The Guardian’s Life and Style section has a biweekly series called This Muslim Life. The series consists mainly of vignettes of the experiences of its author, Noorjehan Barmania, who writes on “the life of an Asian immigrant in Britain.” The author brings in anecdotes about topics such as multiculturalism in Britain, her childhood in South Africa, the cultural differences she experiences as a South Asian woman in the U.K., and negotiating her relationship with her boyfriend in a context where dating is culturally and religiously frowned upon.
As I browse through the articles, I see way more references to culture-specific issues than to anything relating to Islam, even though the series is called This Muslim Life. In a way, this could be a positive thing, in that it demonstrates that Islamic identity is not monolithic, and not the only force at play in a person’s life. Being Muslim doesn’t necessarily mean that everything you write about or think about will be directly related to Islam, and Muslim women also think about things like dress sizes and avoiding futures of spinsterhood. And it’s not written in a “look, we’re just like you!” kind of way; it’s just a matter-of-fact look at some of the things happening in the author’s life.
On the other hand, many of the articles have a heavy focus on the life of a South Asian immigrant woman living in Britain, and I worry that this ends up equating Muslims with immigrants, and reinforcing the notion that Muslims are cultural and national outsiders to British society. Of course, many Muslim women in the U.K. certainly do share Ms. Barmania’s heritage; however, calling the series “This Muslim Life” means that it wouldn’t be a major leap for readers to conclude that her experiences were directly related to her being Muslim. It also implies that “Muslim culture” is different from “British culture,” when Ms. Barmania writes about her family never having “proper holidays” like her English school friends did, or the fact that camping is not part of her cultural framework. There are several articles that are focused on the experience of coming to Britain as an immigrant. Other articles talk about skin-lightening creams and the desire for fair skin within the writer’s community.
While these are all interesting pieces, by appearing under the title of This Muslim Life, they reinforce the idea that Islam is outside of mainstream white British culture, that Muslim is a category that applies primarily to immigrants, and to cultural and racial “others” (as defined in contrast to the dominant British society.) Perhaps this is just me being sensitive, since I almost never saw myself reflected in any of her descriptions of Muslim life. As a white person (whose skin probably couldn’t get any lighter) who grew up camping, among other things, I felt resistant to this construction of a “Muslim life,” without contextualising it as a “South Asian Muslim life.” But my own personal issues aside, I do think it can be damaging if readers are led to constantly see Muslim-ness as other-ness, as outside experiences that they are not expected to relate to.
And when Islam did arise in her articles, it was often in the context of constraints on relationships and dating, and how that affects Ms. Barmania’s relationship with her boyfriend. Certainly, this is a tension that many Muslims experience (and no, we’re not going to get into a discussion here on whether dating is allowed in Islam), but what image does it convey if Islam is only discussed insofar as it limits the author’s dating life? Here, Islam becomes something restricting and outdated, with rules that need to be transgressed. It would have been nice to see at least something demonstrating a spiritual connection to the religion (though I admit I haven’t read all of her articles, only as far back as January.)
Perhaps by using the word “this” in the title, Ms. Barmania’s intention was to identify her series as reflecting specific experiences of “this” Muslim woman and not necessarily any other. However, it’s difficult to attempt to represent any kind of Muslim life to a non-Muslim audience without a whole bunch of qualifiers, and I’m not convinced that this series is properly contextualised.
On another note, let me be the first to wish MMW readers an early Eid Mubarak!
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Tags: British Muslims, Islam, South Asian culture
ASA,
And you know what? The same thing constantly happens in the United States when it comes to stories “about Muslim women” or “about Muslim life in America.” I often find myself angry about the way in which one person’s story or life experience is portrayed as the normative one for ALL Muslim women. Aside from a few stories here and there about Latina converts to Islam and a few Caucasian converts, South Asian Americans and Arab Americans dominate the coverage of Muslim life in America (with all of the cultural and familial references.) One would never guess that African-Americans make up between 40-45% of the Muslim population or that there are other American Muslims with different stories and life experiences.
Last year, I along with a couple of other sisters, went to meet with a reporter to discuss Muslim women and fashion. I was the only convert and the only person who was not a second generation immigrant from the Middle East or South Asia. Lo and behold, when the story went to press I was completely cut out of the discussion because what I had to say (my life experience) complicated the picture being painted of Muslim women.
