Immigrant Parents … holding cultural and religious values or adopting western culture?
Muslims living as immigrants in the non-muslim face the challenge of raising their children with cultural and religious values. The struggle increased in the last few years with the high divorce rates, weapons, and declining morals.
There is the story of Sinan Ughlo, the Turkish man who immigrated to Germany with his wife and two daughters. The two daughters, Jilnar and Salimah, had picked up work in a barbershop when they were teenagers, but one day the unexpected happened when one night both girls disappeared, only for their parents to realize later they have fallen in love with two German men.
They called their families to comfort them about their well-being, but their father did not approve of their choices as it disagreed with all of the values he was raised on, and so he begged them to wid the men first. After much nagging and begging from her father, Salimeh had eventually agreed to wid her partner, however, Jilnar’s partner had refused to marry her. (dfwwoundcarecenter.com)
Sinan had then tried to befriend Jilnar until she tells him her whereabouts, and to her demise, he came to her house one day and murdered her in cold blood. He then buried her in the yard, where the cops discovered her body days later.
In the story, Sinan had thought that he was protecting his values and following the words of the Qur’an, but his actions were from Islam.
“Honor killing” remains the ugliest crimes a few Kurds still practice. Banaz was brutally killed, this brutal story is turned into a TV series. If Banaz was not living in #UK, her case might have been covered like many other “honor killings” in the KRI. https://t.co/15rkN7sB7c
— Kamal Chomani (@KamalChomani) April 3, 2020
Sinan is just one of many similar stories. Some parents choose to adopt western values, to the point their children cannot speak Arabic, and some have created walls around themselves and their children of fear they would grow up to be like Sinan’s.
Immigrant parents fight these challenges every day, trying not to be on the far right or left of the spectrum, trying to find the right parents between keeping their cultural and religious values, as well as adopting western cultures.
Islam is different than the one followed by Taliban or Isis. British journalist Yvonne Ridley converted to Islam after reading the Qur’an, she used to think Taliban and honor killing presented Islam, now she says she want to reteach those who believe what Islam truly is.
ShortURL ⬇