White Muslims, Again
Umar Lee, whose website is frequently enraging but always engaging, is presenting a series of ideas about what it means to be white and muslim, and they are at such odds with each other I don’t know how they stay on the same page.
First of all,
one thing you cannot be and be white in my mind is Muslim.
which he believes to be true across the board.
Second, about himself,
African-American brothers … are the Muslims I have always been the closest to and have been able to identity with the most.
Third, on his favorite punching bag, other white muslims,
I despise the patronizing and phoniness of guilty white liberals, but the Muslim community is full of them. These Muslims take shahadah and immediately begin a full imitation of some group, Arabs, Pakistanis, African-Americans, etc, and are subservient and un-critical of these cultures while being fiercely critical of any white culture…. I think that some of these Muslims, but not all, embrace Islam to stop being white…
Several commenters on his site have picked up on the inherent contradictions in these three opinions, the biggest one being, what exactly is the difference between Umar Lee gravitating to the black community, and other brothers gravitating to the arab or the pakistani or the black community? I’d sincerely like Umar to answer that, since he is so vicious in his anger at these other brothers. From where I’m standing, there’s no difference at all, except perhaps that Umar had some prior connection to the black community before becoming muslim. If that is the case, these other brothers are simply guilty of being less further along in the process of acculturation or assimilation into a “foreign” milieu. These brothers never really become arab or pakistani any more than Umar becomes black – they simply become more comfortable in, more knowledgable of and more accepted by the community they have adopted. Alhamdulillah. Now, I would suggest that both people, Umar and the arabized or pakified brother, would be of most direct benefit to the society at large if they can use their position in between two ethnic communities to build bridges of understanding, rather than to simply retreat into these communities they have adopted. Middle class white America needs your sympathetic, compassionate dawah, Umar. Tease not the tofu. Look past the lattes.
The most troublesome part of Umar’s racial construct is the idea that one cannot be white and muslim. If we uncritically accept this idea, then the pain and confusion that Umar and other commenters here feel is unavoidable – you’ve lost your community and so you must find another or be lost alone in the wilderness. But wait – who says you can’t be white and muslim? There are some on the far right who might say you can’t be muslim and American, but who here would agree to that? We are muslim Americans and proud of it, no? If you were born here and you grew up here then you are inalienably American no matter who you vote for or who you pray to. You can’t shake it off if you tried – not that some haven’t tried.
Being white isn’t all that much different. It’s about how you look and how you speak. If you have a native accent and white skin, congratulations, you are in-group, and you can’t leave if you wanted to. It’s true that at one time, your religion mattered. Jews and Catholics were non-white. But that is not race today. Not too many people out there really care what god you pray to, and it won’t stop them from serving you well at a restaurant or giving you a job. Cabbies will pick you up. Cops will let you go.
Unless! Unless you have decorated yourself with enough flagrantly Islamic symbols that they question you, such as a stereotypical muslim beard – long, untrimmed, with no mustache – or a big loud kufi. Then you might get some strange looks. Even then, as soon as you open your mouth and unaccented English emerges, *poof*, you’re back in. “Oh”, they think, “You’re actually just a white boy with a beard and a funny hat!” What Americans don’t like is foreigners, not eccentric white people. I say this as a white convert who has been wearing a full beard and a kufi every single day for very nearly fifteen years. I have never once been treated badly by an anonymous white person in public because I’m muslim. Yes, I’ve been stared at; yes, I’ve been asked what my deal is exactly; but never once have I stopped receiving customary white privilege from my fellow white people. O my fellow white muslims! If you think we all automatically stop being white by virtue of practicing Islam, you are gravely mistaken. Your family may disown you, your friends might stop speaking to you, but to the white man on the street, you are still white. Now, you can be ashamed of that, you can be proud of that, you can protest against that, but that is how things are in America in 2007. And the fact is, that is good for dawah, as Abdul Alim and others have pointed out. The fact that the average white person is not automatically suspicious or hostile of you as they may be with a black, pakistani, or arab muslim means you have an extra advantage to introduce them to Islam, the religion of Allah, that is open to and perfect for all people, all races, for all time.