On a positive note, I attended on discussion on PBS about Muslims in the Twin Cities some time last year. I stood up and challenged the representation of Muslims as “foreign”, “outsider” and “refugee” (in the case of the Twin Cities.) I reminded everyone that there are African-American, Caucasian, Latino, Asian American, Native American, Caribbean American and other Muslims who could contribute completely different versions of the “Muslim story” to the discussion. Alhamdulillah, my comments were well-received.
Salam, Jamerican, and good for you for challenging these assumptions!!! The idea that Muslims are foreigners is othering, not just to non-foreign or non-Middle Eastern/South Asian Muslims, but it others Muslims from Americans, making them seem not American (or, in this case, British).
However, a divide exists within our community as well with “immigrant” Muslims not recognizing Black Muslims for instance. A few years ago, at my only visit to the ISNA conference in Chicago, I attended a talk on African-American Muslims in the US. Myself and one other person (another South Asian I believe) were the only non-Black Muslims there. No one else showed up. I took it to mean that this meant that other “immigrant” Muslims did not care about the issues of African-American Muslims. And this understanding was confirmed when the speaker and many audience members expressed their upset at the treatment they receive from immigrant Muslims.
I do wonder though that in the UK how many Pakistani/South Asian Muslims there are compared to other Muslims. Not that it justfies ignoring the diversity of Muslims. But only because any time I have read about/heard of/met Muslims from the UK they have almost ALWAYS been South Asian. And this includes academic articles (which I’m reading a lot of lately). So I wonder if they are more visible or perhaps more active, or if in fact the media somehow is biased toward them, because there is a very large and visible South Asian community in general in the UK, and Muslims just happen to be one segment of them.
Jamerican I agree with you. Why do you think this is?
I don’t know there’s so many factors involved on many different levels. Another Muslim women once wrote “For one thing, we Muslims always want to paint a pretty picture of Islam, we need things to look pretty, we want to protect it.” And sometimes the way we try to protect it isn’t so pretty. But we want to paint our own pictures. And sometimes I feel like we’re hiding something, by denying everything else we’re hiding something. I don’t know how to say it. For example, Jamerican wrote
“One would never guess that African-Americans make up between 40-45% of the Muslim population or that there are other American Muslims with different stories and life experiences.”
This is my greatest pet-peeve! Because we’re feigning ignorance about the large population of African-American Muslims and their stories, I think we are aware of them and we are knowingly DENYING them. Why I don’t know, but I do know it’s steeped in racism. Many immigrants perceived them as foreign to Islam, or not up to the standard, not that pretty picture we want to portray. The least willing to portray their African American Muslim stories as Muslim life. I noticed this a lot with converts; if their white we want to hear their story, we want to put them on a platter, if their black we don’t really care. We want to claim that our stories are Right and their stories are Wrong and beneath us, or maybe we’re afraid of the challenge. It’s disgusting, what insecurities are some of us hiding. Is honesty so hard.
Oh I don’t know! I’m rambling, excuse me. Krista “Whose Muslim Life” is just such a big question for me? It goes deep into identity, insecurities, ego etc. And the fact that we are always identified as one big group, so there’s a monoply, a power struggle. And a genuine need to show the good that does exist.
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Fatemeh, I believe the “othering” is no accident. It’s being done deliberately.
Sobia, I was in the same workshop!!! I was probably one of those people discussing the divide. We also noticed that the workshop (I believe it was on the work of African-American imams in the inner city) was held at the same time as one about Palestine. I remember hearing people cheering from next door! Trust me, I’m very aware of that divide (I live it everyday). I think part of the blame rests on the immigrant Muslims who ignore AA Muslims and part rests on the media who seek to paint the picture of Islam as a foreign religion. (And I believe the reason the media wants to do this is to gain support for the war and the Bush regime. After all we need the us vs. them paradigm to work. Discussing American Muslims like African-Americans complicates the picture. Plus one would have to acknowledge the fact that slaves were forced to change their religion- which opens another can of worms.) Sherman Jackson best summed it all up in his book Islam and the Blackamerican.
