Misnaming as a Tool of Power

Zohran Mamdani

Zohran Mamdani’s historic victory in the New York City mayoral election has been hailed as a triumph against staggering odds, a beacon of hope for marginalised communities across the United States. Winning this high-profile race amid fierce opposition, including attempts by wealthy billionaires to undermine his campaign, Mamdani’s success represents more than an electoral win; it is a challenge to entrenched political powers resistant to change.

Yet, throughout his campaign and into his leadership, Mamdani’s Muslim identity and very name became targets of calculated mockery and discrediting.

Powerful figures such as Andrew Cuomo and Elon Musk repeatedly mispronounced or deliberately distorted Mamdani’s name, not out of ignorance but as an act of strategic dismissal. Cuomo, at times, mispronounced Mamdani’s name to undermine his legitimacy, while Musk went further by mocking him on social media. On 4 November, Musk tweeted: “Remember to vote tomorrow in New York! Bear in mind that a vote for Curtis is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is,” publicly ridiculing the Democratic nominee’s name while endorsing Cuomo.

A History of Refusal: Ali and Malcolm X

Muhammad Ali

Mamdani is far from the first to face such dehumanising tactics. Decades ago, Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay, famously changed his name after converting to Islam, a profound declaration of religious and cultural identity. Yet, for years, many refused to call him Muhammad Ali, clinging to his “slave name” as a means of control and erasure. Ali confronted this head-on, demanding, “Say my name!” and turned the act of name recognition into a powerful assertion of dignity and resistance.

Similarly, Malcolm X’s journey was deeply shaped by Islamophobia entwined with racism. By replacing his “slave name” with an “X” to symbolise the loss of his African heritage, Malcolm directly challenged systemic racism and the social order. This provoked relentless refusal and mockery from those unwilling to grant him full recognition. The experiences of both Ali and Malcolm X reveal how misnaming and name refusal function as tools to reinforce power hierarchies by denying agency and respect to those who challenge dominant cultural narratives.

The Social and Psychological Weight of Misnaming

A common thread runs through these practices: the refusal or mockery of names enforces social power by denying identity and belonging. It exerts control over who is accepted within the social fabric. Sociologists and psychologists describe this as a form of social exclusion and symbolic violence, where names, integral to personal and collective identity, are rejected to marginalise individuals. Misnaming erodes belonging, damages self-esteem, and signals disrespect, fostering alienation and psychological harm.

Leading scholars such as Derald Wing Sue, an expert on microaggressions, have articulated this phenomenon clearly. Sue explains, “Misnaming and mispronouncing intentionally or habitually can be a form of microaggression, an act that communicates dismissiveness or a lack of respect, reinforcing social hierarchies that marginalise certain groups.”

This underscores that misnaming is not merely a matter of pronunciation, but an expression of social power, enabling dominant groups to assert control through symbolic acts of disrespect that erode a person’s sense of identity and belonging.
Islamophobia is not incidental but central to the repeated targeting of Muslim identities, shaping how figures like Ali, Malcolm X, and Mamdani are perceived and attacked.

Beyond Symbolic Victories

So, does Mamdani’s victory signal a meaningful shift in this pattern? His success inspires hope and demonstrates the potential for political transformation, but it does not immediately dismantle the deeply ingrained Islamophobia and exclusionary behaviours that persist. Islamophobia remains a pervasive social current that electoral achievements alone cannot eliminate. Ali, despite becoming a cultural icon, never escaped attacks on his religious identity, illustrating that recognition in one sphere does not guarantee acceptance in all.

This ongoing pattern highlights how systemic power structures selectively embrace individuals for what benefits or entertains the dominant culture, while continuing to marginalise aspects of their identity that challenge prevailing norms or threaten existing hierarchies. Muhammad Ali’s religious convictions and political stances faced sustained targeting despite his fame. In Mamdani’s case, his political identity challenges entrenched power dynamics, provoking similar resistance, particularly from those invested in maintaining the status quo.

From Muhammad Ali to Malcolm X, and now Zohran Mamdani, the lesson is clear: cultural acceptance and political success do not automatically translate into full social inclusion or an end to identity-based discrimination.

Related:

Reclaiming Malcolm X’s Legacy

God’s Plan and Muhammad Ali – Imam Zaid Shakir

The post “Say My Name”: Why Muslim Names Remain Battlegrounds — From Muhammad Ali To Zohran Mamdani appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

These helpers had very limited resources to offer and share. Yet, despite living with simple means in the harsh desert environment, they were willing to embrace the newcomers with an attitude of compassion and utmost generosity. The emigrants as well understood that they were in no position to take this for granted. In a similar posture of selflessness, they contributed their best in advancing their new community. Conflict and concord were a reality of human relationships then as they are now. They muddled through the messiness of being in a community and ultimately made it work. The difficulties of creating a new sustainable social entity are acknowledged by the Qur’an itself,

“In His mercy God has turned to the Prophet, and the emigrants and helpers who followed him in the hour of adversity when some hearts almost wavered: He has turned to them; He is most kind and merciful to them.” [Surah At-Tawbah: 9;117]

However nostalgic this might sound, their mutual love, embrace, constant sacrifice, and tireless communal work were the seeds that launched the new expansion of the Islamic empire.  

Challenging the Dehumanizing Public Discourse on Immigration

I am an immigrant myself. Today, as I look back to this profound event that shaped the global Muslim community in profound ways, I am reminded that it takes both sides – immigrant and receiving communities – for societies to flourish. The climate crisis, global wars, and worldwide poverty force us to rethink our understanding of what it means to truly belong: Are national, territorial constructs, borders, and slim passports sufficient to capture the emergence of hybrid, fluid, and transnational identities? In the face of mass displacement, forced immigration, and the global refugee crisis, could we transcend seeing a human being from a simply utilitarian perspective? Are immigrants and refugees either a burden or a benefit  – socially, economically, and politically? Could we refrain from the dehumanizing, degrading, and otherizing public discourse and arrive at one simple fact: the immigrant and refugee is a stark and embodied reminder that life is fragile, stability and certainty are illusions, and that each of us can lose their livelihood and home within a moment.

Those of us who claim adherence to the Abrahamic religions, very well know that we were at the margins of society and that our very origin stories are rooted in the painful experiences of exile, refuge, and immigration. This is all the more reason that religious communities need to wake up from this historical amnesia and claim their responsibility in taking care of the newcomer and welcoming the stranger. It pains me that the fundamental dignity and worth of human life get lost in the dehumanizing public discourse on immigration.         

Towards a Holistic Approach – Sacred Responsibilities of both Migrant and Host

As an immigrant child myself, I have witnessed that these communities are the most loving, hardworking, resilient, and selfless people who deeply care. True, some too can fall into romanticizing their countries of origin while cultivating nostalgia for the past and embracing a so-called paradigm of rejection. Such an attitude does not allow for a view that their new place has to offer something valuable. Everything and everyone was always better “back home.” I know very well that such sentiments can be common and understandable in the early years of an especially forceful and involuntary immigration experience. They need to be acknowledged and worked through. Trauma, pain, sadness, and grief over so many loved ones, losses, and memories left behind are a reality. 

The hijra tells the story that in loss there can also be gain; that hardships can be blessings in disguise; and that in absence, abundance can be found. Both – receiving and immigrant communities – must display an openness to new possibilities. Acting in mutuality, solidarity, and unity can indeed be a reality when done holistically in calling all parties to their sacred responsibilities toward one another. In the words of Muslim theologian Bediüzzaman Said Nursi we must strive to emulate the cosmic brotherhood and sisterhood displayed throughout the creation. We can and must embrace one another (teanuk), support one another (tesanüd), respond to each other’s needs (tecavüb), and help one another (teavün). At our core, we are social beings intricately connected and interwoven. What affects one will affect everyone.

Anti-Immigrant Riots: A Contrast To The Teachings Of The Hijra

The recent anti-immigrant riots in the UK offer a stark and troubling contrast to the principles of mutual support and solidarity illustrated by the hijra and the teachings from the Qur’an and Islamic tradition. These riots, marked by violence and xenophobic rhetoric, reveal a disturbing trend of fear and hostility towards immigrants and refugees, highlighting the urgent need for a more compassionate and inclusive approach to these issues.

In the context of the hijra, the early Muslim community’s experience underscores the possibility of flourishing through mutual support despite adversity. The Ansar’s welcoming attitude towards the Muhajirun exemplifies how communities can overcome difficulties through empathy and cooperation. In contrast, the recent riots demonstrate a failure to uphold these values, with many immigrants facing hostility and dehumanization rather than the support and solidarity they need.

The events in the UK reflect broader challenges in addressing immigration, often fueled by economic anxiety, political rhetoric, and misinformation. These riots reveal how fear and prejudice can overshadow the principles of mutual aid and understanding.

Addressing the root causes of such hostility requires a commitment to fostering understanding and empathy, rather than succumbing to fear and division. The hijra’s lessons teach us that with openness, cooperation, and compassion, communities can transform challenges into opportunities for growth and solidarity. It is through embracing these principles and actively working to bridge divides that we can begin to counteract the negative trends seen in recent events and build a more inclusive and supportive society for all.

The first Muslim migration was an early success story showing that the human family must act with the full consciousness and deep understanding that we are part of an interdependent whole and that each of us is an important unique piece in the sacred fabric of life. Each of us is called to do our part in making community work through sharing our God-given selves and skills, our divinely entrusted wealth, the God-given land and resources as echoed in the Qur’an, 

“Those who believed and emigrated and struggled for God’s cause with their possessions and persons, and those who gave refuge and help, are all allies of one another […] But if they seek help from you against persecution, it is your duty to assist them, except against people with whom you have a treaty: God sees all that you do.” [Surah Al-Anfal: 8;72]

Related:

– Traditional Islam, Ideology, Immigrant Muslims, and Grievance Culture: A Review of Travelling Home: Essays on Islam in Europe by Abdal Hakim Murad

The post The Hijra : Lessons From The First Muslim Migration For Today appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

The Muslim community within the United States is diverse, consisting of many different racial and ethnic groups in which no racial or ethnic group makes up a majority of Muslim American adults. While the Muslim community is diverse, there is a direct and pertinent relationship between race and religion as it relates to Muslims who account for both a racial minority and a religious minority within the United States. By making up both a racial and religious minority, Muslims fall under the category of a double minority in which the term is used to describe “the psychological state created when two devalued identities interact to influence the individual in a way that is greater than the sum of the independent effects of those identities” (Gonzalez et al. 2002, p. 659). As a result, Muslims are likely to experience an increase in racism and discrimination due to their identity. This increase in racism and discrimination towards Muslims is termed Islamophobia: a form of hatred, whether hostile or violent, that has targeted Muslim individuals and individuals who are mistaken to be Muslim.

