Visiting a western country can be amazing. The travelling experience itself can have priceless meaningful lessons that we cannot learn from the books. But migrating to a western country like Australia or Canada permanently is an entirely different experience. It has its impacts not only on the whole life of ourselves but on the generations. This is why one should seriously think before migrating to a western country if he is considering to do so. All the pros and cons must be addressed at the time of decision making. One must consider the spiritual, social, educational, physical and emotional impacts in a broad spectrum.
Here with the word ‘west’ I do not mean the geographical west but the society that works on the similar moral grounds.
Many of my friends and colleagues are not only migrating to Australia these days, they are also insisting me to do so. I must therefore, for my own clarity, write the right reasons for not migrating to Australia or any other western-style country. The reasons that I will discuss are based on my understanding and defined under my circumstances. It is not necessary that they all are the right reasons for everyone who doesn’t want to go.
Am I not living a thankful to Allah’s life in my homeland?
1) According to Islamic teachings, it is not permissible for a Muslim to live between non-believers, if in his homeland he can live a normal life that most of the people are living. According to the Shariah ruling, if one is unable to earn even for his basic necessities or he is imprisoned unjustly or his property is taken away then only he is allowed to migrate. The detailed ruling can be read in the book Fiqhi Maqalat by Mufti Taqi Usmani, page 233-237.
According to a Hadith:
“If a person does resemblance or lives with non-believers, he is like them.”
Another Hadith:
“ ‘I make myself separate from any person who lives between non-believers’, The companions asked ‘O Rasullulah (SAW) What is the reason for that?’ He replied ‘The fire of Islam and the fire of Kufr cannot live together. You will not be able to distinguish that the fire is from Islam or Kuft’ “
.
Another Hadith:
“Do not leave your offspring among non-believers”
In the light of above Hadiths and Shariah ruling, when i examine my own circumstances, I found that I do not fall into the criteria when a person is allowed to migrate to a non-Muslim country. I have provisions more than my actual needs, I am not imprisoned, neither my life or property has been taken away. Hence the Shariah ruling is very clear for me that it is impermissible to live between non-believers in these circumstances.
Since the ruling is clear in this subject, the only above mentioned reason should be enough and no furthers reasons should be required but for my own clarity, I will write the other impacts as well that will help in understanding the above mentioned Hadiths as well.
Why should I live in a country which was not made on the name of Islam when on earth there exists a state that was established on the name of Islam with huge sacrifice?
2) I should never forget that my family is originally migrated from India. Once my father along with his mother and some brothers and sisters left India and migrated to Pakistan. It was a hard time for them because they reached Pakistan empty handed leaving behind all their properties and some relations in India. There were stories of sacrifices. Why did they do this? They had their home there, they had their property there, and they had their relatives and friends there. But still they left everything and migrated to a newly established state in an uncertain situation. Most of them had already spent almost half of their lives before migration, so I believe they migrated not only for themselves but specially for their generations. They wanted their sons and daughters to be grown up in a Muslim community where they are free to practice their Faith. For this purpose, they left their belongings and relations. If I migrate to a non-Muslim country now, what answer shall I give to my father? My father is no more in this world, but if he were, he could have asked is this why we suffered so much hardships of migration that our next generation will re-migrate and run away from this place?
Why should I surrender my freedom of practicing Islam?
3) I should understand that the kind of freedom of practicing Islam we enjoy in Islamic country is not enjoyed in any of the non-Muslim countries. Up to a large extent, we may be allowed to practice the personal matters of Islam freely however we face problems while practicing the collective matters. For example, in a Muslim world, the Muazzin speaks five times a day, loud and clear, that our Lord is Great. In a non-Muslim world, we can not announce our Lord, our Creator and our Sustainer is the Great. Similarly not all the places have mosques, so the prayers with congregation is also compromised. Even if many places have mosques, there is lack of Jama Friday mosque in many areas. Hence people have to travel long distances in order to pray Friday prayers. For those people who are consistent, this is a source of getting additional rewards of travelling but for the general people, it becomes a reason for slowly and gradually quitting the Friday congregation prayers and leads them to pray individually. Companies that don’t allow their employees to go for a few hours for Friday prayers strengthen their reason of quitting the congregation.
