Muslims move down the racial hierarchy rather than becoming a new race

Evidence

Because there are very few countering representations of Muslims as normal, law-­abiding, patriotic American citizens, the dominant narrative of Muslims as terrorists, misogynists, and sexual predators who are antifeminist and anti-­American is definitive. These cultural practices are seen as essentialized, inherent characteristics of Muslim bodies. For many Muslims, these labels are applied when they are identified as Muslim through visual clues like skin tone and clothing or nonvisual clues like having a Muslim name. Religious clothing that has acquired racial meaning racializes bodies in a similar way to skin tone. The hijab signifies foreignness and provokes the assumption that those who wear these symbols are “others” who are not American and not white. The hijab symbolizes a threat to Western feminist ideals and is associated with the forced submission of Muslim women to Muslim men (Razack 2008). But for Muslim men and women who do not wear religious signifiers, their Muslim names also racialize them even if they are phenotypically white. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 91 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Medieval theologians constructed Muslims as a degraded race descending from the slave Hagar; Orientalism converted Muslim identity from a religion into a race. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 161; Orientalism imagined Muslims as a monolithic Arab or Middle Eastern racial bloc. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 161 (+18 more)

Related

• Muslim identity gets racialized through names and clothing, not only skin tone (similarity 0.90)
• Muslim men can be racialized by ethnicity alone, not only by disclosed religion (similarity 0.88)
• People who seem white can be raced non-white on the basis of Islam alone. (similarity 0.88)
• Anti-Muslim racism collapses diverse names, skin tones, dress, and nations into one imagined enemy. (similarity 0.87)
• Lighter skin and Westernized names let some Muslims pass as white (similarity 0.87)
• A white non-Muslim can be forced into the Muslim’s demonological position (similarity 0.87)
• Muslim names alone can racialize phenotypically white people (similarity 0.87)
• Muslim Americans move closer to the racial hierarchy’s bottom without reaching it (similarity 0.87)
• Cultural and religious practices can racialize a body just as skin tone does (similarity 0.86)
• African American Muslims experience racialized religion differently due to distinct history (similarity 0.86)
• Gender shapes both how Muslims are racialized and how they respond (similarity 0.86)
• Wearing the hijab shifts how Muslim women are racially perceived and treated (similarity 0.86)
• Racialization operates through cultural traits and social interactions, not only physical cues. (similarity 0.85)
• The racialized content of the Muslim category persisted across changing labels (similarity 0.85)
• Muslim identity ejects Arabs from whiteness and strips them of its material benefits (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Muslim Americans occupy a liminal racial position above African Americans #contradicts (0.70)
• Muslim names alone can racialize phenotypically white people #expands (0.60) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 91
• Wearing the hijab shifts how Muslim women are racially perceived and treated #expands (0.60)
• African American Muslims experience racialized religion differently due to distinct history #complicates (0.50) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 478