this is the de show this is the dean
show this is the dean
show alhamdulillah Alum peace be unto
you I'm Eddie your host of the dean show
that's right you're watching the dean
show every week same time same channel
and in the studio we're going talking to
American former Christian Christian
scholar Dr Gerald Dirks and we're going
to be talking about the Muslim identity
when we come back here on the dean show
this is the dean the dean
show this is the de
show this is the
[Music]
the
the this is the
[Music]
the this is the
show this is the
the
the is
the this is the dean show hey what's up
how you doing good to be here always
peace be upon you peace be with you I
just wanted to start you for a second I
was like hey how you doing but how we do
it is with the peace we give the peace
yes cuz we want peace absolutely we want
peace definitely and peace not just
between you and me but peace between and
among all people absolutely Islam
teaches that that we are all Brothers in
humanity all brothers and sisters yes
and we share because we care absolutely
and that's why we're doing the dean show
to Enlighten the minds and the hearts of
the people and today we're going to be
talking about the identity you are an
American and you're Muslim yes does this
conflict at all no not at all but
unfortunately a lot of people think it
does conflict and real unfortunately
even a lot of Muslims think that it
needs to conflict uh and this brings up
an issue that I think is vitally
important to Muslims here in America and
that is the issue of the second and
third generation of Muslims in America
and issues surrounding their development
of a sense of identity MH I was born
here raised in America and I personally
had some experiences when I started to
you know come to this way the way of the
Creator Islam submitting to the one God
people would ask because you know my
name Eddie so people would say like well
when you going to get a Muslim name why
you know and so you would you know you
want to do God's thing but sometimes you
know the culture will creep in and you
feel like am I doing God's thing or I'm
doing back home culture exactly exactly
you know you said when are you going to
get a Muslim name I I've had the same
question asking me but in reality
there's no such thing as a Muslim name
there's Arab names uhhuh you know there
are names associated with with Prophet
Muhammad and his companions Etc but
tthy to being Muslim names is is rather
ridiculous and and there's no reason
that any person should feel constrained
to change his name unless his name has
some clearly anti-islamic meaning like
if it's named after a pagan God or
something yeah okay yeah now also the
dress some people feel like okay now you
know I'm used to maybe going to work in
a in a three-piece suit or you know
modest clothing but now hold on you you
got to throw this throw Bond before you
go to work now you're a Muslim what do
you did you have to do that no
absolutely not no the absolutely not
Islam prescribes a modest dress for both
males and females you know within
western clothing one can usually find
modest dress one doesn't need to wear a
thobe or uh a kofy on top of the head
Etc uh but one does need to dress
modestly yeah one does not need to eat
uh kafta kebabs or
but uh one does have to follow you know
Islamic dietary rules which is basically
no
pork um no
alcohol uh and there are a few other
meats that
are we were prohibited from eating give
us some more examples of some of the
dilemas the challenges that you feel
some of the new converts and also just
you know Muslims who come from overseas
and they raised their kids here and now
they're having a conflict here with
culture and Muslim and they end up
abandoning everything well for new
converts one of the big issues is do I
have to give up my American identity and
the answer is absolutely not
unfortunately some new converts think
they have to end up becoming more Arab
than an Arab or more Pakistani than a
Pakistani Etc uh and end up really uh
alienating themselves from their
environment uh and for many of these
people uh eventually they end up
dropping out of Islam simply because of
this overreaction in the first place you
know that they were actually jumping
into a culture and not to the actual
religion of Islam in terms of the second
and third generation of Muslims in
America this is vitally important
because we have uh many wonderful uh
immigrant brothers and sisters who come
to this country they have their children
here they raise their children here but
unfortunately many of them think they're
raising Jordanian children or Syrian
children or Pakistani children or
Bangladeshi children or Indonesian
children and they are not and this is
what is so vitally important that they
need to understand if their children are
being raised here in America they're
raising American children and this is
going to be the national cultural
identity of the vast majority of second
and third generation Muslims here in
America their National cultural identity
is being American
now really
unfortunately what sometimes happens is
that these Muslim parents who through
the best of
intentions unfortunately throw up their
hands in alarm and say oh my goodness
