Islam has become a race despite scholars’ hesitation to name it so

Evidence

Robinson’s work is a magisterial exploration of race, its evolution from pre-capitalist to capitalist eras, and the Black radical tradition. As noted above, he theorizes that racism applied specifically to Africans produced anti-Black racism to extract labor much as it produced anti-Indian racism in the so-called “jewel in the crown” from which it extracted several trillion dollars. The point is that races reflect the ideological needs of the racist. As such, it stands to reason that new races will coalesce and emerge as part of a complex interaction between racism and a subject population based on a history of being set apart from whiteness. This is what has happened with Islam. The practice of racism, particularized against Muslims as Islamophobia, has given rise to the identity of Muslims as a racial group and Islam as a race. Furthermore, one of the reasons scholars have preferred to refer to Muslims as racialized rather than as members of a race is because the group is heterogenous; many in it already have other ethnic characteristics. Yet surely “Muslim” can be a racial identity because identities based on race are always an amalgam and assemblage of constituent parts for any group. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 61 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Islam has functionally become a race in law within the last twenty years; Islam-as-race emerges only after Muslims coalesce as a racial group — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 110; Islam comes to function as a race through racecraft that erases internal ethnic differences — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 516 (+14 more)

Related

• Islamophobia has coalesced Muslims into a distinct racial group and Islam into a race. (similarity 0.95)
• Islam itself constitutes a race produced by Islamophobic racecraft. (similarity 0.93)
• Islam-as-race emerges only after Muslims coalesce as a racial group (similarity 0.92)
• Targeting and dialectical resistance have made Islam function as a race. (similarity 0.91)
• Islam comes to function as a race through racecraft that erases internal ethnic differences (similarity 0.91)
• Islam has functionally become a race in law within the last twenty years (similarity 0.90)
• Islam-as-race is a construct independent of actual religious practice. (similarity 0.89)
• Islam functions as a full race in American and European hierarchies (similarity 0.89)
• Anti-Muslim racism collapses diverse names, skin tones, dress, and nations into one imagined enemy. (similarity 0.88)
• People who seem white can be raced non-white on the basis of Islam alone. (similarity 0.87)
• Islamophobia fixates a reified Muslim type despite race’s dynamic nature. (similarity 0.87)
• Islamophobia operates as a racial formation, not merely religious prejudice (similarity 0.87)
• Islam’s racialization dates to American slavery, not modern immigration debates (similarity 0.87)
• Heterogeneity does not disqualify a group from holding racial identity. (similarity 0.87)
• Sustained connection to Islam, not geography or phenotype, determines racial inclusion as Muslim. (similarity 0.87)

Broader Connections

• Islamophobia has coalesced Muslims into a distinct racial group and Islam into a race. #corroborates (0.90) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 61
• Orientalism converted Muslim identity from a religion into a race. #corroborates (0.85) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 161
• Muslims are racialized as a social group rather than a religious one #corroborates (0.85)
• Islamophobia is increasingly theorized as a form of racism rather than mere religious prejudice #expands (0.85)
• Islam has shaped the race concept since its historical inception #expands (0.80)
• Muslims get racialized via projected religious ancestry regardless of self-understanding #expands (0.80) — Mareike Riedel, Islamophobia, Racial Discrimination…, 64
• Islam is ideologically expelled from religion itself in its racialization #expands (0.75) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 872
• The racialized content of the Muslim category persisted across changing labels #expands (0.75) — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 163
• Muslims were racialized through cultural signifiers rather than phenotype alone #expands (0.75) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 106
• Racializing Muslims holds race as both fixed and fluid #expands (0.75) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 105
• Muslim identity gets racialized through names and clothing, not only skin tone #expands (0.75) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 70