Multiple Narratives and Contestations Over the Righteous Struggle
by Guest Contributor Margari Aziza Hill, originally published at Just Another Angry Black Muslim Woman*?
According to census data and information provided by mosques and community centers, Muslims in America make up .5% of the total population in America. Keeping it conservative, that equals just under 2 million. Some estimates go as far to say that there are 5 million Muslims in America. I tend to stay on the conservative side because I don’t believe that boasting in numbers serves any cause.
Still, 2 million is a lot of people. And there have been multiple and contradictory narratives about American Islam. Who has the right to speak for American Muslims? Who are the real Muslims? Who will define the agenda for American Muslims? Last year, a huge debate exposing the immigrant Black American divide rocked the Muslim American community and we’re still reeling to recover from it. And when I speak of community, I talk about it in the broadest sense. I am not making any claims that Muslim Americans are a monolithic group. I’m not trying to be a downer, but the reality is that Muslim Americans do not vote in a unified way, have various political and economic interests that often conflict with their co-religionists, nor is there a central authoritative religious head that guides us all. Rather, this diverse group of people from various socio-economic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds with different political and social orientations comprises a community because we believe that There is no God but the one True God and that Muhammad is his prophet. Therefore, we share daily patterns of worship, rituals of birth, marriage, and death, etc. Mosques are also diverse, which contributes to a greater sense of community. And there are some national organizations that do work to defend Muslims’ civil liberties, foster community development, and create a forum for interfaith understanding.
I’ve written in the past and have been interviewed about the silencing of Black American Muslim voices in the past decade. Some national Muslim organizations have been critiqued for their failure to include issues of interest to Black American and other indigenous (I sort of cringe to use that word because I do have Native American relatives who might take umbrage with its use) Muslims such as white American and Latino/Hispanic Muslims. However, in many ways I don’t like how the public conversation has developed in the past year. I am troubled when some Black American Muslims use the same rhetoric and language that Islamophobes use to critique mainstream Muslim organizations dominated by first and second generation immigrants or those organizations that have an internationalist outlook. I am also bothered when I read or hear immigrant or second generation Muslims dismiss the tremendous sense of marginalization that some of us Black American Muslims have experienced in their communities.
I know that some of my Arab and South Asian friends are bothered when they are called privileged. This is not an easy pill to swallow because in American identity politics the only privileged people are supposed to be White Americans. However, there are many different types of privileges and some groups are more privileged than others. And in one community, one group can be dominant and marginalize or economically exploit another. The reality is that in America, there is fierce competition over resources. This competition has led to some voices getting silenced in deciding the agenda for American Muslims.
CAIR reports that the ethnicities of mosque participants can be broken down to 33% South Asian, 30% Black American and 25% Arab, 3.4% sub-Saharan African, 2.1 European (Bosnia, Tartar, etc.) 1.6% White American, 1.3% South-East Asian, 1.2% Carribean, 1.1% Turkish, .7% Iranian, and .6% Latino/Hispanic.
Within mainstream media, the Muslim American experience is about the immigration and assimilation experience. I don’t see much press coverage or interest on converts or the multi-generational Black American Muslim families. You have some sunni communities dating back to the 60s. I don’t want to dismiss the struggles of Asian American, white American, and Latino/Hispanic American Muslims struggles. White American Muslim converts seem to be the darlings of the community, Latino/Hispanic Muslims exotic curiosities, and East Asian or Pacific Islander Muslims occupy some weird zone and most people can barely even believe they are Muslim.
If we Muslims in America believe in democracy and enjoy the privileges of democracy, then we need institutions that allow for more open participation in decision making. At the same time, democracy entails protecting the rights of minorities. I think before we start a discussion about exclusion or inclusion, we need to start to ground our understanding sociological, historical, and political data. I am not claiming I’m doing that in this article. Rather, I used a few statistics to make a point. In the past decade, there has been increasing integration between Black American Muslims and immigrant Muslims. But that integration has led to in some ways to that silencing that I’m talking about. And this had led to a divide in mentalities between Muslims. It is not so much ethnic anymore, but rather, Muslims in America whose primary political interests are foreign policy issues and those Muslims in America who want to focus on domestic issues and establishing Muslim communities in America. I personally don’t see them as exclusive categories. But it is jarring for converts to all of a sudden be forced to adopt some psuedo-marxist third world liberation ideology the minute they take Shahada.
