The Qur'an talks A LOT about hypocrites. A LOT. When the Prophet, may peace and blessings be upon him, was alive he dealt quite a bit with both people who claimed to be his allies (these were usually Jews in Medina) and then would sell him out if it seemed like they'd benefit and with his own people who claimed that they were faithful but were really waiting to see which side won in the end.

Al-Munafiqun means The hypocrites and it's a surah in the Qur'an.

When the hypocrites come to you, they say: 'We affirm that you are the Apostle of God.'
God indeed knows you are His Apostle.
God bears witness that the hypocrites are indeed liars.
They have made their oaths a shield in order to obstruct others from the way of God.
It is certainly evil what they do.

I've been thinking a bunch about this lately. About people who proclaim their faith, and then use it to steer people away from God. I've been thinking about how certain people in all religions use the banner of faith to take God away from those who have less power, less protection-- to try to make them believe that God created them as less than, as unworthy.

But it's a lie and they're hypocrites.

Telling women that they're less than, telling queer folk that they're less than, telling the poor, the oppressed, the victims-- preaching that God created them more flawed than others (we're all flawed and we're all flawed equally) and that we cannot be redeemed unless we subscribe to their warped views.

I see friends of mine dying to utter the name of God, to call out to God, to take refuge in the most Merciful and Benevolent, to cleave to the Creator but they cannot because the hypocrites have stole God out of the lexicon of the oppressed. People cannot even utter the name of She who loves them best, who only wants them to be close to Him. They ask for light instead of prayer. They ask the Universe for favors. They know that their language has been censored, that the concepts that they speak of desire for a named Divinity but they're so timid because these hypocrites have taken God hostage. 

The thing is-- God cannot be diminished or constrained by those who would use Her to negate the value of others. God created your path for you, and you walk it in blessings.

In Surah Muhammad, God says:

We shall try you in order to know who are the fighters among you, and who are of fortitude and verify your histories. Surely those who do not believe and obstruct others from the path of God and oppose the Prophet after the way of guidance has been opened to them will not hurt God in the least, and He will nullify all that they have done.

We know trials will come, but we cannot let people try to ransom God. God is too massive, too merciful, too beautiful, too loving for anyone to contain with small minds or darkened hearts.

...That is because they came to believe and them renounced their faith. So their hearts were sealed; and now they do not understand. Pleasing seem their persons when you look at them; and when they talk, you listen to their speech. Yet they are like the wooden paneling of a wall.

Again, God warns us-- it takes more than a slick speech to be truly a believer-- so don't buy the hype. Learn for yourself. Research, read, ask questions, demand citations and sources. Engage in conversation.
Imam Zaid Shakir says, and cites:

One lacking understanding will be doomed to misguide both others and himself, which the Prophet, peace upon him, mentioned as the condition that will result when the scholars are taken away:

Allah does not suddenly remove knowledge by snatching it away from the servants. Rather, He removes it by taking away the scholars until not a single scholar remains. The people then take ignoramuses as their leaders. They are asked [questions] and respond without knowledge. They are astray and they lead others astray (Bukhari, 100).

We should always engage those who claim to be scholars. We should question them and question their sources. Too little of this has gone on and there's a strange sort of Islam floating around in the world. It's not everywhere, and I don't even think it's the majority, but I've seen it-- and it's full of people who read selectively, who think little and who's hearts aren't open to the mercy and compassion of God.

I say read. I say learn. I say go out, reclaim God and do what He has asked of you-- help others, remember Her, enjoin justice and be kind. Oh, and avoid fools. Especially those who would restrict God from you and snatch you away from God's mercy.

So this article, which lots of people are passing around struck a chord with me that wasn't a good one. I know this author-- I've read her writings before. She's a white Canadian woman who converted and married a dark Muslim man. I think that, because the post is on Womanist Musings, people assume she's a WoC.

She says this: I have never, ever, seen a black hijab model, a fat hijab model, or a hijab model with a disability. Ever.

And I call her on it asking where she could possibly be looking. I see Black hijab models ALL THE TIME.

Maysaa:



Hijabs and Co.




Capsters


All of these images I've seen in the last, idk, week? And they're fairly representative of the hijab retailers that use live models (most don't, most use mannequins). I'm not sure of the scene in Canada, but all of these retailers are England or Indonesian... I think. And it isn't to say "Oh, there is perfect and equal representation of dark skinned sisters (who, globally, outnumber lighter skinned sisters and white sisters )" but the idea that someone hasn't ever seen a Black hijab model? Ever? Really?



This is Nzinga Knight-- an American fashion designer.

