Allah Almighty says:
یٰۤاَیُّهَا النَّاسُ اِنَّا خَلَقْنٰكُمْ مِّنْ ذَكَرٍ وَّ اُنْثٰى وَ جَعَلْنٰكُمْ شُعُوْبًا وَّ قَبَآىٕلَ لِتَعَارَفُوْاؕ-اِنَّ اَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللّٰهِ اَتْقٰىكُمْؕ-اِنَّ اللّٰهَ عَلِیْمٌ خَبِیْرٌ
(حجرات آیت13)
Translation:
“O people! We have created you from a male and a female and made you nations and tribes so that you may know one another. Indeed, the most honorable among you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous among you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.”
Now lets understand this verse. The first point is that in this verse, Allah Almighty is addressing all of humanity, not just Muslims. The purpose is that Muslims should fully understand God’s universal scheme of culture and not be mistaken in thinking that this scheme only pertains to Muslims.
The key point being stated in this verse is that We have divided you into nations and tribes so that you can recognize each other. The question is, what is this recognition, and why is it so essential that Allah had to launch a special scheme for it?
The detail of recognition is that if we stand within our tribe, our identification as an individual is enough to know what our name is and who our ancestors are. This is sufficient for our fellow tribesmen. However, the matter of national and tribal identity is not about an individual’s identity; it is about the identity of a group, i.e., an entire society.
So when a person from outside our nation or tribe wants to know us, just knowing our name and lineage will not suffice. We will explain why, but the point will not be clear until you understand the identification of humans. So let’s understand this first.
Allah sent humans to Earth as His vicegerent. Being a vicegerent means having authority over the earth and the universe surrounding it. If he heads towards the sea, he will kiss its depths; if he heads towards the mountains, he will trample their heights under his feet.
If he descends into the desert, he will mock its uniformity. And not only that, he will conquer what is on the surface of the earth, and when he looks up at the stars, he will not be satisfied with just seeing them; he will insist on touching them and will succeed.
Now the Earth is diverse. There are forests, plains, deserts, rivers, extreme aridity, and icy regions. If humans were made like other animals, they would only be involved in eating, drinking, reproduction, and sleeping, just like the other animals, and would not conquer this diversity.
So he was equipped with a system that wouldn’t let him sit in peace and would compel him to conquer. This system is called intellect. And in this intellect, a software called “psychology” was installed.
Thus, the psychological makeup of humans is such that they cannot live in one mode. Diversity and aesthetics are essential for his life, which the earth was already filled with before his arrival.
As a result of this aesthetic scheme, if all humans lived the same lifestyle, humanity would have perished long ago. They would first get bored, then become psychologically ill, and finally go completely mad, attacking each other. This is not just a claim; it would have actually happened. Try giving someone the same meal for three days, and you’ll see how monotony clashes with his psychology.
Not only externally but also internally, he needs to be adorned with aesthetics and diversity. Imagine for a moment if all humans looked like Mubashar Zaidi, what would happen? Thus, the aesthetics of his being began with his nationality and tribe. Hence, diversity in race and color came about. Every nation and tribe has different physical structures, features, dialects, and sounds.
Not only that, but each nation and tribe also has its own lifestyle. This lifestyle starts from small acts like drinking water and extends to writing, reading, poetry, music, and dance. This lifestyle is shaped by the combination of geography, climate, and psychology. Even their foods are influenced by geography and climate. And from here, like an individual, a tribe also develops its own temperament. All these elements become its “identity markers.”
I hope it’s clear what “recognition” is. Now, let’s come to the question of why this recognition is so essential that God had to launch a grand cultural scheme for it. It is necessary because humans are social beings. They cannot live without society. Therefore, the worst punishment for any human is to be isolated.
A criminal who receives a sentence of one year to life imprisonment is punished with complete solitary confinement if he commits an offense in prison. And when he is released from this isolation after just one month, his condition is akin to that of a semi-mad person.
