SX43%LIVERPOOL.AC.UK@evans.ucar.edu (SX43) (11/22/90)
As-Salaamu alaikum,
Here is a very relevant essay on the immigrant muslim
community in the United Kingdom. Although it deals primarily with the Asians
it is relevant for other places and communities where muslims have come to
the west for economic reasons.. it needs reading a couple of times to
digest fully, but is WELL worth it. I have tried to summarise the essence of
its message as well as provide salient extracts which help to focus onto it.
Comments are encouraged, as this is an area of particular interest to me. I
would appreciate copies of any related postings to be mailed to me as we are
having difficulty receiving all of the news here in the UK at the mo'.
Peace,
Fazal.
---------------------------------------
GIST OF ARTICLE..
Muslims came West for wrong reasons, but can legitimise existence in
West by striving to establish Islam. Emphasis on *need*to*intermarry*
with native western population as lesson from original Hijra to Madina.
Urgent need for muslims to manifest the intrinsic goodness of Islam in
the West, to overcome long-standing cultural ethos here. Future very
bleak without revolutionary change in attitude :*need*to*combat*racism*
and spread Islam. With such a change, the situation is very hopeful.
EXCERPTS..
>'..serious implications regarding the furthering of Islam in the UK..'
>..conclude that economic factors have been the motivation for virtually
all muslim migration to the UK..
>'..Islam provides a way of legitimizing one's Hijra..if one can not
return to a country where Islam is practised..establish Islam..'
>'..lack of language skills..on the part of Muslim elders..major
contributor to..lack of understanding..suspicion..racism'
>'Color by itself..can not be the crucial factor as there is evidence of
racism among people of the same color.."What muslim can deny..there still
exist tensions between..Pakistani and Bangladeshi, Bangladeshi and
Bihari..even within Pakistan civil unrest has been known to break out
along ethnic lines ?" '
>'..continually portraying Islam as an alien..religion..antagonism towards
Islam is reinforced.'
>'How do muslims overcome..dual handicap of.."Black"..religion..heathen..
and backward ?..answer..Islam as a universal religion..'
>"..married with the people of Madina who became Muslims..two effects..
helped spread Islam..strengthened the Muslim community..."
>'..dissolve racial differences based on color..evolution of a muslim
community not distinguished..as Asian and therefore Alien..muslim would
not be..easy target because of..colour..'
>'Hadith..Bukhari.."Marry abroad to strengthen and improve your race." '
>'..linguistic apartheid in the mosque..'
>'..inward-looking aspect of the Asian muslim.."Laager Mentality"..purely
defensive posture preventing interaction..other than over the counter
in the local corner shop.'
>'..Muslims..need to be seen..making positive contributions to..life..can
be..field of social welfare. Early Islam had a tradition of..support..the
least fortunate in society..lost to Muslims in the UK.'
>'"All the civilisations in the world... came into being on the heels of
immigration." If..true then muslim migration..heralding a new Islamic
civilisation in the West. But before this..Western Islamic identity has
to emerge. Failure..lead to..disappearance of the Muslim community..Islam
..irrelevant..muslim..will fade away. Now is the time..combat racism..
spread Islam..'
--------------------------------------
Title : Hijra, "Laager Mentality" and Racism.
Source : MuslimWise magazine (August1990) pp16-18
Topic : Analysis of Racism within UK Muslim Community
Plus Recommendations.
Lines : 230ish.
Contact: BM MuslimWise,
London WC1N 3XX
England, UK.
Telephone : 081-902-5968/6074 (England)
--------------------------------------
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
HIJRA, "LAAGER MENTALITY" AND RACISM.
=====================================
In our May issue we asked for contributions on the subject of "How
Muslims Can Contribute To The Anti-Racism Struggle In The UK". In the
first response we are publishing, _Ali_Hussein_McGregor_, _Saleem_Ross_,
and _Zarina_Stewart_ argue that the struggle has to start within the
community itself.
OUR APPROACH TO THIS SUBJECT is firstly by way of drawing out the
basic principles of Hijra (Migration) as undertaken by the Prophet of
Islam (Peace on him) and his companions, and to compare this with the
present situation of Muslims in Britain. We shall argue that it is due
to the invalidity of Modern Hijra that the Muslim community in Britain
are now facing racism and hardship. From there we shall go on to argue
that the phenomenon of the "Laager Mentality" seen among muslim groups
in the UK, although understandable, does itself constitute racism and is
even more reprehensible as it is often practised against fellow
muslims. If accepted, this view has serious implications regarding the
furthering of Islam in the UK and for the validation of the Modern
Hijra. Finally we shall offer some suggestions, based on examples taken
from the first Hijra, as to how one may reduce racism both amongst and
towards Muslims in the UK. Please note that as our experiences of the
muslim community only cover England, Scotland, and Wales, we have
limited ourselves to the term UK rather than Britain, as the latter
normally includes Northern Ireland.
