Issues in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

2
Issues in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

Ridzuan Wu

~ave
coined the phrase "cross-cultural
da'wah" in order to encourage its
pursuit as a specialized discipline under the auspices of da'wah. It can be said
to be a self-explanatory
term, because of the term "cross-cultural"
has gained
popularity, in the last few decades, due to the remarkable strides that Western
scholarship has made in such designated disciplines as cross-cultural studies
in social sciences, cross-cultural communications,
cross-cultural
marketing,
and cross-cultural conflict resolution.
Despite the fact that there are more than a billion Muslims in the world, Muslims
still co??titute a numerical and religious minority in most nation-states in the
world.CAs a minority, the exposure of Muslims to people of other religious and
cultural traditions is unavoidable, unless they are able to live in isolatio~
In
such an environment~uslims
may choose to stay as distant and as indifferent
to people of other religious and cultural traditions as possible)Or
they may
recognize that it is part and parcel of their Islamic faith to interact and engage
in cross-cultural communications,
and to make efforts to explain its religious
traditions to others in a manner that they can best be understood.
In addition(Muslims
have often complained that the people from other religious
and cultural traditions are not familiar with the details of the teachings of Islam.)
(This perception must surely be accompanied by a willingness, on the part of
Muslims, to explain the beliefs and practices of Islam to other; And it would be
extremely naive to imagine that this can be done without
a sense of
consciousness and sensitivity to the nuances and intricacies of cross-cultural
commu nication.
In the past, Muslim intellectual interest in the cross-cultural study of religion
has been largely confined in the areas of comparative religion.
31

, UB"ARY
ItHERt!A110tJAL ISLAill11C UNIVERSITY Mt,LAY:'::

Readings in Cross-cultural

Oa'wah

In comparison, Christian pursuits in cross-cultural missionary have been more

inter-d isci pi inary in character. Thei r perception has been extensively infl uenced
by developments in Western social sciences, such as in social anthropology
and ethnography.
Christians have coined name for a discipline,
called
"missiology",
which seeks to "promote the scholarly study of theological,
historical, social and practical questions relating to the missionary dimension
of the Christian church".
The growth in the field of missiology has been
influenced by Christian zeal in "planting churches among the unreached people
of the world".
In the Western world today, there are Bible colleges and
seminaries offering courses leading to a doctorate degree in missiology or
applied missiology. Some of them also publish academic journals on the subject.
The Institutions of Islamic learning have accorded low interest and priority to
academic research in the field of cross-cultural da'wah. However, the extensive
immigration of Muslims to the Western world may eventually change this
scenario. As Muslims take root in the West, it is inevitable that more Muslims
will become conscious of the need to communicate their religious beliefs and
ethical values to Western audiences. In addition, as more Muslims pursue
academic studies in Western institutions of learning, they will become
increasingly exposed to the development of Western scholarship in the fields
of anthropology, ethnography, psychology, sociology of religion, cross-cultural
communication studies. This will, in turn, have an impact in influencing Muslim
thinking in the field of cross-cultural da'wah.
In this paper, I intend to explore four issues that arise from cross-cultural da'wah:

1. How has past studies in comparative

i nfl uenced cross-cu Itu ral da 'wah?

religion

or comparative

theology

2. How adequate are contemporary translations of Islamic theological terms

and concepts in the language of other religious traditions?

3. How should Muslims respond when faced with a civilization

that has a

rich cultural tradition?

32

What are the priorities of fiqh in the context of cross-cultural da'wah? In

recognizing of the socio-political conditions of countries where Muslims
are a numerical minority, is there validity in applying different set of priorities
of fiqh?

Issues in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

In this paper, I have attempted to apply my observations on the subject to the

Chinese and South Indian communities, who are predominantly
non-Muslims,
in the geographical territories of Singapore and Malaysia.
Owing to space
constraints, I will not provide background details of these communities,
and
assume that readers are already somewhat familiar with the socio-cultural
dynamics of the communities
in the region.

0.

