Cultures
The writer, Ayyad Dilawar Padhani is in Marketing at his family optical practice. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Marketing and related support services. He has been rendering community services from a very early age.
We live in an era where physical distance has almost lost its meaning. Technology, ease of travel across vast distances within hours and business cross continents has created a melting pot of cultures in many major cities in the 21st Century. Conflicts today are increasingly about misread intentions, assumptions and unseen mental or opposing cultural frameworks. Therefore understanding each other’s cultures arises as an important social skill.
Islam offers through the Qur’an and the Teachings of the Holy Prophet a framework that enables people to become Muslim without forgoing their cultural identity and oftentimes even import some practices that are not directly prohibited.
The Map Is Not the Territory: Culture’s Silent Hand
The phrase “the map is not the territory” reminds us that our understanding of the world is not the world itself, but a representation shaped by foundational assumptions. Culture helps us interpret how we see the world: for example when talking of time, some cultures are more flexible, while others are very strict and unforgiving in tardiness. Furthermore, some cultures prefer talking with a more context savvy way while others prefer more directness.
We can sometimes fall into the trap of assuming others see the world the way we do, and overstep, seeming insensitive to their cultural norms such as arriving comfortably late while someone may have arrived on time waiting for you. Or risking being seen as rude when being direct to someone who grew up in an indirect culture.
Islam explicitly acknowledges this human condition. The Qur’an states:
O mankind, We created you from a single male and female and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another. (Qur’an 49:13)
Cultures are a collection of changing modes of human expression that develop differently in different geographical areas and change based on temperature, type of cloth available, language, type of food able to grow and more. Whereas Islam comes with unchangeable rules and a moral compass, and as long as cultural practices do not contradict clear Islamic teachings, they are not only permitted but respected.
This is why Islam has historically thrived across radically different civilisations Arab, Persian, African, and European without demanding cultural erasure. Clothing styles, cuisines, languages, architecture, marriage customs, and social etiquette all varied widely, yet the same prayer is prayed, the same Qur’an is recited and the same Prophet followed. Therefore, Islam does not impose a single cultural “map” of reality. Instead, it offers a moral compass that allows many maps to coexist
Modern multiculturalism often struggles because it lacks moral anchoring. A Muslim however, can fully belong to a faith rooted in divine guidance while honoring the permissible elements of their previous culture. A convert does not need to become Arab to become Muslim. Nor does a Muslim need to abandon their cultural identity to be sincere. This balance enables Islam to create an environment of true multiculturalism and not one built on superficial tolerance, but on shared ethics and mutual dignity.
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