Hotdogs, souvlakia and shawarmas: my life, my culture
July 6, 2009 by ImanK
A few days ago I was invited to a New Muslims dinner with Canadian converts to Islam. It was refreshing to see a culture opposite to your typical Arabic culture.
(That means we were eating pasta, deviled eggs, taco dip and banana bread instead of your usual shawarma, rice and hommus mix. 
)
It was funny because at one point one of the Canadian-born sisters was sitting next to me and because we were relaxing so much she crossed her leg and the back of her foot happened to be facing me. We both laughed because she said she was sorry so I won’t take offense.
Right away, I knew what she was referring to. In the Arabic culture, if your foot is facing another person, that is one of the most demeaning insults you can make to a person. (Remember the whole Iraqi journalist-slash-Bush-slash-shoe-throwing incident?) I told her not to worry because I’m not Arabic to begin with.
But it was interesting because the other Canadian sister beside me saw us and said, “Oh, that’s why my father-in-law was so angry when I did that to him?!”. She was a brand new convert and got her first shockwave of Arabic culture.
When people first convert, some think that they have to become “more Arabic” to become more pious. Instead of sister, they call you “ukhti”. Instead of hotdogs, it’s kebabs. Instead of a baseball cap, it’s the traditional headdress Saudis wear.
I thought like that too at first but with proper knowledge of Islam, I started to realize that I don’t have to be an Arab. There is nothing wrong with being an Arab, but I can just be myself - a Canadian Greek Muslim- as long as I take the good from each culture.
For example, in the Canadian (and sometimes even Greek) society these days, it’s very normal to see some kids violently swearing at their parents and yelling at them or treating them with no respect whatsoever. Obviously, this is totally against Islamic principles.
But then there are other cultural things in Canada that I like, like saying please and thank you. (I was told not to say thank you in Athens, otherwise they will consider me to be a foreigner!)
And then it gets really confusing for non-Muslims (and sometimes Muslims too) to try to figure out what is culture and what is Islam.
For example, my Canadian friend was telling me one of those “horror stories” of a Muslim friend in the Indo-Pak region that is being completely denied of her financial maintenance rights from her husband. Obviously this is completely unIslamic but without proper knowledge, someone can easily look at that and so, oh, see what Islam does to Muslim women?!
So, in the end, culture and religion is not a black-and-white issue, choose-one-or-the-other idea. Muslims come from cultures in every country and every continent and they are as different as fingers of my hand. No one is better than the other, but we are one hand and one nation united by one belief,
There is no object worthy of worship
except the one true God (who created everything).
The next time you see one of the 30 million Chinese Muslims, what will you think?
Asalamu Alaykum
Masha Allah Sister Iman. Very well said.
Of course we can be Greeks and Muslims. I think most of the problems start when people mix culture and Islam and they confuse others with the image they project with this mixture. Others then start attributing things to Islam which are nothing but the pure culture of the person that projects it. Thus the misconceptions about Islam. I personally find it easy to float between cultures and I say this with a pinch of salt but always being Muslim. And I am grateful to Allah for allowing me to know Islam and to have experienced and appreciated other cultures but always being Greek.
I hope it makes sense.
Thanks for a great article and a breath of fresh air.
Jazaki Allah kheyran
Xenia
ImanK I wonder if you notice the misconception you put in print. I understand that your are trying to convey that some people mix up culture and religion and create false stereotypes, but did you not make a comment yourself that can be viewed as a misconception? You stated that “For example, in the Canadian (and sometimes even Greek) society these days, it’s very normal to see some kids violently swearing at their parents and yelling at them or treating them with no respect whatsoever. ” Living in Canada myself and having worked with children, I can tell you, I know many Canadian adults who do not accept children swearing at their parents, and it is wrong assume it is very ‘normal’ to see kids acting in this way. Do kid’s swear in Canada? Yes. Is it very normal to see this? I would so, no, of course, I can only speak of my experience in this country. You see, you cannot simply point out to the Canadian who generalizes about the plight of Muslim women with their ‘horror stories’ and then turn around and make a generalization about Canadian children. In a way you are equally guilty as those who tell the ‘horror stories’ because you are stereotyping about an entire group of children in a particular culture. Now, I realize ImanK that you are trying to break down barriers and express how your Canadian friend has a misconception about a certain aspect of Indo-Pak culture by stating, “my Canadian friend was telling me one of those “horror stories” of a Muslim friend in the Indo-Pak region that is being completely denied of her financial maintenance rights from her husband.” but you must also see the irony of your position. I bring up this point just to illustrate to you that perhaps without realizing it you are equally misguided yourself towards people whose culture and religion differs from your own.
My point is even though many of us try our best at times to see the world as objectively as possible, free from misconceptions, the truth is we will always view the world either knowingly or unknowingly based on our own individual and cultural and religious perspectives. This is why the way in which the clashes beween the Chinese government and its Muslim population will be looked upon in the next few days will greatly depend upon our own individual, cultural, political and religious and background.
Interesting comment SonsofSparta. I agree that this is a generalisation and not true for all kids. That’s why I particularly used the word “some kids”. To make my point more clear, I can rephrase what I meant to: