Racism & Islam

[Happy 2BA Muslim]

Salaam,

I was JUST coming here to start a thread about this very subject. I am a white, female, revert and have been stunned at the sheer racism directed towards me from all races of Muslims.

It's quite funny, actually...when it doesn't make me want to weep. I have had no less than four sets of parents of friends (Muslim) tell me I am to consider myself their daughter. But they will NOT allow their children to marry outside their race/tribe/nation. For instance....I have some Syrian friends and their father was visiting for a week. He praised me and told me how proud he was that I converted. I just found out today that he forbids his children to marry a non-Syrian. So he calls me his daughter but wouldn't marry his son to someone like me? Hypocrite?

A Pakistani brother is interested in marrying me and I am interested in marrying him. I met his parents and they were so kind and said I was a daughter to them. They still will not give approval so we can marry. Once again there is this contradictory dichotomy at play.

Time and time again I am embraced and kissed by the parents of my friends and told I am their daughter now. And yet still they would not allow their blood children to marry ourside their culture. It is backwards to the teachings of Islam. It's like they decided to read all the sermons, hadiths, and surrahs except the very last sermon. Forgive me...as this topis is a sensitive one for me.

~Sarah

Wa alaikum Assalam,

It is quite frustrating Sister, as their actions are not truly Islamic.

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allaah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa [i.e. he is one of the Muttaqoon (the pious)]. Verily, Allaah is All-Knowing, All-Aware”

[al-Hujuraat 49:13]

It was narrated in al-Saheeh that Abu Hurayrah said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

‘Allaah does not look at your appearance or your wealth, but He looks at your hearts and your deeds.’”

(Narrated by Muslim, al-Birr wa’l-Silah, 4651).

It was narrated that Abu Dharr said: “I exchanged words with another man, whose mother was a non-Arab. I insulted his mother, and he mentioned that to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). He said to me, ‘Did you trade insults with So and so?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Did you insult his mother?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘You are a man in whom is jaahiliyyah (ignorance)…’” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, al-Adab, 5590; Muslim, al-Eemaan, 3140).

According to another report: “…I said to him, ‘O son of a black woman’,” and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “In you there is jaahiliyyah” – i.e., one of the characteristics of jaahiliyyah (ignorance).

It was narrated that Sahl ibn Sa’d al-Saa’idi said: “A man passed by the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and he asked a man who was sitting with him, ‘What do you think of this man?’ He said, ‘He is one of the nobility. By Allaah, if he proposes marriage he deserves to get married and if he intercedes, his intercession deserves to be accepted.’ The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said nothing. Then another man passed by, and the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) asked, ‘What do you think of this man?’ He said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah, he is one of the poor Muslims. If he proposes marriage he does not deserve to get married, if he intercedes his intercession does not deserve to be accepted and if he speaks he does not deserve to be heard.’ The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘This one (the second man) is better than an earthful of (men like) that one (the first man).’” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, al-Riqaaq, 5966).

This is a Q&A about a very similar situation to yours:

Marriage of a convert: must he marry someone of the same race?​

Question:
I would like to ask for your advice, I am a br. who prays believes in allah prays 5 times a day, fasts in ramadan
and converted to islam over 5 years ago. I am looking to get married, however on meeting the sr. that I like, I am finding out that since her family is from another Race and because of this they will not accept me as her husband.
She is a practising muslimah from an Indian/asian/pakistani/bengali type of background, and it is typical of people of these background never to let their children (especially girls) to marry outside their own cultures even if the one proposing is a practising muslim man.
Hence the mariage cannot take place on this basis alone. Since the majority of practising muslims in this country are from the indian subcontinent background,I have two questions
1- how does a relative new-comer such as my self get married?
2- Should reverts only marry reverts? Is there any basis for such cultural separation in islam? .

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.

With regard to the first question, and the second, as soon as you entered Islam you became one of the Muslims, with the same rights and duties as they have. Based on that, then you may strive to guard your chastity by marrying any good and righteous woman, based on the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) [regarding looking for a wife],

“Look for the one who is religiously-committed, may your hands be rubbed with dust (i.e., may you prosper)!”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5090; Muslim, 1466) – whether she is also new in Islam (i.e., a convert) or not. What matters is that she should be righteous, as I mentioned.