I have spoken to quite a few Black Muslims from the UK. They’re from various African countries and also of Caribbean descent. I’ve spoken to Caucasian converts to Islam as well. So, I don’t think it’s fair that South Asian Muslims are the representation of Islam even if they are the dominant group. From what I’ve seen there are a lot of other groups of Muslims in the UK…
Laila, don’t get me started! After 9/11 I thought that the divide might lessen. I noticed immigrant Muslims suddenly speaking about civil rights and I thought to myself, this will force AA and immigrant Muslims to work together because who better to talk civil rights than AAs? Sadly, I don’t think that is happening on a large scale. If you ask me, the AA Muslim community (generally speaking of course) and the immigrant community (generally speaking again) have two different agendas. Attending the ISNA and other conferences and attending MANA made that clear to me. I dare to say that many immigrants are still seeking White non-Muslim approval and acceptance while many AA Muslims are focused on cleaning up the community, eliminating racism, employment etc.
Anyway, let me stop here. Sorry Krista…we’re getting a little off track.
Salaams ladies, don’t apologise, this is a good discussion and I appreciate the time you’re giving it!
By the way, I meant to mention that the language around “immigrant” identities was the author’s – I don’t tend to use that word that often normally, as I think it can construct problematic divisions between who “belongs” and who doesn’t.
I totally agree with Fatemeh that the equation of Muslim=foreign “others Muslims from Americans, making them seem not American” (or whatever nationality) – I think that was one of my biggest issues with this article series, in that it played upon the ways that she was different from the people she defined as British, and emphasising that “as Muslims, we are different from you.” And even if she finds good stories and meaningful experiences in those differences, it does also further entrench some of the separations that already exist.
And of course it creates differences within the Muslim community, and hierarchies of whose experiences are heard, valued, or considered as the “normal” Muslim experience. I also agree with all of you that this happens as a result of both outsiders wanting to construct Muslims as foreign, as well as racism within the Muslim community. Did any of you see the piece that Azhar Usman wrote after the death of Imam W. D. Muhammad? It’s posted at http://rickshawdiaries.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/be-the-brothers-and-sisters/ if you’re interested. That’s taking us way off track from my original article, but I thought it was relevant to this discussion. Living in Canada, I don’t see the tensions between African-American and South Asian/Middle Eastern Muslim communities expressed as starkly, since the demographics are quite different here. On the other hand, I’m wondering now if that’s partly because the Black Canadian Muslim community is also marginalised within the larger Muslim community here (and not just that it’s smaller in size), and I’m just not connecting to it. Sobia/any other Canadians out there – do you have any thoughts on what the dynamics are like here?
Jamerican, I think your analysis of the post-9/11 opportunities for the community to unite on issues of civil rights is really interesting, and that’s too bad that the agendas are still ending up so separate.
Laila, your comment about white Muslims being put on a platter is also a really important once (related also to Jamerican’s suggestion that many immigrant Muslims are seeking White approval) – I’m uncomfortable with the proportion of white people (usually men) who end up becoming the major voices for Islam in North America. It’s not to say that their scholarship isn’t good or worthwhile, but I do think that there’s a certain extent to which white Muslims get positioned in a way that is supposed to validate or legitimise Islam within North America. There’s something weird going on when the idea of “the Muslim community” is generally visualised as a community of people of colour, but its leadership is disproportionately white… I get especially squirmy when I hear white imams or sheikhs talk about how immigrant Muslims need to get over their cultural baggage – which may be true, but it implies that immigrants are the only ones bringing cultural baggage into it, and that white North Americans have somehow managed to access a “pure” Islam, divorced from culture.
Anyway, that’s getting us way off topic, but I think there are some interesting comments being made here about the way that race plays out within our communities, which is often brushed aside because we don’t want to think about the fact that Muslims aren’t actually immune to racism, even within Muslim communities.
Krista:
First, love this point:
“…but it implies that immigrants are the only ones bringing cultural baggage into it, and that white North Americans have somehow managed to access a “pure” Islam, divorced from culture.”
As far as Black Canadians go I’m not totally clear but my own understanding is that many of the Black Canadian MUSLIM community consists of recent immigrants as well, as opposed to those in the US, many of whom have been in the US for generations and are not immigrants. Where I am from, a small community on the east coast, Black Canadian Muslims are an active part of the community and very much accepted by others. So the divide doesn’t exist there.