Reference to the lives of the Prophet (PBUH) and his companions
informs us that Hijra was not undertaken until life in Makkah was so bad
for the companions that they were advised by the Prophet to migrate, and
that the Prophet himself did not migrate until his life was in danger.
The first point we learn therefore, is that great hardship to the point
of personal danger must be experienced before migration is required. We
also learn that migration is carried out for the defence and maintenance
of Islam and that, as appears to be argued in Zakaria Bashir's book
(Hijra : Story and Significance), such migration must be either to an
Islamic country or to a country where the Muslim migrant is able to
freely practise his/her faith. It is clear from our knowledge of modern
muslim migration to the UK that this Islamic criterion does not fit
reality.
Muhammad Anwar in his study "Pakistanis in Britain" makes it
quite clear that it was economic factors rather than religious ones that
pushed Muslims out of Pakistan, while shortage of labour in the UK
pulled them to this island. This view is held by Badr Dahya (1973) and
Alison Shaw (1988), while Barton (1981) also cites economic
considerations as being central to the arrival in the UK of Bangladeshi
migrants. The case of the arrival in the UK of the Pakistani community
is even more ironic when one considers that it is claimed that Pakistan
was set up to provide an independent State for the Muslims of the Indian
subcontinent. Even Maulana Maududi, despite his criticism regarding the
setting up of Pakistan, declared the first Pakistani constitution
Islamic, so how can Pakistani Muslims justify Hijra to the UK on the
basis of protecting Islam ?
We feel that there is some justification in the position held by
Dr Kalim Siddiqui of the Muslim Institute, namely that migration to the
non-muslim world has been forced on muslims by the imperialist West, but
then the question must be addressed : Why are Islamically active,
professionally skilled muslims not now migrating to Islamic Iran from
the UK, especially as our brothers in Iran appear to need skilled
manpower to rebuild the country's economy ?
If any muslim group can justifiably claim to have been forced
into making Hijra to the UK it is those muslims from Uganda who were
forced out of that country by Idi Amin, but even then a question arises :
Why did they not go to a muslim country such as Pakistan rather than
to a kufr country such as the UK? On balance we conclude that economic
rather than religious factors have been the motivating factor for
virtually all muslim migration to the UK and we must therefore turn again
to Islamic teaching to see what has been written on the subject of
migration due to economic reasons.
To cover even part of the relevant literature on Hijra would need
more room than we have in this article, so we will again draw the
readers' attention to Bashir (above) who argues that migration for both
economic and educational purposes is valid provided that such migration
is temporary in nature. Here it must be admitted that most economic
migrants saw their stay in the UK as being temporary in nature, but
there arose what Anwar has called "The Myth Of Return" -- whereby muslim
migrants caught in an economic trap found themselves unable to return to
their native homes. Even in this situation however, Islam provides a way
of legitimizing one's Hijra, for if one can not return to a country
where Islam is practised the muslim migrant may establish Islam in the
new environment.
At this point it should be mentioned that there is a view held by
the Shia Ulama that "as the world has been created by Allah, Muslims are
free to live anywhere in the world." Even this view however, admits the
need to spread Islam. Although not wishing to deny the validity of this
view we shall, for the purpose of this article pursue the mainstream
Sunni schools of thought as they constitute the majority view of muslim
practice in the UK.
FROM MIGRATION TO RACISM.
Having given the reasons for Hijra, and having made the point that
Modern Hijra to the UK does not appear in our opinion to conform to the
ideal, we now turn to the problem of Racism. In "Theories of Race and
Ethnic Relations" Peter Weinreich says that "The identity concerns of
the subordinate communities will tend to differ from those of the
superordinate one.." and that "..most members of the subordinate groups
will tend to start off with considerable disadvantages in material
wealth and, if they are recent migrants, in access to information" --the
latter being partly due to difficulties of language. It is, we feel,
this lack of language skills, particularly on the part of Muslim elders
that is a major contributor to the lack of understanding and the
suspicion, even racism, shown by both muslims and non-muslims to each
other, and also accounts for a great deal of mistrust resulting from a
lack of knowledge and appreciation of each side's views and cultural
ethos. It is this cultural ethos which we feel offers some explanation
for the racism experienced by muslims in the UK.
There are many theories of racism -- from the Darwinian to the
Marxist. However, what we wish to suggest is that the crucial
factor is the lack of shared values and norms which are often aggravated
by differences in color. Color by itself in our opinion can not be the
crucial factor as there is evidence of racism among people of the same
color. The Scots revert Ahmed Andrews makes the point when he says :
"What muslim can deny that there still exist tensions between such
groups as Pakistani and Bangladeshi, and Bangladeshi and Bihari, or that
even within Pakistan civil unrest has been known to break out along
ethnic lines ?"
Communities communicate through language which gives common
meanings and values to symbols; and the Christian world, including the
UK, has always seen the word "Black" as representing uncleanness and
evil, while other religions have been seen as backward. It is not hard
to see, therefore, how when the British conquered foreign lands where
the native community were not only a different color but had a different
religion all the negative association linked to "Black", "Evil", and
being "Heathen" came to the fore and became crystallised into racism.
