This past Sunday (June 17th, 2007), the MPSN crew engaged in a dialogue on a fundamental issue within the American Muslim narrative: relations between immigrant (and children of immigrant) Muslims and indigenous Muslims.
It began with Dr. Jamillah introducing the idea of a clash of priorities with regard to issues of social justice between immigrant and indigenous Muslims, with the former generally focusing on poverty and other social ills from the homeland as opposed to the problems in America, and the latter focusing on domestic social problems. The indigenous Muslim communities often resent the apparent contradiction between immigrant communities' focus on external issues to the exclusion of internal American ills.
From this backdrop, we discussed issues of race in America and the immigrants' adoption of white hierarchy; whereas Muslim immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia are not white, they also distance themselves from being seen as black. Joining the "white club" was the aspiration of many immigrant Muslims. This implies that immigrant Muslims tend to view black Muslims in an unfavorable light, both because of the relative position of blacks in American society, but also because of traditional understandings of what defines Islam. Many immigrant Muslims see Islam in cultural contexts, so mix cultural practices with true Islam.
The major breaking point for immigrant Muslim populations was 9/11, when it became apparent that these immigrant Muslims could not simply assimilate and deny their otherness. From this point, immigrant Muslims sought support from native Muslim groups, but met resistance because of a lack of endeavors to establish social justice for black Muslims in America.
An interesting point brought up in the discussion was the assumption of second generation Muslims as being less or equally racist towards other minority groups. Although some participants described the respect for diversity of the new generation, others mentioned the pressure from parents and society at large to continue the cycle of marginalization of others. The following questions remain:
* Are we (American Muslims) past looking down on other groups of Muslims?
* What about between immigrant groups?
* Has the tribalism that plagued the Muslim communities of old, even in the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAAW) been removed and a new unified community risen?
* Why then are there still largely dominated Arab, South Asian, and Indigeneous centers across the states, with limited interplay between them?
Another issue raised was that of sources of leadership and their respective credibility:
* Can non-traditional scholars be seen as credible considering a difference in culture between East and West (particularly that Eastern rules are/may be outdated)?
* Further, is Islam broad enough to encompass more than an eastern interpretation of Islam?
With this in mind, the ultimate question that remains is:
* Who has the authority to redefine and reinterpret traditions, or are there no prerequisites?
* Finally, who is responsible for critiquing, scrutinizing, and evaluating the rulings of scholars from the East or West? Surely Islam must have some way of distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate sources of leadership.
* And of course, how does race play into this decision?
Ultimately, the realization of the answer to these questions is insufficient to cause a true solution. However, in the dialogue that ensues, I pray that we are able to get closer to a better understanding of not only what plagues our community, and the communities across the globe, but also to overcome the obstacles we face.
Inshaa Allah, please answer as many of these questions as time goes on, and encourage everyone to participate in the discussion.