Muslim approach on comparative religion and their implications for crosscultural da'wah )
In the past, Muslim literature on comparative
religion has largely been
concentrated in the area of comparative theology. There is almost an absence
of comparative studies in methods of propagation.
While there is a relative
abundance of books, written by Muslims, on the subject of Islam-Christian
comparative theology, it is difficult to find a Muslim book discussing Muslim
approaches to da'wah in comparison with Christian missiology, or the Christian
concepts of hermeneutics and contextual ization.
Interest in comparative theology, particularly between Islam and Christianity,
is not a recent phenomenon.
In the 1 Oth/11 th Century CE., Ibn Hazm wrote
made his well-known
critical evaluation of the traditions of ahl-kitab - the
Jews, the Christians, the Sabaeans (al-Sabi'un)
and the Zoroastrians
and
th
Manichaeans (al-Majus).13 In the 13 Century, CE., Ibn Taymiyya wrote his
famous book exposing the changes that Christians have made to the religion of
Jesus (pbuh).' The inter-faith debates between Sheykh Rahmatullah Kairanvi
and Reverent CCP. Fonder in the Indian city of Agra in 1842 have been
documented in lzher-ul-Heq?
In the 11 th Century, CE., Abu Rayhan al-Biruni spent 20 years in India where
he studied Sanskrit under Hindu religious teachers. He translated a number of

13 see Ibn Hazm's Kitab al Fasl al Milal

wa al-Ahwa' wa al-Nihal. Ghulam Haider Aasi has translated the book into
English, under the title of Muslim Understanding of Other Religions, A Study of Ibn Hazm's Kitab al Fasl al Milal wa
al-Ahwa' wa al-Nihal, (Islamabad, International Institute of Islamic Thought and Islamic Research Institute, 1999).

2 see Ibn Taymiya's AI Jawab AI-Sahih

Ii-Man Badal Din AI-Masih (The correct answer to those who changed the
religion of Christ). It has been translated into English by Thomas S Michel, S. l. under the title of A Muslim Theologian's
Response to Christianity, (USA, Caravan Books, 1984).

3 Maulana M. Rahmatullah
Kairanvi, Izhar-ul-Haq,
Distribution, 1992).

(Truth Revealed), (leddah, World of Knowledge for Publishing and

33

Readings in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

Sanskrit text into Arabic, and wrote Kitab ai-Hind, in which he described the
religion and culture of the people of India.
In 1642, the Chinese Muslim scholar, Wang Daiyu, published his book entitled

Zhengjiao zhenquan (Genuine annotation of the Orthodox Teachings) in which

he compared the teachings of Islam with that of Buddhism, Taoism and
Confucianism.
In his book, Wang made attempts to express Islamic concepts
(such as Allah, and Life and Death) in Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian
terminology.
However, he also gave his opinion, from an Islamic point of
view, on the acceptability of Confucian concepts and ethics (such as filial piety)
and Confucian rituals (such as funeral rites).

Much of my comments on comparative theology will be influenced by the

overwhelming preponderance of Muslim literature on Islam-Christian theology.
One method of visualizing the styles of Muslim literature on comparative
theology would be to draw a continuum. On one end of the continuum what
could be described as the adversarial-polemical approach towards comparative
theology.
On the other end, we have the phenomenological
approach to
comparative theology. Most Muslim literature on comparative theology can
be placed somewhere along this continuum. Not every book is stereotypically
of one approach or the other. Most of the time, a book may appear to be more
adversarial-polemical
in style. However, in another place within the same
book, it can be described as being closer to the phenomenological end of the
spectrum.
To explain that classification,
we need to describe the two
stereotypical ends of the continuum.
(\ 1.1 The adversarial-polemical

approach )

\ This approach scrutinizes scriptural texts of other religious faith, on the basis of
logic and reason, with the intention of showing that other religions are flawed,
and to show that Islam is superior to all. '
Some of the more popular themes that have generally been featured in Muslim
literature, in reflecting this approach, are:
a)

34

The presence of inconsistencies, contradictions and errors in the Bible,

which is seen as evidence of the notion that the contents of Bible have
been corrupted during the process of its compilation.
Ahmad Deedat of
South Africa has gained a reputation for his extensive work in this area.

