Racism in our ranks!!

[Twig pentagram]

I'm a black ex-muslim and I'm here to tell you that racism has always been a part of islam, judaism, christianity and middle eastern culture in general. This is nothing new to me.

 

[neves]

Salaams.

Firstly I want to talk about a touchy subject to me, and that is racism among the muslims. This is not a slam against any pakistani's nor arabs, but I will be talking at length about my encounters with both.

As you all may well know I am black. I live in a black community and I live in Chicago, which btw is one of the most segregated cities in the US still to this day. All the racial groups live in their own neighborhoods, with only a few mixed 'hoods. It is no different for muslims. All the indo-pak people live on one side of town, the arabs to one side, and the blacks to one side. We try to have functions where we can all get together but many people do not want these functions because we experience racism. For the most part, the arabs and indian-pakistans don't want anything to do with the black muslims. When they come to visit our masajid, they eat only their food. When they give sadaqa they give only to their own people. The arabs and pakistanis do not trust that we are even muslim alot of times. For instance if we go to a pakistani 'hood and to the masjid, they will ask us if we are muslim. Now, mind you we are dressed in the sunnah, so there is no need to ask that. They will ask if we are with farakhan and everything, and it's very insulting. They ask if we know how to read Quran, can we make salaat, do we know how to fast and do the most basic things of deen. Most are astonished if we display any knowledge of deen at all, and we are largely disrespected.

Now, by no means is this a one-way street. As a result of this, some of us have had less than stellar attitudes and ikhlaq with them too. Sometimes without prior provocation, if any pakistani or arab say something that a black person thought was offensive, the black person will fly off the handle. Some fo us have been banned form their masjids due to this behaviour, and in some cases rightly so, (if you can ban somebody, which I don't agree with, but I could see the reasoning behind it). Some blacks have gone to those masjids to beg for money repeatedly. They were asked not to come back but then after that, all blacks who come there in need of sadaqa are asked to come only once, and vow never to come back asking for help again. The blacks ask the pakis and arabs because they have money. They are generally wealthy, while the blacks around me are generally poor. The only blacks who have money are farakhan people, and w.d. muhammad people, but we don't ask them for money because one group is clearly not muslim, and the other group is questionable. This is also rare. As a group we ask for nothing. What we do not have we simply do without. Help is not offered and neither is it requested. Those who ask for money are on an individual basis.


Now understand I am not talking about every non-black muslim I know. I actually think arabs and pakistanis are pretty cool people. It's just that they really don't want to mix with us at all, even during deeni activities and so it is really disturbing to me. This is totally against deen. I do not know what we as a whole can do to resolve this issue. I don't know why the commonality of iman is not enough to bring us together, and make us become accustomed to one another. Whenever we are around each other, the sister as well as the borthers, we are all so uncomfortable. I am already an introverted person, and it getrs worse when I don't feel welcomed to a place. I mean we'll all be sitting let's say to eat, and all the pakistanis will speak urdu, and the arabs will speak arabic. Only a few of us even understand the languages, so it makes a language barrier when there is none, because all of us can speak english. I find only the youth do not ac this way. IF they are young and born here, I mean like high school and college aged, they have a tendancy to be more friendly and relate better. If they were born here but are older (like 30's and up), or are immigrants, we can forget having social ties. It's all really sad.



Does anyone else experience something similar where they are?

don’t worry it is normal for people to behave this way in new environments... it will change with the next generation insallah...like you see yourself...

 

[beenie]

Salaams.

Firstly I want to talk about a touchy subject to me, and that is racism among the muslims. This is not a slam against any pakistani's nor arabs, but I will be talking at length about my encounters with both.

As you all may well know I am black. I live in a black community and I live in Chicago, which btw is one of the most segregated cities in the US still to this day. All the racial groups live in their own neighborhoods, with only a few mixed 'hoods. It is no different for muslims. All the indo-pak people live on one side of town, the arabs to one side, and the blacks to one side. We try to have functions where we can all get together but many people do not want these functions because we experience racism. For the most part, the arabs and indian-pakistans don't want anything to do with the black muslims. When they come to visit our masajid, they eat only their food. When they give sadaqa they give only to their own people. The arabs and pakistanis do not trust that we are even muslim alot of times. For instance if we go to a pakistani 'hood and to the masjid, they will ask us if we are muslim. Now, mind you we are dressed in the sunnah, so there is no need to ask that. They will ask if we are with farakhan and everything, and it's very insulting. They ask if we know how to read Quran, can we make salaat, do we know how to fast and do the most basic things of deen. Most are astonished if we display any knowledge of deen at all, and we are largely disrespected.

