Being a Pakistani and having spent most of my childhood and early adulthood in a Punjab village, I have come to the conclusion that even though overt practices of Islam may be the same, actual beliefs and practices as observed in different parts of the world are different.
This is probably due to the fact that when non-Muslims convert, inherent beliefs and superstitions carry on. Examples that I personally came across are:
-In most Arab countries majority only offers ‘Farz’ whereas prayers in the subcontinent include ‘Sunnat’ as a common practice.
-People think nothing of offering prayers without covering their heads in the UAE; on the other hand I was taught that one must cover one’s head when offering prayer.
-Female circumcision very common in African Muslims is non-existent in Iran, Afghanistan and the subcontinent.
-Even though Ibne Al Arabi was born in Spain of Arabic parents, Sufism found popularity among the Central Asian and the subcontinent Muslims.
-Indian Muslims consider wearing white during marriage ceremony as inauspicious (because Hindu widows wear white) whereas nearly all Middle Eastern countries white is common colour of the wedding dress. White being a symbol of purity.
-Among the subcontinent divorced women carry a stigma, not so in the Middle East.
-Parents of nubile girls ask for a lot of money as ‘Maher or Dower ' in nearly all Middle Eastern countries and very little ‘Jehaize’ is given to the daughter. Following the Hindu traditions, in Pakistani Punjab, parents of the boy expect a lot of dowry from the bride and ‘Maher’ is only nominal.
I remember a Baluch MNA declaring that ‘Vanni’ is a part of their tribal culture. Taliban consider many Pashtun tribal customs such as banning female education as Islamic even though these may have nothing whatsoever to do with Islam. IMO the honour killings are also remnants of the old tribal tradition.
I was taught that ‘suicide’ is forbidden in Islam. (As interpreted by the verse 29 of Sura Al Nissa, which translates as ‘And don’t kill yourselves, Allah is most merciful to you and again in Sura Al Baqar verse 195 which says ‘And don’t throw yourselves in destruction’
. Ever since Al-Qaida made Syed Qutub’s teachings acceptable; suicide bombers think that they are doing Allah’s work. Most of the traditional Muslim scholars keep quiet about it despite the practice having no precedence in any ‘Hadith’; many ignorant Muslims now think nothing wrong with commiting suicide.
In conclusion it is fair to say that many ideas and customs practiced by Muslims have nothing to do with Islam. Problem arises when each one considers their version to be the correct one with the exclusion of all others.