Issues in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

b)

Criticisms on the doctrines of the Pauline church, e.g., the concept of

Trinity, original sin, and salvation. Although much of AI-Faruqi's book on
Christian Ethics can be said to fall closer to the phenomenological
approach, his critique on Christian doctrines tends to veer in the direction
of the adversarial-polemical
approach."

c)

That the Qur'an is more consistent, than the Bible, with the discoveries
of modern physical sciences. Maurice Bucaille's book on The Bible, The
Qur'an and Science would be an example.'

d)

That Jesus (pbuh) was human and a Prophet and that he was not God,
that the message he brought was never intended to be universal, and that
he did not die from crucifixion.
Examples would be Muhammad 'Ata urRahim's Jesus Prophet of/slam, and Alhaj A. D. Ajijola's The Myth of the

Cross.6
e)

That the Bible had foretold the coming of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh),
which implies that Christians should accept the Muhammad (pbuh) as a
Prophet.

f)

That the Christian church had historically been

of the Apostle Paul, that it owed its renaissance
from the Muslim civilization
during the time
dark ages, and that present-day Christianity is

under
to the
when
in the

the misguided zeal

borrowing of ideas
Europe was in the
midst of decline.

Beyond Christianity, there is a dearth of Muslim literature on other religions.

Imran Nazar Hosein's Islam and Buddhism in the Modern World represents a
rare attempt to compare Islam with Buddhism.'
Though the writer tried to be
polite, his style is still unmistakably one of asserting the superiority of every

Isma'il al-Faruqi, Christian Ethics: A Historical

University Press, 1979).

and Systematic Analysis of its Dominant

Ideas, (Toronto: McGill

Maurice Bucaille, The Bible, The Qur'an and Science, (USA, North American Trust Publications, 1978).

Muhammad 'Ata ur-Rahim, Jesus Prophet of Islam (lohore Bahru, Omar Brothers Publications,
Ajijola, The Myth of the Cross, (Lahore, Islamic Publications Limited, 1975).

1972). AIHaj A. D.

7 Imran Nazar Hosein, Islam and Buddhism

in the Modern World, (Karachi, World Federation of Islamic Missions,
1972).

35

Readings in Cross-cultural

Oa'wah

aspect of Islam over Buddhism. Murtahin Billah Fazlie's book on Hinduism and
Islam: a Comparative Study is clearly written in the adversarial-polemical style."
(

1.2 The phenomenological

approach

(The
phenomenological
approach attempts to see the scriptural text of each
religious tradition as the sacred scr~ tures of its followers, and respect is shown
and personal judgment suspended. However, the notion that value-judgment
can realistically be suspended, w en commenting on religious phenomena,
has been criticized.
Although it is useful to recognize the inevitability
of an
element of subjectivity on the part of the researcher, no matter how hard he
consciously
tries to avoid it, nonetheless the greatest contribution
of the
phenomenological
approach has been to persuade us to see the religion of
others through their own eyes. Kate Zebiri has argued in favour of this approach
when she writes:
"Although
many Muslims argue that religious tolerance is an
Islamic Obligation, this obligation is not usually understood as
extending
to the non-judgmental
study of others' religious
traditions, and in practice, few are willing to explore or show an
understanding of what makes Christianity attractive to Christians?"
In illustrating the need to show respect when studying the faith of another, the
Christian writer, Kenneth Cragg, has said that one should feel as if he is "walking
on holy ground", and should he therefore, metaphorically-speaking,
"take off
one's shoes."1 a
How effective has the adversarial-polemical
approach been from the perspective
of cross-cultural
da'wah? A popular theory among Western communication
psychologists is that whenever a person's bel iefs are attacked head-on, he is
likely to defend those beliefs, and in the process, to reinforce them. When that

Murtahin Billah Fazlie, Hindusim and Islam: a Comparative Study, (New Delhi, Islamic Book Service, 1998).