Why should I see something that I don't want to see and that can produce impact on me?
4) Stephen R. Covey describes a concept of ‘seeing is being’ in his very famous book ‘The 7 habits of highly effective people’. This concept is so true in all the aspects of life. If someone constantly sees something, there’s a good probability that he will become like that. So there is a great chance that if I live between the non-believers I will become like them, and if my children live among them and see them, they will become like them. This is why if we meet people whose forefathers had migrated to U.S. or U.K. years before, we find many of them as Muslims just by name. Of course if a particular person keeps himself away from evil and keep connected with pious people, he will be saved from such effects, but we should consider the probability of the effect.
Why should I intermix with someone whose culture is not conform to my values?
5) When different cultures live together, they are intermixed with each other and normally the one which is big in number gives more impact on the other. If we study the history of the civilizations, we can clearly find this link. For example, the Muslims and the Hindus of south east Asia lived together for about a thousand year so they transferred their culture and values to each other. Muslims not only gave Hindus their values but also adopted many Hindu customs. Now even after separating from Hindus for about seven decades, we are not able to get rid of Hindu cultural impact and today we notice such impact at the times of sorrow and happiness. The same happens when we live in the western society. The western culture starts inculcating slowly in us and speedily in our children. The first impact that can be seen clearly is the dressing and the second is the language. Soon after migrating to the western society, our brothers and sisters adopt their dressing styles and change it from the eastern taste to the western one. They may feel odd one out between them so they try to look like them. I even noticed some people who visited only for few weeks change their dressing to look similar to them up to some extent. We should seriously think that if a small visit has such effect, what effect they will experience when they actually migrate permanently.
Why should I nurture my children somewhere that can impact their beliefs?
6) Upbringing my children in such an environment can be a major issue as well. We try to keep them away from bad things at home but finally they go to the schools and colleges where they are exposed to the evil. I am not saying that evil is not there in a Muslim society, but the force of evil in a Muslim society is not as powerful as that of in a non-Muslim society. Secondly in a Muslim society, an evil deed may exist but still it is not official and lawful however on the other hand, many evil deeds are officially allowed and recognized as a matter of personal interest of the people. I myself have seen school books where a family is defined as man-woman, man-man and woman-woman. Similarly in the name of sex education, they are not teaching not to have off-marriage sex, instead they teach them how to have safe sex. Moreover the Islamic schools are the schools that offer a subject called ‘Islamic Studies’ and that's it. A child may learn some basic understanding of Islamic concepts and may learn some Arabic Duas as well but the spirit of Islam is not inculcated in the students.
Why should I act cowardly and run away from the problems?
7) One of the main reasons for the people to migrate to the western world is the problems they are facing in their homelands. Problems like poverty, unemployment, high crime rate, safety of self and family, safety of money and property, poor infrastructure and low quality education are some of them in third world countries. First we should understand that all the places have some problems, it’s just the matter of the kind of problems that particular place has. Once we understand the problems of both the worlds, we’ll be able to compare which one has deep effects on ourselves and our family. Secondly a problem always brings an opportunity. The more the problems exist in a society, the more opportunities exist to work on. Instead of becoming self-centered people and running away from the problems, we should face the problems bravely and work to solve them to make our place a better place for our generations.
Why should I sacrifice my relations at the cost of material?
8) Western society is built on the grounds of materialism. Material or money is their driving force. This is why we see everybody working in the western world. Husband and wife both are at the office and kids are at home. When kids grow up as teens, they themselves go to earn money. We see the money controls the relationships. They want to have the power to buy more. This ends up in serious relationship problems and the ratio of complete relationship collapse is much higher in the western world. First they don’t want to make relations, this is why many of them live together without even a relation. And when they have, they don’t have time for their very own relations. Hence we see the day care and old age homes are everywhere. Humans are like assets, when they have their financial value they keep them at home. When they don’t have any financial value, they sent them to an old age care center. If I live in such kind of environment, my relation with my very own relations will on serious threat as there is a great chance that slowly and gradually the same concepts will inculcate in my and my children.
