Peace,
QuoteWe haven't such a responsibility and duty.
It never said there was a responsibility saying "salaam" but only that there is nothing odd about it. My wife is Iranian and their language uses 'salaam' for everyday speech and I often reply with salaam.
QuoteIt is simply "Hello" or "Peace" according to the situation.
It is not that simple actually, but peace is relatively close to the exact meaning and you see me using it here on this forum. "Salaam" is a greeting nevertheless much like saying 'be well'.
What I reflected over was the imposed negativeness of using the Arabic 'salaam' in the context of English speaking. I am however not using "religious" Arabic terms to talk about my faith for most part as that is silly.
QuoteEnglish is the de-facto oration standard that we must apply the same standard onto Quranic movement. Arabian culture and language have no authority on Quran's message and the global movement.
I actually agree with you on this and I work hard at exactly translating Arabic words such as 'salaam', 'islam' and... 'ketaab'. That is why I say it is closer to the before-mentioned words than peace. I find problems with salaam as peace as it suits poorly in the context taking the root 'S L M' into consideration, but peace would suffice actually.
QuoteWhen I see non Arabic people tend to use Arabic greetings for any reason, it irritates me.
Why should it irritate you? People say things like 'hola', 'ciao' by borrowing words from other languages frequently while using its same implicated meaning. It is no different if someone chooses to say 'salaam' which also has a quite noble meaning to wish harmony/balance on the one you greet.
For all it may irritate me is if people use Arabic words to discuss the decree like it is popular to use "nikah" to talk about marriage as it is no more complicated than its English counterpart.
QuoteQuran's original language is Arabic but what we must obey is the content, not its regional origins.
I agree with you that the recitation (Qur'an) was revealed in Arabic to the tribal people of ancient Arabia and is not literally intended for us even if the decree is the same as there is no change in God's word. The words recited are words without any "magical" meaning and are just to convey a certain meaning depending on the context. And Arabic is no flawless language even if sectarians are arguing that and in fact the later additions such as diacritical marks is a testament to that. Its prophet writer was just one fallible man writing down what was inspired to him in his mother tongue and nothing divine about it even if he was quite truthful in whatever he wrote and did not write except what God inspired to him, even if it is implied that he almost wrote what his people wished him to at an occasion.
QuoteArabian culture and language have no authority on Quran's message and the global movement.
That is true. Arabian, and middle-eastern culture overall, has influenced how the recitation is interpreted and also Persians had big influence on the formation of the islamic tradition as we know it. It was men using their claimed authority to compose the decree with their own minds by twisting the meaning of the recited words often due to ignorance over the original meaning, and often they wanted to please God while God did not wish some harsh rules to be imposed on his believers and they made some rules decreed as a constitution.
If we, "Westerners", are not careful we may cause the same thing to happen once we interpret the ancient Arabic passages. We may cause things that are sins to suddenly not be sins due to too liberal thinking and in adaptation to modern lifestyle which is not always exactly in God's favor. And that is not because I wish to have a style of living anno 632 AD, but because I want to be truthful to the original decree that never changes. That is to change the decree according to wishful thinking and is in the opposite direction than if you compose rules out of ignorance.
Obviously it takes getting close to God and channel inspiration from Him and ride on that blessing to make the right choices in life while remembering the decree. The decreed rules are mostly general guidelines open to approximate interpretation and you may choose how to follow them and to what degree.
Quotewhat we must obey is the content
Yes. And we must be aware that you can almost count the "rules" on your fingers without counting them twice. In fact to the bottom of it you may actually count the rules on your set of fingers, refer to the popular 'Ten Commandments' which is a good simplification of the decree. God's decree is that easy to understand in fact. Two words; faith and goodness.
QuoteThese people should aware of that they should preserve their cultural aspect in order to preventing the cultural assimilation.
Well. We should keep away typical dogmatic rules of sectarian people, but the truthful meaning of God's recitation should not be left out to preserve our "cultural aspect". You cannot deny that there are many negative cultural aspects of the "Western world". But on the good side there are many excellent cultural values often referred to as "Christian values" that still live on today. I personally rather follow the "Christian values" than the "Sharia laws". It is even perfectly described as "values" rather than "laws". One should live after the divine values rather than military style laws.
But I would not exactly use the Hollywood cultural aspect as a role model to follow with liberal sex values and mini-skirts (well I know they are not a trend right now). You need to see that many modern phenomena of liberalization of our rights to behave however we like are not exactly in line with God's recitation and decree. We need to be more responsible and less careless and while no Sharia Laws will accomplish that truthfully all it takes is some mindfulness and consideration.
Apart from that it is the standard arrogance and hatred flowing throughout mankind as always. The communities have their ups and downs in term of righteousness and it all comes down to the individual believer but also some importance are on the leaders as the followers follow like lemmings.
QuoteQuran's message is independent from cultures and languages.
"Qur'an" was sent down in Arabic but the decree lacks a language in itself. What was revealed to X (traditionally Muhammad) is not the only ever thing revealed and also Moses received the decree someplace in the past. But you should also make your culture compatible with God's decree. The language is irrelevant in the service and I doubt Moses, for example, spoke Arabic and he and successive missionaries upheld the decree.
God bless you
