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Culture Vs Religion
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What on earth is the difference, if there is any?
(3rd Edition)
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J. Ali

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 Culture Vs Religion

Oh Allah send blessings on Muhammad (SAW) and the family of Muhammad (SAW) a thousand thousand times

May Allah preserve and raise the statuses of all the pious Companions, their companions and
the companions’ companions. May Allah raise the status of the pious Sufiya Ikraam, May He
bless the lines of our beloved spiritual guides of the four Silsilah (sufi paths). May Allah
hasten the time of the Mahdi during this time of Fitna and make us followers of his way and
the only legitimate ‘culture’, the Sunnah. May this be a guide for me and others, all good
from this letter is from ALLAH, and for that I make Shukr (gratitude) and all errors from this
letter are from ME and for these I ask forgiveness in advance. Ameen.

Introduction to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions.

All praise and gratitude is due to Allah who has given me the ability to write a paper
on such a topic. All aspects that provide some guidance to those who read this is only from
Allah and all errors that may misguide people are from me and for this I ask for forgiveness.
These series of articles have been written in the form of a personal letter to the reader, the
purpose of this is to add extra effect and make it seem personal, though it is personal. The
aspect of writing it as a letter seems somehow more appealing to people than reading a
boring academic article, doesn’t it? The following you are about to read is the third edition
to the Culture Vs Religion letter. Due to feedback given, there has been an attempt to
simplify some of the language in the paper. This is so it can appeal to a wider community of
people and therefore can be understood by the academic and lament [average people]
communities alike, inshallah. However, not much has been changed as too much change
may have the effect changing the meaning. Alhamdulilah, this letter has come a long way in
a very short time span hence I deeply thank Allah for that.

The initial first edition provided many of the key ideas and the main argument.
However it missed a major part of any piece of writing, whatever the quality. This was the
problem of having little references or back-up to confirm the ideas. And where there was
reference given, a bibliography wasn’t there so one could not refer to them for verification or
further reading. In this day an age – where everyone wants proof – only a fool would leave it
at this and except people to read it or believe it. The saddest thing is though I imagined that
it would be the Muslims who would laugh at the first editions’ unreferenced points more
than the non-Muslims. This is because we (by ‘we’ I definitely include myself) are so
arrogant, stubborn and diseased to think about the reality of our real culture. Yet on the flip-
side I guess one can’t expect people to read something which had little evidence, hence the
2nd edition was vital.

The second edition, through the help of Allah, was a much needed improvement with
evidences given from the Quran and Sunnah as well as from pious scholars, alive as well as

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 Culture Vs Religion

those who have passed on. I am deeply indebted and grateful to two particular shaykhs. One
being my own who, through his blessings and guidance, I have come to understand many
key ideas of our religion and especially the most ignored aspect of our true culture; the
Sunnah of the final messenger Muhammad (SAW). This very Sunnah, which is for all man of
all-time, will surely be revived by the Mahdi and Isa (AS). The second shaykh I am deeply
grateful to is Shaykh Abdul Qadir Isa [may Allah raise him in status] who had written a much
needed book on Sufism *“Realities of Sufism”+. This manual on the ‘ins and outs’ of Sufism
provided me some very important evidences which helped to uphold and back-up my
argument and the importance and relevance of having a spiritual guide. The book also
helped show the importance of following those who fear Allah. Through companionship with
these people one can learn the ‘truest culture’, the Sunnah. This is because these scholars
and shaykhs are the descendants of the Prophet (SAW). By this I’m not saying they are all
Sayyids1 – although some may be – but by descendants I mean they are the rightful
successors who are able to forward the Culture of humanity, the Law of Allah and the
Sunnah of the Mercy to Mankind Muhammad Mustafa (SAW). The 2nd edition also had
further proofs; Quranic verses were used and the hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad
SAW) that were paraphrased in the first edition were then conveyed in the second edition.

However, this third edition has a wider aim. It is an attempt to provide evidences
from other religions in order to prove the argument that the Messengers and Prophets were
sent to revive the true culture [i.e. the religion of Islam] and separate it from the man-made
human culture2. The additional case that has been included into this edition is that of
Jesus/Isa (AS) who was sent by Allah (SWT) to revive man’s real culture in the hearts of the
Jews who – according to Jesus and even current Christians – had deviated from the Law (or
in other words who have moved away from the True Culture of Islam).

The reason for the addition of this Christian example is so this letter can make an
attempt to reach out to those other than Muslims. Also, hopefully this example may be a
purpose to reflect on Christianity today especially for those who are intelligent amongst
them. You never know, this may have some result of bringing them closer to Islam and the
message and culture of Muhammad (SAW) the last, the final and the now only accepted
prophet of Allah. For those who may have read the previous editions and want to see the
addition to this edition you will find it from page 7-8. Footnotes have also been added to this
edition in order to explain certain ideas a bit further and to clear up some misconceptions.
They are also there to help those brothers and sisters who may not be familiar with some of
the ideas expressed, inshallah I hope they help.

May Allah continue to bring only good from this letter and remove the evils that it
may have the ability to cause. May Allah protect us all from the whispers of Satan, Ameen.