Kate Zebiri, Muslims and Christians: Face to Face, (Oxford, Oneworld

10

36

Kenneth Cragg, Sandals at the Mosque, (London, SCM Press, 1959).

Publications,

1997), p. 175.

Issues in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

happens, the person is likely to suffer a kind of "emotional deafness" to what is

really being said to him, because we have allowed the messageto be swamped
by the private thoughts which it triggered.11
If this theory is correct, then the adversarial-polemical approach could be
effective in circumstances where the non-Muslim listener (or reader) is already
disillusioned with his own religion, and is only too ready to accept the criticisms.
It would be like preaching to the converted.
On the other hand, the phenomenological approach falls short of meeting the
full expectations of comparative theology. By taking a so-called non-judgmental
line, its writings tend to a descriptive account of a religion (typical\of
ethnographic case studies), juxtaposed with a descriptive account of another
religion. There is no comparative comment, for fear of making judgments. As
an example, Iqbal A. Ansari's Concept of Man in Comparative Perspective is a
collection of separate essays by different writers on the religions of Islam,
Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Each essay is independent of
the other, with little cross-analysis.' 2
There is perhaps yet another approach in comparative theology that is worthy
of consideration. I call th is th ird approach:

l1.3 An approach that begins with the search for commonality )

An advocate of this approach is Khurram Murad. In his book Oa'wah among
non-Muslims in the West: some Conceptual and Methodological
Aspects, he
argues:
"We do not invite people to a 'new' religion
Indeed, if I
am not misunderstood, we may be bold enough to say that we
do not invite anyone to a rival religion. For,by our own admission,
Islam is not a new or rival religion among the many competing
for human allegiance; it is the natural and primordial religion.

11 A useful book on this subject is Hugh Mackay's

Why don't people listen: Solving the Communication
(Australia, Pan Macmillan Publishers, 1994).

Problem,

12 Iqbal A. Ansari (ed),

Concept of Man in Comparative Perspective (Kuala Lumpur, Synergy Book International,
1997).

37

Readings in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

All nature lives in submission to its Creator; all Messengers Adam to Muhammad - brought the same religion.
This does not mean any change in the basic position of Islam. It
does not mean that all religions, as they are, are equally true.
One will still be invited to follow the Prophet Muhammad,
blessings and peace be on him, because he is the last Messenger,
and to accept the Qur'an as the last revelation from God. But,
I think, proceeding from the position I have outlined above,
implies a radical change in approach, tone, style of Da'wah,
and the order in which the teachings of Islam are presented". 1 3
He explains further:
"We, therefore, do not start by repudiating what is wrong with
others, but by inviting them to reflect on what is common between
them and us..... .following this order of priority will mean a radical
change in approach, attitude, and polemic."
The approach out~' ed by Khurram Murad is not beyond the framework of
Islamic orthodoxy
he idea that some degree of commonali1J.:exists between
Islam and many ot er religions can be traced to the Qur'an~ lAccording to the
Qur'an, there has historically not been a community in the/world that has not
received a messenger from Allah and revelation in their own languag

"To every people (was sent)

A Messenger: When their Messenger
Comes (before them), the matter
Will be judged between them
With justice, and they
Wi II not be wronged."
(Qur'an 510:47).
"Verily We have sent thee
With truth, as a bearer
Of glad tidings,

13 Khurram Murad, Da'wah among non-Muslims in the West: Some Conceptual and Methodological Aspects, (Leceister,
The Islamic Foundation, 1986), p. 18.

38

Issues in Cross-cultural

Ds'wsh

And as a warner:
And there never was
A people, without a warner
Having lived among them
(In the past)."
(Qur'an 535:24).