Where I am now, because many of the Black Muslims speak Arabic, they fit quite nicely in with their non-Black Arabic speaking counterparts. However, I don’t know the inner workings of those circles. From the outside looking in they all seem to get along very well without the divide.
Overall though I would imagine some sort of divide only because the various ethnic communities appear to be divided. In Toronto they have, from what I have heard, South Asian mosques, Arab mosques, Turkish mosques etc. The ethnic divide is there for all. Plus, I have heard a couple of derogatory remarks about African immigrant Muslims from South Asian immigrant Muslims.
So I guess to answer your question/query…I don’t know…hahaha.
I don’t want to take the post off topic but I just wanted to say thank you for expressing what I’ve been feeling for a long time. Like Jamerican, I feel like AA Muslim stories have been buried under the rug. I actually think 9/11 made it worse not better. In the 90s there were at least occasional stories about AA Muslims and there were quite a few interviews with AA Muslim leaders like Imam WD Muhammad. Now, we’re lucky to get any mention at all.
Then of course, there is the divide over various issues. I guess as a AA Muslim certain things don’t affect me as much as they affect immigrants and vice versa. I don’t even know what to do about it. I don’t think the divide is intentional (at least on the part of Muslims). I just think it’s a matter of circumstance.
I guess the solution comes in valuing everyone’s experiences and being more empathetic. I realize that is easier said than done. Ok, I’m done with my rants and I promise not to go off topic anymore.
Krista, you make a great point: “I do think that there’s a certain extent to which white Muslims get positioned in a way that is supposed to validate or legitimise Islam within North America.”
Sobia, the derogatory comments you’ve heard about African immigrant Muslims from South Asian immigrant Muslims proves that this isn’t just an immigrant vs. non-immigrant issue; there is real racism going on. The countries of birth and cultures just add different dimensions to the racism that different groups experience.
you ladies are so smart (i’ve been talking to some idiots lately). it’s actually interesting that so many american muslims are AA – i had no idea. i don’t spend much time in the states, and am generally more familiar with the canadian muslim community (which, like everything else in canada, is so cool) when it comes to the diaspora, but i am personally not surprised by the marginalization and divide i so often hear described. i think it’s often been documented that many immigrants, of all kinds, are pretty racist. I certainly know that back-home Muslims are highly racist – I’ve definitely grown up being told that only Arab Muslims are “real”. you guys should continue to challenge them..they can’t have it both ways.
There is definitely a hierarchy of Muslims in the Muslim world. Arabs on top, South Asians somewhere in the middle, and Black Muslims at the bottom.
It is “common knowledge” among South Asians, both Muslim and non-Muslim (even my Hindu friends have felt this) that Arabs consider us inferior. Then South Asians in turn, along with Arabs, consider Black people inferior (Muslim or not). (Generally speaking)
The racism within our communities is rampant and very detrimental to the health of our community. Not really sure how to deal with it, especially when I see younger generations perpetuating the same hateful attitudes. And since we’re all minorities it seems its ‘ok’ for us to be racist toward each other.
Salaams ladies. First, just wanted to acknowledge that the comments on post haven’t been ON topic in a really long time!
but obviously people have a lot to say on the issues we’ve ended up discussing, so it’s a productive off-topic thread, rather than one of those hijab debate off-topic threads! So, unless things get really out of hand, feel free to respond to whatever someone say that strikes a chord with you, and you can all stop apologising for going off track 
Fatemeh and Sobia, I’m glad some of my points about whiteness resonated… It’s something I think about a lot, but am often hesitant to talk about, since so many people have a lot of respect for some of those major white scholars. But it’s not about disrespecting their scholarship (though there are sometimes things I would disagree with, depending on the person) – it’s just about acknowledging the reality that Muslim communities aren’t immune to systemic privileging of certain racial categories.
And to systemic marginalisation of members of certain other racialised communities, of course.
Faith, that’s an interesting point that things have actually gotten worse in terms of people ignoring the stories of AA Muslims since 9/11. Any theories on why that has happened?
Sobia, that makes sense with the Black Canadian Muslim population having a much bigger immigrant contingent than in the US. But I’m curious now to find out more about Black Muslim Canadians whose families have been here for longer – whether they experience the same kinds of marginalisation that we’re talking about in terms of African-American Muslim experiences.
Aw, thanks forsoothsayer!