1
Sayyid means someone from the family lineage of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
2
This was argued in order to combat the sociological idea that religion and cultures are the same and the idea that religion
comes from culture.

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 Culture Vs Religion

RE: Culture Vs Religion: what on earth is the difference, if there is any?

Dear beloved Friend for whom I have so much concern,

Although this letter has been written, I doubt it will ever be studied and read. If you
decide to read on then a prior warning: if you would class yourself as a closed-minded
individual who cares not about issues to do with Tolerance3 and is instead indifferent to
religious and cultural affairs then, quite simply put, this is not for you. As such a person will
not be wholehearted and open when reading the following document. Some things written
herein may not be accepted and some things may seem exclusive to a particular religion,
but this is no act of terrorism but an act of a wayfarer’s heart. Only something that is written
using merely the Aql (intellect) needs research methods, this letter needs no research
methods however, as it is the ranting of sick and struggling heart4.

This is a letter to those who are seeking something other than what they have been
told or brought up to believe, be it the culture of your native origin or the one you have
inherited. This is for those who are truly seeking pureness of faith and an unadulterated and
untouched belief in the religion they follow. This message is primarily for those of the
Muslim faith, Islam, but may also apply to people of other faiths. The reason for this is that
Islam is a religion not of one culture or people but for all people. History has shown that
when the laws of Allah (God) are used in accordance to his way then this reaps happiness
and success, even if these laws happen to be implemented by disbelievers. Therefore, there
may be a chance that this may have some benefit to non-Muslims and even atheists who
find cultures unsatisfying or burdensome and seek a reason to why this is happening and
the answer to its problem. I understand many will not find the solution as appealing to their
faiths or cultures, either because they are stubborn due to their cultural baggage or they do
not simply believe. Nevertheless this is a matter of religious dogma (doctrine) that many
strongly believe. Some people die for their beliefs, so isn’t fair to understand why they do?5

This letter has been written for you to open your eyes to such a reality that is
keeping us all away from fully implementing our faiths. What you are about to read is a task
that has been rated impossible and madness by some, that has been rendered a problem
3
Tolerance means that you disagree with the other persons view, but put up with it so long as it is not overly offensive.
Indifference on the other hand is basically not giving a damn. Hence, tolerance is more praiseworthy characteristic as you
are respecting another person’s opinion without accepting theirs. Indifference can lead to bad outcomes and an indifferent
person can even sometimes be offensive.
4
By this I mean that one doesn’t need a MA or Phd to write anything, such titles do not mean anything if at the
end of the day the person’s heart is not writing it would such a person really be writing it with correct
intentions or for fame? May Allah protect us from this, Ameen.
5
Many go out in what they claim to be the path of God, these people are of course human beings with a mind.
So what I mean here is that such people aren’t crazy, there must be a reason why they do it, hence we should
at least try to understand why they would die for such things.

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 Culture Vs Religion

that no man until date has solved or even attempted to solve, either because they think
these aspects are synonymous – in other words, the same – or an irrelevant issue that need
not be addressed. This is the task of answering the above question: Culture and Religion –
are they different, or what is the difference? I am a passionate believer that culture and
religion should be understood separately. It is because of the mixing of the two that wars
have broken out, societal ills are common, nationalism occurs, pride and arrogance between
people emerges and cultural acts stain religion. Many in the West testify to the apparent
fact that culture and religion are inseparable factors that co-exist with one another. As proof
they quote sociologists such as Emile Durkheim and Karl Marx. The former of the two
argued in his “Elementary” that religion emerges from social factors (Aldridge, 2005: 24-5),
which implies that cultures are an important part of religion, if not the same. However I
believe the argument is a lot more simple and such conclusions are intentional complexities
formed by an atheistic oversimplification and disrespect of something far greater albeit
surprisingly more simple; Religion6.

Since the beginning of time God has sent messengers and prophets to mankind in
order to guide them to His self and success in the afterlife. Let us study some of the reasons
why these people needed these messages in the first place. Why is it that they had deviated
from the structure that was given to them? What was it that was so vile that needed to be
replaced once more? These are some questions that I hope will be addressed. However
some other questions may be answered implicitly within others. Other questions that will,
God-willing, be addressed are: what are the definitions of Culture? Who decides what is
good and bad if culture isn’t supposed to be supreme? Is it even possible to understand
religion or anything outside of culture? God-willing all these questions will be addressed in
some form or the other within this personal letter that I have written purely for your eyes.

The first thing we must understand is that Islam, the religion which has been wrongly
thought to have started only 1500 years ago, has been here since the beginning of time. In
fact the truths that Islam testifies to are timeless universal truths that have never stopped
being true, one example of such a truth is Tawhid – the Oneness and Wholeness (i.e. he is
not separated into a Trinity) of Allah. If one understands religion from this view then one’s
outlook on the origins of religion changes all together, as religions would be seen as
revealed rather than a construct or creation of social learning as was believed by figures like
Durkheim. But to begin with what are the definitions of Culture? Well let me start with a
definition of Religion which is a lot easier. It can be defined as “a system or structure of
beliefs and practices that relate to the supernatural”. The problem with the definition of
culture is that there have been attempts to define it, but one cannot quite put a finger on
what it fully means. Efforts to collect all the definitions were made by Alfred Kroeber and

6
By this point I mean that for many atheists its not a problem of proving the belief in God or giving them
sufficient proof so they can believe, sometimes they intentionally refuse to believe because they are
stubborn. And it is possible that people like Durkheim etc wrote what they did on purpose in order to deface
the plaque of religion. Maybe this point is up for discussion.

