re White Muslim identity
Umar Lee says in his blog
“..I believe that yes being a white Muslim in America for many people, myself included, means that you will be lonely and you will be a stranger, but we have to accept this isolation for the sake of Allah. We no longer have a racial or ethnic group to identity with, or that will accept us, so we must be involved in helping to create an American-Muslim identity and building strong families and that will cure the isolation and loneliness. “
I agree with this and I think it has relevance to European Muslims too, although the American exerience will be unique in many ways. For a white convert Muslim, there is a sense of isolation; we are not the same any more, and especially wearing hijab, we become ’strange’ and strangers to other white people. At the same time, we are still regarded as white by Muslims of other ethnicities. At times, in the Muslim community, our whiteness is like a currency, and gain can be derived from it, whether social or politicial. Or, it is a barrier to full acceptance. However, we accept our fate as Umar says, ‘for the sake of Allah’. What we have gained in Islam outweighs by far the difficulties we have.
It is our position in history to be among the founders of an indigeneous Islam for this place. We don’t know what it will look like, but I hope it will be distinctive, a cultural cross pollination between Islam and western Europe. Of course, Islam has long enriched eastern Europe and we would do well to learn from the experiences of Muslims there.
For our own and our children’s sakes, we must concentrate on building strong family bonds and develop our children’s sense of place, culture and religion. I am glad to say, most of the convert women I know have comparatively big families. When I imagine the future, all the weddings, family gatherings, even funerals, it comforts me to think that my children will have each other. The isolation of the first generation need not be passed on to the next.