Then if you propose marriage to a righteous woman, and she or her family do not agree, then you must be patient and continue looking, whilst also continuing to pray that Allaah will make it easy for you to find a righteous woman who can help you to obey your Lord.

Secondly, with regard to the discrimination that you mention, Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allaah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa [i.e. he is one of the Muttaqoon (the pious]”

[al-Hujuraat 49:13]

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“O you who believe, verily your Lord is One, and your father [Adam] is one. There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab or of a non-Arab over an Arab, or of a red man over a black man or of a black man over a red man, except in terms of taqwa (piety). Have I conveyed (the message)?” They said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) has conveyed (the message).”

(Narrated by Ahmad, 5/411; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Ghaayat al-Maraam, 313; it was also narrated from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah that its isnaad is saheeh, in al-Iqtidaa’, 69).

According to another hadeeth, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“Those who boast about their forefathers should desist or they will be less significant before Allaah than the beetle that rolls up the dung with its nose. Allaah has taken away from you the arrogance of Jaahiliyyah and its pride in forefathers, so a person is either a pious believer or a doomed evildoer. All the people are the children of Adam and Adam was created from dust.”

(Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 3890; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh Sunan al-Tirmidhi, no. 3100; and in Ghaayat al-Maraam, 312, it was said that al-Tirmidhi and Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah classed it as saheeh).

The dung beetle is a black bug that rolls up excrement.

Hence it should become clear to you that Islam does not discriminate between one Muslim and another by any earthly standards, whether that be colour, lineage, wealth or country. Rather the only criterion by which people are regarded as superior to others before Allaah is taqwa (piety, consciousness of Allaah). Indeed, the sharee’ah commands the guardian of a woman, if a person comes to propose marriage who is religiously-committed and of good character and attitude, to hasten to arrange the marriage, and to beware of rejecting him and not accepting him, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“If there comes to you one with whose religious commitment and character you are pleased, then marry your daughter [or female relative under your care] to him, for if you do not do that then there will be much tribulation and mischief in the land.” They said, “O Messenger of Allaah, what if there is some other objection?” He said, “If there comes to you one with whose religious commitment and character you are pleased, then marry your daughter [or female relative under your care] to him,” three times.

Narrated by al-Tirmidhi; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh Sunan al-Tirmidhi, 866

We ask Allaah to make it easy for you to marry a woman who will help you to obey your Lord.

And Allaah knows best.

Islam Q&A

 

[palestine]

pain

:salam2:
i understand where you guys are coming from. i mean i experience racism myself every year. classsmates whatever it maybe. even principles. it is sad.

Anyways i am hoping to see people of different colors get married...
(including me) because then they will see that it's not about color...but really about religion and loving one another. sometimes i lose all hope of ever becoming friends with different colored people because...to this day i have very few (1 or 2). that's sad. and it is all because either i am a muslim or either because of my color. as a muslim sister i hope things change from being so discriminative to being so full of happiness and joining together.
sadly in Saudi Arabia...hope i am not offending anyone. Somali people and other foreigners are being exiled by the muslim government!! the government does what the US wants it to do!! they are afraid when they know that they should trust in Allah. however the civilians are good people. some are bad but there are good ones too. i wish to have friends of many cultures but that seems impossible. no matter how much religion they know they usually look at color...i hope never to be like anyone of those people. all i care is that i am a muslim...i don't care about what tribe i am...a muslim is a muslim and that is my tribe.:salam2:

 

[justoneofmillion]

Salaam,

This is for dear Brother Justoneofmillion. When you live in the US racism is blatant. The brother from NJ experiences it everyday. I have people who will not invite me to their homes because of the color of skin of my husband. The feelings of isolation become deeper when people of your own faith show prefrences.
In a society that still has color markers, you learn to adjust. You learn to eat at places that are safe...there are still black parts of towns, white parts, and the hispanic.
This is our reality. Last year I had a client contact my office because they did not want a n---er to provide cousenling for them. I was replaced by two young blonde females who total education and experinces did not match one half of mine.
We need to reach out to our brothers. We need to remember we are one. I know our cultures are very protective of women. I suggest that the brothers start introducing single brohters to their families. As they say..don't talk the talk, walk it.
I pray you understand my words.
With sincere love,
Your sister in Islam.