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 Culture Vs Religion

Clyde Kluckhohon who collated 164 definitions (Kroeber and Kluckhohon, 1952), of which
I’m not going to reveal here, as I don’t know them and I don’t think we both want to be here
all day looking at these definitions. But you can understand how confusing it must be to
have 164 definitions of one word! I feel sorry for a schoolboy who tries to look this one up in
a dictionary!7

However, some definitions of culture fall within the definition of religion which
causes the inference that Religion and Culture are the same. By the way something
important, when I mention culture in the context of this letter I mean man-made human
culture, not – as I will show – the culture and way of Allah and His Messenger. [So it may
appear that I myself am talking about religion and culture under the same banner but
actually I’m forwarding a different understanding of culture, therefore by the statement
‘religion and culture should be separated’ what I mean is that revealed religion from God
and human culture should be separated as they are no way the same.] Though the
definition of culture may be similar (especially the aspect of beliefs and practices) this does
not verify the claim that they are inseparable. God-willing, the rest of this letter may show
how they are different or more accurately, how they should be understood differently.

But one point that must be made is that although there may be over 164 definitions
of culture it is still associated with these two particular aspects: 1) human knowledge,
beliefs, behaviour that depends on symbolic thought and social learning [note that it does
not talk about God here but about human creation, a immensely important factor] and 2)
a set of shared values and practices that characterises an institution or organisation
(Wikipedia “Culture”) [does this talk about God or revealed religion again, nay I don’t think
so]. This may link with what Durkheim argues about how religion derives from social
structure, but actually this isn’t religion now is it, rather this is man making culture his God.
But as this letter, God-willing, will show you Allah only uses current cultures, particularly the
languages, to forward the ultimate culture or the best culture (the Religion), in this case
Islam.

The word ‘Culture’ itself comes from the Latin term cultura which stems from the
word colere which means “to cultivate” (Harper, 2001. Online Etymology Dictionary), as this
letter will come to show you what man actually does is “to cultivate” their own culture that
is distinct from the fully legitimate culture, which necessitates the need for revealed
religion. If human cultures were fully good then they would not cause unnecessary stress to
people, but the fact is they do. Anyway, to come back to the idea of the need for revealed
religion I must state this; because there is no more messages to be revealed this means
there can be only one true ‘culture’ that is here for everyone this is the Quran (the words of
God, Kalamullah) and the Sunnah (the practical application of the Quran which itself forms

7
The fact that there are many definitions of Culture shows that the understanding of culture is up for
discussion, so it may be feasible to argue that culture and religion are separate if you understand culture in a
different way, its not like one has 164 definitions of what God means! As that’s pretty straightforward.

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 Culture Vs Religion

the ‘Muhammadan culture’)8. However, don’t get me wrong, this letter will show you what
the purpose of human culture is and how the good aspects of them emerge, remain and can
be kept.

Anyway to proceed, it is clear that all the prophets and messengers came to put
people back on the path of Islam and correctness in true ‘culture’, which is the religion and
way of Allah. The whole reason why they came was to correct or even remove the culture of
their peoples and revive the original message of Islam, because remember it is the belief of
all Muslims that Islam is not a recent religion but a religion that has been there since the
beginning of time, yet manifested itself to people in different ways. This is understandable
because Islam only means ‘peace’ and to ‘surrender’ to Allah, so the Messengers came only
to teach people good manners that maintains peace and how to surrender to Allah9.

Apart from the example of Muhammad (SAW) and how he came to show mankind
their true culture [this will be written about it more depth a little later on], there are proofs
from other religions that can be used to show that the messengers were only sent to
revive the way of God and instil into people what their true culture really is and not their
imperfect man-made culture. One of these proofs can be taken from the life of Jesus as is
seen by the Christians themselves. For those who have studied the life of Jesus/Isa (AS) in
Sunday school or during their religious studies classes they will find something evident; that
the Jews weren’t really a great fan of Jesus. The question this raises is why? Why was it that
the Jews disliked their prophet that was sent by Almighty God?

If one studies the history of this period they find that the Jews had been taken over
by the Roman Empire and were now living under their rule for some time, but – according to
the Christians – Jesus didn’t come to necessarily remove the Romans from the Holy Land, as
the Jews initially wanted, but he came to do what; to remove the man-made laws and
culture the priestly Jews (the Pharisees) had created and to cleanse them of sin and save
them from the anger of Allah. Additionally, Jesus also came to cleanse the diseases of their
hearts, especially pride and arrogance. Remember Jesus was Jewish himself, so he was a
messenger from amongst his people in order to revive the True Culture and the True Law.

