Sie sind auf Seite 1von 5

Why Many Contemporary Muslim Weddings are Far Away from

Islam
By Ahmad Eldridge Cleaver
I give thanks and praises unto Allah, Almighty God, the Most High for the
blessings of Islam, for the Quran and for the pure authentic Sunnah. In the Sunnah is
Islam and in Islam is the Sunnah. All Praise is due unto Allah & I ask the Creator to send
His peace & blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad who delivered to us
the Quran and whose pure life was the gold mine from which thousands of Muslims
worked hard to document in the Hadith; to verify, to compile with the blood, sweat and
tears of the pious scholars who passed on to us the inheritance of Islam.
Tonight in my hands I hold an invitation and it reads; The Honor of Your
Presence is Requested, . cordially invite you for the dinner party in celebration of the
wedding of their daughter
It is an evening of 2010 and I sit in a place that is intended to be a celebration of
the utmost of Halal occasions. What should be no less than the unarguable blessing of the
union of a Muslim man and a Muslim woman into a family, a Walima, a wedding dinner.
Yet I put forward a question and call you to ponder; Should the wedding of a Muslim
couple embark upon the journey into matrimony with a wedding-dinner-celebration that
is inundated and covered with what Islam forbids? Will this bestow upon the newlyweds
blessings or its opposite?
I have never before been to a wedding of the very modern, contemporary
superficially, religiously Muslim families. This side of Sudanese Arab-Muslim society is
often arguably described as transparently or culturally Islamic if one could coin such a
term even though it saddens me to do so. Meaning for many so called modern
Muslims, the Sunnah only means to them extra unnecessary religious rituals. Their
perception of the Sunnah is synonymous to Nawafil, Supererogatory, because some of the
scholars of Fiqh use the term vernacularly in this way when discussing Ahkam, legal
rulings. Yet, the wider meaning of the word Sunnah is the way of Muhammad, the
Messenger of Allah and his daily practices his methodology in word and deed, his
implementation of the Quran.
Nowadays, in many Sudanese wedding parties, the Sunnah is an unwanted guest
and one of its people wouldnt really know what to do if he or she comes here. Or
instance, soon I will be just sitting looking around as if I am in a strange amusement park
surrounded by madness.
Upon first entrance I can behold the bride and groom, both from very respectable
families in the upper echelon of Sudanese society. They are on display on a stage,
alighted upon a golden colored throne. I can hear loudly the splashing sound waves
thundering forth from concert-hall size tall speakers blasting the latest Arab pop- music
hits. So I pass my eyes across the scene; where many fancy white clothed dinner tables
and a mixed crowd of Sudanese are here to enjoy the show, or so it seems. As I scan what
is before me, many families, parents, children and young adults arrive to join this
celebration of a new marriage. Water is being served to tables by smartly clad waiters.
And as soon as the guests enter the open club, they advance before the throne on the stage

to congratulate the newlyweds. Both bride and groom happily shake hands with all who
come male and female, family member or friend.
However, as Muslims, to seek the blessings of Allah for the joining in marriage of
a new husband and a wife how can we ignore what was narrated from Maqil ibn Yassaar
who reported that the Messenger of Allah
said:
For one of you to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle is better for him
than that he should touch a woman who is not permissible for him. 1
.
In addition, is what was related in the Muwatta of Imam Malik and in other
books of Hadith from Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir that Umayma bint Ruqaya rrelayed
that the Prophet Muhammad said:
I do not shake hands with women.2



Sadly, I was an eye witness to this fiesco of how Muslims indulge themselves in
their weddings. I could not miss a moment as three quite large and elevated video screens
displayed this theatrical like performance to all with the background of the loud beat,
whiz and hum of stringed instruments where the wind slithers its way blowing through
the pipes and horns. This scene is one I had heard tell of only but never have I seen it
before my very eyes until tonight. The late night wedding parties of what certainly
tonight appears to be semi-religious Arabs; in these times leading up to the Last Days and
full of its final signs, day after day. For truly this has been foretold to us in the words of
the Prophet Muhammad
where musical instruments are called maazif.3


4
Narrated Abu 'Amir or Abu Malik Al-Ash'ari: that he heard the
Prophet saying, "From among my followers there will be some
people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the
1

1 . (5045) ( 486) " "


2
,4110 , , 1775 ,
, , 26312 ,26291 ,25769 ,28768 ,25767 ,6703 2865 ,
3 244 ,9 , , ,
4 , ,
2

