Steps toward real diversity
Posted on August 28th, 2007 by Tariq Nelson
Some of you may have already seen this, but Dr. Sherman Jackson has a piece on the Washington Post blog that is very interesting read (hat tip: Marc)
In such a context, the very fact of a Muslim response can, if we are not careful, serve to dignify such fears and prejudices as legitimate, with the result that Westerners end up subjecting Islam and Muslim apologetics to meticulous critique, while leaving their own fears, prejudices and misunderstandings unchallenged.
On another level, these questions appear to be asking about ideals, while the credibility of the answers given are likely to measured by reality. Imagine a question like,
Filed under: Black American Muslims, Changing World
Interesting article.
I’ve had many conversations regarding religion with Muslims in Muslim countries. When something other than the norm presents itself ( a Christian in a Muslim land)people asks questions. This normally entails an effort to help you “see the light ” of their religion/opinion and to ask questions about the issues they have with your religion. They can be rather pointed but I did not consider it to be putting me on the defensive but rather they had a live Christian to confront and ask questions.
Islam, in it’s present numbers in the US, is relatively new to the society and this asking of pointed questions seems rather normal considering the circumstances today.
I find the author to sound rather naive considering his education and experience. This post expands upon that attitude as many believe that Islam in its doctrine has a much further reach than western religions that tend to be secular, ergo, the asking of pointed questions.
Jililah
“I also found the Professors comments disconcerting as although we should certainly understand other social structures than the western form, those who chose to live WITHIN Western society have hopefully come due to appreciation of what that societal structure offers, rather than a malicious attempt to undermine it. I am a Muslim and find more Qur’anic values in regard to human rights expressed in Western society than in oppressive ‘Islamic’ regimes. Are you an advocate of Shariah law as the ideal to govern this country? If not, you may wish to clarify your statements.”
Readers will also find an explanation of some of the complexities that Muslim moderates face in the general comments link supplied
here:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2007/07/muslims_speak_out/comments.html#comments
I would not ask any Muslims questions if I believed this to be the prevalent US Muslim opinion. It may well be the predominant US Muslim opinion but I rarely see it articulated as so many of the self appointed speakers for Islam seem to have a different position. CAIR for example.
I know that our Countries founding documents are based in Christian concept. They have served this Country well. Practice any religion in peace as long as you support the Constitution and don’t want to ‘mess with’ the founding documents to change the basis of this Countries encoded systems.
The non secular aspects of Islam practiced elsewhere in the world and the goverments that have arisen from that practice cause pause.
Good points. Thanks for sharing. I always get a kick out of many western Christians. Jesus (PBUH) whom many think of as their God was a Sephardic (Arab) Jew. He was anything but white. Look at pictures of Iraqi/Yemeni and Iranian Jews and you’ll get an idea of what he looked like.
He looks nothing like the images of him that are all over churches in the Western world, and sadly enough, in the Eastern world.
Abu,
I’m not sure if your comment was directed at me or if you were just waxing poetic.
I’ve never thought of Christ as a white but always as a semetic.
His ethnicity is totally unimportant.
@Path
If ethnicity was so unimportant than Christians wouldn’t have felt the need to create an image of him in their own image ( i.e. white skin, blue eyes, and blond hair).
IT IS an issue, maybe not to you, but IT IS an issue.
IWBA,
I’ve found, in my travels, that people have depicted Christ in their own ethnicity. In the Congo black Christians depict Christ as black, so what. In Egypt the Coptics depict Christ as an Arab, so what. The message is the foundation and what the individual said/did and not his ethnicity.
When I first started blogging on Islamic sites a few months after my return from an Islamic country (May 07) I never even considered race and was just blogging with Muslims as a Christian. I was quickly informed about race and it’s central issue to everything Muslim.
I’ve discovered that it is a central issue with American black Muslims and ethnicity is one of the core issues for their conversion and both blackness and Islam are wrapped so tight that it’s hard to tell what issue one is dealing with.