According to Christians Jesus criticised the Pharisees for their violation of the Law,
while the Pharisees pride themselves for being so-called righteous people, when actually
they had committed the crime of bending the true ‘culture’ and law of Allah – this
necessitated the coming of Jesus (AS) to remind the Jews of their covenant to God. Jesus
himself is claimed to have said;

8
By this I mean that the culture of Muhammad (SAW) is our legitimate culture, the men should follow the
example himself set and the women should follow the examples of the prophet’s (SAW) wives who were the
best of women.
9
What I’m implying here is that ‘Islam’ is the name of the true culture. Also, all other religions are named after
the founders or geographical locations e.g. Christianity = Christ, Buddhism = Buddha, Hinduism = River Hind,
Judaism = people of Judah and the Jews and so on. Islam however is not named after anyone or anything. It is
therefore the rightful title that can be given to all the prophets that came before the Islam we know today.

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 Culture Vs Religion

“Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites all, for you shut off the Kingdom of
Heaven against men, you do not go in yourselves, nor do you let others enter, blind
guides...you violate the heart of the Law. Justice, Mercy, Good Faith, you are like whited
sepulchres all clean...but within you are full of dead men’s bones and all corruption...how
can any of you escape damnation.” (Taken from “Jesus of Nazareth”)

This quotation only shows that Jesus disapproved of what the elite Jews had been
doing. They had been corrupting the true culture revealed by God and his messengers and
created a human culture which mixed the true culture into the created one. Hence, the case
of Jesus is just one among the many which shows that the Messengers were sent to
mankind to revive the original Law and revealed culture of man, which was ‘submission’ to
the true ways of God, or in other words Islam10. However, as history testifies, the priestly
Jews and Romans then attempted to get rid of Jesus their reviver. What you are about to
read now is where the Muslims and Christians go their own ways; for the Christians believe
that Jesus was crucified at the cross due to the pressure from the Jews. Yet Allah tells us
something else in the final revelation:

“...their saying (in boast): We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger
– they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so to them; and those who disagree
concerning it are in doubt of it; they have no knowledge of it except pursuit of a conjecture
(i.e. assumption); they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up to Himself. Allah was
ever Mighty, Wise.” (An-Nisa: 157-158)

This point about the mission of the messengers and prophets causes us to question that
is all culture bad or can some aspects of culture be kept? Well the answer to this entails
what you believe about the origins of the cultures. If you are a believer in the fact that all
nations and tribes were sent messengers from amongst themselves then I would say that
human culture that has now emerged all began with the original ‘culture’ or religion of Islam
that the messengers gave. Now, as time has progressed people have moved away from
these messages and moved away from the pure culture of Islam. This is all due to the
playing of the accursed Satan11.

Now what occurred as a result was a creation of a bastardised or illegitimate human

culture that ran parallel with the divine culture or revealed religion just like the case of
Jesus’ life as mentioned above (by ‘divine culture or revealed religion’ I mean the laws of
Allah and the ways of his messengers who are examples to mankind, hence their ways are
the true and only legitimate culture). So in answer to the question above; this all led to the
creation of cultural aspects that are burdensome and even evil which is a result of man-
made culture. Anything man-made only includes imperfection as we are imperfect beings.

10
All Islam means is submission, and this is what all the prophets preached. Submission to the culture created
by Allah.
11
May Allah destroy his hold over mankind’s desires! May Allah destroy his power over us, Ameen.

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 Culture Vs Religion

Anyone who is deemed perfect would obviously follow the Laws and culture of Allah
because perfection is a quality of Allah and his Messengers.

Now, this does not mean we dispose of culture altogether, as there are some aspects of
culture that are good. This may be because of many reasons but two of which I think are
relevant are: 1) the messages of the messengers have still some affect on the lives of the
people it was initially revealed to, hence the Divine Culture or the Religion (that has now
been almost totally forgotten) has still a small effect in the human culture, incorporating
man’s desires as well as divine laws, but these divine laws are only included for the purpose
of fulfilling man’s desires anyway, hence all sincerity is lost. This is because deviation from
the Laws and Culture of Allah and his Messengers was only because Man’s desires had over
taken him. 2) The second reason may be that the Innate Fitrah (innate nature or ‘factory
setting’ if you want to call it that) can still be tapped into. For example, hardly any
manufactured human culture would see Murder as legal/acceptable (unless it is explained in
other ways of course, like honour-killings etc) this is only because the Fitrah or Trademark
that Allah has implanted remains inside that person trying to get out. This Fitrah is based on
the Covenant we all made with Allah when all souls were gathered from the loins of Adam
(AS). It is during this time when we all testified to the Oneness of Allah and this created our
‘factory setting’, innate nature or Fitrah.

However, when people continue to defy their Nature, by transgressing boundaries, Allah
allows their hearts to seal, but only Man is to be blamed for this, for it is us who are
following our desires. Not even the Satan can be said to be forcing us to create our own
cultures!12 When the defying of the Laws/Culture/Religion of Allah is continuously
transgressed then the culture of people become far worse than it used to be – a sort of
punishment if you want to see it that way – and as a result they veil their Fitrah and move
further and further away from realising their true nature and potential which is to follow the
Culture prescribed by Allah and his Messengers. Let me give you an example of how human
culture/tradition has got worse over the years. In the 1960-70’s homosexuality was deemed
illegal in Britain and an action against human nature. However, now after continuous
deviation from the true Culture of God the law had changed soon after that period to
accept homosexuality and homosexuals as normal and acceptable in this socially created
culture, to such an extent that a man can be locked up for airing his views about his hatred
of homosexual acts. I am not rejecting the Homosexual people and definitely not condoning
their activities but they are human beings that are capable of realising their potential.