[Disclaimer: All of the above may not apply to hijabi white women; I'm speaking to men here.]
I should add, O my fellow white muslims, in case it isn’t clear, that being white and being taken for white has nothing to do with what your politics are, which ethnic groups you have affinity for, how racist or colorblind you are, what European country your forefathers emigrated from, what neighborhood you grew up in, what race your best friends are, what food you prefer to eat, what clothes you prefer to wear, how high or low your tax bracket or education level is, how much you buy into or reject mainstream American culture, to what degree you fight the power or are a tool of the man, or how much you love or hate being white! All of those deep and complicated emotions you may be struggling with have nothing whatsoever to do with how you are treated at first glance by other white people, which does not change upon taking shahadah, so get over yourself.
[Update: Umar Lee has responded.]
[Update: My response in plain text to excerpts of his response in bold. Follow the link above for his full response.]
I think gravitating was the wrong word for me to use.
Use whatever word you like. Umar, you are an authentic product of your experiences and deserve to feel proud and secure in who you are. My question is not how black or white you feel. That’s your business. My question is what is the difference between a white boy who grows up in a non-white milieu from birth, a white boy who arrives there at the age of ten with his mother, or one who arrives there of his own free will at age 20? Give any of those people 20 years and basic social skills and you will find them to be nearly as comfortable, knowledgeable and accepted in their adopted community as you are in yours. (It just gets a bit harder with age.) So why are you hating on these newcomers? I still fail to see any difference between you and them except time. You may not have tried to acculturate, but that is what it is called.
The only white people I can really relate to are those like I grew up with, hard-working blue-collar guys.
This is hardly surprising or unique to you. The white people I relate to the best are the white people I grew up with too. That’s because they and I belong to the same socio-economic class, speak the same dialect and explored the same geography as kids.
…white Muslims skin remains white, but are they viewed as brethren in white America? …. We no longer have a racial or ethnic group to identity with…
Well, Umar, I’m not sure what to say. I never felt like I had “brethren in white America” before I became muslim. That’s because there is nothing more to being white than having white skin. To put it another way, there is nothing more to being white than not being discriminated against by white people. I would have zero in common with some random white man that you pluck off the streets of Arizona or some such place, other than we are both Americans, and that we have both never experienced discrimination based on our skin color. But beyond that… white racial identity? The only people I know of who talk about white racial identity are wh!te power lunatics. For the rest of us, I thought, white is not a meaningful racial designation. I wrote on this over at my blog in response to Abu Noor and I’m just going to paste that exchange here if you don’t mind:
Abu Noor: that doesnt’ mean that you have to accept how other people see you as being the way you see yourself
Agreed, absolutely. The next point I’ll be heading off to make at Umar’s is that “white†is not a defining characteristic of most white people’s identity, except for the few sorry bastards who fill out the ranks of the kl@n and the like. I don’t feel white because I have no blessed idea what feeling white means. White doesn’t explain anything about me, and I have no doubt that it doesn’t explain anything about you or any other white person. If I were to ask you to write down all the important things about you that make you who you are, you may write: muslim, father, lawyer, husband, Chicagoan, etc. Would “white†make the list? Would you even think to put it down? No, because the color of your skin is a meaningless signifier, if you are white. That is the greatest privilege of being white in American society, that I do not need to be defined by my skin color, that I am accepted as I am, that people see me and see a man, not a black man, not an Ayrab or anything else. The tragedy is that it doesn’t apply to everyone else.
See Gary Kamiya’s excellent article on race for more of what I’m getting at here.
there is no overriding American identity divorced from race for the vast majority of people and the culture in general
Really? McDonalds is white food? Rugged individualism is a white ethic? Democratic process is a white institution? Jeans, t-shirt and a baseball cap are a white costume? There is nothing more that you could surmise about who or what a person is from the word “white” than you could from the word “American”, except that you would know he had never suffered discrimination from other white people.