assalam,thanks for your comment well am sorry to hear that i guess everybodies experience is different,am from a mixed marriage too but i haven`t experienced any sort of racism in my mosque there are all kinds of people the only thing that unites us there is the fact that we are muslims that`s all i may be a little naive to overlook these kind of issues may be and agree a 100% with you there needs to be a change in that it is important and vital in order to keep this ummah healthy am colors blind it doesn`t even cross my mind it is like no man land for me i love to meet and interract with brothers from different part of the world as i can learn from them i think it is the most exciting thing ever it gives you that sense of freedom and universality somehow!! in fact i wish i could marry a sister from each continent......ok minus 1 maybe !!!! (just kidding ) Nationalism and desorientation are the traces left by years of colonialism,oppression,and humiliation i guess....i hope the wounds heal fast because racism is a poison and should have no place in this ummah no matter what arguementation is put forward to justify it! i hope the muslims become smart enough not to play in the hands of their enemies who intend to divide and rule them!!!!!.so that we may unite this ummah.but this won`t happend i believe unless muslims start seeing big unless they organize themselves better not until they get back that free and uncompromising spirit of the first ummah"Allah first" all my respect to you i will take your sudgestion into concideration thank you mirajmom jazakillah

wassalam

 

[Globalpeace]

W-Salam,

Don't worry Sister, Allah (SWT) is on your side.

We hear ya loud and clear.

Just remember! Just because someone is a born Muslim doesn't mean that they are either practising Muslims or have knowledge of Islam.

Lastly I would like to make a point that not marrying a revert (white or black) is not necessarily racist because I opted out of it (years ago) & I have my reasons and I am willing to put them on the table to be scrutinised.

I did hard research into the matter & decided that at the time I wasn't stable enough (Islamically or mentally) & I was emotionally a broken man after 7 years of a marriage disaster and psychological torture…I opted for a safe pair of hands and that’s exactly what I got from my wife and it continues to this day & I am glad that I made the right and the perfect choice.

I hope that people will not spin my words to mean that revert sisters are not “safe pair of hands” or “stable” etc.; All I am saying is that at the time I didn’t find one which fit my personality and requirements. The ones I found needed me to be fully mentally fit & firing on all cylinders!

Salaam,

I was JUST coming here to start a thread about this very subject. I am a white, female, revert and have been stunned at the sheer racism directed towards me from all races of Muslims.

It's quite funny, actually...when it doesn't make me want to weep. I have had no less than four sets of parents of friends (Muslim) tell me I am to consider myself their daughter. But they will NOT allow their children to marry outside their race/tribe/nation. For instance....I have some Syrian friends and their father was visiting for a week. He praised me and told me how proud he was that I converted. I just found out today that he forbids his children to marry a non-Syrian. So he calls me his daughter but wouldn't marry his son to someone like me? Hypocrite?

A Pakistani brother is interested in marrying me and I am interested in marrying him. I met his parents and they were so kind and said I was a daughter to them. They still will not give approval so we can marry. Once again there is this contradictory dichotomy at play.

Time and time again I am embraced and kissed by the parents of my friends and told I am their daughter now. And yet still they would not allow their blood children to marry ourside their culture. It is backwards to the teachings of Islam. It's like they decided to read all the sermons, hadiths, and surrahs except the very last sermon. Forgive me...as this topis is a sensitive one for me.

~Sarah

 

[Aapa]

Salaam,

In reading the comments we are now a little more aware of the need for us to help our brothers and sisters. In a limited sense this is part of our jihhad.
We are part of the revivial of Islam. We are now able to understand some of the reasons why we reached such low levels. We forgot who we were. Now, thanks to the faith of young people like you..we are able to address the seriousness of becoming better Muslims. We are now sensitive to each other. We are polishing our swords.
The earnest Muslims need to in a very respectful manner explain to your parents that you wish to marry Muslims. The love and fear of Allah is stronger as a tie for marriage than culture and political affiliations.

The way to extinguish racism is with jihad. Racism is fear. Jihad is love i.e. I love and fear Allah and will hold the banner of Islam.

 

[q8penpals]

Assalam Aliekum all

I think this is a very interesting topic - I have traveled to many, many countries around the world and many states inthe US. For those who want to blame the US - here is a wake-up call - THERE IS BLATANT, OVERT RACISM/DISCRIMINATION EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD!