To her credit, she responded with this: Salaams Akila -- thanks for this reminder. A quick search for hijab images/models show that the majority of models are indeed light skinned -- but you are right in pointing out that hijab blogs tend to showcase women indiscriminately. Perhaps it's my own privilege showing that I forgot to acknowledge (for example) Arab or Indonesian fashion houses who use Arab and Indonesian models on the runway. It would be an interesting study to see if the issues of preferring thinner, whiter models in the North American/European scene also affects Muslim fashion designers.

I mean, how prevalent is it to photoshop a hijab model to make her thinner/lighter? *shrugs shoulders*

She's right about one thing, at least: It is her privilege.
She did a quick google search; however, I live every single day as a Black person so, frankly, a quick Google search isn't particularly thorough when compared with my experience (of 30 years) of not being represented anywhere. 
I'm suggesting that I see a fairer (see what I did there?) representation of brown and dark skinned women in modest arenas than I do in mainstream American culture (although I'll acknowledge that the last time I wore hijab with any regularity was when I was 14 and I can't tell you what representation was like back then (I wore my mother's old African hijabs)). I immediately take notice when I see Black models or Asian models (modest or mainstream) in the same way that I make a beeline to another sister when I'm at a shop and go out of my way to smile at a Muslim family here in Seattle. I immediately take notice of women of color being portrayed in ads. Maybe if I lived in Kuala Lumpur I'd be less likely to, but as a minority I do take notice of these things. It shapes everything I do.

Will that masjid be welcoming? I can't give a definite answer by the number of darker skinned women coming out but I can certainly look at the board of trustees and take comfort in knowing there are Africans and African Americans there.

A Black Muslimah friend of mine sent me this link the other day when I was talking about marriage and some concerns, amongst others, that so many people are looking for women with "light complexions". She was telling me about her experience with online matrimonial sites and how, even though she'd be considered "dark skinned" (and to be fair, she might be considered darker skinned within the African American community) she got lots of interest and met her second husband that way.  Her suggestion was to call people on the exclusion directly. "What do you mean you only want light skinned women?"

The author of the link sums it up well though:

The litmus test was marriage. I watched as my fair-skinned Latina friends were repeatedly asked for their hand in marriage. I watched as the White female converts were held in high esteem and absorbed into immigrant Muslim families (their babies will be so fair, mashallah!)

So yes, it is easy for a white woman to be oblivious to representation because she doesn't have to look for it. Her whiteness, although she may be loathe to acknowledge it, positively impacts her suitability to be a patron, a wife, a mother, a professional in communities of color. Colonialism, colorism, racism-- they're internalized and will be despite the Prophet's (saw) last words on the subject.

The fight against racism is not over; we must redouble our efforts. 

 Zaid Shakir

As the level of racially-charged exclusionary politics grows throughout the Western world, Muslims will have to contribute to the developing discourse to counter this problem. Doing so will require a plunge into the murky waters of racial politics. We should not shy away from the challenge. We readily acknowledge that Islam opposes all forms of racism and bigotry. However, sometimes we deny the need for any involvement in a racially defined political arena fearing that by involving ourselves on such a basis, we are somehow implicitly legitimising racial distinctions.

Racial and ethnic distinctions are real, whether we choose to acknowledge them or not. One of the greatest factors working to perpetuate the negative manifestations of such distinctions lies in a failure to acknowledge their existence. By failing to acknowledge the existence of a problem, we are robbed of any realistic basis to help eradicate it. 

Such denial was not the way of our Prophet. He acknowledged the reality of racial prejudice and took concrete steps to eliminate it. For example, a companion insulted Bilal, one of the first appointed muezzins (callers to prayer), by derisively referring to him as the “son of a black woman.” The Prophet rebuked that companion by reminding him that his attitude displayed the influences of pre-Islamic incivility. 

The Prophet took concrete measures to insure that social practices that displayed racist attitudes were broken down by public policy. One of the largely unmentioned examples is his active work to undermine the stigma that many aristocratic Arabs in his time attached to marrying black men: he ordered several Arab families to allow the marriage of their daughters to black companions.

Zayd ibn Haritha, the beloved companion, is described by Ibn Jawzi in his work Tanwir al-Ghabash, as being of very dark complexion. The Prophet ordered the family of Zaynab bint Jahsh to marry her to Zayd. Perhaps Zayd’s dark complexion was one of the reasons for the well-known resistance of Zaynab’s family to the marriage. Another marriage of this type involved Julaybib, a black companion. The Prophet asked an Ansar family to marry their daughter to Julaybib. The mother vehemently refused. However, the daughter, owing to her piety insisted that the marriage proceed. The couple would go on to enjoy a happy and blessed union.

