Racism in Muslim communities

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Racism within the Muslim world is a source of concern, particularly for Black Muslims and other Muslims of color. [1] [2] Black Muslims throughout the world report that they face racism from other Muslims who are of Arab, Asian, white, or other non-Black background. In countries where white people form the demographic majority, white Muslims may enjoy certain privileges over their non-white counterparts, including preferential treatment within the Muslim community, although both white Muslims and Black Muslims may be used in a tokenistic way in institutional settings to emphasize the supposed diversity of a Muslim organization. In Arab countries, racism against Black Muslims and Asian Muslims, especially South Asian Muslims, is often ubiquitous. Racist attitudes and oppression perpetrated in the Arab world against Black Muslims is deeply connected to the long legacy of the Trans-Saharan slave trade, the Red Sea slave trade, and the Indian Ocean slave trade.

Contents

Issues

In Western societies, both white Muslims and Black Muslims may be used in a tokenistic way in institutional settings to emphasize the supposed diversity of a Muslim organization. White Muslims may be strategically placed "on the front stage for advertisement purposes". Black Muslims in France report that they are tokenized for diversity purposes in predominantly non-Black Muslim spaces that do not truly value or include Black Muslim voices. [3]

Slavery

By country

Australia

White converts to Islam may enjoy white privileges that Muslims of color do not enjoy in Australia. White Muslims may be perceived as non-white if they are visibly Muslim, such as by wearing a hijab, but many white privileges would return if the white Muslim were to dress in a less visibly Islamic fashion. A white hijabi may receive less white privilege than a white non-hijabi due to the fact that Muslim identity is often racialized within Australian society. [4]

Non-Black and white Muslims in Australia may use the N-word or other racial slurs, believing that because Australian Muslims are mostly brown and because Islam is a racialized religion, that the words are not offensive coming from Muslims. [4]

According to Australian Muslim journalist Zahra Al-Hilaly, Black Muslims face racism that non-Black Muslims do not experience. She has written that she has racial privilege as a non-Black Arab Muslim and that "White Muslims are often praised and feted, but black Muslims do not receive the same reception, leadership roles or attention in the Muslim community." [5]

Canada

Muslim Link, an online hub for Canadian Muslims, has posted the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative's "Anti-Racism Guide for White Muslims". The Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative is a US-based racial justice education organization with members in the US and Canada. While white Muslims experience Islamophobia in Canada, they may also benefit from white privilege in ways that Canadian Muslims of color do not experience. Some white Muslims may believe that because they are Muslim they are therefore incapable of being racist. According to Muslim Link's anti-racism guide, white Muslims "have been socialized as white people, with messages from our families, teachers, media and society about whiteness under an umbrella of white supremacy, both subtle and overt. We grew up without the lived experience of racism that People of Color have. This has both shaped and limited our understanding of racism." [6] [7]

United Arab Emirates

Black Muslim bloggers have criticized the exclusion of Black Muslims from the Dubai-based Modest Fashion Week. [8] [9]

United Kingdom

According to Dr. Amena Amer, a British Muslim lecturer, white British Muslims enjoy white privilege not afforded to non-white Muslims. White Muslims' "whiteness offers them an opportunity to distance themselves from extremism, a tactic unavailable to non-white Muslims." White Muslims suspected of involvement in terrorism are sometimes afforded more leniency or understanding than Muslims of South Asian or Middle Eastern heritage. [10]

United States

Black Muslims in the United States experience the same anti-Black racism that other Black Americans face, as well as the same Islamophobia that other Muslim Americans face. Black Muslims also experience racism within predominantly non-Black Muslim communities. Because Muslims are often racialized as Arab or South Asian in American society, Black Muslims are often erased and made invisible. Black Muslims may experience racial discrimination in predominantly non-Black Arab-American and South Asian-American mosques. [11]

St. Louis, Missouri, has a legacy of anti-Black racism within white Muslim communities. While Bosnian Muslims experience a complicated relationship to whiteness, they are considered white by the US Census and may enjoy white privileges that Black residents of St. Louis may not enjoy. [12] In 2014, a Bosniak-American named Zamir Begic was beaten to death with hammers. The murder caused shock in the Bosnian community of St. Louis and protests were held against violent crime. Because Begic was white and his suspected assailants were Black and Latino, some claimed that the murder of Begic was an example of "black-on-white" crime while others claimed it was a "a targeted attack on Bosnians". While the belief that Begic was targeted due to his ethnicity or race contributed to racial tensions between the Black community and white Muslims of Bosnian descent, St. Louis police did not believe the attack had any ethnic or racial basis. [13] [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

