Are Muslims Free of Racism?

Have Muslims internalized the Prophet’s Farewell Sermon, or do they just pay lip service to it?

BY NOOR SAADEH

Are Muslims racists? Most would categorically deny it, unless called to account by others for their words or actions. It is a difficult label to apply, even if one is humble enough to recognize some of their very real prejudices on this subject. “There are Muslims of all colors and ranks here in Mecca from all parts of this earth,” wrote Malcolm X while performing the hajj rituals in 1964. “I have eaten from the same plate, drank from the same glass, slept on the same bed or rug, while praying to the same God — not only with some of this earth’s most powerful kings, cabinet members, potentates and other forms of political and religious rulers…their belief in the Oneness of Allah had actually removed the ‘white’ from their minds, which automatically changed their attitude and behavior toward people of other colors.”

If Malcolm were to make the hajj again today, would he make the same remark?

The Quran commands both justice and ihsan in our relations with others (16:90). Prayer, dkhir and du’a are only the first steps, and yet our halaqas, speeches and khutbas repeat them over and over again. Although Islam’s foundation is built upon the five obligatory pillars, we spend most of our time polishing them and paying less attention to those that define who we are based on our behavior and interaction with others.

Dallas, my hometown, has become a land of suburban megachurches and mega-mosques, and yet we see an absence of Black faces in them. In interfaith events, Muslims bring a bit of color and diversity to the otherwise mainly white Christian and Jewish participants. Dallas is large enough to be cosmopolitan, but not so large as to create mosques catering to specific regions.

Instead, our Black kin have their own mosques in the inner city. We are not so racist as to exclude Pakistanis, Yemenis or Africans. Yet the African Americans’ “Black” mosque is separated from others not only in physical proximity, but also in spirituality and kinship as well. Rarely do the two meet.

Consider the Nation of Islam’s (NOI) astounding legacy in terms of their members’ habits, dress, manners and uplifting effects on surrounding neighborhoods. Can we credit our Arab or South Asian communities with the same effects? Have Arabs had a similarly remarkable impact on Dearborn, Mich.? Has any ethnic-majority Muslim community in the U.S. accomplished so much?

Do we congratulate them, emulate their good works, ethics and manners, or distance ourselves and cry out kafir and bida’? Do we dismiss their good works and declare them void because they weren’t following what we define as the Sunna? Even after Warith Deen Mohammed embraced the more traditional Sunni path, did we welcome his followers or hold them at arm’s length — and continue to do so today? If we are honest, did their skin color and long-term second-class status prevent us from embracing them as kin in faith?

Isabelle Wilkerson, in her extensively researched and thought-provoking “Caste System: The Origin of our Discontents” (Random House, 2020) [which was featured on Oprah’s Book Club], offers undeniable examples of an unspoken caste system that has shaped the U.S. and other societies — how this hierarchy of human divisions still defines our lives today.

Muslims, as a misunderstood minority and as fairly recent arrivals, are farther down the totem pole but still above — and try to distance themselves from — the Blacks and Hispanics. Do Muslims rush to integrate with white Westerners and their values to get as far away from the bottom or from the Blacks as they can? Even though most immigrants followed this same trajectory, are we being true to our Islamic tenets of justice and ihsan?

We cannot complain that our fellow citizens know little or nothing about Muslims or only what they garner from the media and films if we don’t care to know our own brothers and sisters in the faith. Do we embrace African American Muslims only when they are famous imams, celebrities or politicians at fancy dinners in luxury hotels?

The study of history is important. We know little of our own Islamic history beyond the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), his Companions (‘alayhum rahma) and perhaps the Righteous Predecessors. How much do we know about Islamic Spain, the Islamic capital cities of Africa and the Ottoman Empire — much less the history of North America? A great portion of our Muslim history in the U.S. begins

Muslim Americans? One cannot claim to care about the plight of Muslims overseas while ignoring the grave injustices in our own backyard. Muslims are enjoying this land’s opportunities, and yet we sometimes choose to look down our nose, hold ourselves aloof and perhaps consider ourselves better than other communities. We need to practice gratitude for what our Muslim predecessors did that enabled us to be here and succeed. We cannot do this if we don’t get to know others, open our doors, study their history and appreciate their struggles. Furthermore, are we racist when we value light skin more than dark skin even among our own? Does a woman have more worth if she is white-er? Is she more marriageable? Skin-lightening and hair-straightening product ads suggest the existence of a tacit consensus that the lighter the skin, often the more Western-appearing, the better the prospects for the future. This is, in fact, a false comparison because “white” people also have many colors: black, blonde, brown, yellow and red hair, as well as variations in eye colors and skin pigmentation. That being said, historically, lighter skin color was also an indication of status or caste (https://www.inkstonenews.com/; Feb. 8, 2019) note: “Having white skin isn’t only about being Western. In Asia, there is a deeply rooted cultural notion that associates dark skin with poverty and working in the fields, whereas pale skin reflects a more comfortable life out of the sun and, therefore, a higher socioeconomic status.” These human-created values are contrary to God’s statement that we are only superior by means of taqwa. Does my being a white convert of European descent give me privilege even as a Muslim? I find it does. Although I now empathize and align myself more with minority groups, many of my co-religionists have remarked, “It’s easier for you with your blue eyes and fair skin.” White converts also often bemoan that the reverse — never being fully accepted as “real” Muslims — can be true. Our racist attitudes as Muslims are not confined to skin color. Rather, we tend to discriminate based on ethnicity. Arabs, as the original recipients of the deen, IS THE FOCUS OF SADAQA AND COMPASSION hold themselves in higher regard despite the Prophet’s

DIRECTED TOWARD MUSLIMS OPPRESSED words that an Arab is no better than a non-Arab. As much as Muslims esteem those who memorize and

IN OUR HOME COUNTRIES RATHER THAN recite the Quran, Qur’anic academies tend to boast far FELLOW MUSLIMS IN AMERICA? ONE CANNOT greater numbers of South Asians. We still find mosques that offer non-English khutbas and halaqas to attract

CLAIM TO CARE ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF those of a specific overseas Muslim region rather than

MUSLIMS OVERSEAS WHILE IGNORING THE GRAVE INJUSTICES IN offer their sermons in the common language of the land. We are often prideful and elitist about being Muslim. Islam and the Quran are great, but bearing OUR OWN BACKYARD. a Muslim name doesn’t make us worthy of being the best of creation. It is causational. We are the best when we do the work. With the Messenger of God in their midst and with the African Muslims who were brought here their mindful practice of taqwa, the Ansar exemplified kinship. “Allah is certainly and enslaved (Sylviane A. Diouf, “Servants of Allah,” sufficient for you. He is the One Who has supported you with His help and with NYU Press, 1998). the believers. He brought their hearts together. Had you spent all the riches on

If Muslims seek to build their affairs on the foun- the earth, you could not have united their hearts. But Allah has united them. dations of ihsan and justice, then we must place our- Indeed, He is Almighty, All-Wise” (8:62-63). selves on the side of the historically oppressed and The way to rectify racism, caste or any of our ills as an umma is to return dehumanized, who still encounter barrier after barrier to the Quran — not just to memorize or recite it, but to understand it so that to full social inclusion; from the disproportionate rates its meaning can reverberate within us. May its verses truly become the furqan of incarceration, arrest and killings to other indicators (criterion), along with Prophet Muhammad’s example, by which we think, speak of an unjust, unfair system. Is the focus of sadaqa and and take action. ih compassion directed toward Muslims oppressed in their home countries rather than deserving fellow Noor Saadeh is production manager, Noorart, Inc. (www.noorart.com).