3
4

wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of


musical instruments, as lawful.
Then it continues, as if that was not enough, for now the night club commences
and the groom leads his bride, descending from the throne and then they hit straight to the
dance floor. This celebrated event coincides with the end of the recorded Arab DJ music.
Which in itself is good news, but sadly it is followed immediately by the wound-up live
band, which launches into their first number with a bang, singing and dancing to the
crowd.
The discussion around the subject concerning if musical instruments are
permissible or forbidden is really, fundamentally a contemporary one. For the scholars of
Islam in the days of the early writers of the classical texts of the Shariah were in
consencus that what we do today with music was and is a sin. For instance Imam Malik,
When he was asked what did the people of Medina allow or see as permissible in regards
to listening to music he said:
5
Truly only the disobedient sinners among us listen to music.
Whereas Imam Shafi wrote in his book adab al-qada
. , 6
Indeed music is a strongly dissaproved vain and trivial amusement that
resembles falsehood and deception. And whoever indulged in a great deal of
music then he is foolish and is not an acceptable legal witness in court.
Moreover, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal was asked by his son Abdallah about music
and Imam Ahmad replied:
, 7
Music causes the growth of hipocrisy in the heart, and I do not admire it.
Now the groom takes his new wife by the hand and holds her tight and they dive
into a dance. We all see and watch them shake, twist and gesticulate; moving their bodies
and hips before the assembled cheering crowd of family, friends, colleagues and perfect
strangers like myself. So she shakes what she has got in her tight, white wedding gown
and her new husband wiggles and raises his hand in the air in what I imagine, he does
perceive as a triumph of sorts.
What exactly does he feel he has gained victory in?
5

25 , ,
26-25
7
26
6

Has he been a winner in displaying the physical features and private beauty of his bride to
all in attendance?
If that is what he has been challenged to do, then certainly and sadly, he has indeed won
that prize, if it is one.
What is unfolding now on the floor of the club is evolving into and actually has
truly become a dance floor, and it is widening. As the young, and even the not so young
women and men join in to raise the heat on the dance floor. People begin to get up from
their tables and head for the floor. Others remain seated still while many join in the
partys nucleus. Especially the young women in attendance who have mostly left their
head scarves to lay upon their shoulders or back at home altogether tonight.
It seems to be that most of them hope, that she can make this her golden
opportunity to twist and to shake her hips so one of the very eligible wealthy bachelors
can see her, check her out and choose her to be his wife. Especially the Sudanese men
who reside abroad in the USA, UK or in Europe and will be sent a copy of the video
coverage of a crowded wedding party like this one.
The men and women crowd their way onto the dance floor and in the center of
them all is the new couplenow the wedding begins to unfold, deflowering into no less
than a late night dance party in a smoky club, almost as if I was back in Brooklyn, New
York,. Harlem or the Bronx. And if I am lying, well, you can catch it all on film if you
can just get the video. And not only this party, but there are over 40 million Sudanese in
this land, where many of the wealthy or those aspiring towards wealth would squander
their money in such a fashion to commence the holy unions of their marrages with a
decidely unholy carnal Soul Train Dance Show like - shake it till you break it - wedding
dinner party, even in the Muslim majority land of Sudan.
Nonetheless tonights wedding occasion will be oft- repeated here in Khartoum
where many a family will enter marital life like this one passing through a door crowded
with deeds that the Prophet Muhammad
forbade us to do. And in attendance at these
parties are many fathers who have taken quite lightly when it comes to the subject of
contemporary wedding culture, their responsibility as leaders of their female family
members.
For the Prophet Muhammad

taught us true guidance when he said:

Allah has forbidden the Paradise to three people: the alcoholic, the runaway
slave, and the Dayyouth, (one who is complacent in the face of the evil deeds
that his female family members perform)
The celebrators then hoist up the groom onto their shoulders and the young men
jump high in the air raising their hands towards the stars. As if they are in a sense,
remembering the African side of their ancestry where still to this day can be found those
8

5117, 5839, 5904 ,2515

who jump in such a way at the weddings amongst the Nuer, the Dinka in Sudan or even
the Masaai in Kenya.
And I am at a loss as I pen this down in a notepad and observe this sideshow, this
Sunnah of Shawah, desire. Certainly, as when Muslims have abandoned the Sunnah, then
they have to replace it with what is worse than it. I, myself, and similarly what remains of
the Sunnah can only take a far back seat as a family union is begun and commences as far
away from the way of Muhammad, the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah
as humanly
possible.
At 11:00 PM I can take no more. I have eaten to honor my dignified host who
invited me, but now I must flee from this Munkar, forbidden actions. I certainly do not
have the power here to halt with my hand anything that is being done, as I am just
another Muslim stranger and one from a far away land called America. Undoubtedly, for
me to speak a word of critique, criticism or religious condemnation would cause more
problems than it would solve. So instead, I put these words down with ink on paper, for it
is the only sword I can raise and I detest the actions that I see now before me. Surely, that
is no more than the weakest of Iman. May this be read one day and I seek in it the mercy
and forgiveness of Allah, the One, the All Seeing One who knows the sins of us all.
And if the weakest Iman is to hate wrongdoing in ones heart, then where is the
faith, the Iman, of the keyboard player, the lead singer and the people who are not
married nor couples, but are dancing at this dance floor/ wedding/ dinner - shaking their
bodies seductively almost as if they were in bed like a husband and wife. They are on the
verge of that and yet, they only came here to just celebrate a wedding? Then where is
their Iman?
On the authority of Abu Saeed Al-Khurdari, who said: I heard the Messenger of
Allah
say:


"Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not
able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart;
and that is the weakest of faith."
I pray and ask Allah to return the Muslims to their Deen with a beautiful return.



70 {}

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen