Download General cultural differences and stereotypes: Islamic

General cultural differences and stereotypes:
Islamic family culture and customs
Kontiolahti, 11 th of May and 18th of May 2011
Phd Sylvia Akar, University of Helsinki, PhD Marja Tiilikainen, University of Helsinki
Islam, Muslims and the Islamic world today
PhD Sylvia Akar, University of Helsinki
th
Kontiolahti 11 of May.2011
Islam is the second largest religion in the world extending from North Africa to the Middle
East and Central Asia, and all the way to Indonesia and China. In addition, about 40
million of the European population profess Islam. Since Islam has spread widely, it has
been influenced by many different cultures. Thus, Islam is a very multifaceted religion.
Although doctrinal differences between denominations would not be so great, cultural
differences are very significant. Differences in interpreting texts and in how political or
private religion is vary greatly in different communities. Differences in intensity or how
much religion influences on an individual’s life are as great among Islam as among other
religions.
Islam is often connected to the Arabs. However, the biggest Muslim populations are found
in Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Only 20 % of the Muslims live in the Arab
countries, which are in North Africa and in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, Arabic is the sacred language of Islam. The Qur’an is written in Arabic and
every Muslim should know how to read at least the first chapter, The Opening, and the
most important prayers in Arabic. The Muslims around the world often have an Arabic
name or a name derived from Arabic. However, the majority of the Muslims have other
languages as mother tongue than Arabic, for example, Indonesian, Malay, Persian,
Pashto, Turkish, Somali, Urdu or Chinese. It is good to bear in mind that all Arabs are not
Muslims. In the Middle East, there are large Christian minorities whose mother tongue is
Arabic.
Sunni and Shia are the two main branches of Islam. Sunni is the main denomination of
Islam. About 85 % of the Muslims are Sunni Muslims. These two denominations have a lot
in common. They share a common dogma: belief in God’s unity, belief in angels, belief in
holy books, belief in prophets, belief in judgement day and the Resurrection and belief in
fate. They also share the pillars of religion: creed, prayer, fasting, almsgiving and
pilgrimage. However, there are significant differences between these two denominations.
Shia creed differs from the Sunni creed in the way that after the sentence ”There is no
other god except Allah, and Muhammad is his Messenger.” Shias add ”and Ali is his
friend.” The position of Ali is central in Shia Islam. Shias have developed a doctrine of
Iman which differs from the Sunni Islam. It is based on the line of descent of Ali. The
doctrines of Shias and Sunnites are based on different authorities and hadiths.
The Qur’an is the holy book of Islam. According to the Muslims, it is holy text from word to
word. It is comprehensive, infallible, unique and a holy item. Only the Arabic Qur’an is the
speech of God, its translations are merely interpretations of it. The Qur’an contains various
kinds of texts. It is written in rhyming prose and its suitability as a legal text is questionable,
because interpreting its texts is a great challenge.
The Story of Creation in the Qur’an emphasises equality (4:1)
O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate
and dispersed from both of them many men and women.
The speech in Qur’an is addressed to both men and women!
Sunnah, which consists of Hadith collections, describes the life of the prophet Muhammad,
his everyday life, his family life and how he solved crises. Hadiths are not holy texts, but
their meaning as a source of law is important. Sunnites and Shias have different Hadith
collections.
Sharia is the law of Islam. It is based on the teachings of the Qur’an. Sharia is the right
way, ”path to the water hole”, and by following it those who believe will be saved. It is the
law given by God in the Qur’an that every Muslim has to follow. However, no Muslim can
fully know the Sharia, because only God knows it thoroughly. Fiqh is a system of law
created by man and it aims to be as close to Sharia as possible. It is based on
interpretations of the Hadith collections and the Qur’an. Law has also been created with
the consensus of scholars, analogical reasoning and new interpretations. Thus, the Fiqh is
a system created by man, and the current Islamic schools of law are based on it. Also
Muslims often mix up the concepts of Sharia and Fiqh. Thus, changing the use of law in
Muslim communities is often difficult.
The family law of most Islamic countries follows more or less different interpretations of the
Islamic law. The Islamic law regulates family relations, marriage and divorce, inheritance
issues, practice of religion and common decency. The Penal code in most Muslim
countries is the Western law.