you know my son or my daughter is
turning into an American instead of a
Jordanian or a Syrian or what have you
uh and I have to stop this I have to
correct this and one of the ways they
tried to do this sometimes is by so
intricately
linking Islam with this foreign culture
from back home that when the kids end up
rejecting the foreign culture in favor
of having an American
secular uh American National cultural
identity they also end up rejecting
Islam as part of their religious
identity and this is a real danger that
Muslim parents who are immigrants need
to be aware of your children are going
to be Americans don't fight it they can
be perfectly good Americans and
perfectly good Muslims at the same time
so should the parents be more in tune
with adamantly teaching their children
Islam from the authentic sources the
crown and the Sunnah rather than many of
the back home cultures absolutely and
and but but again this is one of the
problems is that for many of of our
immigrant brothers and sisters their
culture is so intertwined and their
understanding of Islam that they may
have difficulty doing that and one of
the things that needs to be done that
they need to do and that we need to be
doing in our mosques and in our private
Islamic schools is we need to make this
process of separating culture from Islam
that's very important you know Absolut
we need to be teaching the pure
Islam we don't need to be teaching
culture definitely and with that said
we'll be right back with more Dr Joe
Dirks here on the dean
show and if we're going to worship
something I figured I might as well
worship the Creator instead of any of
the
Creations now in a point investigating
all the religions I remember finding out
the meaning of what Islam is what a
Muslim is those who surrender theirself
to God is a Muslim those who surrender
submit to God God's will that is it
Islam was pure it was just you just pray
to God your
creator stand
alone I am not afraid to stand alone if
a li by I am not afraid to stand
alone I am not afraid to stand alone if
Li by I am not afraid to stand
alone I am not afraid to stand alone if
a li by I am not afraid stand
[Music]
Al back here on the dean show with Dr
Gerald Dirks moving along now Dr Gerald
please do you see now because of this
pushing the culture on the children and
mixing it so much with Islam and it's
confusion that this creates more
confusion and one of the ramifications
is because now because of this the kids
will start to develop a dual personality
well I I wouldn't say a dual personality
because it has definite psychological
implications in terms of a a diagnosis
but what we do see happening and brother
Yahya emmerik has written beautifully
about this in an article that every
Muslim parent should read called just
what are our youth thinking anyway okay
which has appeared a couple of times in
the message International and brother
Yahya points out and I have seen this
same thing from teaching in private
Islamic schools the kids act one way at
home yeah you know where they pretend to
be Jordanian Indian whatever but as soon
as they're removed from the home from
their parents
supervision for the first time they feel
like they can really be themselves MH
you know that they're they're putting on
an act at home uh they feel they can't
be honest and open with their parents
because of all this cultural pressure
this coming down on them from their
parents and that the only time they feel
they're they're truly free and truly
free to be who they are is uh when
they're away from their parents away
from other adult members of of the
Muslim
Community and this is very Troublesome
yeah very
Troublesome
um you know just speaking from
experience the last private Islamic
school at which I taught I taught
English langu language and social
studies yes I did not teach Islamic
Studies yes did not teach
Quran but the kids the middle school
kids whenever they would have a question
about Islam they would come to me yes
they would not go to their Islamic
Studies teacher MH wouldn't begin to go
to their Islamic Studies teacher to ask
the question they would come to me why I
was the American I was not the person
who was going to stuff down some
cultural uh trappings on them yeah so
let's separate Islam let's get to the
pure Islam pure Islam as taught by the
last and final Messengers to mankind of
proph muham peace be upon Him absolutely
and obviously it was taught by all the
messengers but we have it now in its
completion with the last and final
messenger yeah and and we have to strip
it from from these uh cultural
accretions that have occurred uh across
many different cultures uh we have to
strip it of of uh to be blunt some of
the fairy tales yes that get tacked onto
Islam by Otherwise well-meaning Muslims
yeah I can think of one example where uh
in when I was teaching at the last
Islamic school I was teaching at where
the students came in middle school
students came in and uh said you know we
just learned in Islamic Studies class
that if you draw a five-pointed star on
the floor in a circle around it which of
course is the pentagram yeah and you
stand in the middle of it if you try to
come out a Jin will come and immediately
kill you just like that so this is
