Your culture =/= Islam
Peace,
As a convert (revert) to this religion, I had to leave behind certain aspects of my culture that are not appropriate for a Muslim to do (e.g. drinking, dating, drugging, clubbing). I come from a Latino community where folks do this well into their 60s - or until they drop dead from it.
To my native (born) Muslims, I encourage you to leave behind those aspects of your culture that are not appropriate for a Muslim to do:
- learning without questioning
- memorizing without understanding
- obeying parents no matter what foolishness they tell you
- obsessing over "what will the people say?"
- competing with neighbors over who has the biggest house, the fancier car
- refusing to marry so-and-so because they don't belong to my race or ethnicity
None of this is compatible with Islam. Don't believe me? Then go & read the Qur'an.
If converts have the audacity to challenge their cultural upbringing - holding onto what is right (ma'ruf), and abandoning what is wrong (munkar) - then why not you?
>> And when it is said to them, "Follow what God has sent down," they say: "Rather, we follow what we found our fathers doing." Even though their fathers understood nothing, nor were they guided? (2:170) <<
Hopefully this is helpful for someone / anyone out there.
Sincerely yours,
Muslim who converted ~25 years ago