According to the Islamic view, sexuality is an important basic need; it is a positive force of
a human being created by God. However, all kind of sexual activity is limited in marriage
between man and woman. Thus, controlling sexuality in society is important.
According to the Qur’an, a man is the head of a family (4:34)
Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other,
and because they spend their wealth to maintain them.
Marriage has a rather precise definition in the Qur’an. The allowed spouses are defined
(2:221, 4:19–28) as well as divorce (2:226–232), which is allowed but not recommended.
The Qur’an allows polygamy (4:3), but its terms have been tightened significantly in many
countries. There are many types of divorce. Talaq is possible only to a man, but a woman
can also file for divorce. She must have good reasons for it, for example, violent spouse,
impotence, sickness or abandonment. A woman can get a divorce also by returning the
bride price. According to Islam, adultery is a crime against the spouse, but also against the
whole community and the law of God. In the Qur’an (4:15–16), the punishment for adultery
is one hundred lashes for both men and women (24:2–10). Four witnesses are needed for
passing a sentence, which makes the punishment practically impossible.
Descriptions in the Qur’an regarding common decency and clothing are very loose. The
believing men and women are told to ”reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private
parts and not expose their adornment except that which [necessarily] appears thereof and
to wrap [a portion of] their head covers over their chests” (24:27–31). And the prophet is
told to say “O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers
to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that
they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful” (33:59).
Based on these verses and the Hadith collections, scholars have come to the conclusion
that women should cover everything else except face and hands.
Islam is often considered to be a strict law religion. However, many Muslims find inner
peace in it. The intelligence, inner logic and clarity of the religion appeal to them. Muslims
think their doctrine is theologically of higher level compared to that of Christianity,
especially because of its unconditional monotheism. According to Muslims, Christians
have understood the position of Jesus wrong, when they regard him as the son of God.
Many Muslims also appreciate the routines, clarity of the rules, decency, familyorientedness and clarity of gender roles in their religion. According to the view of Muslims,
women are respected in Islam and sexuality is valued. Although, people need limits set by
God.
Islamic family culture and customs
PhD Marja Tiilikainen, University of Helsinki
th
Kontiolahti 18 of May 2011
According to an estimation, there are over 40 000 Muslims in Finland. There are three
different kinds of groups of them: Tatars, who started to immigrate in the 1870s, Finns who
have converted into Muslims and immigrants and their children who immigrated mainly
from the beginning of the 1990s. Somalis are the biggest group of Muslims in Finland: at
the end of the year 2010, there were almost 13 000 people who have Somali as mother
tongue.
The Somali lifestyle concentrates on the community. Somali family is more extended than
Finnish nuclear family. It also takes care of duties that the authorities often take care of in
Finland. Somali extended family is a network based on reciprocity, in which you organise
things and negotiate, for example, about things related to taking care of the children, the
sick and the elderly. Families and clans are patriarchal, they emphasise the line of descent
of the father. The tripartite name of a child joins him in his father’s family and gives him a
strong social identity. Like other Muslims, also Somali children have a name in which the
first name is his own, the second one is his father’s and the third one is his grandfather’s.
A girl’s name doesn’t change when she gets married. She stays connected to her father’s
family, even though in marriage women create new bridges between their family and their
spouse’s family and clan. Children are made acquainted in an early stage with the worlds
of men and women, and they are given responsibilities and duties according to their
gender.
There have been great changes in the family roles of the Somali who have moved to
Finland. Traditional extended families have often fallen apart after the family members
have applied for asylum in different countries. At the same, the possibilities of a family to
support their family members have gotten more difficult. In addition, in the new countries,
like in Finland, there are kindergartens which have started to replace some of the
responsibilities of the families. Somali family relations go over the boarders: they keep in
touch with the relatives abroad and rely on family networks in different kinds of crises. Like
other immigrants, many Somali families aim to help their relatives in Somalia by sending
money and helping their former home country by supporting its rebuilding through
organisations and projects.