Now, by no means is this a one-way street. As a result of this, some of us have had less than stellar attitudes and ikhlaq with them too. Sometimes without prior provocation, if any pakistani or arab say something that a black person thought was offensive, the black person will fly off the handle. Some fo us have been banned form their masjids due to this behaviour, and in some cases rightly so, (if you can ban somebody, which I don't agree with, but I could see the reasoning behind it). Some blacks have gone to those masjids to beg for money repeatedly. They were asked not to come back but then after that, all blacks who come there in need of sadaqa are asked to come only once, and vow never to come back asking for help again. The blacks ask the pakis and arabs because they have money. They are generally wealthy, while the blacks around me are generally poor. The only blacks who have money are farakhan people, and w.d. muhammad people, but we don't ask them for money because one group is clearly not muslim, and the other group is questionable. This is also rare. As a group we ask for nothing. What we do not have we simply do without. Help is not offered and neither is it requested. Those who ask for money are on an individual basis.


Now understand I am not talking about every non-black muslim I know. I actually think arabs and pakistanis are pretty cool people. It's just that they really don't want to mix with us at all, even during deeni activities and so it is really disturbing to me. This is totally against deen. I do not know what we as a whole can do to resolve this issue. I don't know why the commonality of iman is not enough to bring us together, and make us become accustomed to one another. Whenever we are around each other, the sister as well as the borthers, we are all so uncomfortable. I am already an introverted person, and it getrs worse when I don't feel welcomed to a place. I mean we'll all be sitting let's say to eat, and all the pakistanis will speak urdu, and the arabs will speak arabic. Only a few of us even understand the languages, so it makes a language barrier when there is none, because all of us can speak english. I find only the youth do not ac this way. IF they are young and born here, I mean like high school and college aged, they have a tendancy to be more friendly and relate better. If they were born here but are older (like 30's and up), or are immigrants, we can forget having social ties. It's all really sad.



Does anyone else experience something similar where they are?

Salaam sister

To be honest, Chicago is one of the most divided cities I've ever lived in. It's not only that way among the Muslim community, but in many different cultures. Look at Devon, for God's sake; it's divided by the block.

I do know exactly what you are feeling, and I do see it as a huge problem that we as Muslims need to address and fix. See, the majority of Indo/Paks that live in the Devon area/north side of Chicago are first generation; think of where they came from. They have very little diversity in their home nations, so it's very difficult for them to go outside their "comfort" zone. It's normal for that first generation to feel that way and adjust. I wish and hope the next generation (our generation in many cases) are more welcoming and embracing of all Muslims of all backgrounds...that is the way of the Prophet and our religion.

For what it's worth, Arabs and Indo-Paks rarely attend the same masjids too; it's slowly changing, but I don't like that it was ever that way in the first place. We all have the same goal; let's reach it.

 

[Bismillah]

I'm not sure about in Chicago, though I remember visiting Devon but all I can remember is the food...

In Tucson we have a similar problem between the Arabs, the Pakistanis, and the Africans. I found that we can eliminate a lot of these uneasy barriers through common activities. For example, a lot of brothers from the Mosque gather to play indoor soccer and I'm glad to say almost everyone is there having fun. Perhaps you sisters could also organize some events from the Mosque to build ties amongst yourselves.

 

[TJ73]

My husband is black american and has mentioned to me how hurt he feels when Arabs move and won't touch during salat. At a question answer presentation to no Muslims someone asked about so many blacks accepting Islam and the Imam ( an African) confused the question as pertaining to prisoners. A pretty sad display of stereotyping. I am black/white American. No matter where I go people think I am whatever predominant non-white race. So I am often asked in the mosque "where are you from" When I explain people appear either disenchanted and or confused,lol.