This brings me back to the convert issue. According to the CAIR report, nearly 30 percent of mosque participants are converts. I think it is important to discuss the three major categories of American Muslims: 1. American converts, 2. immigrants, and 3. the children of converts and immigrants. There is a need to develop programs in order to meet the needs of these three categories. The challenging thing for us converts is that when we do convert, we often sever ties with traditional means of networking that assists in social mobility: the church, fraternities and sororities, masonic lodges, networking events and happy hours, etc. The conversion process can alienate converts from different avenues and so they do look to their co-religionists in hope of reconstituting and reconfiguring new networks of social support. Immigrant and second generation Muslims often have their ethnic networks in tact. They just have to navigate the treacherous terrain of assimilating without losing their Islamic identity. Converts, on the other hand, are challenged with becoming Muslim without losing their American identity. At the same time, the way they experience fellowship is through service in the Muslim community. But at the end of the day, they find that few of their “brothers” support them when times are bad.
A lot of converts burn out and become disillusioned after they become Muslim because they have the expectation of full membership in the Ummah. They are not making unfair expectations. These are universal ideals that are in Islamic texts. Plus, you won’t have to search too long in any Islamic bookstore to find a pamphlet on brotherhood in Islam, making promises of charity, trust, mutual respect, and support. And immigrant Muslims have also been inspired by the civil rights and black nationalism, which has some intellectual linkages with Third World liberation. Part of the anger and backlash you see from some American Muslims is that they feel like some of their co-religionists have fell short on their promises. Black American Muslims who were struggling to put themselves through school or raise a family using no riba became distraught when their immigrant co-religionists happily circulate money in their family and ethnic networks, but refuse to build economic ties with converts, let alone consider intermarriage. Immigrant Muslims are now distraught that Black American Muslims have started to say they’d rather vote for a Zionist who will promote universal healthcare rather than march in the streets and divest from Israel. Honestly, I think if you surveyed most Black American Muslims, you will find that they still sympathize with Muslims overseas, but they have developed a political pragmatism. I think Barack Obama’s election and the reaction to it is testament to shifting attitudes about politics. Even for upwardly mobile Black Americans and Black American Muslims, we are deeply aware of our historic legacy and our responsibility to make a positive contribution to our families and neighbors.
I am not trying to force my own narrative down anyone’s throat. Nor am I arguing that we should have just one narrative. Rather, I am saying that we have different interests and each Muslim in America has an obligation to follow his/her calling. If you are moved to join the Peace Corps in the Moroccan Rif, by all means, do your thing. If you want to start an interfaith dialog in your local community, do your thing. Or if your big struggle is putting yourself through school so you can take care of your momma, grandma, and be a positive example for your family, do your thing. For once, American Muslims who see their fates tied to the future of America are beginning to talk. I think we can come together and find common ground, but that takes real dialog. Some have been hurting over the past 5, 10, 15, 30 years as they existed on the margins. And yes, when you have been hurting that long, you are going to have some words that are going to sting. It may even get nasty. But if we are going to deal with the divide, I think we need to listen to how we have hurt each other and work to rectify the pain we have caused each other so that we can move on to the next challenge.
Sources:
The Mosque in America: A National Portrait
*Editor’s Note: Aziza’s blog name has changed to The Bridezilla Blog. Congratulations (though I am afraid of this new moniker)!
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Jess wrote:
Q: Is some of the rift you are talking about between black Americans who are Muslim and their immigrant counterparts because of the Black Muslim movement?
That is, I’ve spoken to a few Muslims outside the US about it, and most of them sort of chuckle when I talk about black Muslims in the US. The usual reason is that they see the Farrakhan-ite branch of Islam as a bunch of whackos — and that is when they are being charitable and nice.
Yeah, that isn’t necessarily representative of the Muslim experience for black Americans, but they’re the ones who get on TV. (The OC isn’t terribly representative of the way most white kids live either, you know?)
I realize that many black people might convert to Islam in a more “conventional” sense, but I figured perceptions matter a lot in these kinds of cases. I know a lot of Christians who see some other Christian sects in the same way. And if I were a Muslim from say, India, and I saw those guys that hang out in Times Square during my first trip to the US, well, I’d probably come away convinced that black American Muslims were nuts.
So I was wondering how much of that perception is a factor here, and how many of the 30% of black Muslim converts are counted from the Farrakhan wing (Black Muslims as opposed to Muslims who happen to be black Americans).
