Courts racialized Muslim identity using skin color and the one-drop rule.

Evidence

A 1913 case involving an immigrant petitioner from modern-day Lebanon, Ex parte Shahid, illustrates how Muslim identity was acutely racialized and deeply institutionalized during this time. Following George Shishim’s lead, Faras Shahid, a Maronite Christian, asserted his Christian faith to rebut the presumption that he was a Muslim. Judge Henry Smith engaged in his own brand of in-court eugenics, describing Shahid to be “about [the color] of a walnut, or somewhat darker than is the usual mulatto of one-half mixed blood between the white and the negro races.” — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 186

Categorization

• QUESTION: The explicit link to Plessy and the one-drop rule merits deeper reading on how race law framework was transplanted onto religion.
• XREF: Direct tie to Rana’s apparatus reading and Ernst’s psychology — racist legal logic applied to religious identity. — connects to: Courts constructed whiteness on shifting criteria including religion. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 183; Muslim names alone can racialize phenotypically white people — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 91; Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white (+6 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 186

Broader Connections

• Cultural and religious practices can racialize a body just as skin tone does #expands (0.80) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 89
• Cultural practices become racialized when they are essentialized as innate to Muslims #expands (0.75) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 274
• Cultural traits like language, clothing, and religious practice can racialize a group. #expands (0.75)
• Muslim names alone can racialize phenotypically white people #expands (0.70) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 91
• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white #qualifies (0.60)
• Religious identity can be racialized when signifiers trigger profiling #expands (0.60)