12
It is amazingly stated how in hellfire people will come to Satan complaining saying that Satan promised
things for them. He will then say something that is ironic and un-satan-like; that the promises he gave were
false while the promise of Allah is true. It is Satan who tempts mankind, but he doesn’t make them do it, this
temptation is more dangerous than being forced to do it, because if one is forced to do a sin then its likely
they’ll know it to be a sin and would never do it. Hence this is not the tactic of the devils. Whereas if man is
tempted into doing it he is likely to do it again as Satan would have convinced him the sin he is actually doing is
ok. This leads of destruction as here the Satan would now have control over your Nafs! This is how patient the
Devil is!

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Furthermore, neither am I in the correct station to judge these people as disbelievers or

weak Muslims, but one can clearly argue that the act of homosexuality is prohibited by the
true culture of Allah and can therefore never be made to be acceptable. Any person, be
they disbeliever or Muslim, who finds somehow a way of making this acceptable only
demonstrates the fact that they are following their desires and deviating from the true
culture prescribed by Allah and are creating a new human man-made culture. May Allah
protect us all from innovating in matters of religion, Ameen.

Allah is the one that decides what is good and bad. This is a simple answer to one of the
questions I said I may address in this letter. However some argue that we are not following
God rather we are blindly following the scholars and spiritual doctors. But submitting or
following all the commands of one’s scholars or Shaykh is not blind following (an act where
the follower loses his own personality and makes his intellect inoperative). Instead what one
is actually doing is submitting oneself to an experienced specialist. This is similar to the
patient who completely submits himself to the doctor for his healing and prescription. Such
a patient has not lost his personality or made his intellect inoperative. Actually, on the flip-
side, such a person is considered intelligent because he had submitted himself to the
specialist (Shaykh Isa, 2009: 72). In reaction to this people argue that we are taking our
Imams and Shaykhs to be infallible (flawless), but to counter this Shaykh Abdul Qadir Isa
replied: “*one+ does not believe his Shaykh to be infallible. Even if the Shaykh is in the best
spiritual conditions, he is still not infallible. It is still possible he commits errors or slips;
however, he does not stubbornly persist upon them or attach his heart to other than Allah
(SWT)” (Shaykh Isa, 2009: 73)13. By this Shaykh Isa means that a spiritual guide can still slip
up, but what makes him different from the rest of us sick people is that he doesn’t continue
to do the sins like we do, he knows how to remove the maladies of the heart and nafs
whereas we are lost in the dunya and its sin.

Moreover, this prescription – to follow the knowledgeable pious people – has only been
prescribed from the Holy Quran which is the timeless eternal word of God. The following are
some of these verses that provide proof:

“O you who believe! Fear Allah and be with the truthful” (al-Tawba: 119)

“From among the believers there are men who were truthful in their covenant with
Allah” (al-Ahzab: 23)

“Be patient along with those who call upon their Lord in the mornings and evenings,
desiring his approval of, and do not turn your eyes from them seeking the delights of this
world, and do not obey he whose heart we have made heedless of Our remembrance and
who follows his desires and whose affair is wrought” (al-Kahf) [the Messenger of Allah (SAW)
was the one being addressed in order to teach and guide his followers (Shaykh Isa, 2009: 44)

13
He is therefore a person who does not let the Satan control his desires. Rather the Shaykh is the one who
lives with one foot on his Nafs while spreading the message of Islam across the world.

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 Culture Vs Religion

“Intimate friends will be enemies on that day save for those who observed piety (al-
Zukhruf: 67)

These are only some of the many verses from the Quran that Shaykh Abdul Qadir Isa
mentioned in his book “Realities of Sufism”, there are also numerous hadith mentioned as
proof, but I won’t go into those as this isn’t the topic of this letter.

To continue however, the truths that God beholds are unknowable to us unless they are
relayed by people who are from us, these are the Messengers. This shows that the
messengers were placed in areas from amongst a cultural people who had a culture of their
own in order to be the best example to the rest of man. By best example this would include
more than just showing them the best way to pray to Allah, but also the best ‘culture’ and
the best way of life. As the Quran says: “Verily in the Messenger of Allah you have a good
example for him who looks to Allah, and the Last Day and remembers Allah much” (al-
Ahzab: 22).

The above mentioned idea – that the messengers were sent amongst a cultural people
who had a culture of their own – appears to legitimise human culture doesn’t it? Yes, this
appears so but I think there is a reason for this. As the truths cannot be understood at the
level that Allah understands them, it is essential that culture, particularly language, is there
to understand the revelation. However, once the message is revealed the only way of life or
culture that is fully acceptable is the one prescribed by God. Now if you are a Muslim you
would agree with me that because Muhammad (SAW) was the last and final messenger this
means one very important thing; that all other religions and cultures which give people a
way of life – different from Islam – are abrogated (i.e. kicked out) due to the dawn of the
Sunnah of Muhammad (SAW). To put it simply, this means that the Sunnah of the prophet
(SAW) should be and is the only fully legitimate culture that is totally pleasing to Allah, and
hence should be followed, or at least considered, before anything else14. How
straightforward and blunt can one be? This is a fact, that ALL Muslims testify to, but we live
in an age where the Muslims – or any religionists for that matter – are scared to stand up for
what they believe in. Moreover, this Sunnah covers all aspects of life from the way we enter
the toilet, have sexual relations with our wives, raise children, to the way we leave this
world and enter the next. When people say Islam is a religion, they are wrong, this is more
than just a religion, but it is a Way of Life which is; a religion; a language; a fashion
statement; a guide to businesses; a military manual; a guide to a perfect marriage and more
but most importantly is it a Culture on its own.