Muslims in Western countries consist of youth who make up 50% of the Muslim population in which 90% of them attend public schools (Niyozov & Pluim, 2009). As a double minority, it is important to consider the ways in which Muslim students are susceptible to Islamophobia in the school setting, especially when they are seen as “different” and are “othered” by their peers. The experiences of Muslim students within educational settings can be understood by challenging the dominant narrative about Muslim students as such narratives continue to affect their experiences in education due to the consistent Islamophobic rhetoric, racial stereotyping, and discrimination that occurs.

Muslims in the United States

As previously mentioned, Muslims consist of a diverse religious group in which no one racial or ethnic group makes up a majority of Muslim Americans. In 2017, the Pew Research Center estimated that Muslims are a diverse and growing population that make up 1.1% of the United States population in which there are 3.45 million Muslims in the United States, including 2.15 million adults and 1.35 million children. Within this number, 41% are White (including those who describe their race as Arab, Middle Eastern, or Persian), 28% are Asian, 20% are Black, 8% are Hispanic, and an additional 3% identify with another race or with multiple races (Pew Research Center, 2017). While Muslims in America are a religious minority, most individuals within the faith are a racial minority as well.

Islamophobia

As a double minority, Muslim students may be susceptible to specific forms of racism such as Islamophobia and racial stereotyping. Islamophobia can be considered a form of racism as it targets Muslims and those who are perceived to be Muslim, causing them to suffer from discrimination and animosity due to their religious identity or perceived religious identity. Green (2019) identifies Islamophobia as “the fear of and hostility toward Muslims and Islam that is rooted in racism and that results in individual and systemic discrimination, exclusion, and violence targeting Muslims and those perceived as Muslim” (p. 38). Although racism has traditionally been conceptualized as prejudice towards a specific race, the definition has come to include any discriminatory behaviors against a community due to their appearance and religious beliefs.

The intersection of religion and race leads to what Green (2019) explains as cultural racism due to the way racism incites hatred and hostility based on religious beliefs, cultural traditions, and ethnic backgrounds. As an example of cultural racism presenting itself, Muslim women who wear the hijab are easily identified as Muslim due to the head covering they wear. Additionally, other women of Color are being mistaken as Muslim and are experiencing the same type of violence. Alim (2016) mentions that “violence against Muslims (and other People of Color mistaken for Muslims, such as Sikhs and Indian women who wear headscarves) tripled”​ (p. 26). A few years later, a 2018 report documented three hundred hate-related incidents against South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Middle Eastern, and Arab communities following Donald Trump’s election (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2018). Those who experience hostility due to their outward appearance are experiencing a form of racism that manifests beyond race as it may also include religion as a factor.

In another definition, Beydoun (2018) explains Islamophobia as “the presumption that Islam is inherently violent, alien, and unassimilable, a presumption driven by the belief that expressions of Muslim identity correlate with a propensity for terrorism” (p. 28). While forms of Islamophobia have always been present, there was a clear increase after 9/11 and during Trump’s campaign for presidency (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2018) which presented itself through Islamophobic rhetoric and bullying in schools. Both of these instances led to the dominant narrative that Islam is a religion of terror, which immediately harmed Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim. In combination, these definitions defining Islamophobia can be used to better understand the dominant narrative discourses that plague the United States by harming and marginalizing Muslims.

Racialization and Religion

As mentioned earlier, Muslims in America make up a double minority in that both their race and religion influence their experiences as individuals. They are susceptible to experiencing racism for their racial background and discrimination for their religious background. While Muslims feel that they are integrated into American society, many Muslims continue to feel that they stand out in America. Pew Research Center (2017) noted:

“Four-in-ten say there is something distinctive about their appearance, voice or clothing that people might associate with being Muslim. This includes most women who regularly wear hijab, but also one-in-four women who do not wear hijab regularly and about a quarter of men who also say there is something distinctively Muslim about their appearance” (Section 2, paragraph 3).

Muslims are going to experience the world in a different way as their racialization and religion makes up a minority of the American population, making them vulnerable to forms of discrimination such as Islamophobia.

To better understand how Islamophobia presents itself, it would be useful to ponder on whether race and religion impact racist ideologies the same way since Islamophobia encompasses an intersection of both. When considering this, it depends on the intersection of race and religion. For example, an Arab Christian’s race would have a larger impact than their religion. This is because being Arab makes them a racial minority, but being Christian makes them a religious majority within the United States. For an Arab Muslim, their religion may have a larger impact than their race. This is because their race and religion make them a minority within the United States, but Muslims in general have been targeted at increasing rates. At the same time, it is important to mention that an Arab Muslim who passes as the dominant race within the United States would not experience the same type of discrimination as an Arab Muslim who is easily identified by their hijab or ethnic name. Individuals who are more easily identified as Muslim may experience more racism and discrimination in school. Unfortunately, racist ideologies are difficult to unpack and solve due to the deeply ingrained prejudices they encompass.

Dominant Narrative

Dominant narratives are damaging and have a dissemination effect, especially when they are structural. Dominant narratives are harmful and include racism’s intersection with other forms of subordination. What creates the dominant narrative is the way race and racism implicitly and explicitly shape social structures, practices, and discourses and the way race creates dominance of one group over another (Yosso, 2006). Dominant narratives stem from a lack of education on Islam and assumptions based on Muslims. In respect to Islamophobia, dominant narratives are:

“Propagated by law and perpetuated by policy, policy that fluidly communicates damaging stereotypes and misrepresentations about Muslims to the broader polity, which has the effect of endorsing popular views and misconceptions, and at the extreme, emboldening hate and violence directed at Muslims and individuals incorrectly perceived as Muslims” (Beydoun, 2018, p. 28).

Islamophobia in the United States has become widespread and is funded by groups whose primary purpose is to promote prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims (Saylor, 2004). According to the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), “the inner core of America’s Islamophobia network enjoyed access to at least $119,662,719 in total revenue between 2008 and 2011” (Saylor, 2004, p. 100). When this funding is worth millions of dollars and seeks to promote Islamophobia, it is not surprising that Muslims and those perceived as Muslim suffer from discrimination and animosity that is stimulated through harmful media resources. It is therefore inevitable that such views begin to present themselves within educational settings as well.

Islamophobia in the Media

The media is a strong communication force that plays a significant role in defining society’s views. When looking at the way Western media has portrayed Muslims in the past, there is clear evidence that stereotypes are the most overpowering narratives relating to the Muslim community. Whether it is through historical media or current media, mass media has contributed to further discriminating and oppressing Muslim students. Zaal (2012) explains the way “Muslims in the U.S., and Arabs specifically, have been vilified in images, cartoons, film, and television for many decades” leading to the “demonized and dehumanizing images…[that] have served to desensitize the U.S. populace and to legitimize fear and hatred against Muslims and Islam” (p. 556). These dominant narratives and discourses are then presented in schools and classrooms where students and teachers make sense of the world and reinforce such curriculum in textbooks and state standards (Zaal, 2012) by relying on mainstream media through images, texts, and narratives. Ahmad and Szpara (2003) mention how little effort has been made to present a positive image of Muslims in the media and textbooks.

Islamophobia has seen an increase in certain years and the media has had an impact on how it is presented in schools. While Islamophobia has been present in the United States for decades, there were steady increases after 9/11 and during Trump’s campaign for presidency that were perpetuated through the media and presented in schools. After 9/11, many Muslim students felt unsafe in school settings and felt the effects of heavy surveillance that could potentially lead to violence and discrimination. During and after Trump’s campaign for presidency, students felt unsafe and unwelcome both in schools and outside educational settings. Addressing what is seen in the media is an important step as it has detrimentally led to hatred presented through racism and discrimination. Beydoun (2018) mentions how this hatred is especially dominant given the heightening degree of Islamophobia coming from the media and other sources.

Islamophobia Post 9/11

After 9/11, Islamophobia increased and affected both Muslims and non-Muslims who were incorrectly perceived to be Muslim. Islamophobia led to more targeting, hatred, and surveillance where many students felt that their classrooms were not safe spaces. It is important to note that when Muslim communities are criminalized and targeted by the police state, Muslims are also subject to increasing threats of violence and discrimination (Ali, 2018) which is more likely to be experienced within schools. A concern many students began to acquire was the surveillance and policing of Muslim students, both on and off campus (Ali, 2018) that strips Muslims from having academic spaces as safe environments. While this concern had to do with students being treated as suspects on their college campuses, wariness towards Muslims became common across hundreds of schools in the United States. Due to the surveillance and policing that may happen within schools, it is understandable that Muslim students would be concerned that their perspectives would be misread. When there is mistrust like this, students are going to be affected by the misperceptions and negative stereotypes about Islam and Muslims as it affects their experiences within educational settings.

Islamophobia during the Trump Presidency

Unfortunately, racism is a type of prejudice that continues to be a component of society. During the election period in which Donald Trump was running for president, the United States saw an increase in hateful speech towards minorities and a new increase in Islamophobia. Trump’s presidential campaign led to “an alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color” and an “inflaming [of] racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom” (Costello, 2016, p. 4). As someone who was running for president, a position of great power in the United States, Trump’s rhetoric was exceptionally harmful and left many minorities feeling vulnerable. When a presidential candidate openly spews hatred, it is not surprising that students are exposed to the same form of hatred in an educational setting.

Anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobic rhetoric has risen steadily since Trump’s campaign for presidency in 2016 as it began to present itself within schools. In the data collected, Costello (2016) found that more than one-third of participants had observed an increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiment in schools that had high concentrations of minority children. By being in a position of power and getting away with this type of behavior, Trump opened the door for others to behave in the same malicious way. Students who experienced what was happening understood that the behavior on display was not acceptable and many were confused as to how certain campaigns have been allowed to promote racism, violence, and hate (Costello, 2016). Costello (2016) mentions how “some [used] the word Trump as a taunt or as a chant as they gang up on others. Muslim children are being called terrorist or ISIS or bomber” (p. 5). Within schools, this type of behavior is often ignored or dismissed, and this type of response from schools is what contributes to Muslim students feeling a lack of trust towards teachers and school administrators.

Muslim Student Perspectives

Understanding the experiences and perspectives of marginalized individuals can raise consciousness about the injustices they face by challenging the dominant narratives that misrepresent the realities of minority communities. This approach can be used to “challenge mainstream society’s denial of the ongoing significance of race and racism” by additionally “offering a critical reflection on the lived experiences and histories of People of Color” (Yosso, 2005, p. 10). While Islamophobia is not a new form of discrimination and it has increased in recent decades, there continues to be a lack of research focusing on what Muslim students have had to endure in the United States. For example, Seward and Khan (2016) found that there is a lack of empirical studies that highlight the voices of Muslim adolescents in which their schooling experiences are shared from their personal perspectives. Hearing Muslim students speak about their experiences in school can give more insight on what it is they go through and what it is they need to ensure they are in an environment that furthers their academic achievement while also promoting a comfortable environment.

Addressing Challenges 

There continue to be many challenges that need to be addressed to make sure students receive a positive educational experience. Prejudices about Muslims can harm educational opportunities as it may unconsciously limit the amount of time, attention, and feedback teachers give to their Muslim students (Sabry & Bruna, 2007). While it is hard to determine where to begin in addressing the challenges that come with racism and discrimination towards Muslim students, there is a need for a critical pedagogy approach that addresses the manifestation of Islamophobia in the classroom (Zaal, 2012), there is a need for inclusion of teachers in dialogue regarding the education of Muslim students as they play a central role in the discourse on Muslim education (Niyozov & Pluim, 2009), there is a need to deconstruct stereotypes and create anti-oppressive classrooms which allows for dialogue in a responsible way (Zaal, 2012), there is a need to increase teacher sensitivity to and awareness of the problems encountered by minority students (Ahmad & Szpara, 2003), and there is a need for understanding what Muslim students experience based on their personal perspectives. To address the challenges that affect Muslim students, we need to communicate with Muslim students to ensure their needs are accommodated for and they feel that their presence within educational settings is accounted for.

In addition, the Muslim community needs to acknowledge the experiences Muslim students encounter within schools in order to alleviate the challenges they face. As a community, we need to respond to such challenges in view of the fact that we have a responsibility to ensure Muslim students are cared for and that they receive proper education. This can be done by first advocating for Muslim students and working with educators to build a relationship that focuses on the well-being of Muslim students. When this is achieved, Muslim students are able to obtain an education that benefits them and does not harm them through the Islamophobic rhetoric, racial stereotyping, or discrimination that occurs within schools. In all, it is important to raise awareness about the experiences Muslim students are exposed to, especially when striving to create a school environment that is safe and welcoming.

Conclusion

In conclusion, due to the diversity presented within the Muslim population in the United States, acknowledging the various ways Islamophobia presents itself can be used to better understand the experiences of Muslim students within educational settings. As double minorities who often account for both a racial and religious minority, the personal perspectives of Muslim students is an essential tool when sharing their experiences. Islam is a widely misunderstood religion within the United States and many Muslims experience Islamophobia that is rooted in racism as a result. This leads to individual and systemic discrimination, exclusion, and violence targeting Muslims and those perceived as Muslim. By considering the experiences of Muslim students and those who have been targets of Islamophobic rhetoric, racial stereotyping, or discrimination within schools, educators can increase their consciousness about the injustices students face by challenging the dominant narratives that misrepresent the realities of minority communities. The lack of research regarding Muslim students should first be addressed in the classroom, a place that students deserve to consider a comfortable environment. Muslim students carry a heavy burden as they feel the need to answer for all Muslims, but by listening to the personal perspectives of Muslim students, we can better understand their experiences which will then help us better understand how we can support them within educational settings.

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Related reading:

– Islamophobia In American Public Schools

Islamophobia In American Public Schools

– Is PREVENT Compatible With Islam?

Is PREVENT Compatible With Islam?

The post Recognizing The Personal Perspectives Of Muslim Student Experiences appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

In the name of Allah , the Gracious, the Merciful

Contemporary Paradox of Postmodernist Identitarianism

Many sects in Islam are influenced by a foreign idea, in the form of a metaphysical ontology or worldview, through which they interpret Islam and change whatever disagrees with it. The most salient example from early Islamic history is the Mu’tazilah – the rationalists who “withdrew” (i’tizal) from the lessons of the great scholar among the Salaf, Hasan al-Basri (Allah have mercy on him). They were heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, which was the framework they used to develop a number of heterodox beliefs, specifically the alleged createdness of the Quran.

The Mu’tazilah were “rationalists” in that they would prioritize philosophical reasoning over the texts of the Quran and Sunnah and the way these texts were understood by the Salaf (earlier generation) or Ahlu Sunnah. However, the most depraved among them exposes the flaw of human reasoning untethered by divine revelation. They instituted the first major inquisition (mihnah) in Islam in which they imprisoned, tortured, or even killed Imams who denied the false doctrine of the createdness of the Quran. They were stopped by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Allah have mercy on him), who patiently endured their persecution and emboldened other scholars around him to persevere until the inquisition was finally put to an end.

Today, the ascendant trend in America, supported by politicians and corporations, is a collection of ideologies we might call Postmodernist Identitarianism. Postmodernism is a diffuse philosophical school of thought that rejected the Western Enlightenment’s focus on scientifically objective truth-claims. It spawned numerous off-shoots such as deconstructionism, anti-foundationalism, and critical theory (critical not in the sense of smart thinking, but rather relentless criticizing). It can be difficult to pin down and clearly define because its nature is amorphous by design. Perhaps the best characterization of their attitude was expressed by anti-foundationalist Stanley Fish, who wrote that deconstructionism “relieves me of the obligation to be right… and demands only that I be interesting.”¹ When applied to politics, postmodernists assert that truth-claims are not objective realities but instead are social constructions designed to oppress others.

Identitarianism as a Political Movement

Identitarianism, on the other hand, is a political movement partly inspired by the Marxist oppressor-oppressed binary. Whereas Marx envisioned the eventual triumph of the proletariat (lower economic class) against the bourgeois (higher economic class), American Identitarians similarly divide the populace into warring factions based on race and gender. The fundamental problem of Identitarianism, or extreme identity politics, is the tendency of movement leaders to “essentialize their identities as a basis for making political claims.”² In other words, it claims a monopoly over its chosen identity and expels any dissenters not only from its ranks, but from the identity itself. Black people who reject their identity politics are not “politically black,” they say. These movements are not based on universal principles, even though such disingenuous appeals to common values like “fairness” color their rhetoric. It is not a vision for a more harmonious and just future; it is the weaponization of identity for political objectives.

Identitarians and Radical Mu’tazilisim

The historical parallels with the Mu’tazilah and today’s movements are obviously not exact analogies. The Mu’tazilah, after all, did believe in objective truth -unlike the postmodernists- and not all of them were extremists, even if they were theologically incorrect. Nevertheless, we can identify some commonalities between the Identitarians and the most radical Mu’tazilites. The most important parallel is that American Muslims who subscribe to Identitarianism have taken the foreign theories and ideologies of non-Muslim academics and activists as the criterion by which they judge Islam and seek to change it, whether they consciously do this or not.

For instance, Muslim academics in Islamic studies departments support gay marriage on behalf of LGBT-identity activism and spread their ideas to the youth, despite an utter lack of support for such opinions in the scriptural or legal traditions. Feminist Muslim leaders have attempted to introduce new rituals into Islamic worship on the assumption that men are natural and historical oppressors of women. Even the heretical Nation of Islam’s theology of innate black superiority over whites is making a comeback due to the influence of Critical Race Theory on left-wing activism; an old prejudice now given cover through a newer, more socially acceptable form of expression. In each case, a reductive postmodernist-inspired narrative (“men have always oppressed women”) is the foundation and justification of their deviation from the Sunnah.

Whether the fault line is gender or race, Muslims seeking to make changes to core Islamic beliefs and practices are happily supported by the elite Identitarian powers that be. Like the persecutors of Imam Ahmad (Allah have mercy on him), the elite Identitarians are ruthless and determined. They seek power, and when they have it, they use it to crush dissent by intimidation, defamation, and cancellation. Since they do not believe in absolute truth, they do not put too much effort into persuading the public or their opponents; they prefer to suppress them. They cannot allow any alternative belief system that might free people from the chains of identity-based tribalism, lest it threaten their grip on power.

Because elite Identitarians view all truth-claims as power plays, they are sloppy when it comes to the facts. This leads their politicians and activists down a path of extremely cynical dishonesty. Identitarianism is animated by a cosmic narrative of oppression and the narrative must be upheld at all costs, even to the truth. It assumes one essentialized identity is always oppressed and another essentialized identity is always oppressor; then it cherry-picks facts or even distorts them to reinforce this story. Not the Truth, but “their” truth. In the world of mainstream legacy journalism, you can observe that the narrative framing is already done before the facts of the story even come out. For this reason, a majority of American rightly believe that journalists are incapable of reporting the news “accurately and fairly”. Indeed, it was pointed out decades ago that the news is not the truth, and the situation only worsens as Identitarianism grows in popularity.

Identitarianism and Hypocrisy

A pernicious feature of Identitarianism is its transparent hypocrisy. It claims to be against racism even as it invents new forms of racism. It claims to fight for women even as it belittles femininity and motherhood. It claims to fight for minorities even as it essentializes their identities and exploits their plight for votes. It claims to fight for decolonization even as it colonizes and deconstructs traditional cultures. They raise the slogan of “social justice” even as they institute profound injustice. Identitarianism is a disgraceful betrayal of the genuinely oppressed, as they mix lies with the truth and obscure the actual wrongdoing in society that must be corrected. You have heard of the story of the boy who cried wolf, right? Today’s version is the activist who cried racist. He falsely cried racism one too many times and when the time came to actually confront racism, no one answered his call.

Identitarianism is ultimately a top-down movement promoted by elite politicians, academics, journalists, and professional activists. It has some grassroots support but these followers are not aware of the fraudulent theoretical underpinnings of the movement. They are more convinced by the manufactured talking points and carefully crafted euphemisms written by marketing strategists to obscure the goals of the movement leaders, which is only to maintain the power of the elites. Identitarianism serves the interests of the powerful because it fractures any popular, universal resistance to their rule in a classic divide-and-conquer strategy. Citizens are then fiercely fighting each other about the issue of Drag Queen Story Hour instead of the corrupt monetary policies that are looting their wealth, devaluing their currency, and draining their savings.

It should be clear by now that American Muslims politically allying with the Identitarians or Identitarianism was an enormous mistake. The error was not in the specific Muslim issues that the Identitarians pretended to care about, but instead it was the rotten metaphysics at the core of their movement. There was no way to work with this movement without acquiescing to at least some of their misguided assumptions and narratives about the nature of existence. American Muslims so fervently supported these apparent political allies to the point that a new generation of young Muslims is so thoroughly propagandized into the movement that traditional, orthodox Islam appears to them as just another racist, patriarchal system of oppression.

Identitarianism, Islamophobia, and the False Promise of Protection

There was intense Islamophobic pressure on American Muslims after the 9/11 attacks and the passage of the Patriot Act. Those of us who lived through those frightening times know that the community was looking for refuge from open hostility coming mostly from the right-wing – a hostility that still exists to some degree today. Along came the Identitarians with promises to protect Muslim identity from the xenophobia of the right, to protect our religious rights in the face of this menacing threat. It was a lie. They never intended to protect traditional, orthodox Islam from anything; they intended to mold American Muslim identity into simply another submissive ethnicity, another permanent blue voting bloc.

We should not harshly blame Muslim scholars and leaders who fell for the false Identitarian promise. Hindsight is 20/20. Politics is messy cloak-and-dagger stuff. They were naive, perhaps. But we can no longer afford this alliance with the Identitarians. They want our children to grow up with their nebulous values and the indulgence of their whims, not our universal faith and principles. They will turn against us the moment it is politically convenient, as soon as the persecution of orthodox Muslims is no longer considered “Islamophobic” to their base. They will never be pleased with us until we are unbelievers exactly like them. It is time to reject their false promise.

Success comes from Allah , and Allah knows best.

Related reading:

– Identity Scholarship: Ideological Assabiya And Double Standards

Identity Scholarship: Ideological Assabiya And Double Standards

 – A Critique Of Deism

A Critique Of Deism

The post The False Promise Of Identitarianism appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

The majority of American Muslims in the early twentieth century were Black and have a history in the United States that dates back to the late eighteenth century. In fact, it is estimated that 15% to 30% of the enslaved Black African population brought to the United States when slavery began were Muslim (Cole, Hypolite, & Atashi, 2020)¹. For as long as Islam has been in the United States, it has been intertwined with the ideological framework built on White supremacy, anti-Black racism, and the systematic oppression of Black bodies (Auston, 2017)².

Although the history of Black Muslims spans more than two centuries, the experiences of Black Muslim students have been undertheorized and underrepresented within the research literature. This stems from a de-legitimization of Black Muslims within the literature on Muslims in the United States, which Rahman (2021)³ claims to be indicative of an anti-Black perspective that fails to take seriously the contributions and experiences of Black Muslims. This is particularly important to acknowledge as Black Muslim students are more likely to experience intersections of anti-Black attitudes, institutionalized racism, and increasing Islamophobia (Ahmed & Muhammad, 2019)⁴.

An Intersection of Identities

This intersection has been overlooked as the multiple identities of Black Muslim students have been ignored. An omission like this is an example of the separation of Black and Muslim identities as evidenced throughout American history (Cole et al., 2020)⁵. To better understand the experiences of Black Muslim students in school, especially those living in urban areas, it is critical to understand how institutionalized racism, anti-Black racism, and increasing Islamophobia shape the experiences of Black Muslim students.

Recently, there has been an acknowledgment that we are in a historical moment characterized by the confluence of generalized and state sanctioned anti-Black racism with prevalent public and political Islamophobia (Auston, 2017)⁶. When considering the institutionalized racism present within schools, it is not a surprise that Black Muslim students are negatively impacted by the compounding intersection of their identities as they have been controlled by White supremacy, laws, and policies (Cole et al., 2020)⁷.

In addition to the complex racial and social constructions that exist, Black Muslim students must manage the ways that racialized systemic injustices manifest in their daily experiences (Cole et al., 2020)⁸. Thus, this paper looks to elucidate the experiences of Black Muslim students by focusing on how institutionalized racism, anti-Black racism, and increasing Islamophobia shape the educational experiences of Black Muslim students living in urban areas within the United States. This paper concludes with a recommendation for more research that seeks to better understand the experiences of Black Muslim students who have been disregarded within the literature.

Critical Race Spatial Analysis

The experiences Black Muslim students confront within education are dependent on what schools they attend and where those schools are located. With this in mind, critical race spatial analysis (CRSA) can be utilized to spatially analyze the role of race and racism in the historical and contemporary context of schools (Vélez & Solórzano, 2017)⁹. In general, Muslims live all over the country, but they are found to most likely reside in urban areas such as New York City, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Newark, New Jersey; and Los Angeles, California (Ahmad & Szpara, 2003¹⁰; Auston, 2017¹¹). In addition, they are more likely to live in poverty compared to the general population (Mauleón, 2018)¹².

Poverty does not just affect the access to education for Black Muslim students; it has been associated with poor health conditions, lower educational achievement, and increased rates of risk-taking behaviors (Ahmed & Muhammad, 2019)¹³. In addition, institutionalized racism directly affects the socioeconomic conditions and opportunities afforded to Black Muslim students (Ahmed & Muhammad, 2019)¹⁴, especially when considering the communities in which their schools are located.

Demographics and Public Policy

Furthermore, Black Muslim students live in predominantly Black communities (Ahmed & Muhammad, 2019)¹⁵ which make them susceptible to the same policies and practices that reinforce racism. For instance, Black families have been historically redlined and Black Muslims are prone to the same policies and practices due to their racial identity. It was public policy which explicitly segregated every metropolitan area in the United States (Rothstein, 2018)¹⁶ where many Black Muslims reside.

The areas in which Black Muslim students live impact their educational experiences, especially when considering their race as a factor (as they are visibly Black before they are visibly Muslim). Thus, to better understand the role of space and race for Black Muslim students, CRSA can be used to spatially examine how structural and institutional factors influence space to impact the educational experiences and opportunities available to students based on their race (Vélez & Solórzano, 2017)¹⁷.

Anti-Black Racism

Anti-Black racism is deeply embedded in institutions, policies, and practices which have a serious impact on the educational outcomes of Black students. They are subjected to oppression in the form of anti-Black racism that is perpetuated through anti-blackness (Lopez & Jean-Marie, 2021)¹⁸. Anti-Black racism is so common within the United States that it includes intended and unintended racial violence perpetrated upon Black students through school policies and practices (Caldera, 2020)¹⁹.

Black students are constantly navigating school environments that are racially hostile in which racism and racial profiling broadly take place within the education system (Love, 2013)²⁰. Since this paper looks at the experiences of Black Muslim students, it is important to focus on the ways anti-Black racism is exercised through systemic acts of violence (e.g., disproportionate discipline, policing, racial profiling, etc.).

Systemic acts of violence within schools are carried out by the policing of Black students in which they are racially profiled and surveilled. Policing does not only harm Black students, but it has also come to harm Muslim students. Therefore, it is essential to acknowledge the way Black Muslim students experience anti-Black racism through policing, which has become more prevalent in the areas Black Muslim students reside in. For instance, the presence of police officers at schools are more likely to be within large, urban, and predominantly minority schools which contributes to racial disparities as racial profiling practices begin to take place within schools (Heitzeg, 2014)²¹.

Analysis of Surveillance

CRSA can be applied to analyze the way policing occurs within these spaces when considering the role of race in the racial profiling of students. It is also useful when considering the way policing in disadvantaged urban communities is different from policing in other neighborhoods (Brunson & Miller, 2006)²².

In all, anti-Black racism should be seriously considered when understanding the experiences of Black Muslim students in school and their experiences within the education system. Black Muslim students are more likely to experience racism due to their race than they are for their religion due to the racialization that occurs within the education system and how anti-Black racism is deeply rooted within institutions, policies, and practices in the United States.

At the same time, Islamophobia should be considered in connection with anti-Black racism when acknowledging the intersection of Black Muslim students’ racialized identities and how they are susceptible to various forms of oppression as there has been a lack of literature on how Black Muslim youth navigate the intersecting oppressions of anti-Black racism and Islamophobia (Rahman, 2021)²³.

Islamophobia

Islamophobia has been defined as the fear of and hostility toward Muslims and Islam that is rooted in racism which results in individual and systemic discrimination, exclusion, and violence targeting Muslims and those perceived as Muslim (Green, 2019)²⁴. While Islamophobia was once categorized as a dislike or prejudice against Muslims, it now encompasses the presumption that Islam is inherently violent, alien, and unassimilable, which is a presumption driven by the belief that Muslim identity correlates with a propensity for terrorism (Beydoun, 2018)²⁵.

The experiences of Islamophobia for Muslims after 9/11 have led to a new form of racism in which Muslims are racialized within the United States (Itaoui, 2020)²⁶. This racialization is particularly important to address for Black Muslim students who experience an intersection of anti-Black racism and Islamophobia.

Auston (2017)²⁷ claims that we are in a time of prevalent public and political Islamophobia and Bayoumi (2008)²⁸ claims that Islamophobia has become a political phenomenon exploited by politicians.

The politicization of Islamophobia contributes to institutionalized racism as the policies and practices that arise stem from racializing Muslims and viewing them as threats. As a result, Black Muslim students are expected to navigate schools that mirror the Islamophobic attitudes found within society. Islamophobia within schools presents itself in numerous ways, but a commonality with Islamophobia and anti-Black racism is the way students come in contact with the police.

In the United States, Black Muslim students experience heightened surveillance and punishment as targets of intersecting systems of discrimination (Rahman, 2021)²⁹. When Muslim youth and communities are criminalized and targeted by police, Muslims are subject to increasing threats of violence and discrimination within schools (Ali, 2018)³⁰. This is particularly common for Black Muslim students who are already exposed to criminalization and targeting by police due to their race.

Institutionalized Racism

The impact of racism has an effect on Black Muslim students and should be taken into consideration as the stereotypes and attitudes they have experienced have served to institutionalize racism (Ahmed & Muhammad, 2019)³¹. For instance, Black Muslim students experience incidents of racial profiling and harassment with disproportionate numbers related to incarceration, profiling, policing, and arrest (Ahmed & Muhammad, 2019)³². These types of instances reinforce the school-to-prison pipeline which particularly affects Black individuals.

The school-to-prison pipeline has not been seriously considered in relation to Black Muslim students, but it should be as both Black students and Muslim students undoubtedly come into contact with the police within school contexts and are treated unjustly and perceived as threats due to their race or religion. While there is literature expounding on the experiences of Black students and their interaction within the prison system, this literature is missing within the experiences of Muslim students, especially Black Muslim students. For instance, after 9/11, Muslims were randomly detained and interrogated due to their religious beliefs (Bayoumi, 2008)³³ and became more prone to interacting with the police.

When considering how their identity as a Black and Muslim individual make Black Muslim students more susceptible to policing within schools for both their race and religion, the school-to-prison pipeline should be investigated in more detail. Ahmed and Muhammad (2019)³⁴ highlight how

“Black Muslim youth experience incidents of racial profiling and harassment. They are also disproportionately incarcerated, profiled, policed, and arrested (Kerby, 2012)³⁵. They have higher rates of juvenile incarceration and are more likely to be sentenced to adult prison” (p. 28).

The physical characteristics of race make Black Muslims visibly Black before they are visibly Muslim. As a result, the experiences which are more specific to Black students should be considered when understanding the experiences of Black Muslim students within K-12 education in the United States. Their experiences as religious minorities are only going to add to their experiences as racial minorities.

Confluence of Anti-Black Racism and Islamophobia

Black Muslim students are often discriminated against because of their race and their religion which warrants consideration as to how this is going to affect the experiences of Black Muslim students in school. Auston (2017)³⁶ argues that we are in a historical moment that is characterized by the confluence of state sanctioned anti-Black racism with prevalent Islamophobia. In addition, Beydoun (2018)³⁷ makes a similar argument that anti-Black racism and Islamophobia are proliferating and converging with vile and violent consequences.

