Zabir Shaikh
Some people lament the perceived dilution of their faith and culture upon immigrating to the United States. I think this perception is mostly flawed. I have experienced, first hand, the evolution of the last couple generations of immigrants.
Recently, I celebrated my 41st anniversary of emigrating to the U.S. from India. I was not quite two years old at the time, so I am very thankful my parents were ambitious, hopeful risk-takers who left behind their family, friends, work, language, culture, etc. to embrace opportunity in a brave new world: the United States of the early 1970’s.
Like most immigrants, my parents did this because they envisioned a more prosperous future here in the U.S., and ultimately a better life for future generations. They knew it was not going to be easy… that it is difficult to start from scratch in a new land. There were also very few fellow immigrants from the sub-continent.
And yes, there were a multitude of challenges: the new reality of being so far away from back home, missing out on many family events and important holidays, and the challenges of adapting to life in the U.S. Communication via phone was expensive and unreliable at times, and air travel was very expensive vs. discretionary income. The socioeconomic sands here in the U.S. were also shifting as the country was slowly embracing civil rights, bringing the Vietnam War to a close, and facing economic shocks from the oil crisis, resulting in a rocky job market.
As many can relate, we faced the challenge of striking a careful cultural balance… to embrace our new home and start new traditions, but also to maintain our faith, establish Islamic institutions, and retain our cultural traditions, and all of the things that form our identity as Muslims from the sub continent.
It was especially challenging carving out a Muslim identity since there were very few Desi Muslims, even fewer Zabiha foods available, and virtually no nearby masajid or Islamic Centers. In the late 1970’s, we attended Sunday Islamic School in people’s basements and rented space for large religious gatherings, including Eid.
For me, personally, having grown up with very few close Muslim friends, it was almost as if I had two distinct personas: Muslim at home, but American outside of the home. In fact, even in college, I had many more non-Muslim friends because I was more comfortable hanging out with them.
So now let’s flash forward a few decades to the here and now…
Alhumdulillah, by God’s grace, there are so many educational resources, multicultural institutions, and ethnic social networks for younger generations. Technology has made the world much smaller. With apps such as Skype, Facetime, Whatsapp and Viber, keeping in touch over long distances is very easy. Americans are also much more diverse and tolerant compared to just fifteen to twenty years ago. In contrast, many countries of immigrants’ origins are becoming increasingly intolerant.
More importantly, the younger generations are slowly taking charge and demonstrating their leadership. They are making huge strides in applying their talent and intellect, and also separating faith from culture, especially as they get to know Muslims from varied cultures. Even more importantly, they are embracing both their faith and their culture!
Now, of course, there are some that do lose their faith and cultural identity to the big melting pot of Americana. However, my point is that the likelihood of this was more prevalent in past decades than it is now.
What do you think? I would love to hear from you on this topic… feel free to sound off on our website. You may post comments below each article.