A Raw Perspective — Racism in the Muslim Community
I wrote this in year 10 and it is not as perfect as I thought when I had written it, it isn’t too diplomatic and it is a product of emotion. But it is a result of my first hand raw and real experiences I both experienced and witnessed many others face within the heart of the Muslim community — the largest Islamic School in Sydney. This was a speech that was never uttered, a movement that was only half lived, but it was an experience that taught me and those who fought alongside me so much. It exposed us to concepts that we had only heard of — fighting an entire system, first hand racism, the corruption of power and more fancy jazz.
When we were children we were taught how to mix colours with a paintbrush. We knew that white mixed with anything would make it brighter but wouldn’t dare to mix anything with brown or black in fear that our entire artwork would be ruined.
Similar to this colour palette, there is an unspoken separation occurring within our Muslim community.
In the recent New Zealand shootings, may Allah grant our brothers and sisters the highest level of Jannah, the Muslim community came together at a time of significant hardship and united as one.
And yet at a time like this we are still separating, racism is still existing from amongst us. We’re angry about “white supremacist” but when we look deeper within our own society, we find hidden racism embedded within. When a group is in majority what tends to happen is that they develop a superiority complex. And what happens when the majority has a superiority complex is that often the minority tend to develop an inferiority complex. They start to actually consider themselves as being in some way “less”.
An underlying culture that exists in our Muslim community is that some Arabs feel a sense of superiority to other non-Arabs. However, this is a racism that is not limited to Arabs but found across all nationalities within Muslims.
Denying it and turning a blind eye to it will not dissolve the issue — putting the problem under the rug only makes it worse. This is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed and combatted within our community.
Some of my friends, teacher’s, peers actually tell me that they honestly had no idea that racism even existed within the walls of a Muslim school. But this right here is a reality check that racism does indeed exist in our own private Muslim school. Key word Muslim. Whether it may be as subtle as a sly comment tossed in the classroom, a mocking tone to make the only coloured boy feel like an outcast or a full attack.
Sometimes being vulnerable and showing weakness is what shows true strength. So I am here to unapologetically tell you that I am hurt. That my race is hurt. That we are hurting.
Imagine how you would feel if you walked into a room of caucasians and were mocked for being a Muslim. Now imagine how you would feel if you walked into a classroom of Muslims and you were mocked for being a non-Arab.
What hurts more? Having to feel what no human deserves to feel and from one of your own, right?
Let’s go on a quick history lesson to only some of the genocides of the past. The holocaust, the African American slavery, the stolen generation and countless more. Ask yourself where did all this hate root from? Why did so many have to lose their lives? The simple answer is racism. A recent but powerful example of the effects of racism are the New Zealand shootings. It all began from something as “insignificant” as a racist thought but manifested into an inhumane disgusting cycle of murder.
Why is that I have to walk into this place every day where we are all meant to feel safe and accepted but feel excluded for being who I am. To always be referred to by my male peers as “that loud Paki girl”. To be told that the people of my race is just not “beautiful”. That I’m “alright for a curry”. To be told in a bus full of my peers to “shut up Malala” — and then laughed at and humiliated.
What do they want me to do? Change my heritage? Ask Allah for a new skin colour?
I am proud for being everything I am. A bengali, Australian Muslim.
But this is not about me and what I went through, it is about the racism that exists on a larger scale, as a whole within our own community. About the attack on our fellow Muslims. About the fact that we are a Muslim community and we should unite and thrive of our multiculturalism instead of judging each other for what Allah has created. We must remember before everything else we are Muslim first. This here should be an eye opener for us all to not be a sheep in the herd. To destroy that herd completely.
Being silent is being on the same side of the oppressor. We need to stand up for each other. As an ummah we must all be united as a whole body. Our prophet taught “The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.”
Looking at the Sahabah at the time of the prophet, we can see the immense diversity within them. Bilal (RA) who was Ethiopian, Salman al Farsi who was Persian and Umm Salamah who was from a Jewish background. And this diversity was especially symbolic as it was coming from a time of deep rooted racism and tribalism.
‘Oh mankind indeed we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes, that you may know one to another’.
We must practise what we preach, stop trading our humanity for hypocrisy. We need to stand up for each other, whether it may be for someone of our race or not. Because once again before everything else we are Muslim first. How can we expect to rise as an ummah if we cannot even look past the colour of each other’s skin within? No human is ever born racist. No human is ever born with hate within their hearts. It is taught and bred, and we must break this cycle of ignorance.
Is this how we want to raise the next generation of Muslims?
You may be someone who has never even contemplated these concepts before, shrugged it off or simply not cared. Maybe you may have dosed off in the few minutes I spoke or taken nothing from my speech, however before I end off I want you at least take one last thing.
I want you to think — have you ever been silent in a situation where you have come across racism? Mocked a person for their ancestors just as a “joke”? Laughed at a racist comment. Or even been the one to make that racist comment in the first place?
Just contemplate your actions and the impacts they may have.
How you would feel if it was you as the person being wronged?
We must be kind, compassionate and accepting to one another.
In his last sermon, the Prophet reminded his ummah “There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a non-Arab over an Arab. Neither is the white superior over the black, nor is the black superior over the white — except by piety.”
So do not be afraid to mix the palette of colours. Because there is beauty within doing so.