Why should I live so far from my homeland so it's becomes difficult to visit?
9) Distance is another considerable parameter for me. Initially people may visit their homelands one in a year but later it ends up in once every few years and eventually a disconnect with the homeland because it is hard to visit frequently. They are not present at the times of happiness and sorrow. I myself had witnessed people attending their parents’ funeral on video call instead of their physical presence.
Why should I take a risk of getting settled there when my children may not accept to come back later?
10) Some people give reasons that they will go there, live for few years, get the nationality or something and come back. This is practically very difficult and this is why we don’t find a good number of people doing this. Once we are settled somewhere, its really difficult to leave everything and start from zero at another place. Secondly we may come back and adjust as we have our roots in our society but our kids who are grown up in a different world since the beginning just don’t accept this change and normally they are unable to adjust in traditional society.
Why should I bear the oath for a country I have serious ideological conflicts with?
11) When we apply for the nationality of a country, we bear the oath that we will respect and follow all the laws of that country and we will be faithful with the ruler. Some laws in these countries are extremely liberal for example allowing man-man or brother-sister to marry with each other etc. By taking the oath, we are also endorsing to respect such laws. Secondly, almost all the western nations are the front line ally of NATO that is fighting in several Muslim countries and doing mass killings. So why should I follow the laws of a certain nation which is involved in the direct killings of the Muslims in the different countries and the number is increasing with the passage of time?
There are the reasons that are stopping me to take any step to move towards the western world. Of course there can be some good reasons to go there as well, but when I weigh them together, the No wins.
Why should I surrender my freedom of practicing Islam?
3) I should understand that the kind of freedom of practicing Islam we enjoy in Islamic country is not enjoyed in any of the non-Muslim countries. Up to a large extent, we may be allowed to practice the personal matters of Islam freely however we face problems while practicing the collective matters. For example, in a Muslim world, the Muazzin speaks five times a day, loud and clear, that our Lord is Great. In a non-Muslim world, we can not announce our Lord, our Creator and our Sustainer is the Great. Similarly not all the places have mosques, so the prayers with congregation is also compromised. Even if many places have mosques, there is lack of Jama Friday mosque in many areas. Hence people have to travel long distances in order to pray Friday prayers. For those people who are consistent, this is a source of getting additional rewards of travelling but for the general people, it becomes a reason for slowly and gradually quitting the Friday congregation prayers and leads them to pray individually. Companies that don’t allow their employees to go for a few hours for Friday prayers strengthen their reason of quitting the congregation.
Why should I see something that I don't want to see and that can produce impact on me?
4) Stephen R. Covey describes a concept of ‘seeing is being’ in his very famous book ‘The 7 habits of highly effective people’. This concept is so true in all the aspects of life. If someone constantly sees something, there’s a good probability that he will become like that. So there is a great chance that if I live between the non-believers I will become like them, and if my children live among them and see them, they will become like them. This is why if we meet people whose forefathers had migrated to U.S. or U.K. years before, we find many of them as Muslims just by name. Of course if a particular person keeps himself away from evil and keep connected with pious people, he will be saved from such effects, but we should consider the probability of the effect.
Why should I intermix with someone whose culture is not conform to my values?
5) When different cultures live together, they are intermixed with each other and normally the one which is big in number gives more impact on the other. If we study the history of the civilizations, we can clearly find this link. For example, the Muslims and the Hindus of south east Asia lived together for about a thousand year so they transferred their culture and values to each other. Muslims not only gave Hindus their values but also adopted many Hindu customs. Now even after separating from Hindus for about seven decades, we are not able to get rid of Hindu cultural impact and today we notice such impact at the times of sorrow and happiness. The same happens when we live in the western society. The western culture starts inculcating slowly in us and speedily in our children. The first impact that can be seen clearly is the dressing and the second is the language. Soon after migrating to the western society, our brothers and sisters adopt their dressing styles and change it from the eastern taste to the western one. They may feel odd one out between them so they try to look like them. I even noticed some people who visited only for few weeks change their dressing to look similar to them up to some extent. We should seriously think that if a small visit has such effect, what effect they will experience when they actually migrate permanently.