obviously this was being taught in
Islamic Studies
class and I said no no way yeah oh yes
you know our Islamic Studies teachers
taught
us so I went up to the Blackboard I took
a piece of chalk I went to the back of
the room I drew a five-pointed star on
the floor big circle around it and I
stepped into the middle of it and the
kids were oh my goodness they're already
programmed now you see clinching the
chairs oh yeah and then I stepped out of
course I'm a bit of a a ham at times and
so when I stepped out I clutched my
chest and stumbled two kids
screamed they thought I'd just been
killed yeah now here's the
point this myth this fairy tale was
dismantled by a Muslim in an Islamic
setting wow okay which is good but what
happens if that had never happened and
six years down the road they're telling
their non-muslim friend about this and
the non-muslim friend does what I
did they've just disproven Islam yes
this is the tremendous danger that
exists with with adding stuff fairy
tales cultural stories Etc to the pure
message of a get that out get it out we
don't need it we don't need it and and
trying to tack it on is going to lead
the Next Generation to reject those
sorts of things and if it's tied too
tightly to Islam to reject Islam as well
and that's the big big danger you think
this also leads a bad taste in people's
mouths some of the non-muslims when they
see some of these things this kind of
draws them back sets them back of course
it does media gets a hold of some of
these things sure because because I mean
what what you're doing is you're
creating different
differences that don't need to be there
yeah so if if it's so deeply embedded
how does someone where do they begin to
fix this how well alhamdulillah praise
God I I think we have to be aware of the
fact that this exists and I think each
and every immigrant Muslim parent in
this country needs to sit down and
discuss this with each other they need
to acknowledge the fact that their kids
if their kids are going to be raised
here are going to be Americans M and the
more the Parents try to fight this
process the more likely it is they're
going to force their kids away from
Islam mhm you know so fine let your kids
develop an American National cultural
identity they're going to do it
anyway just work on making sure they
keep the Islamic religious identity but
it's the religious identity it's not the
cultural stuff that has been attached to
it so the Paris are going to need to try
and separate out what's religion and
what's culture mhm certainly this is
something that we need to be doing in
our
mosques definitely something we need to
be doing in our private Islamic schools
we need to be
separating the religion of Islam from
whatever culture we happen to come from
now that doesn't mean that you're an
American now that you as a Muslim now
we're talking about hey you know I can
go and have a six-pack of beer or I'm
going to the nightclubs I'm living a
freestyle lifestyle as they call it no
no no we take the good from the culture
but we hold our identity as ones who
have submitted to God and we do all the
good wholesome things and we stay away
from all the evil elements look look uh
you know going out and getting drunk or
using drugs is not part of the American
identity yeah um it's a part of the
identity of a subgroup of of people but
certainly not just people in America
because some people will say oh American
oh you're American now so you can just
let loose no that's obviously not in
fact if if we look C there are a lot of
Christian groups that share the same
social values that we share yeah uh you
know where they're against drinking
they're against drugs they're against
premarital sex Etc you know so hey if
they can be Americans and maintain their
religious values we can be Americans and
maintain our Islamic values but we need
to make sure that what we're talking
about is what the religion actually says
what the Quran and the Sunnah actually
tell us to to do absolutely and we'll be
right back with more here on the dean
show okay you've got your dream home and
you've got your dream car but you're
going to get old and things are going to
happen to you in your life and then what
have you got at the end of the day it's
an empty dream that has no real
Foundation we are going to die and we're
going to meet our Lord and he is going
to judge us it becomes an obligation for
each single human being to find out what
the Quran is Islam is telling us to stay
away from things which are bad for your
person and bad for the
society
back here on the dean show with Dr
Gerald Dirks we're talking about the
Muslim identity identity and a Muslim is
one who is consciously chosen to submit
to the one God doing God's will not our
desires and we're talking about leaving
off some of the back home cultures which
you'll actually see a lot of times God
Almighty says to be United not divided
and do you see a lot of times this
divide divides the community oh of
course it divides the community because
America we're we're looking at a Melting
Pot we're looking at Muslims who have
come from Indonesia from Malaysia from
India Bangladesh from uh Pakistan from
each of the Arab countries from many of