Arising from these two verses, it would be reasonable to assume that some
remnants of the Revealed Truth would exist in all communities, and these
remnants would form the common ground to begin an inter-religious dialogue.
Muslims will have to search for this commonality in the scriptures of other
faiths. It would be fertile ground for further research in cross-cultural da'wah.
This approach would indeed require a different mind-set beyond that which
Muslims have become well-acquainted with.
In the same book, Khurram Murad talks about the role of language and themes
in da'wah:
"Language and themes are extremely important for Da'wah. The
message remains the same, but it should be conveyed through a
medium that is understood by its addressees. All the Messengers
of God employed a language and took up the themes that were
suited to their people. For example, the language of 'Islamic
state' may not be a suitable language for a Western society;
instead, a Just World Order based on surrender to the One God
and obedience to His Messengers, is likely to evoke a more
favourable response. Drinking may not strike a sympathetic
chord, drugs may.'" 4
There are two different issues in Khurram Murad's observation:
The adequacy of cross-cultural translations of Islamic theological key terms
and concepts.
2 The suitability of the themes in terms of striking a sympathetic chord with a
cross-cultural audience.

~-----

14

lbid., p. 23.

39

Readings in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

These are two issues to be discussed, in this paper, under the headings entitled
"Is it a question of semantics?" and "Bridging the Cultural Gap."

2. Is it a question of semantics?
Western linguists and social psychologists have made us more conscious of
(the misunderstandings that can arise in communications,
in particular between
'-the "intended meaning" of a person who conveys a message and the "interpreted
meaning"
of the second person who receives that messag~
'There are
circumstances when different people may obtain different impressions from
the same message. One statement may be "full of meaning" to one person and
yet be considered ~/empty" to another. Meaning is in the minds of the people
who use the language (and not in the language itself) in order to try to share
their ideas with one another.
Anthropologist
Margaret Mead has given us an illustration on the difference in
usage of the word "compromise"
between the English and the Americans. She
explains that in Britain, the word "compromise" would have a positive meaning
in implying the process of working out a "good solution." In contrast, in America,
the word "compromise" would have a bad connotation as it implies the process
of working out a "bad solution".' 5
Some of the circumstances
communication
are:

where misinterpretation

of meaning

1. Semantic changes as a result of evolution in the vocabulary

over time, within the same geographical area.
2. Semantic differences between people of similar cultural
live in different geographical territories.
3. Semantic differences
and worldviews.

of a community,

background

that have arisen as a result of differences

IS Margaret Mead,
The Application of Anthropological
Acad. Sc., series II, vol 9, no. 4, February 1947.

40

can arise in

who

in culture

Techniques to Cross-cultural Communication,

(Trans. N.Y.

Readings in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

silence during conversation (which is considered more appropriate in Japanese

culture,
but not in American
culture), the use of hands (which can be
misinterpreted
as a sign of aggressiveness
in certain cultures),
and the
maintenance of eye-contact during conversation.
In his study of Arab culture, a psychologist, E. Shouby, has observed the assertions
(tawkid) and exaggerations (mubalaghah) that abound in the Arabic language.
He observed that metaphors and similes are used in abundance in the Arabic
language, and the long arrays of adjectives to modify the same word are quite
frequent. Judging it against the standards applicable to English prose, he finds
the style of Arabic prose to be "florid".31
Shouby goes on to conclude thatthere are two implications to this phenomenon:
Firstly, Arabs are forced to over-assert and exaggerate in almost all types of
communication,
as they may otherwise stand a good chance of being gravely
misunderstood.
If an Arab says exactly what he means without the expected
exaggeration,
other Arabs may still think he means the opposite.
These
circumstances may lead to misunderstanding
on the part of non-Arabs who do
not realize the Arab speaker is merely following a linguistic tradition. Secondly,
we have the corollary of the first, namely that Arabs tend to fail to realize that
people of other cultural traditions may mean exactly what they say if it is put in
a simple unelaborated manner.

3. Is there a cultural gap that hinders an accurate understanding of Islam?

Another area of misinterpretation

may arise from the fact that language is full
of symbolism that reflects different beliefs and values.)
It has, for instance, been noted the traumatic history of slavery amongst AfroAmericans have made them sensitive to the subject. Muslims may have to
tread carefully when discussing the subject of slavery, especially when making
references to the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), with Afro-Americans.
This issue is related to Khurram Murad's concern on the suitability of themes in
da'wah. Communication
can be culture-bound,
and one has to be sensitive to

31 E. Shouby "The influence of the Arabic language on the psychology

of the Arabs" in Middle
284 - 302.