An especially moving story, in this regard, involved a companion known as S’ad al-Aswad. Sa’d was a black man of pure Arab lineage from Bani Sulaym. He came to the Prophet and asked him if his dark complexion would prevent him from entering Paradise. The Prophet responded that it would not, as long as he was mindful of his Lord and believed in Him. Sa’d immediately accepted Islam. Sa’d later complained to the Prophet that he had searched persistently for a wife, but had been rejected because of his dark complexion. The Prophet sent Sa’d to marry the daughter of ‘Amr bin Wahhab, a recent convert from Bani Thaqif who retained many pre-Islamic prejudices. 

Sa’d went to ‘Amr’s door and informed him that the Prophet asked that he marry his daughter to him. ‘Amr flatly refused. His daughter, overhearing the conversation between her father and the stranger, interceded telling her father to relent lest he be disgraced by Revelation. ‘Amr went to the Prophet and was strongly rebuked for refusing Sa’d. Hearing this, ‘Amr promptly married his daughter to him. 

Shortly after, as Sa’d was in the market purchasing provisions for his new wife, he heard a caller rallying the faithful for a military campaign. He decided to first answer this call and purchased arms and a steed to set out for the battlefield, where he fought valiantly until he was slain. Learning of his death, the Prophet went to his body and placed his head in his lap until his grave was prepared. He then ordered that his arms and mount be sent to his wife’s family.

As we can see from these brief examples, the blessed Prophet acknowledged race and its implications in society. He then took steps to reform society to be less accommodating to racially-based prejudices and attitudes. This must be part of our duty as citizens in the West. We cannot sit silently aside as political forces organise themselves along racial lines and attempt to implement policies that are essentially racist, even though many of them are framed in anti-Muslim language. Those policies will have devastating consequences not only for Muslims, but for all racial and ethnic minorities. For example, here in the US, the most draconian measures of the Patriot Act have been enacted to ostensibly fight “Muslim” terrorism. However, it is the Latin American community that has suffered most severely as a result of the arbitrary arrests, summary detentions and deportations that those policies facilitate.

At a deeper level, the rise in racist politics and policies in Western democracies not only threaten racial minorities, it threatens the very nature of our countries. A monumental and heroic struggle has been waged in the West to create open societies that extend civil and human rights to all. This struggle was especially significant in the US which has had large numbers of non-white people among its population since its inception - the native Indians and the imported African slaves.

Because of that struggle, we have moved closer to societies - to paraphrase the words of the great American civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. - where people are judged based on the content of their character and not on the colour of their skin.

The full realisation of Dr King’s dream is now threatened. Those voices that continue to advocate the politics of inclusion are drowned out by those calling for the politics of exclusion. Those voices calling for co-operation and understanding are marginalised by the advocates of conflict and obscurantism. 

Muslims must become a part of this raging discourse. We have to break free from the chains many of us have imposed on ourselves through self-censorship and a lack of self-confidence. When we censor ourselves, we assume that if we remain silent all of the controversies currently involving Islam and Muslims will simply go away. They will not. When we lack confidence in ourselves we assume we have nothing meaningful to contribute to the conversation. There is indeed much we can contribute as individuals and as
a community.

Ultimately, and ironically, in light of the growing negativity surrounding Islam and Muslims here in the West, Islam can help to create a social consciousness that works against a re-entrenchment of racist or white supremacist politics. The power of Islam to create such a social consciousness was grasped by Malcolm X, during his Pilgrimage to Makkah. From there he penned the following words: “During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug) - while praying to the same God - with fellow Muslims whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blonde, and whose skins were the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and in the deeds of the ‘white’ Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana. We were truly all the same (brothers) – because their belief in one God had removed the ‘white’ from their minds, the ‘white’ from their behaviour, and the ‘white’ from their attitude. I could see from this that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man – and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their ‘differences’ in colour.”

This optimism that society could be reformed, which Islam kindled in Malcolm X, can be contrasted to the pessimism that seized Dr King after a lifetime of struggle in the arena of civil rights. He would conclude shortly before his assassination, “Yet the largest portion of white America is still poisoned by racism, which is as native to our soil as pine trees, sagebrush, and buffalo grass.” 

Let us follow the lead of Malcolm X. Let us believe that Islam can indeed help to repulse the rising racism that threatens the future of these western lands most of us call home. Let us then work to translate that belief into effective action. Let us rid our own lives of any vestiges of racialised thinking and racist actions. Let us open our hearts to our neighbours and fellow citizens who may be of other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Let us join or work to help build coalitions that work towards the advancement of ideals that foster peace, reconciliation and harmony in our societies. Now is our time. Let us seize it!