“Being white is not that much different [from being American]â€, is that a serious statement?
Yes, what I meant is that “white” is largely unshakeable. You can’t get rid of it. Clearly you disagree, but I’m not sure why yet.
… If you think that Jews are seen as anything other than an “alien†group be a large and diverse segment of American society then I suggest you go and read some studies.
Well, I am Jewish on my mother’s side, which qualifies me to claim Israeli citizenship. That’s pretty Jewish. And yet, I’ve never been treated badly, because nobody has any idea, because I’m white! See what I’m getting at here?
… When you are white in America you are expected to act in a certain way and there is room for differences depending where you live and your economic status within that construct. If you fail to meet that vision you do not stop being white per se but you become a hated figure.
So again, white or not white? I’m not understanding the distinctions you’re trying to make here. What is this way that white Americans are expected to act? Is this expectation any different from the way all Americans are expected to act? And who is making these expectations exactly? There seems to be this idea in your mind of a monolithic white culture, but I’m just not seeing it. This country is unimaginably vast, and the ways people live in it are unimaginably different. Bohemian gays in San Francisco? Blue Dog democrats in Detroit? Bible thumping baptists in the South? Are any or all of those “white” ways of being? Because there are blacks, hispanics and who knows who else in all of those demographics.
I also think that if you feel all of white America will accept you try going … to places like…
Umar, I’m not trying to say all of America will accept me. There are ugly people here in our country that will hate others for all manner of reasons. I once saw a car in Detroit with a bumper-sticker saying “Speak English or go home!” Much to my surprise, the driver was black. This is a big country, Umar. There are now a number of people who are in fact Islamophobes and may hate on me if they can figure out that I’m muslim. These generally are the people that you seem to enjoy butting heads with on this blog and in real life. But they are at the moment just a tiny part of our great nation, and it is up to us to educate our countrymen with compassion and good sense so that things don’t get out of hand.
if you are true to Islam you will become a stranger in your own land
If you are true to Islam, you will live in this world like a stranger, for our true abode is the hereafter.
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In Islam, there is no White and Black; that’s, unfortunately, the American way of seeing things.
Yes indeed, Omar; it’s a peculiarly American tragedy. What is interesting to me is just how similar white and black Americans really are. There are probably no two “races” on earth that are more alike. This is so very hard to see inside America, and so obvious once you leave the country.
All of the things mentioned in your last paragraph still very much influence how the white-guy-on-the-street responds to you. Often more than religion and its trappings. This effects of each of these seems to vary quite a bit by region. So, I agree with you that you never stop being white and the big racial category is the first factor in how people respond to you, but there are definitely many types of whiteness, and people place you on a spectrum of like-me-ness when they deal with you, even superficially.
Just ignore his blog…it’s mostly ego rants that basically amounts to a fitna.
Bin Gregory,
As salaamu ‘alaykum. It is fine and important in some ways to understand how other people see you, but that doesnt’ mean that you have to accept how other people see you as being the way you see yourself.
As the poet said,
“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”
Are you saying that however other people choose to see you, you should just accept and adopt that?
I’ve read both of your essays (including Umar’s rebuttal), and I agree with you. I’ve never felt I lost my “whiteness” (whatever that means) just because I became a Muslim. However, we all do assimilate with the cultures in which we live to one degree or another. Umar said he isn’t trying to assimilate into black culture (at least not consciously), but I think he had, subconsciously, long ago (hence, his story about the cops who beat him for his not talking “white”). I don’t know about you, but I suspect your wife thinks of you as being “Malay,” even though we both think of ourselves as white American men. (I know my wife thinks of me as Malay; she’s told me often enough.
) But, for me, “white,” “American,” and “Muslim” are not mutually exclusive in any way.
@ Baba: In general, I don’t think Umar tries to stir up fitnah; it may seem that way at times, but I don’t think that’s his intent. He’s just passionate about his opinions, as we all are. When it comes to creating fitnah, I’ve seen a number of other Muslims who are much worse than brother Umar.
