TRADITION VS CHANGE

Sunny Hundal reflects on an article about the dwindling number of practising Jews in Britain. Will intermarriage create the same problems for Hindus and Muslims one day? (And would that necessarily be a bad thing?)

Emel Abidin-Algan, former head of the Berlin-based Islamic Women's Association, has already taken a step away from communalism by taking off her headscarf:

How often since my unveiling have I looked men in the eye and thought: Hey, he's not even looking at me?! And to think I spent 30 years covering myself from the supposed harassment of men's eyes...

She also seems to think that Gemans could do with being a little less apathetic about her faith:

Out of consideration for so-called Muslim cultural characteristics, the majority of German society practices patience and reserve, instead of actively pursuing a confrontation with the Muslims out of curiosity or desire for knowledge. They retreat all too quickly when confronted with the answer that the Koran says so and so or that was how the Prophet did things.

Some more background in this interview:

Germans should show more interest in finding out about Islam, [she says.] "Even those in government circles hardly have any basic knowledge about the religion."

Comments

[Radha]

{{{{Will intermarriage create the same problems for Hindus and Muslims one day? (And would that necessarily be a bad thing?)}}}}

I suppose this goes to the heart of the question that has been debated amongst diaspora Jews for hundreds of years -- if they were to assimilate completely into the society in which they were living, and to no longer exist, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? I am a Hindu, not a Jew, but I think it would be a bad thing if there were no synagogues, no Jewish culture, nothing, if they were to simply cease to exist, and I feel the same way about Hindu culture in Britain. I cannot for the life imagine why it could ever be a good thing for Jews or Hindus to no longer exist in society. In fact I think there is something deeply tragic and frightening about that thought.

Note, that is not to say there is not a need for minority religions or ethnicities to adapt and liberalise and re-define who can belong to their community to cope with changing times and realities --- but why it could ever be a good thing that Jews or Hindus or Sikhs or Muslims or whoever should simply cease to exist I cannot understand.

[Clive D]

I definitely don't want groups to disappear. I guess it's a question of finding the "right" level of intermarriage and intermixing, if such a thing is possible. My wife is a Hindu, and has ambivalent feelings about all this, as you can probably imagine.

[Sunny]

I doubt religion or culture will get wiped out completely! But I don't know why people make such a big deal out of it... as if stopping the act of following a few cultural practices is somehow sad. Culture changes over time anyway. It is constantly changing and fluid. What is there to be sad about? ;)