Indeed it may be argued that by accepting the term "Black" as an
identity the non-Caucasian may well be reinforcing these negative
values. It also follows that by continually portraying Islam as an alien
'Asian' religion and culture, antagonism towards Islam is reinforced.
Therefore the question is : How do muslims overcome what the non-muslim
westerner perceives as the dual handicap of being 'Black', with its
symbolism of 'evil', 'unclean' etc and being members of a religion which
is perceived as heathen and backward ? The answer, we feel, is to be
found in concentrating on Islam as a universal religion, seeking to
establish not only the word of Allah, but also a socio-political system
based on Kafa'ah (equality).
The answers to the problems faced by UK muslims can be found in
the example of the first migrants from Makkah to Madina, many of whom,
as is pointed out by Andrews (above) "..married with the people of
Madina who became Muslims." He continues "This had two effects, firstly
it helped spread Islam..., and secondly it strengthened the Muslim
community...". Such policy on the part of the muslim community in the UK
would help to dissolve racial differences based on color and would help
also in the evolution of a muslim community not distinguished by the
western non-muslim as Asian and therefore Alien. The muslim would not be
an easy target because of his/her colour. Such action is supported by
the Hadith cited in Bukhari which reports our beloved Prophet (Peace on
him) as saying : "Marry abroad to strengthen and improve your race."
Another thing which needs urgent attention is the ending of
linguistic apartheid in the mosque. In South Africa apartheid is based
on color with the Black being a second class citizen. In UK mosques
however, apartheid is based on one's belonging to the cultural group
dominating in a particular mosque with the White, Black, and non-Asian
muslim being regarded as second class muslims -- entitled to pray but
not entitled to learn from the alim, or take part in the communal life
of the mosque. If Whites are racist towards Asian muslims, then rest
assured Asian muslims are racist towards Black and White muslims, but
such racism is excused on the grounds of culture. It is this inward
looking aspect of the Asian muslim that we term the 'Laager Mentality';
a purely defensive posture preventing interaction with non-muslim
society other than over the counter in the local corner shop.
Lastly, Muslims and Islam need to be seen as making positive
contributions to British Life. This we suggest can be done in the field
of social welfare. Early Islam had a tradition of welfare and support
for the least fortunate in society, yet this tradition seems to be lost
to Muslims in the UK. The primary social institution, the mosque, is well
established in the UK. Now we need the secondary institutions of womens'
clinics staffed by muslim women doctors, facilities to alleviate the
problems of muslim orphans who are now finding their way into non-muslim
childrens' homes, and facilities for the muslim elderly who are unable
to be supported by their family for whatever reason. Such welfare
institutions and facilities could be made available to non-muslims where
appropriate and could therefore act as a bridge between the muslim and
non-muslim communities, helping to counter the negative view of Islam
held by non-muslims.
The late Iranian sociologist and Islamic scholar, Ali Shari'ati
(1979) pointed out that "All the civilisations in the world... came into
being on the heels of immigration." If this view holds true then muslim
migration to the UK could be heralding a new Islamic civilisation in the
West. But before this can happen a Western Islamic identity has to
emerge. Failure to meet this challenge may well lead to the eventual
disappearance of the Muslim community in the UK for if traditional Asian
muslim communities persist in their own racism and insular mentality
that traditionalism will be seen by the muslim youth as irrelevant to
their experience in the UK and they will eventually see Islam as
irrelevant: any resemblance of a muslim community will fade away. Now is
the time to combat racism and spread Islam but it needs a revolutionary
change within the traditional muslim communities in the UK.
----------------
Ali Hussein McGregor, Saleem Ross, and Zarina Stewart are part of a
small group of reverts to Islam belonging to the Association for the
Study and Development of Muslims and Islam in Scotland. Their main areas
of study are Islamic Law, Sociology and Politics.
Their address is : A.S.D.M.I.S.
One Prestonfield Avenue
Edinburgh
Midlothian
Scotland.
>REFERENCES<
===========
Andrews,A. "Race, Marriage and Islam"
in 'The Islamic Times'
No.17, Manchester 1990.
Anwar,M. "Pakistanis in Britain",
New Century, 1979.
Barton,S. "The Bengali Muslims of Bradford",
Dept of Theology and community religion,
Leeds University, 1981.
Bashir,Z. "Hijra: Story and Significance",
Islamic Foundation,
Leicester.
Dahya,B. "Pakistanis in Britain : Transient or Settlers ?",
in 'Race', vol xiv, no.3, January 1973.
Shari'ati,A. "On the sociology of Islam",
trans. by Hamid Algar,
Mizan Press, Berkeley, USA, 1979.
Shaw,A. "A Pakistani community in Britain",
Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1988.
Weinreich,P. "The operationalisation of identity theory
in racial and ethnic relations"
in 'Theories of Race and Ethnic Relations',
edited by D.Mason and John Rex,
Cambridge University Press,
London 1986.