I'm not oblivious to people's eyes following me as I walk across a room, campus or supermarket - Muslim men and women naturally stand out because of some of our customs and the way we dress.
I wrote a column a couple of weeks ago about some Islamic customs that some people may not be aware of. One custom is that it is forbidden for unrelated men and women have any physical contact with each other - including shaking hands.
To some, this seems backward. Although it is partially true that a hand-shake in the West means nothing to most people, it makes no difference in this case - the ruling on the matter doesn't change in Islam.
The truth of the matter is there will always be some people who have bad intentions - and Islam's rulings are there to prevent anything sinful and harmful to its followers.
People wonder why Muslims can't just assimilate into society like the Jews assimilated in America after World War II, many of them giving up a lot of their identities to conform to American culture - also called the "melting pot."
Some people may say Islam is a religion stuck in the seventh century. The rulings in the Quran that applied to Muslims in the 632 CE are the same rulings apply to Muslims in 2008 CE.
This is perhaps what separates Islam from any other religion in the world. As Muslims, we follow our holy book, The Quran. Muslims believe this was and still remains the true word of Allah or God. The Quran that was recited more than 1400 years ago is the same Quran recited today - without a letter being changed.
It all goes back to the concept of Prophet-hood. Islam, Christianity and Judaism all believe God sent prophets when corruption would spread in the earth and the number of true believers thins.
Islam also believes a new Prophet would be sent to their people once the true word of Allah sent down in scriptures would be altered by man, and no one would have the true message anymore.
As Muslims, we believe in all the books and scriptures sent before like the Gospels and the Torah, but we follow the Quran because it has been unchanged since the time it was revealed.
When the Gospels were altered and corruption spread, Allah sent the Torah. When that was altered by man, Allah sent the Quran to the prophet Muhammad.
What does this have to do with assimilation?
Everything.
Muslims believe that to worship God alone and in the correct manner, we have to worship him the way he told us to worship him - not the way man told us to worship him.
The Quran is for all times, not just for the time period during which it was revealed. And there is nothing backward about it. The prohibition of premarital sex was the same then as it is now - a prohibition also found in Christianity and Judaism.
Yet, because Muslims conform to those beliefs, we are told we are backward.
It's not a hard concept to grasp. If God is able to do all things, as most religions believe, then why is it so hard to believe that he could create a scripture applicable to all times?
Muslims will never fully assimilate into the American culture, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Some people may believe in the obvious superiority of American culture and the flawlessness of its system and that this means others must follow America's example and learn from us.
Being a Muslim and an American - I know this is false. Instead of aspiring to a place in the "melting pot" we should yearn to be more like a salad bowl - together you make up a salad, but each part of the salad retains its identity.
The problem isn't that Muslims appear to be socially deviant. Once it is established and proven that something is the truth and unaltered by man, then the right thing to do would be to follow its teachings. It is this very logic that creates problems if people fail to understand its simplicity and self-evident truth.
---- Contact Shirien Elmasraya at selmasraya@lsureveille.com
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