This is unique to the US Muslim community (in my experience) and a new eye opener for me for as I did not expect to be talking race in every thread.
@ patb
Give me a break. Are you trying to sit here and tell me that American Christians never saw race as an issue? Are you trying to tell me that you did not know that Christians USED the propagation of a white deity against blacks and Native Americans to promote white supremacy?
Then you try to come here and pretend that the first time that you were made aware of race was when you went to the Muslim world?
Race is so NOT a part of Christianity in the US that blacks and whites worship together right? Blacks were not kicked out of churches for being black? Who were the leading proponents of anti-interracial marriage laws?
You are trying to engage in revisionist history as if Christians in this country never did anything wrong
I haven’t seen this world that you speak of
@Path
You said:
” I
Drake,
I don’t deny racism in this country or its history but I fail to see this as an overriding issue today as it relates to Christs visage.
IWBA,
That was not an inflammatory comment but a simple stating of my experience while blogging with US Muslims. I have no authority to say who is/isn’t a proper Muslim and can not, and would not doubt the veracity of ones personal faith. I was just quoting what I’ve read/observed in the news. Be inflamed at other Muslims for that if you must.
I’m not doubting your beliefs either but I suspect many US Muslims were drawn, initially, to Islam as it was as alien to the US mainstream (white Christ or society) as was possible and a way to proclaim ones difference. This applies to white Muslim converts in my oppinion too.
Can one find tru (to the individual) belief thru that process, again yes I believe so.
I stand by my premis though that I did not initially expect to always be talking about race along with religion and the continued rerouting to this theme rather supports my thesis vis a vis the initial calling of converts to Islam.
I’m not saying that is good, bad, or indifferent just that it is.
Many early African-American converts did not need to proclaim their difference through Islam- it was already being proclaimed for them in their treatment as second class citizens. I would like to think that artists like John Coltrane or Art Blakey (who were as cosmopolitan as they come) connected to Islam’s message of brotherhood, discipline and beauty.
I think we need to get beyond understanding Islamic conversion as simply a rejection of Christianity or whiteness. For many of the older Muslims and younger Muslim converts I know they BELIEVE/D in the tenets of Islam such as tawhid, no separation between the prophets and the idea that there is reward and punishment for one’s actions in this life. I know one young lady who was simply moved by the sound of Qur’anic recitation. Beyond racial or global politics the bottom line is that for many the issue is/was spiritual not racial.
My suspicion is that the reason why many Muslims speak so freely about race is because of a) a strong sense of the need for social justice b) the strong message against anti-black racism spoken by our beloved Prophet (here I am thinking of the last sermon)
As I was noting with a colleague in my department the other day, the meaning of race and particularly anti-black racism has shifted for a younger generation. Thus I think it is faulty to keep stretching the same narratives about race across time for younger white and black converts.
Also the history of African-Americans and Islam is much deeper than many of us are aware. I know people in their 60s and 70s (African-Americans) who are third and fourth generation Muslims. As noted historian Mike Gomez argues in his work on the Atlantic Slave Trade, many African slaves brought to this country were Muslim. Many Southern customs have ties to Islam. The presence of Islam in the lives of so many descendants of African slaves is a unique, but also an inevitable, return.
Samira,
I am sure that Muslim slaves arrived on our shore and that certain traditions ensued.
I also agree that disenfranchising one creates an automatic ‘look elsewhere’ response.
I do believe the spike in Islam, correct me if I’m wrong, happened in the 60’s and 70’s (prior to the 90’s spike caused by immigration/SA money) along with the other counter culture movements that abounded. I doubt that there was a great amount of Islamic outreach or casual encounters but more people ‘looking’ for something patently different.
Again, I’m not qualifying anyones sincerity of belief as many reach peace by searching for that which fills the God given vacuum that causes our need for God.
I also agree that we need to temper our words and experience when dealing with youth and not try and transpose our negatives where they serve no purpose.
Do not rewrite history, educate but not pass on the vitriol.
I’m not familiar with the last sermon that preaches
against black racism. What was said?