48

East Journal, 1951, pp.

Issues in Cross-cultural

the intercultural

dynamics.

More thought

Da'wah

has to be given to this matter.

In an ethnically-plural
society, it is possible to describe three kinds of responses
by a Muslim community towards other cultures:
1.

The tendency
uncomfortable
altogether.

amongst the majority

of traditional
Muslims
to be
with the culture of non-Muslims, and to shun their culture

The tendency, particularly in Muslim-minority

countries, for some Muslims
to tolerate the culture of the non-Muslim majority, in the spirit of peaceful
coexistence. There may be elements of respect, mainly because of a belief
in the need for peaceful co-existence, but this respect is at best superficial
and there is, more often than not, indifference to the culture of others.

3 The tendency, particularly

in Muslim-minority
countries, for some Muslims
to accept and assimilate the culture of the non-Muslim
majority.
In the
contemporary
world, there are many examples of this kind in Western
countries.

Since the 1970s, the Christians

have popularized
the concept
called
"contextualization"
which has been translated, by Christians, as "the planting
of the gospel in native cultural forms". Contextualization
recognizes the culture,
history and sociopol itical position of the people that Christians try to convert,
without being intolerant or claiming that one culture is better that another.
Often, Christian missionaries speak in terms of trying to syncretize the religion
of Christianity with native culture.
In applying the concept of contextualization,
Christian missiologists tend to
ask the question as to whether new converts to Christianity should be taught to
discontinue the practice of their native customs and festivals. For instance,
they would ask questions like: "should Sikh converts (to Christianity) be required
to shave their beards and trim their hair? Should Muslim converts (to Christianity)
cease to observe fasting during the month of Ramadan ?"32

J2

see Bobby E. K Sng's "Gospel and Culture", op. cit, p. 4.

49

Readings in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

The trend is for most Christian

missiologists
to prefer some form of
accommodation
with the native cultural traditions. A dramatic example would
be the manner in which the early church appropriated and institutionalized
the Easter and Christmas festivals. Both seasons were originally pagan festivals,
but have since become part of the Christian faith.
The appropriation
of the pagan festival of "the birthday of the sun" into by
Christians, and its conversion into the celebration of Christmas, is an interesting
case. The earliest evidence of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th
was in AD 336 in Rome. Prior to that time, the cult of sun worship was prevalent
in the Roman empire. Rather than compete with the pagan ritual of celebrating
the birthday of the sun on December 25th, the Christians decided to infuse
Christian content and spirituality into that festival. Although the Eastern churches
initially opposed this plan, their resistance had eventually faded away by the
sixth century, with the exception of the Armenian Church which has consistently
ignored the Christmas celebration on December 25th and has continued to
observe the birthday of Jesus on January 6th3 3
The Christian missionary concept of "contextualization"
is largely foreign to
Muslims. It is extremely uncommon to find documented
reports of Muslims
who are attempting to work, systematically,
through culture, in order to
communicate the message of Islam. It is uncommon probably because there is
often a minefield of controversies involved in the process of sieving through
those cultural patterns that may not be compatible with the teachings of Islam.
Yet, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself was acutely aware of the cultural
practices of the Arabs of the Jahiliyyah period that he was preaching to. Having
been raised in Arabia, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) must have been familiar
with the culture of the Arabs of his time. He knew that he had to help his
audience distinguish
between those unacceptable
Jahili Arabic cultural
traditions, as opposed to Arabic cultural traditions that became embodied into
the fold of Islam as part of 'uri (customs).
In his Farewell Address, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) denounced many of
the pre-Islamic traditions as that being of Jahiliyyah ("moral ignorance") by
saying that he trampled these evil customs under his feet. The Arab traditions

33

See John Chew's "The Church and the Inculturation

of the Gospel" in Bobby E K Sng and Choong Chee Pang (ed)

Church and Culture: Singapore Context, op. cit., pp. 98 - 99.