As anti-Black racism and Islamophobia both present themselves within education spaces, it is particularly important to understand the intersections of such discrimination and how it affects Black Muslim students. The anti-Black racism and Islamophobia that Black Muslim students experience in conjunction explains the way they move through the world as profiled subjects (Auston, 2017)³⁸.

At the Intersection

It is important to note that within the United States, anti-Black racism has been and is much more harmful than Islamophobia when considering its prevalence and the way it is deeply embedded in institutions, policies, and practices. At the same time, the experiences of Black Muslim students cannot be understood without understanding the intersection of anti-Black racism and Islamophobia which permeate society.

For instance, Mauleón (2018)³⁹ explains the way diminishing Muslim identity may only serve to make Black Muslims more vulnerable to policing that captures Blacks, while diminishing Black identity may only serve to make them more exposed as Muslims. Black and Muslim individuals have been confronted with implemented policies that create a more hostile environment for them as policies have been inspired by both minoritized groups being perceived as threats (Cole et al., 2020)⁴⁰. This is important to reflect on as the intersection of anti-Black and anti-Muslim laws and policies systematically oppress and control Black Muslims, which then trickles into the education system.

Black Muslims find themselves at an intersection of scrutiny and policing where both Black and Muslim individuals have been targets of overpolicing and mass surveillance that reinforce the perception of these communities as inherently violent and threatening (Mauleón, 2018)⁴¹. Since racism is deeply embedded in institutions, policies, and practices, it is no surprise that policing occurs within schools as schools reflect the ideologies within society. When policing occurs in schools, Black Muslim students are more prone to being racialized and affected by the aggregation of both their Black and Muslim identities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, to understand the educational experiences of Black Muslim students, it is imperative to understand how anti-Black racism and Islamophobia influence the experiences Black Muslim students confront due to their racial and religious identity. In addition, it is important to understand the nuanced nature of their educational context to better understand the impact it has on their development (Ahmed & Muhammad, 2019)⁴².

If Black students are to achieve their full potential in the education system and schools, Lopez and Jean-Marie (2021)⁴³ highlight the importance of educators examining how Black students are impacted by systemic anti-Black racism and how those practices are perpetuated. For Black Muslim students, there should also be an examination of how anti-Black racism and Islamophobia intersect and are maintained through institutionalized racism.

It is also useful to utilize CRSA in understanding how urban areas are spaces with structural and institutional factors which impact the educational experiences and opportunities (Vélez & Solórzano, 2017)⁴⁴ for Black Muslim students based on their race (and religion). It is necessary that the urban areas Black Muslim students reside in are considered when looking to understand what Black Muslim students confront within the education system.

Resistance in Education

Regardless of the institutionalized racism, anti-Black racism, and Islamophobia Black Muslim students confront, they learn to resist institutionalized oppression and embrace their racial, religious, and national identities (Rahman, 2021)⁴⁵. Auston (2017)⁴⁶ claims that Black Muslims in the United States have always been about the struggle for racial equality and religious freedom shaped by the fight on multiple fronts against state power, anti-Blackness, and White supremacy.

When considering how the education system continues to perpetuate racism that is deeply embedded in institutions, policies, and practices, it is useful to consider the experiences of Black Muslim students in K-12 education and how they navigate spaces in which state power, anti-Blackness, and White supremacy are present. Since Black Muslims continue to struggle for racial equality and religious freedom, we are not able to understand what they have endured without looking at the confluence of anti-Black racism and Islamophobia that has shaped the experiences of Black Muslim students both in and out of schools.

It is imperative that those within the field of education consider the experiences of Black Muslim students as anti-Black racism and Islamophobia are forms of oppression they experience within the education system. As mentioned previously, the undertheorization and underrepresentation of Black Muslim students has been expressed as an anti-Black perspective that does not consider the contributions and experiences of Black Muslims. If we want schools to be inclusive and supportive of all students, it is crucial that we center the voices of those who have been marginalized for so long.

Related reading:

The School to Prison Pipeline and #IStandWithAhmed

Islamophobia In American Public Schools

The post The Black Muslim Experience In K-12 Education appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

According to the right-wing politicians and their supporters, it is a sinister movement driven by certain ‘woke mobs’ that are bent on destroying America by rewriting school textbooks in order to poison the young minds into becoming self-hating monsters. And that self-hating generation, the right-wing groups warn, will reject values of self-reliance, hard-work, and patriotism. 

In reality, CRT is an academic concept that is more than four decades old that argues racism is not merely the byproduct of individual bias or prejudice. It is a value implanted and sustained in systems and policies that shape and drive critical institutions such as the education, political, legal, and financial systems for othering or disenfranchising certain segments of the American society. 

This article advocates and affirms the importance of teaching CRT in schools in order to cultivate enlightened generations that are not afraid to trace back sources of the dysfunctional impulses that fuel societal division. The U.S. constitution spells out legal protection against race and faith-based discrimination. It is within this framework that this article makes the case for what I call Critical Faith Theory (CFT)  — the other side of the same coin or the prevalent Islamophobia based systemic discrimination. 

Systemic Racism Cannot Be Ignored

Pathways to opportunities and failures are often paved by the choices people make as individuals; and there is no argument over that. That said, throughout history and indeed in various parts of the world, systemic conveyor belts were set up to facilitate the advancement of certain societal elites and steer others toward failure based on their race, faith, and economic class.     

It is not by sheer coincidence that public transportation systems in America are designed to keep suburbs where most jobs are located as exclusive economic islands. “From funding, planning and infrastructure, to design and policing, many transit agencies essentially have built two systems with different standards for “choice” and “dependent” riders (that is to say white and Black),” argues Christof Spieler, senior lecturer at Rice University, 

Imagine this recurring scenario in many inner-city neighborhoods (ghettos) across America. A young Black man who grew up in a neighborhood where the landscape is suffocated with graffiti expressions and blocks of boarded homes decides to look for an opportunity.  He borrows a car from a family member and heads off to a suburb nearby.  On his way back, he was stopped by the police for an expired license plate. Fortunately, he survives that potentially deadly encounter, but not without setting in motion a chain of problems for him and the car owner. The police officer asks for a driver’s license, car registration, and insurance.  The young man ends up with a hefty ticket for an expired license plate and for not having insurance; but that is not enough. The car is impounded because the owner, though living at the same address, was someone other than the driver.   

Since neither the young man nor the family member whose car he borrowed have insurance, they are  required to purchase high risk insurance (SR-22) that costs 5 times the ordinary insurance; but that is not all. They still have to pay for the towing cost and the cost for each day the car remains in the police impound lot. 

In most cases when the poor people face such overwhelming financial burden , they end up losing their vehicles. And if they fail to pay those tickets on time, arrest warrants are issued and nightmare scenarios ensue.  

Consequence of Racialized Islam

In her well-researched book,  The Racial Muslim, Sahar Aziz offers a profoundly piercing argument that the civil rights and civil liberties of American Muslims have been steadily violated. Politicians, media, think tanks, and various hate groups have played noteworthy roles. Liberals erroneously rationalized that “eroding the civil liberties of Muslims was….a small price to pay for securing the nation.” 

Moreover, conservatives, especially after Donald Trump was elected president in 2017, became ”bolder and more aggressive in their attempts to expel, exclude, and prosecute Muslims.” The so-called Muslim ban was not merely a misguided Presidential Act or a divisive slogan, it was a deliberately crafted dog-whistle to project Muslims as the most dangerous threat facing America.         

Campaign To Criminalize Islam and Muslims 

Unlike all other forms of bigotry, Islamophobia in United States is not simply expressed in hate speech, discrimination, vandalism, and threat of violence, all Islamic institutions—including mosques—are in the crosshairs. The paranoia that Sharia was going to replace the U.S. Constitution took hold of many people in many critical institutions.                   

Many law-makers used to routinely make outlandish claims against Muslim communities in the US and accuse their mosques of  being centers for radicalization. The most belligerent among them was retired Congressman Peter King who chaired the House Committee on Homeland Security. Among the many Islamophobic statements he made are: 

There are “too many mosques in this country (and) we should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them.”

Congressman King used to hold Joseph MacCarthy-like hearings on “homegrown Islamic terrorism” in order to sustain the post 9/11 othering of Muslims. In one such hearing, retired Congressman Keith Ellison told a story of an American-Muslim hero whose story was smeared because of his faith and name [Watch this hyper-linked short video]. 

Not even the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is the leading Muslim advocate for justice and mutual understanding is safe. Despite its exemplary record, of more than a quarter century, certain conservative law-makers, media, think tanks, and a wide array of hate groups relentlessly target it with vicious smearing campaigns.  

When CAIR National recently discovered it was being spyed on by an anti-Muslim organization named Investigative Project On Terrorism led by a notorious Islamophobe named Stephen Emerson, it followed the dollars.  

Over $100 million in funding came from various organizations, including some household investment company names such as Charles Schwab and Vanguard.  This is why we need Critical Faith Theory to be studied and taught.

Policies Cannot Be Neutral On Hate 

Hate speech directed toward Muslims is widely tolerated. Should you as a reader find this claim incredulous or mere hyperbole, you should not hesitate to put it to test. Take any of caustic Islamophobic tropes and bigoted attacks that the former President and some of his supporters in Congress and media continuously spew at the only hijab-wearing Muslim law-maker, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and imagine her being a Jewish representative.           

Those of us advocating for the Critical Race Theory and Critical Faith Theory are not bringing fabricated claims for historical revisionism; weare merely asking for a level playing field. Already students are already taught in schools about antisemitism in schools and the systemic bigotry that led to the Holocaust. Why not expand that teaching to include how systemic racism is othering minority communities such Blacks and Muslims? 

The post Hate Politics And The Critical Faith Theory appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

It’s a problem even in the Muslim community. Many communities don’t acknowledge or respect our Black American experience, and treat us like we are not Muslim enough. I am so often asked, “When did you convert?” The assumption is that I can’t possibly be born and raised Muslim and be an African-American woman. This is a recurring experience that needs to be addressed more often. But it doesn’t quite compare to my professional reality.

Team Critical Care

According to Minority Nurse, 9.9% of Registered Nurses (RNs) are black or African American. My career journey in healthcare — from my undergraduate years to becoming a registered nurse — has been quite an experience. I started as a pharmacy sales associate (senior year of high school), then self-studied and became a board certified pharmacy technician. I continued that for years until I started my nursing program. Then I worked as a nurse’s assistant until I graduated with an Associates Degrees in Nursing (ADN) and became a licensed Registered Nurse (RN). Shortly after, while I was working as a new graduate trauma nurse, I went back to school to complete an accelerated RN-BSN program. I graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) one year later. Throughout this journey, I was almost always the only Black Muslimah in whatever space I was in. There were many times that I felt like my competency and skill-set were dismissed because of my identity. When people saw me, they would often question me like “oh do you work here?” This continued despite wearing a company badge clearly showing my name and job title.