Abdul Ghani: people place you on a spectrum of like-me-ness
Agreed, absolutely.
JDsg: we all do assimilate with the cultures in which we live to one degree or another
Absolutely.
Abu Noor: that doesnt’ mean that you have to accept how other people see you as being the way you see yourself
Agreed, absolutely. The next point I’ll be heading off to make at Umar’s is that “white” is not a defining characteristic of most white people’s identity, except for the few sorry bastards who fill out the ranks of the kl@n and the like. I don’t feel white because I have no blessed idea what feeling white means. White doesn’t explain anything about me, and I have no doubt that it doesn’t explain anything about you or any other white person. If I were to ask you to write down all the important things about you that make you who you are, you may write: muslim, father, lawyer, husband, Chicagoan, etc. Would “white” make the list? Would you even think to put it down? No, because the color of your skin is a meaningless signifier, if you are white. That is the greatest privilege of being white in American society, that I do not need to be defined by my skin color, that I am accepted as I am, that people see me and see a man, not a black man, not an Ayrab or anything else. The tragedy is that it doesn’t apply to everyone else.
As the poet said,
“Every man got the right to decide his own destiny/ and in this judgement there is no partiality”
Unfortunately, in America, not everybody is given that right. Colin Powell, when asked about Tiger Woods, the Cablinasian, said, “In America, when you look like me, you’re black.” And that’s the sad truth. Tiger Woods probably feels about as much connection to blackness as Umar feels to “whiteness”, but America won’t let you leave.
There’s a great article on race by Gary Kamila, who covers Islam very well also by the way, that mirrors my feelings on the subject fairly closely:
It’s really a very good article, well worth the read.
To answer your final question, br. Abu Noor:
Are you saying that however other people choose to see you, you should just accept and adopt that?
I’m going to give you a straight answer: Yes and No. Yes, we can only accept how others see us. What other choice do we have? We are all seen by hundreds of others every day. No, we don’t have to adopt that; why would you want to?
Salaam ‘Alaikum
What it seems is that the community itself isn’t going to let you be Muslim without your race, ethnicity, or income / education level getting in the way. And these are things that we are, unfortunately, obsessed with. Truly, the best generation was that of the Prophet (aleyhi salatu wa salaam). But it feels like it’s just not enough for a lot of people for a person to be glad that someone else is holding on to the hot coal of Islam in these times. We have to parse and winnow ourselves by this and that. It’s becoming an identity game, and I want to opt out.
As salaamu ‘alaykum Bin Gregory,
I am not sure if we disagree at all.
I think we all acknowledge the reality of white skin privilege in America….the question is, now what? How do we change that? Do we change that by accepting that we are white? Do we change that by refusing to identify ourselves as white? Or should we “admit” that we’re not going to change it, “embrace” being “white” and try to use it to advance Islam? Or in other ways to “embrace” being “white” and then try to change what being “white” means from the “inside”?
It is these questions that I am trying to address.
I’ll just reiterate: understanding how others may see you is fine, accepting how others see you as how you see yourself is death. The whole notion of white supremacy relies on these ideas, that one cannot choose to be white or Black, but others choose for you….we have to destroy that system.
Jazzak Allaahu Khayr for your insights…
Allaah knows best.
wa alaykum salam everybody.
UZ,
yeah, I know, I’m already questioning the value of launching into this. Umar’s site is just irresistible sometimes.
Abu Noor,
No, I don’t think we disagree either. We change that by being excellent to one another, encouraging the good and discouraging the bad that we encounter day to day. I don’t get too hung up on it. Of course, I’m not in the States anymore either, and race and skin tone are a whole ‘nother bundle of issues over here. Practical action? I tick the “other” box on the government forms. Having lots of race-defying babies is my other big initiative. Your mileage may vary.
Bin Gregory,
I’m with you on the last point…I’ve got four children so far…my wife is Pakistani, so my kids are growing up knowing they’re not “white” but they are Irish.
Tiocfaidh Ar La.
