighbours.When the Muslims formed these nations (Pakistan and Bangladesh), they carried with them many of their influences which are unfortunately not the pure form of Islam as prescribed. And such practices are prevalent amongst many Indian Muslims too.That is why we why find so many firkahs ( sects ) and their practices, which include dargahs and many other shirk and biddah.

But here of course, I have written only about greetings, which is comparatively a very minor issue and yet cultural practice is so dominant, that Muslims here have forgotten that this is the very identity revealing thing when you start speaking, so if your dress doesn’t reveal your identity, your speech does.

It seems not much emphasis is given on this when religion is being taught/studied here.

The best thing about writing, whether any one else reads it or not, is the reflection it provides to the writer on his own thought.
What had been subjective , becomes objective and that’s when you get to see the real picture.
This helps in self-awareness.

I have often laughed at myself over the stuff I have written in the past
Needless to say, I delete such posts later.

I wear the niqab only in Saudi Arabia .You have probably not read my earlier post ‘Longing for fresh air and Sun’ , where I have clearly mentioned that I cover my face only in Saudi Arabia and that also only for cultural reasons and not religious reasons while in India I do not.

Here in India,I move around dressed in coloured coats and coloured scarves (hijab) covering my hair.I don’t look a bit like a terrorist
I could probably understand if this reaction was from non-Muslims.I was apprehensive before coming here,wondering what kind of reaction I would get from people here post bomb blast incidents. Surprisingly and much to my relief, I have not felt any difference in their attitude towards me.Mumbai is very cosmopolitan not only in it’s population but also in spirit ! No wonder I love Mumbai so much ( I only don’t like the new name.I would have preferred it to be ‘Bombay’, what it was earlier known as.The politics behind it, is yet another story)

Rather in this post I was concerned about lack of response from Muslims themselves ! At least the Muslims know, that Muslims are not terrorists, so I don’t think they have this fear about interacting with me, irrespective of my garb, which trust me looks anything but fearful !

It is the general lack of trust in people that makes them so apprehensive, I believe.

In this new light, it is indeed strange that people do not return your greetings… However now that I think of it (and noting your talk with the girl mentioned in the post), this might be due to the wide gap of faith between Hinduism and Islam that the people need to adapt to while living there and that does not exist in the same scale for example between Islam and Christianity. When living amongst people whose faith is so different (especially during these years that so emphasize sexuality and selfishness), it can not be possible for even good Muslims to stay clear of all temptations in the everyday life. I wouldn’t be surprised if this had affected the family atmosphere of the Islamic community in Mumbai.

To clarify my view, let me be frank: I see modern Hinduism as worship of two things: sexuality, and the biggest egos of the community. This doesn’t leave much room to family values that are dear to the Islamic faith, and to my view, this is one of the biggest reasons to the gap of faith in India. (I haven’t been to India myself so please forgive & correct me if my view is not based on reality. What I do have experience on is a similar distinction between modern Buddhism and Islam in (Southern) Thailand.)