This past weekend, I had an interesting discussion about how Malians practice Islam. Most Malians cannot read and don't know Arabic, so why are they so devout to a religion in a language they don't understand?
Every day, five times a day, men, women, and youth take 5-10 minutes to pray to allah in arabic. However no one understands what they are saying. I'm sure that some have translated the prayers into Bambara, but if you don't know the basis of these prayers and why you're saying them, wouldn't you want to know why?
This month was the month of Ramadan. Mostly everyone, but children and women who are breastfeeding, were fasting from sunrise to sunset for 30 days. Every day, someone asked me if I was fasting. I explained that I'm Christian, so I don't fast for Ramadan, but some people didn't understand that reasoning and thought that I should fast because everyone does. This mentality showed me that most people practice Islam mostly for show, to show that they are a "good Muslim." But, not just a good Muslim, but someone who is a team player.
I think that most people in this society like to be the same, equal, in support of their community. People rely on each other so much here. So much, that one must greet people and offer their food all the time. The reasoning behind this is that if everyone does this, then everyone will be taken care of and the community will be stronger. So, it's the same with religion. Mostly everyone in my town in Muslim, and I believe that it is so to keep the peace and homogeny. In this culture, homogeny is good.
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