Islam and Whiteness

"Once we realize that we have a common enemy, then we unite- on the basis of what we have in common. And what we have foremost in common is that enemy- the white man."
-Al-Hajj Malik Ash-Shabaz

Brother Malik ash-Shabaz (Malcom X) said these words at the tail end of his association with the Nation of Islam, but I don't think they can be dismissed as Black nationalist propaganda. Throughout his life, brother Malcom was intelligent, informed, and perceptive; he didn't magically gain these qualities in the last year of his life. So it behooves us as Muslims to consider these words. He ties in what he is saying (I am quoting from his Message to the Grass Roots) with the experience of the Bandung conference; I think this is key, because this conference had attendees from all over Asia and Africa. As he says, "the number one thing that was not allowed to attend the Bandung conference was the white man," so that the people could talk freely. He tells us that "once they kept him out, they found that they could get together." And they found out that when they looked at their various oppressors "the one thing that all of them had in common- they were all from Europe, they were all Europeans, blond, blue-eyed and white skins."

But surely there were people who were fair in skin and hair and eye at Bandung? After all it was organized by, among others, Pakistan, India, and Egypt, and was attended by representatives of peoples from throughout Asia and Africa. So the question is: Is it physical features and these alone which make one White or is Whiteness a social structure and a mentality which it is possible to opt out of and remove from one's self? This suggests the further question of whether one can be White and Muslim; Islam is opposed to all forms of jahiliyya and in the modern world there are few things more jahil than the notion of whiteness, of the superiority of the fair skinned people and the ideology and social system which supports White priviledge. It is quite clear from the authentic sources in Islam that the deen which Allah (SWT) has revealed to us through the Messenger (SAW) is for all mankind, of whatever geographic or ethnic origin and of whatever skin tone.

So there must be a way of opting out of Whiteness. This way can be found in the Sunnah of Rasulullah (SAW); by adopting his manners of dealing with other people, his pattern of dress, in short, the way of life which was revealed through him, Muslims can break the pattern of White supremacy which gags the social life not only of this nation but of the world. It uplifts the oppressed and rehabilitates the oppressor, socializing them to one another in the best possible away and uniting them in one common brotherhood. Practically, by wearing a Sunnah beard and observing the Hijab, by imitating the Messenger (SAW) in his manner of dress (such as the Kamees, the Thowb, and the Imamah) and by, if need be, changing one's name, a brother or sister of European origin can begin to break the back of the White priviledge which they have been given and can finally begin to understand something of the oppression under which our African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian brothers and sisters live. For this reason, I think it is advisable for european converts to marry outside of their ethnicity so as to avoid the formation of a new 'White' elite within the Muslim community living outside of the historic boundaries of Dar al-Islam. I think it is especially important for euro-american converts to follow the lead of our African-American brothers and sisters because they, more than any other group, are the indigenous Muslim community in this country and because they, more than any other group, have the experience to deal Islamically with the challenges which America poses for us. In addition this will be a necessary corrective to the unjust pattern of African innovation and euro-american co-optation which can so readily seen in the social history of the United States. The question that remains to be answered, as brother Malcom observed, is whether there are white people that want to be Muslim.