Racism is discrimination and prejudice against people based on their race or ethnicity. Racism can be present in social actions, practices, or political systems that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices. The ideology underlying racist practices often assumes that humans can be subdivided into distinct groups that are different in their social behavior and innate capacities and that can be ranked as inferior or superior. Racist ideology can become manifest in many aspects of social life. Associated social actions may include nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, supremacism, and related social phenomena. Racism refers to violation of racial equality based on equal opportunities or based on equality of outcomes for different races or ethnicities, also called substantive equality.

White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine of scientific racism and was a key justification for European colonialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xenophobia</span> Dislike of anything that is perceived to be foreign or strange

Xenophobia is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-group and an out-group and it may manifest itself in suspicion of one group's activities by members of the other group, a desire to eliminate the presence of the group that is the target of suspicion, and fear of losing a national, ethnic, or racial identity.

A number of organizations and academics consider the Nation of Islam (NOI) to be antisemitic. The NOI has engaged in Holocaust denial, and exaggerates the role of Jews in the African slave trade; mainstream historians, such as Saul S. Friedman, have said Jews had a negligible role. The NOI has repeatedly rejected charges made against it as false and politically motivated.

Supremacism is the belief that a certain group of people should have supreme authority over all others. The supposed superior people can be defined by age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, language, social class, ideology, nationality, culture, generation or belong to any other part of a particular population.

Racism has been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices, and actions against racial or ethnic groups, throughout the history of the United States. Since the early colonial era, White Americans have generally enjoyed legally or socially sanctioned privileges and rights, which have been denied to members of various ethnic or minority groups at various times. European Americans have enjoyed advantages in matters of citizenship, criminal procedure, education, immigration, land acquisition, and voting rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Black racism</span> Fear, hatred or extreme aversion to Black people and Black culture

Anti-Black racism, also called anti-Black sentiment, anti-Blackness, colourphobia or Negrophobia, is characterised by prejudice, collective hatred, and discrimination or extreme aversion towards people who are racialised as Black people, especially those people from sub-Saharan Africa and its diasporas, as well as a loathing of Black culture worldwide. Such sentiment includes, but is not limited to: the attribution of negative characteristics to Black people; the fear, strong dislike or dehumanization of Black men; and the objectification of Black women.

This is a list of topics related to racism:

Bosnian Americans are Americans whose ancestry can be traced to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The vast majority of Bosnian Americans immigrated to the United States during and after the Bosnian War which lasted from 1992–95. Nevertheless, many Bosnians immigrated to the United States as early as the 19th century. The largest Bosnian-American population can be found in both Greater St. Louis and in Greater Chicago which boast the largest number of Bosnians in the world outside of Europe.

The article describes the state of race relations and racism in the Middle East. Racism is widely condemned throughout the world, with 174 states parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by April 8, 2011. In different countries, the forms that racism takes may be different for historic, cultural, religious, economic or demographic reasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racism in the State of Palestine</span>

Racism in the Palestinian territories encompasses all forms and manifestations of racism experienced in the Palestinian Territories, of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, irrespective of the religion, colour, creed, or ethnic origin of the perpetrator and victim, or their citizenship, residency, or visitor status. It may refer to Jewish settler attitudes regarding Palestinians as well as Palestinian attitudes to Jews and the settlement enterprise undertaken in their name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racism in France</span>

Racism has been called a serious social issue in French society, despite a widespread public belief that racism does not exist on a serious scale in France. Antisemitism and prejudice against Muslims have a long history, largely due to the significant number of an estimated 480,000–550,000 Jews living in France. Acts of racism have been reported against members of various minority groups, including Jews, Berbers, Arabs and Asian. Police data from 2019 indicates a total of 1,142 acts classified as "racist" without a religious connotation.

