Contradiction: Islamic Dogma and Modern Values

There is an uproar on social media, particularly on Twitter over a video about showing how Muslims are the coolest creatures. The video was published here. Muslims activists and non-activists called out for lack of racial diversity. I, on the other hand (not as a Muslim), looked at it from a different angle and that is the issue of Muslim identity.

Why sometimes people take what a short video or article shows or says at face value is beyond understanding, albeit, this could be a way of struggle for recognition of certain groups of Muslims. Despite diverse backgrounds, Muslims, by outward appearance, try to be identified as Muslims in the West. However, coming from a particular region or belonging to a particular culture is neither necessarily representing a religious identity nor amounts to religiosity of a particular.

A video like this one does not show the real Muslims at all, it rather shows how some Muslims (from various backgrounds) have not been able to assimilate and integrate with the indigenous people and and to accept their culture in the West due to their Islamic dogma. It also shows how Muslims are willing to be segregated, find their collective and like-minded people, clinging to their ancestors' beliefs and disregard modern values.

It is impossible to overstate how incongruous the video is. In fact, in the eye of Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia, these people could be heretics and conceivably from some other Muslims' view point in the Middle East, these people do not deserve to be called Muslims at all. Creating a video to show how cool Muslims look like when men and women mingle with each other is of course great and cool, but it contradicts with the nature of Islam, which is against equality between men and women. The video clip is an indication of struggle for identity, for some; an identity that is based on dogma which is truly contradictory with modern values.