14
A Muslim must not only believe this and think this, but most importantly they have to believe the Prophet’s
way to be True, otherwise they may fall into the danger of being worse than disbelievers; these are hypocrites.
I beg Allah to save us from becoming this! Of course, we may become weak in trying to implement the
Prophets way. This just makes us weak and definitely not disbelievers, moreover if we struggle on in spite of
this weakness I’m sure Allah will reward us for the struggle. As there is no entrance into paradise without
Struggle, you don’t get things for free you know.

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Many disbelievers as well as ‘Liberal Muslims’15 [and even those Muslims who claim to
be following the way of the Prophet and his Companions!] argue that the Prophet
Muhammad (SAW)’s ways were simply the culture of the status quo – namely the Arab
culture of Pre-Islamic Arabia. However the life of the Prophet (SAW), as well as The Quran,
shows us examples of how Muslims differentiated themselves from the culture of the Pagan
Arabs. They kept the good aspects as theses were respectable and were possibly based on
the message of their previous prophet, Ismail (AS). As well as keeping the good aspects,
such as hospitality – which is a great Sunnah of all the prophets – the early Muslims, (as
prescribed by Allah and the Rasul) also moved away from the evil and deviant aspects of
their culture.

One hadith that comes to mind is the one where Muhammad (SAW) tells his
companions how they should be wearing their turbans. Now for those who say that
Muhammad (SAW) was following the ways of the Arabs this action of the Prophet (SAW)
would seem strange now wouldn’t it? Why would someone want to tell his Companions
how to dress if they were all already following the culture of the Arabs? The Prophet (SAW)
told his companions to tie their turbans around Topis (caps) as that will differentiate them
from the polytheists (who were the pagan Arabs of the time). The Prophet (SAW) says “The
difference between us and the polytheists is in the turbans over our caps” (Tirmidhi). There
are many other Hadith such as these, see the “Shammaail Tirmidhi” and “Pearls of Hadith”.

This hadith demonstrates a beginning of one very important thing; the creation of the
divine culture that is the only fully accepted one – the Sunnah. In saying this however, I am
not saying all the other cultures that people are following are disbelief as I am not in the
position to say that and neither do I believe that. All that I am saying is that the culture that
maximises Allah’s pleasure for human beings is the culture that was prescribed by his
beloved messenger Muhammad (SAW). Not only does Muhammad (SAW) tell us what
culture we should have but the Quran testifies to same thing when it tells us to follow the
messenger as he is an example to us (al-Ahzab: 22). This shows that Allah prefers us ALL to
follow the best of examples which is Muhammad (SAW) in order to fully follow him, we
must therefore follow the culture he created for us.

What is important for ALL Muslims to have in mind is that the Culture of the Sunnah is
the best way for us. This is the least that is asked from us. To ridicule and mock the Sunnah
is no little thing as it can be the dividing line between belief and disbelief. An example of
keeping in mind the Sunnah as the best way would be the following; the best thing to do of
course would be to fall into the habit of wearing the clothes the Prophet himself wore, but
even if someone cannot continuously do that and likes wearing the clothes from the west
for example, then the least he can do is to know and believe that the clothes of the divine
culture of the Sunnah of Muhammad (SAW) preferred by Allah is the best way.

15
Whatever that means? One is either Muslim or not, right?

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Do not misunderstand my words and intentions, in saying that the only fully legitimate
way is the Sunnah I do not mean to say that I myself follow it and is able to fully practice the
Sunnah. Very few are able to totally and utterly do this, but for those who can they are very
fortunate people. The reason why most of us cannot fully implement it is because we are
human beings whose nature is imperfection and forgetfulness. Hence the name ‘Insaan’
which means a being that forgets (Anwar Awlaki, “Lives of the Prophets” section on Adam
(AS)). But the vital thing for all of us to achieve is to be at least humbled to the level of the
dust on the floor when the culture of our beloved Muhammad Mustafa (SAW) is mentioned.
The saddest thing is though, we Muslims have now fallen into a grave trap; the trap where
we are no longer astonished and humbled by our true culture and most dangerously we
give precedence and importance to other human cultures over the one that has been
prescribed for us by Allah and his Messengers. We should at least think this culture is better
than ours and try putting that first before any other culture. For example, we should have
the Sunnah first before the Bengali or Pakistani culture. Or as some people like to say “I’m
Muslim first before I’m anything else”.

