Culture is an excellent dawah tool. In many ways, this is probably one of the key ways in which we need to present Islam in this day and age. Having said that, the danger is that you then reduce Islam – a religion of codified law, tenets, values and rituals – to nothing more than an aesthetic expression devoid of a soul.  When Islam is reduced to a cultural express, divested of all these things, it is not Islam anymore.

Islamic art and culture have are myriad of expressions and styles and they have arisen from a deep attachment to the Divine and to the religion. The height of Islamic art is the written word and calligraphy is the pinnacle of Islamic artistic expression. This is a direct response to the majesty and power of The Divine Word, The Quran. Islamic art and culture are always rooted in the religion that gave rise to them. Yes, they take on the shades and variance of the indigenous local cultural expressions, but at the base of it all is the religion of Islam.

When Islam is reduced to just a cultural expression divesting it of its tenets, laws and rituals, it’s not really Islam anymore. The art, whilst outwardly beautiful, lacks what made it beautiful in the first place. The same with Sufism, if you make Sufism out to be some kind fluffy, airy fairy, nebulous spiritual practice and not something grounded and rooted in sacred law, it’s not really Sufism.

One thing that a lot of non-Muslims appreciate about Islam and Muslims is how diligently we stick to our religion’s values and practices inspite of contemporary tastes and whims. As Muslims we should not be ashamed of who we are, what we believe and what our values are. We need to please no one but our Creator and it makes not a jot of difference if people dislike Islam or even hate it. Let’s be unashamedly Muslim.