As a new graduate RN, the ignorant reactions definitely got worse. It was already intense working the night shift in a critical care trauma unit right out of nursing school. Although I felt adequately prepared both academically and clinically, I was unprepared for the mental and emotional burden this role would bring. I was in South Carolina at the time, and while I thought I was mentally prepared for racism as a Black woman, my identity as a hijab-clad Muslimah added two extra layers of minority status or “otherness”. There were many times that I felt like my competency and nursing judgment were questioned because of my identity. Other members of the health care team talked down to me as if I did not comprehend what they were trying to communicate -as if I didn’t speak English well enough or didn’t have the critical thinking skills.

Invisibility 

I felt like I had to prove myself more often than not. The worse was when a physician would come to my patient’s room and not acknowledge my presence, but reference me to the patient. I would stand there feeling like I was essentially eavesdropping  on my patient’s care plan. Sometimes I made an effort to run to their bedside and make it known that I was the primary nurse, just to make sure I was included in the decision making. It seemed as though they couldn’t accept that I was the nurse and not a nursing assistant. Many times, I was asked if I was the technician, despite wearing the nursing scrub colors and walking around with a stethoscope around my neck. They would also sometimes overlook me for the more difficult assignments, as if I didn’t have the skills to manage it. There were several new graduate nurses (not Black or Muslim) who started with me and who were given higher acuity assignments.  I had to work extra hard to prove that I was just as competent.

These microaggressions continued after my first nursing position, and throughout my journey as a travel nurse. I’ve been a travel nurse for 11 years of my 13-year career as a RN. I’ve worked in several states across the country and various healthcare facilities. In every single environment, I was the only visible Black Muslimah. I made a special effort to approach any other Black woman just to see if I was truly the only one. There were so many times that I would show up to a new assignment and face stares and whispers from the nursing staff. It was as if they saw a ghost, like, “why is she here”? It took a while for them to trust me and my competency.

I spent weeks receiving the easier assignments or being watched and audited. The most irritating part was when the physicians or supervisors would come around and automatically assume I was anything but a nurse. They didn’t make eye contact or attempt to address me, especially if it was a facility in a city that lacked diversity as a whole. I once worked in a hospital in a smaller town in Connecticut and they were visibly in shock when I showed up. Microaggressions were in full force because they just couldn’t accept that I was both African-American and Muslim. Physicians would refuse to talk to me and go straight to the charge nurse to discuss my patients. I got used to it, and would just wait for the charge nurse to communicate with me, and went on with my day.

Lack of Diversity in Critical Care

During my travels, I also noticed the lack of diversity in critical care as a whole. It seems like nurses of color are not present in the intensive care units – and certainly not in management. The medical-surgical units were well represented, but not in the higher acuity units like the intensive care, emergency room, or operating room. I have actually been discussing this recently in nursing forums on social media and many other nurses confirmed the same dynamic in their facilities. A few Black ICU nurses stated that they feel like they fight harder to get the position, and sometimes feel antagonized. It is especially disappointing that we are not represented in leadership. It’s a deterrent to expressing any grievances to management when you feel like they can’t empathize with you.

In addition to nursing in various critical care units and crisis staffing positions, I’ve also worked in nurse leadership roles. I’ve been a charge nurse and new graduate preceptor. After proving my competency and skill set, I assumed these roles within the first year of nursing. They were challenging and often stressful, but I welcomed them because I finally felt like I was respected as a competent professional. Several times during my travels, I was assigned a leadership role after they realized they would benefit from my nursing experience. But it took time to earn trust; the idea of a Black Muslimah ICU nurse was so unusual.

Mental Health of Healthcare Givers

Throughout this journey -and especially since the pandemic started-, I have grown more passionate about mental health. I’ve always been an advocate and have trained with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) as a support group facilitator. It was a rewarding experience and really highlighted the need for more widespread mental health services. Also, since recently starting my Instagram page (@nursedeeba) that focuses on holistic wellness, I’ve noticed that people really don’t feel supported. So many have reached out to me for support, in appreciation for the space and happy to see a Black Muslimah representing.

The totality of my life experiences have encouraged me to continue to advocate. It is important that I be present and active in different spaces. I feel like I need to show up for other Black Muslimahs because we clearly are a minority group. The positive effects of advocacy and support to uplift and transform a community is often underestimated. Representation really matters!

It’s disheartening to feel like your identity is excluded and/or being dismissed. Everyone needs to feel like they matter in a world full of hate and discrimination. These feelings motivated me to start the Facebook page “Black Muslimahs in Scrubs”. We are rarely represented in social media spaces with other healthcare professionals, because it seems like we get lost at the intersection of being an American, Black woman and a Muslimah: a triple minority group.

This space is for us and by us with a mission to support and empower other women like me. We all deserve “a seat at the table” -even if it means we have to create the table.

My motto is, we are better together.

The post Black Muslimah In Scrubs: A View From The ICU Ward appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

The caveat is that the conversation about racism in Muslim America requires a level of candor, intellectual honesty, and moral courage, that we as Muslim Americans are not quite accustomed to. The sooner we understand that, the better. We’ll never get to the bottom of racism in Muslim America until racist and bigoted Muslims and Muslim organizations admit their bigotry and muster the courage to have real dialogue -the kind which that they cannot control.

Controlled, choreographed conversations about race, is itself a type of racism. There are no white knights in shining armor here. The adult-level discussion about racism in Muslim America has been muted, even censored, for decades, even though it was an ongoing issue and often spoke about privately amongst Black American Sunni Muslims going back to the 1950s at least. However, it was strictly taboo in Muslim America, even among converts, to speak publicly or in mixed company about racism in Muslim America. It’s been that way for a long time until recent years. It was considered an airing of our “dirty laundry”, or “splitting the Ummah”, or even to some, sacrilege, to suggest that any Muslim would harbor the blemish of racism or racial bigotry towards another Muslim.  In America proper, the conversation about racism in America has been ongoing since the late 1600s, before the United States ever even had the notion of being a republic.

Regurgitating the story about Bilal does not suffice as a conversation about racism in Muslim America. Pretending that it does, is nothing but a two-way insult. Those who offer it as evidence that racism in Muslim America does not exist, insult the intelligence of the Muslims who know that it does exist. And those who except the Bilal story as a compete conversation, only insult themselves. So, let’s step it up a few notches; at least enough to put the conversation in the sphere of credulity.

400 years of Nlack suffering and racism in America was such an affront to Allah , be He Exalted and Glorified, that He dispatched a virus to slow everything down, and stilled the entire planet so that the whole world could take another look at it -including the Muslim world. More and more of white America, and even the world, is taking notice of the plight of Black people in the United States. From local governments, police, educational institutions, the business world, and every day ordinary citizens, people are reaching out more.  The most impenetrable systems of institutional racism in America have been the police, the courts, and the criminal justice system, and the prison industrial complex. There is a crack in the wall that wasn’t there before. Which means that there are no more protected classes in the conversation about race in America, and that includes Muslim America.

Now would be a really good time for Muslim America to address the festered wounds of racism within our own religious practice. A spate of carefully orchestrated panel discussions will not put the issue to rest, and may indeed highlight the bigotry and civilizational hubris that has come to characterize racism in Muslim America. Umar ibn al-Khattaab said, “Call yourselves into account before you are called into account.” [Tirmidhi] . Muslim moral credibility has always been in question amongst non-Muslims in America, which is one reason why American imams are not the go-to members of the cloth for questions or answers about morality. If we fail at this juncture in our history, in addressing racism, candidly, openly, and bilaterally, then our collective morality as a religious community will be further stained; and it won’t be a question anymore.

Related links:

Non-Black Muslims Will Need To Do More Than Post Hashtags And Attend Rallies To Combat Anti-Black Racism

Your Black Muslim Friends Are Not Okay, America’s Knee Is On Their Neck

The post Racism In Muslim America – Unpacking The Conversation appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

Whether or not you celebrate Thanksgiving on ethical grounds as an American Muslim knowing the ugly truths of our country’s historic and present-day treatment of Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples, here are some real, meaningful actions you and your family can participate in to learn more about the truths of the colonized peoples who are indigenous to this land and to support their work through donations to various organizations.

Organizations to Support

Read about the various organizations listed below and choose a cause which resonates the most with you after you’ve researched their organization and projects. This list is partially taken from an article in Teen Vogue.

Native America Today

Native America Today represents an alliance between Native American Media and News From Indian Country, a unit of Indian Country Communications. Our mission is to bring forward current news and thought-provoking journalism, while bringing people closer together by broadening perspectives of Native American peoples, marginalized by traditional stereotypical images.

Donations should be sent to their parent organization.

Native American Media
907 Westwood Blvd, Suite 403
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Community resources: https://nativeamericatoday.com/native-american-resources/

Lakota People’s Law Project

For over a decade, we’ve been standing strong with the Lakota to counteract treaty violations, protect sovereignty, and confront systemic racism. We’re helping to safeguard sacred lands and water, end the epidemic of children being removed from their families and traditions, and amplify Native voices.

Native Movement

We are dedicated to building people power, rooted in an Indigenized worldview, toward healthy, sustainable, & just communities for ALL.

Native Movement supports grassroots-led projects that align with our vision, that dismantle oppressive systems for all, and that endeavor to ensure social justice, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and the rights of Mother Earth.

Seeding Sovereignty

Acting in kinship and building community, like our grandparents taught us to.
Seeding Sovereignty, an Indigenous-led collective, works to radicalize and disrupt colonized spaces through land, body, and food sovereignty work, community building, and cultural preservation. By investing in Indigenous folks and communities of the global majority, we cross the threshold of liberation together.

Native Women’s Wilderness

Murdered and missing Indigenous women.

Our women, girls, and two-spirts are being taken from us in an alarming way.  As of 2016, the National Crime Information Center has reported 5,712 cases of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. Strikingly, the U.S Department of Justice missing persons database has only reported 116 cases.  The majority of these murders are committed by non-Native people on Native-owned land. The lack of communication combined with jurisdictional issues between state, local, federal, and tribal law enforcement, make it nearly impossible to begin the investigative process. Please click here to learn more.