50

Issues in Cross-cultural

Oa'wah

of the Jahiliyyah period that he condemned were the traditions of paganism

and idol-worship,
the immoral and inhuman masculine practices of burying
their daughter alive, the economic exploitations in the practice of riba, and the
injustices of social relationships and discriminations on the basis of social status,
wealth and race.
However, there were also many Arab traditions of the "pre-Islamic"
period
that were not discarded by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). In discussing this
subject, Mohammad
Hashim Kamali makes a distinction between al-'urf alsahih (customs wh ich are val id as they apparently do not contravene any of the
principles of the Shariah) and al-'urf al'fasid (customs that are disapproved on
grounds thatthey are repugnantto the principles ofthe Shari'ah).34 In illustrating
his explanation that "pre-Islamic customs of Arabia influenced the Shari'ah in
its formative stages of development",
Mohammad Hashim Kamali cited the
examples of the pre-Islamic customs of aqilah (liability of the kinsmen of an
offender), diyah (blood money), rahn (mortgage), salam (advance sale) kafa'ah
(requirement of equality in marriage) which have been appropriated to become
part of Islamic 'uti, and incorporated
as part of the Sunnah of the prophet

(pbuh).""
In his AI-Muwafaqat, the 14th Century (C.E.) Andalusian faqih, Abu Ishaq alShatibi, takes the same position when he points out that "the Shari'a has not
rejected 'adatentirely", but that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had confirmed
most of the 'adat that were practised by the people of the pre-Islamic period.
Some examples he cited included diya (blood money), qasama (compurgation),
gathering on the day of aruba (the ancient Arabic name for Friday) for sermons,
and qirad (loan).' 6
Isma'il Faruqi has talked about the special relationship between Islamic culture
and Arab culture.
He argues that "a measure of 'urubah (Arab culture) is

34 Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence (Cambridge, The Islamic Texts Society, 1991), p.
291.

35

Ibid, p. 285.

J6 SeeAI-Shatibi's AI-Muwafaqat,
which is also known as Unwan al-ta'rifbi asrar al-taklif. An English translation of AIShatibi's perspective on these issues can be found in Muhammad Khal id Masud's Shetibi's Philosophy of Islamic Law
(Islamabad, Islamic Research Institute, 1995), p. 214. Also see pages 218 to 224 for a discussion changes in customs
(al-'awa'id) and its implications.

51

Readings in Cross-cultural

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necessari lv a constituent of Islam, and hence Islamic culture"." 7 To al-Faruqi,

it is not a simple notion that the Qur'an was revealed in the Arabic language,
and that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was an Arab. Instead, he argues that
it is more likely the reverse. He explains that "the Islamic revelation gave
Arabic a new crystallization,
new categories of thought, new conceptual forms,
new terms, concepts and meanings ... Arabic grammar, syntax and construction
were derived from the Qur'an and continue to govern the language fourteen
centuries later. .. .fo Quranize a mind is to Arabize it, and to Arabize it is
necessarily to Islamize it".
These views of al-Faruqi should not mislead anyone to anticipate that he was
not in favour of the process of accepting (if not modifying) the traditions and
customs of other civilizations
into Islam. In fact it is clear that he supports it.
He has suggested that "Islamic culture
.ipurports to speak for all humans and
for all times .... This absoluteness of Islamic culture did not make it intolerant of
the ethnic sub-cultures of its adherents, of their languages and literatures, of
their folk customs and styles".38 He expresses his optimism (and, clearly, his
support) that "Bushmen from equatorial Africa, Europeans and Chinese, Indians
and Berbers, as well as the ethnic mixtures of the Near East, the world's crossroad
of civilizations - all participated in Islamic culture just as they should, building
their unity and hence their definition on the future of Islam and, under its
guidance, continued to keep, develop and promote their hundred ethnic subcu Itu res".
Arising from these perspectives, one may conclude that Islam, in professing to
be a universal faith, must be seen to be "larger" than any individual ethnic
culture in existence.
Islam must be able to overwhelm and absorb all cultural
values of all communities
that are in congruence with the teachings of the
Qur'an and the Sunnah. A Malay should be able to identify specific patterns of
his traditional adatas being reflective of Islamic teachings, and therefore Islamic.
Similarly a Chinese, or an indian. There is no valid reason to conclude that the
process of absorbing and syncretizing certain pre-Islamic customs by the Prophet

37

Isma'il R. Faruqi, Islam and Culture, (Kuala Lumpur, Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia,

38

lbid., p. 4.