However, this isn’t an era for becoming utterly disheartened with what I’m saying, as
Allah asks only a simple thing from us which most of humanity has lost; this is sincerity.
When we are humbled by our true culture we must be sincere, when Allah tells us to pray
we must be sincere, when we repent we must be sincere. The sincerity goes to such an
extent that if a man followed everything in the Sunnah but did it for others and missed
sincerity will his deeds really help him in his time of need? Whereas the person who has
struggled to battle between his desires and the seduction of human culture on one side
while trying to please his Lord by following his truest culture; the Quran and Sunnah with
the utmost sincerity, do you think Allah will let him go unrewarded?

The Prophet (SAW), through the revelation and inspiration from Allah, understood how
hard it will be for the people living in the end times to follow his prescribed culture and way.
For this reason he stated in a hadith that if a person manages to revive one Sunnah, during a
time when corruption is everywhere, then he will get the reward of a 100 martyrs (There is
one similar to this in Tabarani). Why would he say such a thing if following his culture during
his time was easy as he was physically there to guide the Companions. Therefore, this hadith
must have been talking about our time when man-made cultures are rife and due to the
dual nationalities and cultures it is difficult to find who you really are and practice upon your
truest culture, the Sunnah of Rasullilah.

How did it come to this anyhow? As soon as the Muslim Ummah began to differentiate
in terms of culture, things started to get complicated. Nationalism grew and hatred for
other cultures began to emerge, despite the warning in the last sermon where the prophet
(SAW) stated that no Arab has superiority over a non-Arab. Sadly, the Khilafah only began to
fall because Muslims started to move away from the truest culture of the Sunnah and this
only sparked the path to destruction not the path to perfection. The proof for this can be

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seen from the beginning of the dynasties16 very early on, which moved away from the way
of the prophet and the rightly guided caliphs. A much later case that can be used is the case
of the Ottoman caliphate, maybe it was the pomp and glamour that was beginning to
outweigh the gratitude to Allah and as a result this may have caused the already dying
caliphate to fall in 1924 at the hands of the World War One instigators17.

Till date, these human cultures are immortalised in the minds of people through such
events like Carnivals, Asian Melas or Arab Nationalist councils etc that seek to heighten and
revive a primitive human culture. These are done by forces who seek not to remove the
wool from the eyes of believers or religionists who deep down have a ‘culture’ that is based
on their messengers and the revelation of God. Why is it that human cultures are constantly
revived and manifested year after year? What is it that these forces fear? Let us look at the
example of Asian Culture for this is one that I am directly familiar with. The governments of
some liberal western countries encourage multiculturalism and cheer Asian people on to tap
into their human culture by allowing them to do Asian Melas or have TV channels [that
broadcast the Adhaan and then have a half-naked woman dancing on a ‘ga-re-ga’ show,
strange!]. While on the other side Asians are criticised for many aspects of their culture such
as honour killings and forced marriages for instance18. Does this show that these
governments actually care about the Asian cultures or are they only encouraging such things
in order to keep them from realising what their real identity and culture is? 19

This following truth may seem farfetched and naive, but the fact is these governments
(or those behind the shadows who abused the cultures of the Arabs after the First World
War in order to take over the Holy Land and distribute it amongst themselves) only wish to
keep the real Muslim identity hidden from the people. They want to hide the success of the
Sunnah away from the Muslim people because this system or ‘culture’ is a direct antithesis
to the one they follow. For example; in the culture of Islam Homosexuality is Haraam
(forbidden) whilst in their culture for instance its legal; in their culture, it’s ok for women to
dress however they want even if you want to be half naked that’s fine for them I guess,
whereas the culture of Islam tells women AND men to dress modestly; marriage in their

16
The definition of ‘Dynasty’ is ‘a succession of rulers who belong to the same family.’ (Google Definitions) This
means that the leaders in the Muslim caliphate were sons of the leaders, this wasn’t necessarily a good
decision as some of the caliphs were tyrants. Dynasties was a deviation from the ways of the right guided
caliphs [where the best man for the job was called in for the job], this therefore sparked a beginning of
disaster.
17
There is a book called “Discovering the Ottomans” by Ilber Ortayli which shows the glamour that the
Ottoman caliphs were falling into. Although this book was written as a book of praise of the Caliphate, but if
seen from a religious point of view it secretly shows to those who think deeply how and why the caliphate fell
down. If you wish to further read this book, refer to the Bibliography.
18
Obviously forced marriages and honour-killings are wrong, I’m just trying to make a point here. That
governments don’t actually care about sustaining a culture because they think the culture is good. They only
sustain parts of it in order to control people or to keep them happy so they don’t organise an uprise against
the government.
19
Governments obviously do not think our cultures are superior, they think liberalism is, so why do we bother
wasting all our time and effort with our human man-made cultures?

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culture is Monogamous, whereas marriage in the culture of Islam can be Polygamous if

there is equity; in their culture to grow the beards is unfashionable and dirty, whereas in the
culture of Islam it is beautiful and praiseworthy. These are just some examples to show the
antithesis.