(Of course the abvoe statement, while true is said with a smile…of course my kids mainly grow up knowing they are Muslim and knowing that is the most important thing.)
Assalamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullah
I pray that you are in the best of health & imaan.
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May Allah bless you for your noble efforts.
Wa’salam
I have often wondered what the experiences of converted men from other cultures might be. I myself “converted” at some point, but I was brought up in an environment that had a lot of Muslim elements. I never felt a cultural shock.
What I did feel, and perhaps the converted white men (I hate to use this term, but I just couldn’t avoid it) will identify with me, is to live in a society that is alien to, and often hostile to Islam. Living as a minority has it’s own lessons and tests.
Funnily enough, atleast that’s what seems to me from here, Islam is more tolerated culturally here in India than in the US. But, and it’s a big but, Muslims are discriminated against institutionally. That discrimination probably is not as severe in the US.
Thanks for your thoughts, Manas. Personally, I think Islam is tolerated in America to a large degree. It is having a foreign accent or dark skin that is more problematic. I guess Umar and I have just had different experiences.
With regard to India, from the outside, it seems to me that Indians do have a large degree of commonality and shared culture across religious backgrounds. It is only the reality of material scarcity that provokes conflict between the communities. (I lived in India for several years as a child. I used to speak hindi fluently. That was a long time ago though, and I’ve pretty much lost touch.)
As’salamu Aleikum all.
Bin Gregory:
Very true! and I think you ended the topic, and nothing else to say.
Good conversation you started here!
Love,
Your Auntie Safiyyah
Sure, you will know better about US! I’ve never been there. I want to travel and meet the people.
I remember that there is a verse that urges “travel through the earth” but don’t remember where and in what context.
As salaamu ‘alaykum Manas Shaikh,
There are actually many verses in which Allaah (swt) urges that people “travel through the earth,” most of them in the context of travelling to see what was the bad result of the people who came before us and arrogantly thought they were high and mighty and what has become of them.
The commenter to this post actually indicates where many of these verses are in the Qur’an.
http://shadows15.wordpress.com/2007/09/11/say-travel-through-the-land/
Race is a reality of life in America. And the issue of race and identity is something that African-Americans (AA) are going to have to work out on their own. It can’t be swept under the carpet. However, unlike with other ideologies and beliefs that AA may have adopted in the past, Islam empowers black people to come to terms with their race and identity.
First and foremost, Islam plants it in the minds of people, that on the Judgment Day complexion of the epidermis is not what is going to “get us over.” In Islam, the playing field is level. Everyone is equal–in the sense that we are all obligated to obey Allah. Consequently, no one get hasanaat for happening to be of a certain color.
Secondly, Islam expands the scope of African-Americans. They encounter various other “brown” people who don’t have the same social pathologies that are so prevalent in black America, especially among the poor. And, also, AA are challenged in regards to matters of identity. Being black–or acting black—is a lot broader than the way many people in the US think of it.
Also, related to that is the notion of race itself. I can go to Egypt, Morocco, or Yemen and see plenty people who look like me (and the fairer skinned people in my family), but these people they don’t have the notion that they are racially “black” as we think of ourselves as being black in America. For some, this can be unsettling, but truly it can be truly liberating, for ultimately the goal of coming to grips with race is not to become more racially conscious, but to become less racially conscious and more fully human. And as was mentioned, when all is said and done, Creed and deeds is what we will be judged for and not race or complexion.
Assalamu alaikum:
Since converting, I don’t feel that I’ve stopped being white, but I feel a distinct difference in how *some* white people treat me. The hijab completely confuses a lot of people. A lot of white people no longer see me as white; it’s clearly just too much. Some people have been very adamant that I tell them where I’m from, because they seem to need to be able to classify me. Like, they can’t talk to me about *anything* without knowing, am I white, or what? I have found that to be incredibly disturbing.
Swarthmoor: …ultimately the goal of coming to grips with race is not to become more racially conscious, but to become less racially conscious and more fully human.
Well said! I couldn’t agree more.