I agree with forsoothsayer and Sobia about hierarchies within Islam, where Arabs often get seen as superior somehow. I notice it too with some white people who become Muslim, and suddenly feel they have to speak Arabic, eat Arab food, wear Arab clothes, etc., thinking somehow that those things make them “more” Muslim. Crazy. (Hmm. Actually, there’s probably stuff to be said about histories of colonisation and white privilege that make whiteness seem less specifically located and therefore more easily able to transcend cultural boundaries in that way and adopt certain identities – in this case, an Arab identity – in ways that wouldn’t be available to Muslims of, say, South Asian or African descent. But that’s a whole OTHER off-topic track…)
This issue of hierarchy, racism and marginalisation seems like it would make an interesting MMA post in itself. And since you are talking about the experiences of Black Canadian/AA Muslims, why doesn’t somebody write about that?
**terms of people ignoring the stories of AA Muslims since 9/11. Any theories on why that has happened?**
Could it be because in the public mind Muslim=Middle Eastern/South Asian. And, I could be wrong, but in regards to Islam isn’t it usually that area and the people from from those regions that get the most play in the media? And if they are the face of Islam and they get stereotyped and profiled and misunderstood does that create a greater need to tell their stories and exonerate them? I’m a non-Muslim and I admit that when I think of Muslims it’s not a black face that comes to mind instantly even if I know that many Muslims are black.
I don’t know if you noticed, but I noticed after 9/11 there was a notion floating around that Muslims and those from the Middle East/South Asia and members of those groups born in North America were now just as stereotyped and reviled as black folks before 9/11. So I’m wondering if there’s a kind of mentality that “Muslim is the new black” which is a problem because some Muslims are black, but if you think about the treatment of Muslims as I’ve described then perhaps folks feel that they don’t really need to focus on blacks so another false dichotomy has been established.
Just throwing that out there. I’d love to know what you think and I love this blog BTW.
eternal-llama:
Wow…I’m reading a lot of great post ideas from your comments! Thanks!
“This issue of hierarchy, racism and marginalisation seems like it would make an interesting MMA[W] post in itself. ”
The wheels in my brain are turning…is that the right expression?
Yeah, I was thinking yesterday that it would be cool to post on that topic – just trying to figure out how to tie it in with media representations of Muslim women! Or perhaps we could cheat and do a racism/etc. post once in a while too because it’s also an important topic?
I think you could easily find racist representations of Muslims in the media. It’s not just how we’re represented…it’s how we’re NOT represented as well.
But this post would deal with the racism within our own community…not from the outside in. No?
Perhaps. But we also represent ourselves publicly, yeah, and put a public face on our ummah? (shrug)
I think this has been written about really well by Tariq Nelson (who writes a great post about tension between African and African American Muslims and gave his thoughts on Azhar Usman’s “public apology” to the black Muslim community) and Margari Aziza Hill. I also wrote about this for alt.muslim.
My concern is that if we make an allowance for this, then perhaps we have to make an allowance for other topics that don’t directly deal with media representation that are big issues, and then we risk falling into discussion of “my Islam vs. your Islam” type stuff. I feel like we can’t say “we’re not talking about [insert issue here]” and then talk about an issue without media representation (at least as a jumping off point). But I really do feel that we can come up with media representation within the Muslim community (or lack of representation) as a forum to discuss these issues.
I think this would be a GREAT post for Muslimnista. It is an issue that needs to be talk about constantly until people start to get it, just like sexism.
Oh yeah…it would have to be centered around media depictions. I just mean the depictors would be Muslims as well. So images from the Muslim world as opposed to the non-Muslim one. Though some from the Muslim world would also be used as the same phenomenon is seen in their depictions of us…as has already been mentioned in the comments.
whoa, I think the comments here have a life of its own now!
While I believe that the diversity of Muslims have been completely glossed over under the umbrella ‘Muslim’ in Noorjehan’s column, I actually welcome such a space in ‘The Guardian’ newspaper.
‘The Guardian’ has styled itself as a liberal, centre-left paper but it’s the only ‘proper’* newspaper in Britain that has a reserved space for ‘immigrants’ to talk like normal people with normal everyday issues like dating and family. I use the word ‘immigrant’ with some bitterness here, because depending on where you’re from can determine your job prospects and how you’re treated by the local government and society.