 Indigenous Environmental Network

Established in 1990 within the United States, IEN was formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues (EJ). IEN’s activities include building the capacity of Indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect our sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, health of both our people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities .IEN accomplishes this by maintaining an informational clearinghouse, organizing campaigns, direct actions and public awareness, building the capacity of community and tribes to address EJ issues, development of initiatives to impact policy, and building alliances among Indigenous communities, tribes, inter-tribal and Indigenous organizations, people-of-color/ethnic organizations, faith-based and women groups, youth, labor, environmental organizations and others. IEN convenes local, regional and national meetings on environmental and economic justice issues, and provides support, resources and referral to Indigenous communities and youth throughout primarily North America – and in recent years – globally.

IEN is an alliance of Indigenous Peoples whose Shared Mission is to Protect the Sacredness of Earth Mother from contamination & exploitation by Respecting and Adhering to Indigenous Knowledge and Natural Law

Earth Guardians

Earth Guardians is an intergenerational organization with youth at the forefront that trains diverse youth to be effective leaders in the environmental, climate and social justice movements across the globe – using art, music, storytelling, on the ground projects, civic engagement and legal action to advance solutions to the critical issues we face as a global community.

National Congress of American Indians

NCAI was established in 1944 in response to the termination and assimilation policies the US government forced upon tribal governments in contradiction of their treaty rights and status as sovereign nations. To this day, protecting these inherent and legal rights remains the primary focus of NCAI.

NCAI Mission

-Protect and enhance treaty and sovereign rights.

-Secure our traditional laws, cultures, and ways of life for our descendants.

-Promote a common understanding of the rightful place of tribes in the family of American governments.

-Improve the quality of life for Native communities and peoples.

Native Hope

Native Hope exists to address the injustice done to Native Americans. We dismantle barriers through storytelling and impactful programs to bring healing and inspire hope.

Native American Rights Fund

Throughout its history, NARF has impacted tens of thousands of Indian people in its work for more than 250 tribes. Some examples of the results include:

• Protecting and establishing the inherent sovereignty of tribes

• Obtaining official tribal recognition for numerous Indian tribes

• Helping tribes continue their ancient traditions, by protecting their rights to hunt, fish and use the water on their lands

• Upholding Native American religious freedom
• Assuring the return of remains and burial goods from museums and historical societies for proper and dignified re-burial
• Protecting voting rights of Native Americans

Documentaries

A note to readers: please research these films and documentaries before watching them to determine if they are suitable for you/your family to watch, viewer discretion is advised. This list of documentaries has been sourced primarily from an article in Teen Vogue.

We Shall Remain: The Trail of Tears 

This documentary tells the story of the forced relocation by gunpoint of thousands of Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee people between 1830 and 1840 due to provisions of the Indian Removal Act under President Andrew Jackson. Some of these people were forced to march more than 1,200 miles. As a result, thousands of people died due to cold, hunger, and disease.

Dawnland

Dawnland is a documentary that focuses on the systematic separation of Wabanaki children from their families by government agents, children that were then placed with white families during most of the 20th century.

The Canary Effect

The Canary Effect is a documentary that explores a variety of topics, including various policies from the United States government that have negatively affected Native American people over the years.

Project Chariot

Project Chariot puts a spotlight on when the United States government wanted to experiment with nuclear testing in Alaska during the 1950s and’60s.

The Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo

The Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo is a documentary that tells the history of when the United States Army marched over eight thousand Navajo men, women, and children at gunpoint through three hundred miles of desert in the Southwest to a prison camp in eastern New Mexico.

Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools

Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools focuses on the history and brutality of American boarding schools that tried to “kill the Indian” in Native peoples, as put by U.S. cavalry captain Richard Henry Pratt.

*Disclaimer: The author of this article is not Native American and  has a basic understanding of Native American history and current affairs. She was in contact with Mike at Native America Today/Native American Media. I sincerely apologize if I have misrepresented or misspoken for any Native peoples in this attempt to spread awareness and garner support for your causes. I wanted a person belonging to and identifying with a Native American tribe to have put together this information to share with you. 

More Reading and Engagement

Check out the publication Native America Today‘s list of Community Resources for a wealth of information.

The post Learning About And Supporting Native Americans And Indigenous Peoples This Thanksgiving appeared first on MuslimMatters.org.

The fight against anti-Blackness has once again hit the global stage, and American Muslims have a central role to play in the movement of racial justice. The spiritual history of America is a history of Black Muslim voices. Mansa Abubakari, a West African King, landed in South America almost 200 years before Columbus began the massacre of the indigenous population.[1] The biggest migration of Muslims to America was the slave ships where scholars fought to teach Islam to their enslaved communities. Modern Islamophobic attacks such as the Muslim Ban of 2016 are not just Islamophobic, but also deeply racist because it denies the humanity of the previous generations of Muslims. Black Muslims have carried the mantle of preserving Islam in America and have fought for racial justice for last four centuries. The immigrant Muslims who arrived during the last 50 years were a direct result of the civil rights movement that allowed immigration from Muslim majority countries. The fight for racial justice is a Muslim fight. We owe it to the generations of Muslims before us to continue their work.

The 400 years of struggle for racial justice in America can be compared to the Children of Israel’s fight for emancipation from Pharaoh’s Egypt 3000 years ago during which the country was hit by a number of plagues. Sheikh Mendes and Imam Dawud Walid have recently referenced the story of Prophet Musa (peace be upon him), whose demand to Pharaoh to, “Let my people go[2]” is well known in many religious circles fighting for racial equality in America. [3] The Quran discusses of the plagues of Egypt in the story of Prophet Musa in Surah Al-A’raf. “So We sent upon them the flood and locusts and lice and frogs and blood as distinct signs, but they were arrogant and were a criminal people.” [7;133] The plagues of Egypt are similar to the current coronavirus pandemic in that they made systemic oppression clear for all to see. The goal here is to explain the relationship between the coronavirus and racism epidemics.

First, the name of the surah will be discussed. Then, the story of Prophet Musa will be put into context with the story of the other prophets mentioned in the surah. The events leading up to the Plagues of Egypt are explained and compared to the current American pandemics. Finally, there are recommendations for how to make our community spaces antiracist. A few Black scholars have been quoted throughout as to elevate their voices, and to provide some much-needed groundwork for readers who might be unfamiliar with these great American Muslim scholars. For further reading, Dr. Kayla Renée Wheeler compiled a far more exhaustive list of Black Muslim narratives in the BlackIslamSyllabus.

Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

To put this verse into perspective we must first reflect on Surah A’raf as a whole, and I encourage everyone to read and contemplate the surah in depth. The A’raf, mentioned in ayah 46, are an elevated place on the Day of Judgement where people of no consequence get stuck. They watch as others are sorted towards Heaven or Hell. The people of the A’raf are not evil, but they also would not leave their comfort zones to actually commit to righteousness. Their comments to the people of Paradise and the people of the Fire are mentioned in the Surah, but do not earn a response because they are then, as they are now, people of no consequence.

The surah begins by telling Prophet Mohamed to not feel distressed by forcing people out of their comfort zones, and warns of previous peoples who were destroyed as they slept in their heedlessness. And how many cities have We destroyed, and Our punishment came to them at night or while they were sleeping at noon. [7;4] We cannot go back to the previous norm when Black people were suffering alone, while non-Black people could comfortably enjoy their lives whilst ignoring—and even benefiting from a system built on—the suffering of their Black brothers and sisters. A critical mass of people must refuse the continued oppression and the suffering of others for the current system to change. American Muslims should do more than give lip service to their Black brothers and sisters.

Anti-Blackness in Human History

The first prophet mentioned in the surah is our father Adam , whose name indicates his dark black skin. And We have certainly created you, [O Mankind], and given you [human] form. Then We said to the angels, “Prostrate to Adam”, so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He was not of those who prostrated. [7;11] [Allah] said, “What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you?” [Satan] said, “I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from mud.” [7;12] Satan hated our father Adam for the form Allah gave him, which included dark black skin. Anti-Blackness is as old as humanity itself. Dr. Bilal Ware has spoken extensively about the satanic nature of racism. Claims of superiority based on a birthright are rampant throughout human history. Egyptians claimed superiority over the Children of Israel based on where they were from centuries before. Jahili[1] Meccan society claimed superiority based on lineage. The American system claims superiority based on proximity to whiteness. These are characteristics determined at birth and are beyond any human being’s control. Such claims of superiority are counter to the Islamic ethos that sets the value of individuals based on their relationship with God alone. And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam – from their loins – their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yes, we have testified.” [This] – lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, “Indeed, we were of this unaware.” [7:172] Many other prophets and their specific fights against the oppressive power structures are referenced in the surah, which illustrates the continuity of the struggle between the children of Adam and Satan.

A series of prophets (peace be upon them] are briefly discussed with striking similarities in the messages they delivered to their people. All the prophets teach their people about the Oneness of God and called them to rectify the vices that were specific to their society. The mala’a, or the elites, in each of their societies were mentioned as those who fought the prophets. They did so to maintain their chokehold on power, not because of a theological difference. The elites in Meccan society did not fight Prophet Mohamed until he began publicly preaching. They did not care that he prayed differently from them. They feared that his message would make them equal to people they belittled and disparaged. Similarly, it was the elites in Pharaoh’s court who demanded he increase the torment of the Children of Israel. This was a direct result of the magicians publicly declaring their belief and turning public opinion against Pharaoh’s magic, one of the pillars of his power. Similarly in America, the institutional structures of racism need to be dismantled.

Prophet Musa

The story of Prophet Musa begins with the demand mentioned in the introduction, “so send with me the Children of Israel.” [7;105]. Prophet Musa shows Pharaoh and his elites the signs Allah has sent him with. So Moses threw his staff, and suddenly it was a serpent, manifest. [7;107] And he drew out his hand; thereupon it was white [with radiance] for the observers. [7;108] They refuse his message and demand a public contest with magicians in hopes of spinning the narrative in their favor. They fail miserably when the magicians recognize the truth and publicly declare their belief in the Lord of Prophet Haroon and Prophet Musa despite Pharaoh’s threats of torture. Pharaoh said, “You believed in him before I gave you permission. Indeed, this is a conspiracy which you conspired in the city to expel therefrom its people. But you are going to know.” [7:123]

This now leads us to the discussion of the plagues, and how they came about. After that public humiliation, the elites around Pharaoh demanded that he increase the torment of the Children of Israel. [Pharaoh] said, “We will kill their sons and keep their women alive; and indeed, we are subjugators over them.” [7;127] Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a book specifically addressing how the White supremacist system feared a successful Black presidency and responded with an increased level of racism. As a spiritual response to this heightened oppression, Prophet Musa preached patience during the struggle because he knew Allah would deliver them.  The people of Musa complained about the increased pain they were now experiencing as they had been suffering for years before a messenger was sent to them. Prophet Musa asked them to develop their spiritual strength and prepare themselves for a time when they would be empowered and would need spiritual discipline. Shaykha Ieasha Prime has recently called on the ummah to be increasing its spiritual strength as they organize against anti-Blackness.