There have been changes also in the roles between family members in Finland. The
Somali men, especially right after arriving to Finland, lost their familiar role as a provider
for the family, because it was hard for them to find a job. In addition, the Somali women
got new opportunities to study and work outside the home and earn money in Finland. All
this together with the Finnish customs and legislation that promote equality of genders has
offered the Somali women possibilities to get new kind of authority and possibilities outside
the home. At the same time, the expectations of the Somali women and mothers about
men participating in tasks which were traditionally tasks of women, such as cooking and
taking care of little children, have grown.
The Somali children learn fast Finnish and the customs of the Finnish society at school.
Because of this, they can get new kind of authority over their parents. The parents may
feel that their authority is being jeopardised, for example, in situations in which the children
act as interpreters. In addition, they may feel lost or even be afraid of how to raise their
children to respect the traditions of Islam and Somali culture.
Islam has become a more conscious part of the Somali families' lives in Finland. However,
Islam does not dictate how women act as Muslims, but women make Islam visible in
everyday life by continuous negotiation and selection process. In practice, different
individuals and families can interpret Islam in very different ways.
Islam is shown in everyday life, for example, in the year cycle, holy dates, festivals,
bringing up children and in religious education, in rituals and facilities according to gender,
in practices related to clothing, eating, and slaughter, in practices and ideas related to
health, sickness, healing and healthcare, as well as in religious-cultural habits and rituals
(e.g. circumcision of boys).
The most important festivals are id festivals (id al-fitr after ramadan, the fasting and id aladha after pilgrimage), festivals related to marriage (meher or nikaah and the actual
wedding celebration, aroos). It was not a custom to celebrate the birthdays of children in
Somalia, but there are important festivals related to the birth of a child: women’s religious
festival (known as Hawa iyo Faadumo) when the mother is 9 months pregnant, a
celebration after the birth of a baby, and a celebration of women and children after the
child-bed period (afartan bah) that lasts 40 days.
According to Islam, the forbidden ingredients are pork, blood and alcohol. However, there
are differences in interpretation among these basic rules, for example, are gelatin derived
from pork or vaccines containing pork gelatin allowed to be used. In addition to religion,
also cultural, economic and social factors influence on choosing what to eat. For example,
the Somali appreciate and prefer eating meat, although there is a long coast line in
Somalia. They tend to obey the Ramadan carefully, which may have influence on, for
example, taking medication. Offering food to a guest is part of traditional hospitality.
Cleanliness is important to Muslims. In eating this is shown in the way that, for example,
the right hand is used for eating (whereas the left hand is used for bathroom hygiene).
Teeth are cleaned with a stick or a wooden toothbrush, whereas in Finland a toothbrush is
commonly used.
Ideas about health, sickness and healing are always culturally specific. Patients
throughout the world, also in Finland, rely on self-care and on alternative medicine in
addition to medical treatments. According to Islamic thinking, both health and sickness are
in the hand of Allah. Sickness and pain are God’s ordeals, and they can also burn away
the sins. God has also created treatment and man should seek it actively. The Prophet’s
medicine, which means instructions and statements gathered from local tradition, has had
a great influence on the development of the healing ways of the Horn of Africa.
Traditional healers have a significant role in Somalia. Some of them concentrate on
”practical” issues, for example, blood-letting, cauterising, and herbal medication, whereas
others concentrate on supernatural and social issues, caused by spirits, the evil eye or
witchcraft. Sickness is often seen as an imbalance in relation to relationships, spirits
and/or God. In these cases, taking care of the relationship in question is central to the
healing process. Advice from religious experts and support from the family are important
elements of treatment.
According to the Somali view, mental health problems may occur because of shocking
events, strong emotions, problems in social relations or problems with different kinds of
spirits. ”Madness” is seen as a permanent state. Development of this state is tried to be
prevented by giving support to the sick person and with treatments given by healers. There
is a strong stigma connected to mental hospital treatment. People can be possessed by
spirits which causes various kinds of symptoms (e.g. fears, tiredness, pains, paralysis and
neurological symptoms). Problems caused by spirits can be treated by either with the help
of the Qur’an or by performing spirit possession rituals. Today many religious Somali
scholars, as well as laymen, think that some possession rituals are against Islam and
that’s why practice of them seems to have diminished. It is possible to get Islamic
treatment also in Finland, especially reciting the Qur’an, to complement the Finnish health
care. Contacts abroad may also give possibilities for seeking treatment and medication
outside Finland, if needed.