However what fears them the most is the factor that both their culture and the culture
of the Sunnah are Global cultures, with both having the capability for globalisation.
However the difference is that they are followers of their desires otherwise known as Hizbu
Shaytaan [the party of Satan] and those that adhere to the culture of the Sunnah are
Hizbullah [the party of Allah] – not associated with the Shia organisation by the way! The
reason why these people would be called Hizbu Shaytaan is because they are people who
follow their desires and Satan was the first to follow his desires, which technically means he
did Taqleed (unquestionable following) of himself [this aspect of Shaytaan following his own
desires and doing Taqleed of himself was mentioned by Mufti Sadek of Baytul Abrar Masjid
during a special Christmas day talk on Following a Madhab held at Bury Park Masjid Luton].

These interfaith and multicultural events only seek to occupy us from realising our true
culture, though some people’s intentions may be good. But even those who create such
events or organisations do not believe what they are doing. They are only doing this to
create more jobs for people and for the sake of controlling the hearts and minds of the
global masses and especially the Muslims. O such a clever plan, but Allah is the best of
planners is he not, for he is soon to send a messiah and a messianic figure both of whom will
revive the culture in the hearts and minds of the believers and non-believers. Both of who
will follow the greatest and divine culture of Islam prescribed by Allah and His Messenger.
These two figures are the Mahdi and Isa (AS).

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said that they will both come as followers of the
Prophet (SAW) which effectively means they will come as followers of his global culture, the
Sunnah20. This Sunnah brings people of different cultures under one global banner, if
people read the Hadith and the Shammaail they will see how the prophet dressed, how he
moved around in this world and how he socialised with others. This therefore would allow
an Asian, African, European, American and Arab to enjoy their minor differences (such as
the vast languages and foods) but to understand themselves actually as part of a unified
culture.

This is the ideology that appears so dangerous and detrimental to Liberalism,

Westernisation, Globalisation, Americanisation, The Illuminati or whatever you wish to call
it/them. This apparent ‘danger’ is what they see, not what we see as this isn’t a danger to
us. Instead it is freedom for all. Our unity is what they fear. However, fear breeds hate, hate
breeds people who fear and hate, which causes wars where countless amount of
generations fight and die in baseless and proxy wars. Peace will come to those who seek it,

20
A culture which Mahdi and Isa (AS) will take unto the global platform, this is believed by most Muslims.

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but it can only come if they break the shackles of these other cultures and realise the
truest most legitimate culture of Islam, the Quran and Sunnah which is the way from their
Messenger Muhammad (SAW) and their messianic figures The Mahdi and Isa (AS). To those
who kill and stop us because they fear us I say this;

“Let us peacefully have our system and culture back and we promise you that you
shall never be ill treated by our ‘culture’, the one you vehemently oppose. I do not
understand why that is so because we simply seek to serve God who tells us to serve
mankind not our desires. Thus we’d have no right to oppress you, if only you
understood! But deep down you as well as I know this is not a case of you letting us
have our space, or neither in fact is it a matter of belief in God, because I know what
you’re real problem is; that is your arrogance and your stubbornness to continue to
follow your desires, if that’s the case then God help you...”

To conclude, this religion of Islam just like all the other religions before it had
differentiated itself from culture; therefore it is not right to say that culture and revealed
religion is the same thing. The religion of Islam especially can be understood separately from
human culture as, unlike other religions, it has a culture of its own. However, Culture was
vital in order for Allah to show people the truth and the true ‘culture’ or the best culture.
Just like ‘bad’ is needed in order to understand what is ‘good’. Therefore it may not be
possible to remove cultures altogether, but what is possible is the realisation of our goals.
Bad things are there in order for us to realise it is bad. One needs to smell a pig sty in order
to know it stinks.

This means through this cultural baggage we all have access to, we learn what the truest
is. Allah did not put us in a human culture for no reason, nay he put us there to realise that
the Sunnah is the best way, he put us there to realise that the way of the Mahdi will not be
the human culture we’re a part of, but it will be the best of cultures to fit the best of men
during the end times.

Write back, I am waiting for your response whomsoever you are reading this....

Subhanallah Wal Hamdu Lillah Wa la ilaha illallah Allahu Akbar.

Your friend and fellow,

J. Ali

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Works Cited

Picktall, Muhammad Marmaduke. (2004), “The Meaning of The Glorious

Qur’an”. IDCI Islamic Dawah Centre International, Birmingham

Buland Shehri, Mufti Muhammad Aashiq Elahi. (2001), “15 sets of 40 Hadith:
The Pearls of Hadith”. Darul Ishaat, Urdu Bazar Karachi.

‘Isa, Shaykh ‘Abd Al-Qadir. (2009), “Realities of Sufism”. Sunni Publications,

Netherlands.

Ortayli, Ilber. (2009), “Discovering the Ottomans”. Kube Publishing, Markfield.

Kroeber, Alfred and Kluckhohn, Clyde. (1952), “Culture: A Critical Review of

Concepts and Definitions.

Aldridge, Alan. (2004),”Religion in the Contemporary World – A sociological

introduction”. Polity Press, Cambridge.

Wikipedia, (2010). “Culture”. Wikipedia – the free encyclopaedia. Available

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture

Google Web Definitions, (2010). “Definitions of Dynasty on the Web”. Google.

Available from:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4RNWN_enGB284GB284&defl=
en&q=define:dynasty&ei=UICKS-
bPNIPw0gTT2oXPAw&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAkQkAE

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