All Muslims are from Musulmanie
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In discussions of race and identity in the U.S., the binary of black and white has long dominated frameworks of social categorization. However, Muslim identity complicates this binary. Muslimness, especially in the American context, is often tied not just to religion but to a perceived foreignness, which disrupts the neat divisions between black and white. In fact, Muslim identity is frequently racialized, positioned as something "other"—a marker of non-whiteness, sometimes even specifically "brownness"—and this perception can distort the ways we understand race in America (Hussain, 602). Growing up as one of the only Muslim kids in my primary school, I experienced this firsthand. One of the most telling moments came when a classmate, confused by my identity, asked me, "Tu viens de la musulmanie?" (en bon québecois). This question, both curious and bizarre, encapsulates the way Muslim identity is often perceived as foreign, existing somewhere "else"—in the East, far removed from the West. It highlights how being Muslim is frequently understood not as a religious identity but as a racial or ethnic one, a label that invokes images of distant lands rather than a simple choice of faith. In this way, Muslimness can be conflated with race, leading to enormous confusion and misapprehension.
Muslims, particularly those who are visibly non-white, are often seen as belonging to a separate racial category. This perception upends the traditional black/white binary by introducing an “intermediate” category, often associated with brownness or foreignness. In fact, immigrant Muslims, such as Arabs and South Asians, are frequently distanced from the black identity, despite shared experiences of racial discrimination, through the assumption that they are "foreign" or "outsiders." The phrase «muslimanie» reflects this assumption—that to be Muslim is to come from a place that is culturally and racially distinct from the black and white dichotomy that defines American society.
Nadeer, a Muslim man who enjoys surprising others by revealing his faith, shares that his race often leads people to assume he is not Muslim. He explains that without visual cues—like a kufi or prayer beads—he doesn't fit the stereotypical image of a Muslim (Hussain, 594). The discomfort people feel when learning of his Muslim identity highlights how race and religion are often conflated and how Muslimness is frequently seen as something that belongs "elsewhere." This disconnect between Muslimness and American racial categories points to a deeper issue: the creation of race as a way to define who belongs and who doesn’t. In this context, Muslim identity became linked to a kind of racial "otherness," which continues to shape how Muslims are perceived today. To be Muslim in America is not just to follow a religion but to embody a kind of foreignness that is racially coded and often racialized as non-white. -
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