I’m surprised as the reaction to Pacific Islanders as Muslims — no Filipinos or Indonesians anywhere? Or is that an artifact of who comes to the US in great numbers? (Indonesians tend to go to Amsterdam, not New York or Detroit and the Filipino immigrants tend to be Catholic).
Posted 13 Jan 2009 at 8:35 am ¶
Aaminah wrote:
SO GLAD to see you writing here at Racialicious, Aziza. Though we may sometimes disagree, I really respect your voice (& the quality of your writing!). I’m totally with you on this one too.
I’m curious as to how the tallies were made of mosque attendence… For example, I would not list myself as attending the masjid regularly, because I am not able to. My ex-husband attended the masjid maybe 5-7 times in as many years, but he’s still a Muslim. Some women don’t even particularly want to attend the mosque, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have strong ties in the community and are involved. Also, I wonder if it includes those who don’t attend the “official” mosque in their community, but are deeply involved with a musalla or smaller home-based prayer group, as we have a significant local group like that. My point being, there are many ways to be a part of ones community that aren’t necessarily predicated on attending the mosque, and also there are many people who attend the mosque but still feel that they are outside the community or not fully welcomed/part of it. I realize you are aware of these factors, I’m just wondering if these factors are in any way reflected in census & other figures.
Posted 13 Jan 2009 at 9:30 am ¶
Jaya wrote:
That’s a pretty fascinating perspective. Thanks for the contribution, and keep speaking up; this needs to be heard by everyone in the American Muslim community.
I’m the daughter of Indian immigrants (Hindu, not Muslim), and its a mistake to assume that an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” mentality exists amongst the Arab and South-Asian community. For one, we generally come to this country already somewhat well-off, or equipped to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in this country. Many of us (but not all) have had the advantage of middle/upper class upbringings, and great educations in our home countries. I have met many, many Indian Republicans, and would meet more Muslim Republicans, if it wasn’t for the current Islamophobia of that party. There is also some serious racism and anti-black prejudices within these communities that must be confronted if anything is to be done.
I see hope, though. Islam is such a universal, unifying religion, that there are grounds for reconciliation. I think Black Muslims will have the most success reaching out to the children of Muslim immigrants, not the actual immigrants themselves.
Posted 13 Jan 2009 at 9:46 am ¶
atlasien wrote:
Where I live near Atlanta, there’s a very large community of resettled refugees. The Muslim immigrants here don’t “fit the pattern” at all. For example, many of the Somalians aren’t immediately distinguishable from local African-Americans. Many of the Bosnians have blue eyes and red/blond hair and look/are white.
The refugee immigrant Muslims are also extremely lacking in economic privilege. They work long hours in places like chicken processing plants while dealing with major psychological issues of war-related PTSD and cultural dislocation. Their major concerns seem to be economic (getting out of poverty) and educational (opportunities for their children).
It’s just another example of the complexity and diversity you’re talking about in this post. The statistics are very illuminating.
Posted 13 Jan 2009 at 10:04 am ¶
Tariq Nelson wrote:
I think that perhaps we did. I say we because I include myself in those disappointed with not seeing what I thought I’d see when I was introduced to Islam at the age of 19. I was young and naive.
You live and you learn. Immigrant Muslims are simply doing what everyone else is doing. It is time that we learn to do likewise – and not feel bad about it
Posted 13 Jan 2009 at 10:38 am ¶
Restructure! wrote:
Your posts seems to be problematic with respect to racial categorization. It seems like you have a race-based view of “indigenous” versus “non-indigenous” Muslims, in which Asian Americans (including South Asians and West Asians) cannot be indigenous because of their race/ethnicity:
For some reason, you also assume that second generation Muslims have their ethnic networks intact, and just need to assimilate because all they are lacking is Americanness:
I’m not Muslim, but there seems to be a race-based assumption of perpetual foreignness throughout your article.
You also write:
as if immigrants have some kind of political consciousness of supporting ethnic businesses, instead of (making/saving) money being the priority and buying certain products because of cultural similarity.
Posted 13 Jan 2009 at 11:57 am ¶
Margari Aziza wrote:
Restructure,
My dichotomy of immigrant and indigenous is not race based. In fact, I include African immigrants in that category too. The reality is, if you are going to do some analysis of historical patterns of migration and assimilation, you have to use some categories. If you are going to address some of the fractures in the Muslim community and work on solutions, you are going to have to deal with some broad categories. I think the postmodernist tendencies to criticize all categories and problematize everything leads to a lot of lack of clarity. You end up like Foucault, saying a lot of something, but nobody really understanding what the heck you are saying.