The Economic Downturn

Then Allah tested the people of Pharaoh with an economic downturn. “And We certainly seized the people of Pharaoh with years of famine and a deficiency in fruits that perhaps they would be reminded.” [7;130] These circumstances are very similar to the economic recession of 2008, and as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Whenever something good would happen, the people of Pharaoh would claim credit for it, and whenever something bad happened, they would blame Prophet Musa and his people. But when good came to them, they said, “This is ours [by right].” And if a bad [condition] struck them, they saw an evil omen in Moses and those with him. Unquestionably, their fortune is with Allah, but most of them do not know. [7;131] And they said, “No matter what sign you bring us with which to bewitch us, we will not be believers in you.” [7;132] This rhetoric is very similar to the wave of nationalism that took over the world in the last few years. It is used by nationalist political leaders, who blame marginalized groups for the economic recession. However, the oppression of those marginalized communities was a preexisting condition that was exacerbated and exploited by nationalist leaders.

The Plagues

Then Allah sent them the plagues, “the flood and locusts and lice and frogs and blood” [7;133]. These were such overwhelming tests for Pharaoh. He was a man that claimed to be a god, but the True God was now sending him something that destroyed the riches he had built and could not be blamed on someone else. It revealed all of his lies. The plagues sent to Pharaoh were specific to the land of the Nile that depended on the production of agriculture and built imposing monuments. It is difficult to look grand when your fields are flooded or consumed by locusts, your water turns to blood, and you and your monuments are covered in lice and frogs. Similarly, the coronavirus pandemic exposed the faults in our health care system, the shortcoming of our food supply, the fragility of the economy, and the deep racism that is embedded into the entire system. The people who were deemed essential to work were treated as sacrificial and were forced to choose between paying for food and rent or risking exposure. They were offered empty platitudes that did not include the protective equipment they needed, increased financial compensation, or health care if they were to fall ill.

Coronavirus attacks the body’s ability to breathe, and it has been widely reported to have affected communities of color far harder than any other group. Black Americans are far more likely to have asthma due to highways going through their neighborhoods, and therefore more likely to die from Covid-19. This is a direct link to a racist system of redlining and highway construction that took away their ability to breathe. Black Americans are imprisoned at disproportionally high rates where social distancing is impossible. There are many false assumptions about the imprisoned population. The truth is that more than 90% of all cases never go to trial, and an accused person’s ability to defend themselves is almost impossible with exorbitant amounts of money. Many Muslims now claim affiliation to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X), may Allah have mercy on him. Covid-19 could be killing the next Malcolm X in prison this very moment. All that without even discussing the economic impact of coronavirus on communities of color that if left unchecked will widen the racial wealth gap. The scarcity of food and resources that were created by the plagues undoubtedly affected the Children of Israel and not just their oppressors; however, the end result of plagues was justice for the oppressed.

From Eric Garner to George Floyd, Black Americans have been fighting to breathe in America. The Arabic word nafs which is usually translated to a soul/self has the same root word as nafas, which means a breath. So, a more accurate translation of nafs is actually a breathing soul. Because of that, We decreed upon the Children of Israel that whoever kills a nafs (breathing soul) unless for a nafs or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he/she had slain humankind entirely. And whoever saves one – it is as if he/she had saved humankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors. [Surah Al-Ma’idah; 32] American Muslims have tended towards the medical profession as a means of fulfilling the above verse in saving people. We should be focusing the same level of energy at saving populations by fighting both the coronavirus and racism epidemics.

Naming the Oppression

The coronavirus epidemic and the recent public murders of Black Americans created a tipping point that did not exist before. Former NBA player and prolific author, Kareem Abdul Jabbar said, “it feels like hunting season is open on blacks.” The murder of George Floyd was so egregious that groups dedicated to preventing police accountability called for Derek Chauvin to be held accountable. America was force to collectively acknowledge the murder of a Black man at the hands of a police officer. Corporations who peddled in racism were issuing apologies when they saw the tide of public opinion turn. The murder of George Floyd made America look the ugliness of racism in the eye. Of course, police brutality and racism did not begin with George Floyd nor did it end with him. Many more people lost their lives at the hands of the police during the protests. For every name we know, there are countless others we do not know. Police brutality is a leading cause of death for Black men in America. Even if we do not know their names, every victim leaves behind a family to mourn their loss while knowing that the murderer not only walks free, but wears a uniform that allows him to continue to kill without consequence. May the brave young woman who took the video receive Divine reward and healing for her bravery. May the burning in the heart of every mother who lost a child be granted Divine patience and healing.

In Surah A’raf, the people of Pharaoh also acknowledged their oppression of the Children of Israel, and they vowed to stop oppressing them. And when the punishment descended upon them, they said, “O Moses, invoke for us your Lord by what He has promised you. If you [can] remove the punishment from us, we will surely believe you, and we will send with you the Children of Israel.” [7;134] We know that the people of Pharaoh reneged after the plagues were lifted. But when We removed the punishment from them until a term which they were to reach, then at once they broke their word. [7;135] So We took retribution from them, and We drowned them in the sea because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them. [7;136] Pharaoh in his arrogance witnessed all of the signs Allah gave Prophet Musa including the staff, his hand, and the plagues. He then witnessed the Red Sea split, and still he followed Prophet Musa into the sea until he was drowned. His hatred blinded him, and his racism killed him.

America is now at the same moment of realization. Of course, Black Muslims have never been unaware of racism. It is a privilege for non-Black Muslims to learn about systemic racism rather than experience it firsthand. The ability to see right from wrong is not guaranteed for us. Arrogance can blind us as it has blinded Pharaoh and his army. I will turn away from My signs those who are arrogant upon the earth without right; and if they should see every sign, they will not believe in it. And if they see the way of consciousness, they will not adopt it as a way; but if they see the way of error, they will adopt it as a way. That is because they have denied Our signs and they were heedless of them. [7;146] The ability to see the racism is a mercy from Allah . May we be protected from spiritual blindness. No Muslim in America should be able to claim a lack of awareness of systemic racism any longer. No should they continue to favor their comfort zones over our love for our Black brothers and sisters and assume they will be forgiven. And they were succeeded by generations who, although they inherited the Scripture, took the fleeting gains of this lower world, saying, ‘We shall be forgiven,’ and indeed taking them again if other such gains came their way. Was a pledge not taken from them, written in the Scripture, to say nothing but the truth about God? And they have studied its contents well. For those who are mindful of God, the Hereafter is better. ‘Why do you not use your reason?’ [7;169]

Fighting the Oppression

Pharaoh claimed to be god, and White supremacy is the false god of our time. It is built into our psyches, our financial systems, and our power structures. Statues were erected to idolize those who upheld it. White supremacy is a system where lighter skin makes people smarter, more trustworthy, and more beautiful. We know this is a lie on its face, and yet it breads anti-blackness that is deeply engrained into everyday life. Fighting anti-blackness is a spiritual struggle, and we should make sincere intentions to fight it in all its forms. We must stand with the people of righteousness who fought for the abolition, civil rights, and an end to colonialist exploitation.

White supremacy in America is in a housing system that segregates people and exposes them to pollutants in their air and their water. It is in an education system that funds or defunds schools based on that segregated housing, and uses the police as an extreme punishment for a child’s infractions. It is in a judicial system that criminalizes poverty and imprisons those who cannot afford bail. It is in a prison system that forces people to work without financial compensation and is protected by the Thirteenth Amendment. Plans to fight the coronavirus pandemic were halted because communities of color were more likely to be affected in yet another disturbing attack. White supremacy is so deeply engrained that it leads some to harm themselves by bleaching their skin and burning their hair in hopes of appearing more like their oppressors. It is everywhere including our spiritual spaces.

Muslims often quote ayah 48:13 and the last sermon of Prophet Mohamed with pride that the tradition stands firmly against racial injustice. While Islam itself does, Muslims often unfortunately do not. One of my community members recently shared a story about entering a masjid in hijab, and being asked if she was Muslim. What was even more egregious is that after a discussion, the family that asked concluded that because of her black skin, she was in fact NOT Muslim despite praying in a masjid. Many of the non-Black Muslims were shocked to hear this, but the truth is that I have never met a Black Muslim who did NOT have a racism in the masjid story. Ask the Black Muslims in your circle about their experiences, and the flood gates will open. You will also see the hurt and betrayal in their eyes for having to endure racism inside their places of worship. Apologize to them for not listening sooner and thank them for being willing to teach you and trust you to want to be better despite their trauma.

Call to Action

It is not enough for anyone to not be racist; we must be anti-racist. Acknowledge the anti-blackness you have internalized within yourself and have those difficult conversations with your family members. Ustadha Zaynab Ansari speaks about the pathological ideologies of how black bodies are viewed in America.  Join and support organizations like the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative and the Muslim Alliance of North America. Embrace a Black Muslim ethos of viewing Islam as a theology of liberation. Support Black scholars and the Black masajid. Invite them to speak not just about anti-Blackness, but on their areas of expertise in Islam, history, community development, etc. Demand that the immigrant masajid be antiracist. Black Muslims should be on the Board of Directors and on the Zakah committee to ensure the equity of those spaces. Hire a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion expert to have a difficult conversation about race in your organization. If the Black Muslims do not share their experiences of racism in the masjid, it is not because they did but happen, but because they do not trust the community to care to change it. Build that trust and build coalitions of communal healing to end the segregation of masajid into Black and immigrant masajid in the first place. The way out of the pandemic is to take care of those who are most vulnerable. The Prophet said, “You are given rizq sustenance based on the most vulnerable among you.” Communities who have turned the tide have done exactly that. Learning to be anti-racist is one of many steps we can take to lift the difficulty our communities are facing. We need at least be as non-discriminatory as the virus that only sees a human body.

Anyone who is not Black has benefited from the theft and subjugation of generations of Black Americans. We should not meet Allah having sided with an oppressor. The Prophet says, “Oppression is layers of darkness on the Day of Judgement.” We can choose to follow the prophetic path, or we can choose to let our racism destroy us. And for every nation is a [specified] term. So when their time has come, they will not remain behind an hour, nor will they precede [it]. [7;34] There will be an accounting for our society as a whole, and there will be an individual accounting. Those who follow Prophet Musa will enter eternal gardens and those who follow Pharaoh will enter an eternal fire. And the people of no consequence, those who choose to do nothing, will sit on the A’raf.

[1] This story is mentioned in West African oral histories

[2] “Let my people go.” (Exodus 5-1: NIV)

[3] The plagues of Egypt are discussed differently in the different Abrahamic faiths. “The Christian and Jewish traditions discuss the angel of death taking the life of the first-born son from every family in Egypt except those who left a marking on their doors so the angel of death could pass over them.”

[4] Jahili is a Quranic descriptor for Pre-Islamic Arab society. It is derived from a root word meaning ignorance.

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