Jazakillah ul khair for this; it was very informative and worth spreading around to others Insha’Allah.

wa alaykum as salam warahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

This was so informative. Jazak Allahu khayran for providing suggestions and resources!

Thank you so much for your comment and please accept my sincere apologies for any hurt or offense that I have caused. I am so sorry as that was the exact opposite of what this post was meant to do.

I chose those statements because they are similar to ones I have frequently heard, stated with complete ignorance or prejudice, specifically towards African American and Latino communities who do not identify as Muslim. (They also hurt me so much personally. I have Mexican relatives and some of the people who I hold most dearly to my heart are African American. I take personal offense when I hear these types of things and feel like it’s an attack on me myself.)

You are so right; this is an issue that spans class, color…everything. And yes, in the Muslim community and in society in general, it is an issue that affects everyone, regardless of race.

A Latina friend of mine who read and re-read the like 7 drafts of this I went through so that I would make sure I was clear and effective specifically said about my first draft that it was too “us/them,” so I worked on it, re-did it, seeking to change that. I asked her and 13 other people, from all different races and backgrounds, to read through it to make sure it didn’t create that same vibe because I hadn’t even realized that it did and for the final draft, all of them gave me positive feedback so I hoped I would not have caused any ill feelings.

Unfortunately, I guess it still did 🙁 I am so sorry.

Also, just quickly, I mentioned that it was in a conversation that I was not a part of to possibly help others think about times where they’ve been in similar situations; where we’ve heard something but felt powerless to say or do anything about it because it didn’t directly involve us, but we were the bystander in some way. Perhaps I should have included more clarification so that it wouldn’t have seemed like I was trying to abdicate myself.

Jazaki Allahu khayran again for your comment and for adding to the conversation. Please forgive me again for my unintended shortcomings.

Sincerely,
Maryam

subhan Allah, I hear this rhetoric as well. It’s so important to have someone like you point out these issues and help provide an alternative example. may Allah give you success!

A brilliant and courageous post. Not too many people have the fortitude to discuss this openly. I happen to be a Black Muslim convert of almost seven years and I’ve become absolutely disgusted with the racism, both overt and covert (the covert is far worse in my opinion), classism, colorism, culturalism (my neologism for this over-emphasis on cultures and customs), and any other sort of negative “-ism” one could possibly conceive of on the part of Muslims, at least as far as my being Black is concerned.

For whatever it’s worth, I actually have a few suggestions which might help at least as far as us Black folks are concerned, insha’Allah.

1) I think there are some books, works of fiction and non-fiction, which be required reading. We as Muslims, after all, SHOULD be literate peoples – right?

“READ in the name of thy Sustainer, who has created created man out of a germ-cell! Read – for thy Sustainer is the Most Bountiful One who has taught (man) the use of the pen taught man what he did not know!” 96:1-5

For example, every person – every Muslim, be they born Muslim or immigrant to this country – should be perhaps consider reading books like “Autobiography of Malcolm X” (The Spike Lee movie based on this book is also good), “Malcolm X Speaks” (his book of speeches transcribed), Dr. Sherman Jackson’s book entitled “Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection,” Dr. Jamillah Karim’s book “American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Class, and Culture in the Ummah,” “The Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B DuBois or “The New Jim Crow: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander. As for fiction, Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” and Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.”

2) Try volunteering at a school or after school program in a low-income area, if you have the free time. You’ll have a chance to see how the injustice manifests itself and how it’s perpetuated throughout the generations.

3) Invite some Blacks (or Latinos or whoever) to your house for a meal. I’m being dead serious about this – like a heart attack or a stroke. Eating with a person in masjid is one thing; inviting them into your home is something totally different. Even something as simple as this could alter your perspective. Never underestimate the power of interaction. You might be pleasantly surprised.

4) Prison du’a can be eye-opening. I’ve yet to do it myself, but I would like to in the future, insha’Allah.

My biggest qualm with Muslims thus far is that we take for grant that the concept of “ummah” exist in real life and thus we don’t seem to be willing to put forth the effort to actually MAKE it exist. As a result, I feel many stereotype, prejudices, etc are free to lurk in the background, unchecked, unchallenged, and unbounded. Building an “ummah” requires some conscious effort on the part of those who subscribe to the notion; it doesn’t just happen automatically. We can’t, as many Muslims I’ve seen do, continue in one breath to claim Islam to be the panacea to all of America’s social woes and in the same breath not take any pro-active measure to evince that suppose panacea into reality: it isn’t going to manifest itself; Islam doesn’t, as I’ve heard some people say, “speak for itself:” it has no mouth, no appendages, etc. We therefore have to be them.