Now, since humans are social beings, it means they have to interact with each other and will conquer the universe through mutual cooperation. They will have to interact to the extent that a person from the African deserts will deal with a person from the Siberian icy regions, and the highlands of Asia will interact with the marvels of Europe. Every corner of the Earth will set out to meet the other corner. And long-distance travelers will have significant geographical and climatic differences, resulting in distinct temperaments and lifestyles.
If a Russian does not bother to understand the lifestyle and temperament of an African, and vice versa, it is certain that they will not be able to interact with each other. They might even get frustrated and kill each other. On a micro level, imagine if your nation eats spicy food, and a guest comes from a region where no spices are used. You proudly serve your traditional dish, hoping to impress and receive praise. Instead, the guest will “complain” both at the dining table and in the restroom. The next morning, he will flee your region.
This is why countries promote cultural exchanges and people-to-people contact so that nations can “recognize” each other and understand each other’s lifestyles. Knowing this makes interactions easier. Without this understanding, humans cannot progress. The global social system would collapse.
Now understand the most crucial point. There is no such thing as “Islamic culture” or “Islamic civilization” in this world. There exists Muslim culture and Muslim civilization. Before throwing fatwas, understand why this is so. From the first verse of the Quran to “wal-naas,” there is no divine command stating what kind of shirt you should wear for your upper body or what type of pants, trousers, or anything else for your lower body. There is no specific way your food should be cooked, or how your bed and pillows should be, or the materials and colors of your utensils.
In short, the composition of any lifestyle element has been entirely left to the discretion of the nation and tribe. Only some broad limits have been mentioned, such as that a man’s area from the navel to the knees must be covered, or else there will be questioning and punishment.
How you cover this area is up to you; our command is just that it should not be visible. The same applies to women, from head to toe. Now, a modern mind might ask why the woman has to cover everything. The simple answer is that a man has nothing more than his front and back to be at risk, whereas a woman’s entire body is a “precious treasure.” If you don’t believe it, look at poetry. Poets start with the woman’s hair and go down to her ankles. Do you find any such verse or entire poem about a man?
Similarly, regarding food, the principle of halal (permissible) and haram (forbidden) is given, but there is no interference in how you cook your halal food. When both the Quran and Hadith are silent on the topic of lifestyle and culture, and the principle is that where they are silent, human discretion begins.
Hence, Muslims did this: they modified their pre-Islamic lifestyles according to divine commands. Even the style of Arab clothing was modified just to remove the element of arrogance. Drinking utensils that held alcohol were excluded, and the rest remained unchanged. Even the turban has been in use since the pre-Islamic era; it was not introduced by Islam. However, Muslims who wish to follow the Sunnah (traditions of the Prophet) wear the turban in the style of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). This led to the formation of first Muslim culture and then Muslim civilization. Muslim culture or Muslim civilization means the culture and civilization formed by Muslims. Islamic culture or Islamic civilization would mean a culture given by Allah and His Messenger (PBUH). Islam has left the matter of culture entirely to Muslims. Islam’s entire focus is on ethics.
When we ponder over this whole background, the following conclusions emerge:
Culture is a divine scheme.
The formation of culture is up to humans.
The nation and its culture are for identification.
The central element of identification is not religion but nation and culture.
In such a scenario, can anyone be more foolish than the person who becomes an enemy of his own identities and adopts other nations’ identities instead of his own? This is an activity against the system of nature. Have you ever noticed who does this the most in our society? There are two groups.
One group abandons its culture and adopts Western clothing and lifestyle, i.e., those influenced by Western culture. The other group discards its culture and dons the robes of Arabs, i.e., our religious scholars. Both are not only devoid of intellect but are also at odds with God’s grand scheme. The irony is that a religious scholar takes pride in commenting in Arabic on our Urdu social media posts, while a liberal does the same in English, thinking of himself as Einstein.
They don’t even realize that there is no culture more diverse and extensive than Muslim culture on this planet. Whether you go to Malaysia, India, the Middle East, Europe, Russia, or Africa, each place has its unique.