Umm Adam – thanks for sharing. I think what the hijabi ladies experience with regard to loss of whiteness is best explained by Abdul Ghani’s comments about a “spectrum of like-me-ness”. The hijab is just so foreign it trumps the like-me points your white skin still gives you. Brothers, wear your kufis! It’s the least you can do.
So why can’t u be a muslim and a whire man/woman both at the same time? People always fear the unknown and the new things they themselves can’t fathom. The least we can do as Muslims is to explain to the ignorant ones. Islam doesn’t dictate that we reverts have to adopt another lifestyle to be identified as a Muslim. All we are required to do is to follow the teachings in the Quran and Hadith. Don’t fear being criticized ‘coz in the human world, whether we do wrong or right thing, we’d still be damned anyway. Black, white, brown or yellow, we are a big family, we all answer to one God, Allah s.w.t.
Taking shahada reminded me that I had been created – a Celt.
We had Salman al-Farsi and Suheil ar-Rumi and now I was to be referred to as Muhammad Yusef as-Scotlandi. Surely many Americans referred to as “white” in reality identify with their “tribe” – Italian, Irish , whatever. In language, culture, dare I say it, disposition? There is more to this than than mere pigmentation (or should I say,lack of it). I am frankly not at all keen on being pushed into some homogenised northern european pigeon hole. And this is remarkably similar to many of my old West African and Zanzibari pals in Liverpool who had similarities with but were often at great pains to point out they were really not quite the same as West Indians, in language, culture, dare I say it, disposition. So what? Nations and tribes and all that.
Great discussion mashaAllah! Anyway I feel like I stopped being Black when I became Muslim. Oops! Did I say something totally politically incorrect? Probably it happened when I experienced far more discrimination and hate from Black people than I ever knew growing up and working with White people. But oh yeah no one is ever supposed to voice any kind of criticism of Black people unless they want to be ostrasized.
When we all took our shahadah we ceased to be Black, White or whatever. We are Muslim now we should stop calling our selves by a skin color. What does it mean to be white or black? A color. Can anyone here prove to me that I am Black? What makes a person Black or White. Wake UP!
Aliya-
I certainly agree. I sometimes am asked if I have \”masuk melayu\” or it is assumed that I have. Now, I\’m happy with and comfortable in malay culture, but it is vital for Islam in Malaysia that there be a distinction made between being a Malay and being a Muslim. I even think allowing Lina Joy and her ilk to leave the fold would be helpful in that context.
Yusef –
I agree that you and I have as little in common by virtue of skin color as a Zanzibarian and a Jamaican do. But I don\’t think embracing a tribal concept of self is a necessary consequence of entering Islam. I\’m not sure that just because Allah tells us in Holy Quran that He created us into nations and tribes, that it means these are inheritable, intrinsic or unchangeable aspects of ourselves. Nabi Muhammad (saws) said the Arab is the one who speaks Arabic. That is a very mutable category. You can be as Celtic or Zanzibari as you want to be – nothing wrong there – but I would contest the notion that you have been created with some sort of essential Celtic or Zanzibari disposition by virtue of blood or birth. I\’m not sure if that was your position so apologies in advance if I\’m misreading you.
I think part of the issue is when we understand Allah\’s creation to be a one-time, start-and-finish activity, which in my humble opinion does not befit His Majesty. Allah created the land and the sea, but that does not mean that continents do not shift, move, arise and disappear. Allah created the plants and the animals, but that does not mean that species do not evolve, grow, change, recombine, and differentiate, all by His will. Allah created us into nations and tribes, but that doesn\’t mean that these nations and tribes cannot merge, blend, die out and emerge, or that we as individuals cannot move around within and between these groups as well.
For the record, I think the number of white Americans identifying with \”tribe\” or ethnic origin is pretty low. White Americans do have a penchant for keeping track of their fractions – 1/4 italian, 1/2 Irish and so on – but I would say on the whole it is a very distant marker of identity.