Also, it seems like you have little experience in the Muslim community. In your effort to problematize what I’m saying, you try to dismiss some realities that I’ve experienced and observed. I’ve seen first hand Muslim communities build along ethnic lines in ethnic neighborhoods. You can see masajid organized along Pashtun lines in Fremont, the Yemeni masjid in Fremont, and let us not get started with the Yemeni grocers who own most of the liquor stores in East and West Oakland. Libyan families all tend to know each other and if there is a significant concentration of them will gather in picnics. I know a number of young Libyans, Egyptians, Pakistanis and Indians who feel the pressure to attend family events with all their parent’s friends. I’ve been to dozens of weddings, hennah parties, ‘eid picnics and parties where there was one predominate group that included an extra large extended family, I was often the only Black American woman.In one same year, I’ve been to Ramadan iftars organized by prominent Lebanese families and another organized by prominent Iraqi families, and been the only American (except for the occasional woman married to an Arab). They were all friendly, but it was not like I was invited back. Some of these families knew each other back in the Old World, others were building new links in their ethnic network here in the Silicon Valley. But my Muslim social network is not based on my ethnic networks, longtime friend network, nor is it based on my family network. That is because I’m a convert and my conversion means that most of my childhood friends and family members do not have the same orientation as I do. And yes, I do know that some Arabs will pool money together with their friends in informal lending circles. Even though I know some people for over a decade and a half, I have never been invited to pool money together with anyone. Maybe you need to do a little homework and find out the ways in which immigrants often do work together for survival strategies. I’m not saying that they are wrong, but many of us Black American Muslims, and white, and Asian, and Latino/Hispanic, and Native American Muslim don’t have those long standing ties in the Muslim community.
Aaminah,
Same here, I really respect the quality of your writing and your thoughtful contributions to so many important topics. I too am curious about how they gathered this data. I personally am always suspect about how empirical evidence is gathered. I hardly attend the masjid, and I know a number of other people who barely go. In fact, that is why I am suspect about the economic data for Black Americans. Most professional and middle class Black Americans are not a member of any community. For example, a lot of people do surveys by looking up Arabic names in the phone book. There is so much we don’t know. That is why we need real social scientists to begin gathering better data so we can have a solid basis to talk about these issues. I looked at several estimates on the numbers and in general, these were the most conservative estimates, so I stuck with them. But in general, I think folks like us Aaminah are often not taken into account. But insha’Allah we’re changing that.
Jess, I think that most Black American Muslims are orthodox Muslims and not part of the Nation of Islam. I believe that the survey did not include NOI temples, which are not mosques.
Posted 13 Jan 2009 at 5:30 pm ¶
Jess wrote:
Thanks, that helps to know. I haven’t seen the breakdown of how many black Americans who self- ID as Muslims are NOI, but it might be an interesting way to break it down.
I think you’re probably right that most black American Muslims are non-NOI, but like I said, they’re the ones who get on TV.
Posted 13 Jan 2009 at 7:54 pm ¶
SR wrote:
That map seems a little weird to me. There is a higher concentration of islamic centers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan than in Texas?
Posted 13 Jan 2009 at 8:06 pm ¶
Restructure! wrote:
Margari Aziza,
Yes, I’ve had little experience with Muslim communities, but I have had first-hand observation of how and why some immigrants tend to congregate. Maybe my experiences cannot be generalized to other ethnicities, but I feel the pressure to attend family events with all my parent’s friends, and I’ve attended weddings where there was one predominate ethnic group. My parents’ friends are not only the same ethnic group, but the same sub-ethnic group, from the same city, and from the same school. It looks like they are basically sticking with the same people they knew from the old country, who, unsurprisingly, are of all of the same nationality. They have made new same-ethnicity networks here, but they were through the same-ethnicity contacts they had previously. These people are very apolitical and are not doing it to uplift their ethnic group, as most busted their asses to leave the old country for a reason, to have a better life in the new country. They seem to be concerned with uplifting themselves and their own family, not their ethnic group. They network to get ahead, because that’s how it was done in the old country.
I’m not inside their heads and this is just what I see, but neither are you, and you’re just assuming certain motivations based on outside observation. I’m not dismissing some realities that you’ve experienced and observed, but I question the immigrant conspiracy theory, in which immigrants are secretly trying to take over an area economically.
Posted 14 Jan 2009 at 2:21 am ¶
Safiya Outlines wrote:
Asalaam Alaikum,
Great piece Margari.
