{"id":16377,"date":"2015-08-10T04:12:58","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T08:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?p=16377"},"modified":"2015-08-10T09:17:15","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T13:17:15","slug":"when-beggars-give-you-the-salam-nod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2015\/08\/when-beggars-give-you-the-salam-nod\/","title":{"rendered":"When Beggars Give You The Salam Nod"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There are many not so nice things about being immediately recognizable as a Muslim in today\u2019s world, but there are a few things that are, usually, nice. One of them is what I like to call the salam nod. You spot a fellow Muslim, and do a nod of acknowledgement, and depending on how you feel and the context, you either say a short salam or sing out the whole long greeting. And sometimes conversations happen. And sometimes this makes your day.<\/p>\n

I get the salam nod an average of three times a day, including the times a Roma woman will come up to me and give me a salam, then hold out a paper cup. This is a phenomenon that has made some Muslims unreasonably angry. They often refer to an investigative BBC program about Roma women begging (where if there was any outrage directed at the Roma it should be about child exploitation) and instead complain that they\u00a0\u201cpretend to be Muslim.\u201d<\/a> The program itself has some serious problems, including one man opining that the beggars can\u2019t be Muslim because they \u201cdon\u2019t speak Arabic.\u201d At another point, as the presenter ponders whether or not the beggars are really Muslim, one of the women spots the camera spying on her and, infuriated, lifts her skirt. \u201cNot very Islamic,\u201d the presenter critiques.<\/p>\n

That beggars \u201ctarget\u201d Muslims has been noted by other media, including this article<\/a>, that notes the Roma often target \u201cwealthy Arabs and other Muslims shopping in Oxford Street and on the nearby Edgware Road\u201d because \u201cThey are rich hunting grounds; it is a central tenet of Islam to give alms, and many Muslims discharge this by giving to beggars.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Source\"<\/a>
Source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hena Zuberi wrote about this phenomenon earlier this year over at Muslim Matters<\/a>. While she discusses the persecution of the Roma and their marginalization, she uses the \u201cpretend to be Muslim\u201d angle as confirmation that they are perpetuating a scam, that they are \u201cnot really in need.\u201d Zuberi is particularly upset by beggars who linger outside mosques during Eid: \u201cThe woman looks like she is in need, she also knows the right things to say.<\/a>\u201d One response in the comments by a woman who identifies as Romani points out that a) many of these women are not \u201cpretending to be Muslim\u201d but dressing according to their culture, b) some are in fact Muslim, and c) the point actually isn\u2019t what their religion may or may not be.<\/p>\n

Romani don\u2019t dress \u201cmodestly\u201d or with headscarves to appear Muslim. It is part of our culture, as many others, for women to cover themselves\u2026However, no matter whether the women and children you see are Muslim Romani or not, they ARE in need.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In Sweden, we recently had a furore over an anti-begging advert by the Swedish Democrats, who are upset by the rise of Roma beggars.<\/a> The advert targets tourists and is in English. \u201cSorry about the mess here in Sweden. We have a serious problem with forced begging<\/a>,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

The ad that compared beggars to a \u201cmess\u201d were quickly\u00a0ripped down by demonstrators<\/a>, but in another advert you can see on the subway in Stockholm, \u201cSweden should do better than this\u201d<\/a> is emblazoned in white over images of homeless people sleeping on the streets. The idea\u00a0is that Sweden should \u201cclean up\u201d this mess of humanity.<\/p>\n

\"Source\"<\/a>
Source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The image reminded me of the infamous image of Afghan women as trash<\/a>. Although Germany\u2019s International Human Rights<\/a> ad campaign was intended to fight for the rights of those \u201ceasily overlooked\u201d and the anti-begging campaign is angry that the homeless are not more easily overlooked, both present people, human beings, as so much garbage. We have so much work to do, the images imply, to get these huddled inferior beings to walk upright and be \u201cnormal\u201d, like us.<\/p>\n

\"burka_muell_igfm-1024x723\"<\/a>
Source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sweden is not alone in regarding beggars as a \u201cmess,\u201d of course. The anti-homeless spikes<\/a> on shop doorways and the \u201cquality of life\u201d crimes<\/a> make clear that today, it is the visibility of poverty that is objectionable, not the fact that there is poverty.<\/p>\n

Some Muslims\u00a0might see the \u201cpretend Muslim\u201d beggars\u00a0as perpetuating a scam, even an offensive ploy, but I am puzzled by this. Why would you be upset that someone regards you as generous \u2013 albeit apparently only to those of your own religion?\u00a0The perception that the religious\u00a0\u00a0only give charity to those of your own religion, or only as a way to promote their religion, reminds me of an image I once saw of a beggar with several bowls laid out, each labeled \u201cMuslim\u201d or \u201cPagan\u201d or \u201cBuddhist\u201d and so on, and a sign that said \u201cWhich religion cares more about the homeless?\u201d\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0It\u2019s a clever tactic, cheekily exposing people\u2019s competitive piety and the often hypocritical notion of \u201ccharity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The outrage that the \u201cpretend Muslim\u201d Roma beggars are not really Muslim seems to play into this, and to me it is \u00a0almost comically misplaced. Perhaps be more outraged about the history of persecution, and the ongoing marginalisation of the\u00a0Roma\u00a0people instead? And perhaps instead of citing a hadith that says \u201cwork rather than beg\u201d,<\/a> disregarding that work is not universally\u00a0available, we\u00a0should remember that there is no ruling that giving sadaqah<\/em> is only for Muslims.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many not so nice things about being immediately recognizable as a Muslim in today\u2019s world, but there are a few things that are, usually, nice. One of them is what I like to call the salam nod. 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