Raym –
That\’s awful that you\’ve had that reaction from people. I agree that for us muslims in the US anyway, Islam should allow us, if not to escape from these categories altogether, at least to make them a far less important part of who we are.
Thanks to all for your comments,
Salaam,
Oh, the comments gave me the laughs I needed to keep awake for fajr. And I get your situation, ya Tuan Blog, since my own father is a convert; Chinese-Malaysian, and married to a Malay Muslim. He doesn’t fashion a beard, though he wears the kufi rather liberally, and the kain pelikat sarong is his second skin. In many ways, I suppose, ‘masuk Melayu’ (’becoming’ Malay) was his way of gaining an in into the Muslim community, mostly Malay in ethnicity. And I bet mother’s dishes helped the process.
Somehow I feel your views on being a white American Muslim may be somewhat influenced by being a white American Muslim in Malaysia. I mean, being white still means something to post-colonial Malaya – you get away with a lot more. I’m not saying that it reflects on you, but on the social mentality. Race is still very much an issue back home (I have an ocean between me and Malaysia). My father goes to religious classes regularly, and my mother grumbles at the occasional racial jibe some of the teachers thoughtlessly insert in their sermons. They treat the idea that ‘Malay = Muslim, thus Muslim = Malay’ as a given.
Have these experiences made my father less Chinese? I wouldn’t think so. He still drags us to every second cousin, thrice removed he can locate during Chinese New Year, and he speaks barely-legit Bahasa while maintaining 7 different Chinese dialects. But his ‘race-defying’ children have grown up ethnically diluted. On one hand, we have license to blame our flaws on racial-genetic anomalies. On the other, we have no idea what to call ourselves. We’re constitutionally Malay (which is another debate), and we’re not quite Chinese, but we don’t exactly fit into your typical Malay box either. Identity crisis? Averted when our parents became more religious – ‘Aiyoh, we are Muslim, enough already kan?’ But it’s never far from the back of my mind when my Australian Muslim friends ask me what, exactly, I identify myself as.
Beauty of being Muslim, though – you’re brothers and sisters no matter how you eat. Unless you’re Turkish, in which case eating with hands is strictly frowned upon
Iam a white american revert and i see a lot of tye about all white’s being prevelaged, This country has never given me a dam thing and agian bein from a lower level class being a white non minority, non imegrant seem’s to only get in my way in today’s society of political correctness and affermitive action. So, as a white moslim please dont ever speak or type for me and my like’s.
You are misunderstanding the usage of the word privileged in this context, Yusef. It doesn’t mean that all whites are rich or have it easy. You, a white man, may have been raised in poverty, received a substandard education and had an utterly miserable upbringing: undoubtedly you did, and nobody can take that away from you. What is being said here is that your white skin carries an intrinsic advantage relative to someone else from a similar background who is also not white.
“one thing you cannot be and be white in my mind is Muslim”
The author of this ridiculous statement of self-loathing clearly suffers from some form of “wigga” complex. That’s bad enough. But to advocate other white Muslims to Afro-Americanise themselves as he has; to infatuate themselves with black athletes, hip-hop, black “sisters” and stereo-typically racist notions of black machismo? There are surely enough white non-Muslims doing that already?
That you can remain any colour and be a Muslim is one of the very factors that appealed and continues to appeal to so much of mankind.
Just becuase Umar Lee was so much “the weak white Muslim” he derides others converts for being that he felt the need to paint himself black, does not mean that there are not other white Muslims who feel strong in their skin.
My advice to Umar X: please visit europeans.ws and get an education.
In islam we do not believe in racial identity. Most muslims I know in London whether they be White, Black, pakistani, or saudi arabian would only see themselves as Muslims. I assume this discussion arose from you coming in contact with people who were Black nationalist before coming to Islam, and still have these old ideas in their head. which need to be destroyed. Asabiyya is heinous in islam.
[...] myself included, the first step is figuring out what white folks are in the first place. During my discussion with Umar about white Muslims and the comments from different people that followed, a common idea that came up was that white people are a distinct race of people with distinct [...]
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