In the Arab world, racism targets non-Arabs and the expat majority of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf coming from South Asian groups as well as Black, European, and Asian groups that are Muslim; non-Arab ethnic minorities such as Armenians, Africans, the Saqaliba, Southeast Asians, Jews, Kurds, and Coptic Christians, Assyrians, Persians, Turks, and other Turkic peoples, and South Asians living in Arab countries of the Middle East.

Racism is a concern for many in the Western lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) communities, with members of racial, ethnic, and national minorities reporting having faced discrimination from other LGBT people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Bosnian Americans in St. Louis</span> Aspect of history

The city of St. Louis, Missouri, and the metropolitan area is tied with Chicago, Illinois for the largest Bosnian American population in the United States, and has the largest Bosnian population outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The highest concentration of Bosnians in St. Louis is in the "Little Bosnia" neighborhood of Bevo Mill. The Bosnian cultural imprint can be seen in the numerous Bosnian restaurants, bakeries, and cafes, as well as several Bosnian mosques and religious organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of slavery in the Muslim world</span>

The history of slavery in the Muslim world was throughout the history of Islam with slaves serving in various social and economic roles, from powerful emirs to harshly treated manual laborers. Slaves were widely employed in irrigation, mining, and animal husbandry, but most commonly as soldiers, guards, domestic workers, and concubines. The use of slaves for hard physical labor early on in Muslim history led to several destructive slave revolts, the most notable being the Zanj Rebellion of 869–883, and led to the end of the practice. Many rulers also used slaves in the military and administration to such an extent that slaves could seize power, as did the Mamluks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of concubinage in the Muslim world</span>

Concubinage in the Muslim world was the practice of Muslim men entering into intimate relationships without marriage, with enslaved women, though in rare, exceptional cases, sometimes with free women. If the concubine gave birth to a child, she attained a higher status known as umm al-walad.

"Racism against Asians" refers to racist policies, discrimination against, and mistreatment of people of Asian descent by institutions and/or non-Asian people - typically in the Western world or in other countries outside Asia.

Racism in Jewish communities is a source of concern for people of color, particularly for Jews of color. Black Jews, Indigenous Jews, and other Jews of color report that they experience racism from white Jews in many countries, including Canada, France, Kenya, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews also report experiences with racism by Ashkenazi Jews. The centering of Ashkenazi Jews is sometimes known as Ashkenormativity. In historically white-dominated countries with a legacy of anti-Black racism, such as the United States and South Africa, racism within the Jewish community often manifests itself as anti-Blackness. In Israel, racism among Israeli Jews often manifests itself as discrimination and prejudice against Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, Ethiopian Jews, African immigrants, and Palestinians. Some critics describe Zionism as racist or settler colonial in nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate</span>

Slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate refers to the chattel slavery taking place in the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), which comprised the majority of the Middle East with a center in the capital of Damascus in Syria.

References

  1. ↑ "Research Guides: Middle East and North Africa: Racism in MENA Region".
  2. ↑ Phares, Walid (18 March 2008). The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad. St. Martin's Publishing. ISBN   9780230610927.
  3. ↑ "White Muslims, Black Muslims". Critical Muslim. 10 August 2020. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  4. 1 2 "'Islam is a Blackfella Religion, Whatchya Trying to Prove?': race in the lives of white Muslim converts in Australia" (PDF). State Library Victoria. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  5. ↑ "We need to tackle anti-black racism in Muslim communities". SBS . Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  6. ↑ "Beyond Colour-Blind: On Writing an Anti-Racism Guide for White Muslims". Muslim Link. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  7. ↑ "Combating Anti-Black Racism". Harvard University . Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  8. ↑ "Dubai's Modest Fashion Week 'excludes' Black Muslim bloggers". The New Arab. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  9. ↑ "Muslim Women Are Calling Out Dubai's Modest Fashion Week For A Lack Of Diversity". BuzzFeed. 23 December 2017. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  10. ↑ "When racialised assumptions don't fit: White Muslims and the contestation of threat". London School of Economics. 24 October 2018.
  11. ↑ "Black Muslim Experiences". Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  12. ↑ "There's another community upset in St. Louis over a senseless killing". Quartz. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 2022-04-22.
  13. ↑ "Are the media ignoring another St Louis killing?". BBC News. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  14. ↑ "St. Louis Bosnians Have Been Dragged to the Forefront of the City's Racial Tensions". Vice News. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 2022-04-17.

Sources

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