One point I would differ with is the concept that white converts are the darlings of the community.
While there definitely is a “prize pony” attitude towards white converts and white female converts are often sought after for marriage (although there’s a whole other subtext to this, which I know you’re well aware of), they, like other converts still don’t get the acceptance and protection of the wider community.
The white convert is good for mosque open days, but if they need any help, they’re on their own.
Posted 14 Jan 2009 at 8:24 am ¶
Margari Aziza wrote:
To the editors:
Thanks for the congratulations. Since you expressed concern about the blog name, Bridezilla is a temporary name change celebrating and making light of the my wedding planning. This past December my husband and I performed our religious ceremony in front of an intimate gathering of family and friends. We still have our civil ceremony/ walima/reception to plan in the upcoming months. It is all stressful, and wedding planning can bring out the worst in all of us.
I originally chose Just Another Angry Black Muslim Woman? Making light of the stereotype of black women, but a lot of people didn’t seem to get it. Instead, they assume that I walk around scowling all day. While I do have a temper, I am not an angry person. In light of my changing role in the community, I am considering a more permanent name change because I don’t believe such a tongue-in-cheek title serve the purposes of my writing. I’ll keep you posted on what I decide.
Safiya Outlines:
I’d agree with you that white converts do not get the protection of the broader community. I am sure that the UK has some culturally specific things that make it even harder for white converts to integrate in immigrant communities there as opposed to in the USA. The immigrant Muslim communities in the UK seem to be lower on the socio-economic ladder than the Muslim immigrants in the USA. I don’t know of any major UK Muslim leaders who are converts on the scale of Hamza Yusuf, Nuh Hah Mim Keller, or even Suhaib Webb. But, coming up in a predominantly middle class and affluent Muslim community, the difference in the ways in which white Muslim converts are treated and Black American Muslim converts are treated is really noteworthy. It is not just within marriage, but friendship networks, or even the ways in which white converts may be celebrated because it is a sign that Islam has finally arrived because a white American who “has everything to lose” has accepted Islam. I’ve heard these words spoken time and time again. At the same time, white male converts may be looked upon with suspicion as spies or agents of the government by paranoid militant Muslims. White women are often resented by Pakistani and Arab women, especially because it is viewed that they are taking all their men. Once you marry a brother from an immigrant family, things aren’t always smooth sailing with the family. I’ve heard the in-law horror stories time and time again. White women converts are subject to a number of negative stereotypes in terms of their faith. It is assumed that they converted to get married, are not intellectual, and that their husbands only married them because they were white. Most people will assume white women converts are ignorant and know little about the tenants of Faith as well as practice. These are unfortunate stereotypes that do complicate my simplistic assertion that white converts are the darling of the community. So you’re right.
I’d that white converts, as well as Latino and Asian, often feel a deep sense of isolation and very few people look out for their interests. The question is if converts of European descent are in such a marginal position in the community, would the larger community resist the idea of white Muslims developing an organization addressing their specific needs? I am not against such an idea. But in light that nothing like that exists, I guess we converts have to stick together and support each other.
SR:
Michigan has one of the largest Arab communities in the country. There probably is a higher concentration of mosques in Dearborn and Detroit than Texas.
Restructure!:
As you stated, you are not fully aware of how the Muslim community operates. But part of what you stated supports my point. But it seems like you missed my larger point. My critique is about national Muslim organizations like Islamic Society of North America, Islamic Circle of North America, Council of American Islamic Relations being more interested in foreign policy in their countries of origin as opposed to domestic issues or they privilege issues that effect predominantly immigrant as opposed to those which effect converts and the indigenous Muslims. Because we converts do not have our ethnic networks intact, we have to think about developing organizations, foundations, and institutions, that address our economic, educational, and social needs. The spirit of my post is not to attack immigrants, but to state that various groups are competing for a spot on the minbar (the Islamic version of the pulpit) in order to decide the agenda for American Muslims. And in that competition, some voices get silenced.
Posted 27 Jan 2009 at 4:44 pm ¶
Ben wrote:
Just a heads up, “Tartar” should only refer to the sauce and the stuff on your teeth. Referring to the ethnicity or language, it should be “Tatar.”
-Ben
Posted 28 Jan 2009 at 9:15 pm ¶
Margari Aziza wrote:
Thanks Ben!! Sorry about that typo! I’ll correct that on my original post.
Posted 29 Jan 2009 at 3:21 pm ¶