52

1980) p. 6.

Issues in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

Muhammad (pbuh) must cease after his lifetime.

It is an open field for the
creativity of the present-day fuqaha to explore within each society, and to
exercise their judgment. I can conceive of three options:
1. To accept and assimilate a cultural tradition into the fold of Islamic culture
if there is no conflict between that specific cultural tradition with the Qur'an
and Sunnah. This is a straight-forward case.
2. To modify and adapt a cultural tradition through the process of acculturation
whereby the cultural tradition undergoes a metamorphic change, involving
selective syncretization, reinterpretation and progressive adjustment. The
rate and degree of change varies from case to case.
3. To conclude that a cultural tradition
contradictory to Islamic values.

is irreconcilably

incompatible

and

The process of acculturation is the process of social change (or even, social
engineering). Before arriving at a decision, it is conceivable that the fuqaha
would to go through the following stages of activity:
1. The exploratory stage where cultural traditions of a non-Muslim community
are observed, analyzed, and co-related with Islamic values to determine
their degree of compatibility
or contradiction.
This intellectual process
requires the description and documentation of the details of each cultural
practice, its original and accepted intentions and its implicati~ns to the
community.
2. The intellectual discourse stage in which the desirability of each specific
cultural tradition is considered and discussed in depth. There may be
opinions of its acceptability in its unmodified form, or suggestions as to
how it can be adjusted and re-interpreted, more wholesomely, to reflect a
more appropriate Islamic character.

At this stage there are some useful questions to ask:

a)

What are the theological implications, if any, of that cultural tradition,

and are there areas of incompatibility
between those theological
implications with that of Islam? For example, if the cultural tradition
reinforces polytheism, then it becomes either impossible to modify, or
53

Readings in Cross-cultural

Da'wah

requires a major transformation,

teachings.

in order to make it compatible

to Islamic

b)

If the cultural tradition is not religious in nature, does it still have any
moral or ethical significance?
For example, some of the Chinese
festivities, like the celebration of the Chinese Luna New Year, or the
Mid-Autumn
(Moon Cake) Festival (Zhong Qiu jie), do not appear to
have any religious significance.
They are not controversial.
On the
other hand, the Confucian concept of filial piety has positive values
(and this will be discussed further in this paper). There is greater reason
to encourage the preservation of a cultural tradition that has positive
moral and ethical values than if it were merely a social tradition with no
moral significance.

c)

How much does that community value that tradition? Has that tradition
undergone changes (for example, many of the Chinese traditional
marriage
as well as funeral
rituals have undergone
significant
modifications and simplification
in the last few decades)? Are the trends
indicating that the tradition may die a natural death on its own within
its community
(which may give no compelling
reason for Muslims to
want to keep it alive)? Or is it likely to be strongly preserved and held
by that community?

3_ The gradual process of increasing the acceptance and adoption of that

cultural
tradition
as part of 'urf, thereby completing
the process of
acculturation.
Perhaps there may even be the coinage of a suitable new
name to describe this adapted version of the tradition, in order to facilitate
acceptance among the Muslim community.
3.1 An attempt at applying the acculturation theory to the Chinese and South
Indian communities in Singapore and Malaysia
rAmong the Chinese Muslims in China, we are able to find evidences of efforts
~~express Islamic-Arabic cultural patterns within the Chinese cultural milieu)
Some examples are the integration of Arabic letters and Chinese characters in
Sino-Muslim calligraphy, and the building of mosques in a form resembling
pagodas.') However, mere adaptations of art forms can be considered to be
superficial and cosmetic in comparison to the need to address those Chinese
philosophical and cultural traditions that have stood the test of time. Of special
54