the African countries we're looking at
African-Americans who have reached back
to their ancestral past to claim Islam
as their religion so we have all these
different cultures
here um but the Next Generation that
second generation you know they're the
ones being raised in this culture
they're going to be Americans
Etc one of the the real
challenges that the Muslim Community has
in America is this whole issue of
tribalism or nationalism or or
ethnocentrism however you want to call
it nationalism just holding on to just
you know yeah the flag and yeah
absolutely absolutely
because the flag they're holding on to
is not the American flag yeah
um you know a survey was done by
sponsored by care yeah uh number of
years ago called a portrait of a mosque
in America I think was the name of the
big survey yeah and one of the things
they discovered in their National survey
of mosques around the country is that
27%
27% of the mosques in this country
reported that they were one of their
key goals was to preserve a certain
ethnic or National
Heritage now I'm sorry
brother I don't think there's any way
that that's a proper goal of a mosque MH
what that's saying is that 27% of the
mosques in America are systematically
excluding every Muslim who does not
happen to belong to that particular
ethnic or national grouping
MH MOS should be open to every Muslim
everybody everybody we're all Brothers
we are all brothers and sisters and we
shouldn't be divided like this
absolutely we shouldn't be divided and
yet we we see the the Muslim Community
being divided so often along tribal
lines or ethnic lines Etc uh and it
weakens us it fatally weakens us as
religious community if you go to a large
American city and you stop a Muslim on
the street and you say where's the
mosque you're likely to get an answer
that goes something like this well you
know the Arab mosque is over here the
endoa mosque is over here and over here
there's an African-American MOS drop all
that yeah we have to drop all that we
have to become one Muslim family hold on
to the Rope of God hold on to the Rope
of Allah this is what the crator is
telling us isn't he oh absolutely yeah
so now we're almost out of time continue
to give us some invite because this is
very very very very important topic and
we want to be united we don't want to be
divided because the key divider is the
Shan those satanic forces Allah wants us
to be together functioning as one unit
worshiping one guy absolutely so give us
uh a few uh closing comments and
suggestions for the community at large
well uh let me speak directly to to the
Immigrant Muslims who are parents here
in this country you know it's inevitable
your your children children especially
your grandchildren they're going to
start losing your native language
they're going to start losing some of
your native uh recipes as far as cooking
and uh Etc this is to be expected the
more you fight it the more conflict
you're likely to have with your children
and I say this wearing my hat as a child
clinical
psychologist accept the fact that your
children are going to be Americans that
your grandchildren are going to become
Americans don't get distracted by
whether they're wearing a Sarang or a
sarry uh or whether they're wearing
modest western clothes focus on the pure
teachings of
Islam make sure that's in place don't
waste your time and your energy and your
influence trying to build in C cultural
issues into your children mhm now the
good things from culture let's say you
mentioned bani if they want to still eat
bani and some of the good things they
don't have they don't have to give up
all that right no no they don't have to
give it up that's fine if they want to
do it yeah you know I'm from German
American background you know I still
enjoy eating Z Bren yeah
um yeah you
know but don't make that part of the
don't make that the religion no don't
make that the religion and don't force
it on your children or your
grandchildren gotcha you know if they
want to grab it they'll Grab It Don't
Force It on them gotcha okay and people
can get a hold of you if they want to
invite you to come visit where at they
can reach me at my website thank you
very much may God Almighty Allah the
creator of the heavens and earth reward
you once again oh thank you brother
thank you and you got to hear some great
advice from Dr Gerald Dirks born bred
and raised American he's telling us as
Allah is telling you to hold on to the
Rope of God of the Creator Allah and be
not divided amongst yourselves we need
to be one um one Humanity worshiping the
one God and if you got some back home
culture you like that food the bani go
ahead and eat that some people can't
it's too hot and too spicy but that's
nothing wrong with it what we're saying
is don't mix your backhold cultures with
Islam don't mix it Islam is pure it's
from the creator of the heavens and
earth and we have the verbatim word of
God the Quran and we have the Sunnah the
authentic teachings from the last and
final messenger sent to mankind no more
Messengers to come get to know this and
teach this and live this this and that
is how we can attain peace and that's
how we can stay United and we'll see you
next time here on the dean show until
then peace be unto you