Why should I nurture my children somewhere that can impact their beliefs?
6) Upbringing my children in such an environment can be a major issue as well. We try to keep them away from bad things at home but finally they go to the schools and colleges where they are exposed to the evil. I am not saying that evil is not there in a Muslim society, but the force of evil in a Muslim society is not as powerful as that of in a non-Muslim society. Secondly in a Muslim society, an evil deed may exist but still it is not official and lawful however on the other hand, many evil deeds are officially allowed and recognized as a matter of personal interest of the people. I myself have seen school books where a family is defined as man-woman, man-man and woman-woman. Similarly in the name of sex education, they are not teaching not to have off-marriage sex, instead they teach them how to have safe sex. Moreover the Islamic schools are the schools that offer a subject called ‘Islamic Studies’ and that's it. A child may learn some basic understanding of Islamic concepts and may learn some Arabic Duas as well but the spirit of Islam is not inculcated in the students.
Why should I act cowardly and run away from the problems?
7) One of the main reasons for the people to migrate to the western world is the problems they are facing in their homelands. Problems like poverty, unemployment, high crime rate, safety of self and family, safety of money and property, poor infrastructure and low quality education are some of them in third world countries. First we should understand that all the places have some problems, it’s just the matter of the kind of problems that particular place has. Once we understand the problems of both the worlds, we’ll be able to compare which one has deep effects on ourselves and our family. Secondly a problem always brings an opportunity. The more the problems exist in a society, the more opportunities exist to work on. Instead of becoming self-centered people and running away from the problems, we should face the problems bravely and work to solve them to make our place a better place for our generations.
Why should I sacrifice my relations at the cost of material?
8) Western society is built on the grounds of materialism. Material or money is their driving force. This is why we see everybody working in the western world. Husband and wife both are at the office and kids are at home. When kids grow up as teens, they themselves go to earn money. We see the money controls the relationships. They want to have the power to buy more. This ends up in serious relationship problems and the ratio of complete relationship collapse is much higher in the western world. First they don’t want to make relations, this is why many of them live together without even a relation. And when they have, they don’t have time for their very own relations. Hence we see the day care and old age homes are everywhere. Humans are like assets, when they have their financial value they keep them at home. When they don’t have any financial value, they sent them to an old age care center. If I live in such kind of environment, my relation with my very own relations will on serious threat as there is a great chance that slowly and gradually the same concepts will inculcate in my and my children.
Why should I live so far from my homeland so it's becomes difficult to visit?
9) Distance is another considerable parameter for me. Initially people may visit their homelands one in a year but later it ends up in once every few years and eventually a disconnect with the homeland because it is hard to visit frequently. They are not present at the times of happiness and sorrow. I myself had witnessed people attending their parents’ funeral on video call instead of their physical presence.
Why should I take a risk of getting settled there when my children may not accept to come back later?
10) Some people give reasons that they will go there, live for few years, get the nationality or something and come back. This is practically very difficult and this is why we don’t find a good number of people doing this. Once we are settled somewhere, its really difficult to leave everything and start from zero at another place. Secondly we may come back and adjust as we have our roots in our society but our kids who are grown up in a different world since the beginning just don’t accept this change and normally they are unable to adjust in traditional society.
Why should I bear the oath for a country I have serious ideological conflicts with?
11) When we apply for the nationality of a country, we bear the oath that we will respect and follow all the laws of that country and we will be faithful with the ruler. Some laws in these countries are extremely liberal for example allowing man-man or brother-sister to marry with each other etc. By taking the oath, we are also endorsing to respect such laws. Secondly, almost all the western nations are the front line ally of NATO that is fighting in several Muslim countries and doing mass killings. So why should I follow the laws of a certain nation which is involved in the direct killings of the Muslims in the different countries and the number is increasing with the passage of time?
There are the reasons that are stopping me to take any step to move towards the western world. Of course there can be some good reasons to go there as well, but when I weigh them together, the No wins.
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