The Middle East is the absolute WORST place I have been in the world for racism - blame the US if you want, but at least it is not "socially acceptable" in the mainstream in the US - in the MIddle east it is openly advertised! Whether it is hiring people only from a certain country, religion, ethnic group, gender, or age, all you have to do is open the daily paper! "Wanted: Filipino ladies, must be under 30 years and slender, to work in Salon". Kuwait currently has banned any new people from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and 2 other countries, simply because "there are enough" of them here in Kuwait.

I was in Asia - and every tribe is discriminatory to each other - India is HORRIBLE about racism and discrimination - to levels that most Americans can't even imagine! At least in America, you have the option to sue or file a complaint that will get listened to - in India, if you complain, you just lose your job or risk getting you or your family injured - you are just supposed to accept your lot in life.

In Europe, I was treated like crap just for being an American (and this was before the Iraq war started). I was in the Baltic states before coming to Kuwait and mentioned that I was going there, and they all seemed disgusted that I was going to live with "those dark people".

I think the major problem is that by nature, birds of a feather flock together, as the saying goes, and we need to LEARN to accept a different flock - I personally, don't think it is as natural as people think. When you are raised with a certain set of values, ideals, traditions, and you are thrown into something completely different - of course there will be problems. It is all a learning process, and in turn, we must teach the children.

My humble opinions and observations...

Lana

 

[kayleigh]

After converting, I've met some of the nicest people and some of the most racist people. I can honestly say that I've never seen such racism as I have after converting. However, I do know that such racism is clearly unIslamic and that Islam is supposed to be everything but racist.

Living in the US, I've been lucky to have never experienced much racism towards me for being white, but that all changed drastically after converting. I didn't know how to deal with some of the stuff for awhile and had a really hard time with it but I'll just have to get used to it since I'm possitive that the racism isn't going to go away. At least not in my lifetime.

 

[justmuslim]

there is a lot of racism, it's usually evident when it comes to marriages. i have never seen an black muslim that has been able to marry an arab woman or pakistani woman etc. they'll let a white male marry their daughter before a black person. black muslim men always have to marry black women or occasionally a white woman that doesn't care about race. i myself am half black and half hispanic, i do look like i'm arab, however when my race gets known i know that i'm not welcome to marry their daughter. i don't want to offend but i personally am not attracted to black women. i can't explain why, but i just never have been. there isn't an issue with their character etc. i am attracted to my spanish women, however many of them aren't muslims they're catholics. so for me trying to find a wife, i'm going to search for a woman that believes as i believe. very often it's women from middle eastern nations. fortunately i'm working out thing right now with someone, but if i weren't; i would probably be single forever because i know how things are, i've seen so much and i don't even want to bother.

Asalamu alaykum wr wb

bro I just want to say what is wrong with black poeple? it'S ok if you're not attractive one, two or three black women but whole black women that is racism and you should check your imaan there is something wrong with it. bro and sisters don't we all are Ebadullah and we all from Adam and Hawa do we have to charge each other our skin color? WALLAHI we won't be good muslim unless we have real emaan and recognized little devil that is inside of us. remember we all going 6fts down the ground and we won't be white, black, arab, latino etc.
Ya Allah forgive me and make may emaan strong ameen.

 

[Happy 2BA Muslim]

As we all know, Islam is a religion that transcends nationality, skin colours and races and we all know that Islam is perfect but sometimes, the pple who practise it arent

But what If there are certain things embedded in our minds and pple associate their religion mor withg their culture and unwelcome muslims of other races and color?

1-For example in Malaysia the law states that "All Malays must be muslims regardless".Muslims arent allowed to sell quran to non muslims & Non muslims arent allowed to touch the quran because non-muslims are "unclean"

2-theres actually a mosque in Sydney that has a sign :
"No Fijian Muslims allowed in this mosque"

3-Arab & Indo-Pakistani Muslims would be more happy if a white person became Muslim rather than an African.(For some reason pple see a white convert to Islam as a "victory over Western culture" )

PS:And this was evident especially when I saw that more people love staring & shaking hands with a white person who became Muslim in my masjid than when an African became Muslim.


And of course from my own experience Ive got a foreign friend who told me he was really scared hes nephews would not be able to growup Muslim because they didn't "look" Muslim (aka they were white blonde blue eyed and not brown).


What do you think?

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[Happy 2BA Muslim]

for the fuiji one, my fren inform me.im not sure abt the fuji one but im dead sure abt the malaysian one

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