Being Malay in Britain, and especially in Oxford, I’m so used to being a minority of minorities that I welcome the opportunity to listen to the experiences of anyone who shares the same religion and a culture that’s deemed foreign and ‘exotic’ to Britons, and who shares the everyday complications that white Britons who perhaps do not understand and not know about. In short, I like Noorjehan’s column, and because within the context of Britain and immigration, I find her putting ‘Muslim’ as part of her column’s title is good enough for me.
*’proper’ as in non-tabloid types that’s famous for its immigrant-bashing tone.
“Faith, that’s an interesting point that things have actually gotten worse in terms of people ignoring the stories of AA Muslims since 9/11. Any theories on why that has happened?”
Honestly, I think it’s because it serves a greater political agenda. Most of the stories on Muslims in the Western media, especially American media, serves to otherize Muslims. What better way to do that than to constantly present “foreign” Muslims as opposed to indigenous Muslims?
I think the community and the media are correlated on this issue. For instance, the media mostly likely represents African Americans in a negative, violent, and ignorant way. Perhaps, like a few of you already mentioned somewhere, that the fascination of African American Muslims was sometime in the eighties and early nineties, along with the huge Malcolm X movie and hip-hop culture fusion with Islam (Queen Latifa, Rakim, the Muslim guy in Boys in the Hood etc.) including many, many more examples. Why did this stop in the media? Like someone else said after 9/11, there was a shortage of African America Muslims depicted in the news, except for the gas station sniper shooter. Even in Vince Diesel’s Hollywood alien movie, the Black Muslims were portrayed as foreign Muslims from African and not as the native Americans. If anything the media is always more fascinated with white converts like a Jennifer, and she would be asked “Why in God’s name would you become a Muslim?”
But do you know what’s even more unfortunate, the media is even more unlikely to present a Female (Black) Muslim, actually I don’t think I’ve ever seen it! As a black woman myself, I feel neglected.
Honestly, do you think if Ingrid Matteson was a woman of color she would have gotten as much recognition? Don’t get me wrong, she is an amazing scholar and it’s hard enough making it as a woman in a male dominated sphere but do you think her skin colour has contributed to her legitimatization, as Krista mentioned? I don’t think that she would have received as much mass communication if she was black, regardless of what media it was.
It’s SAD because some people I talked to think it’s a good idea Ingrid Matteson is white because then she’ll have a greater impact towards the white demographics in the media, and else where. WTF (I’m speechless!).
Fatemah you make a good point, “It’s not just how we’re represented…it’s how we’re NOT represented as well.”
Faith said:
“Honestly, I think it’s because it serves a greater political agenda. Most of the stories on Muslims in the Western media, especially American media, serves to otherize Muslims. What better way to do that than to constantly present “foreign” Muslims as opposed to indigenous Muslims?”
BINGO!
I just wanted to let you all know that I am LOVING this comment thread.
@ Ethar: me too! Clearly everyone’s got stuff they need to get off their chest about these issues, I’m glad we’ve managed to touch on some of these topics…
@ cycads: thanks for throwing in another perspective (and for actually getting back to the topic at hand!) That’s a good point that you bring up that at least space is being made for a Muslim to talk about “everyday issues,” which certainly is rare in mainstream western media. I still worry about the constructions of “Muslim” that it conveys, but it’s important to bring in the positive reactions that some Muslim readers in Britain may have just by seeing it there.
@ Faith: totally agree, well said.
@ laila: I think you bring up a really good point about people saying things like “well, since Ingrid Mattson is white, mainstream Americans/Canadians will be better able to relate to her, etc.” While that may actually be true in a lot of contexts, it is certainly not something to be proud of! I wonder what would happen if she (and others like Hamza Yusuf, Abdul-Hakim Murad, et al.) actually made explicit comments about the disproportionate attention they receive and authority they are given when speaking about Islam to western audiences. Although I really respect the work that she has done, I definitely agree that it’s no accident that she, as a white woman, has received the attention that she has. And if we keep positioning white people as the spokespeople for Muslims, then we’ve got a really sketchy situation of white people speaking on behalf of communities that are largely comprised of people of colour… and taking a lot of power and voice away from Muslims who are people of colour – even when this is unintentional, it is really disturbing to see it happen.