Sustained connection to Islam, not geography or phenotype, determines racial inclusion as Muslim.

Evidence

It is not a race based solely on a geographical affiliation (unlike Asians, who are emerging as such in the United States). The proponents of a “Middle Eastern race”” fail to capture the key fact that it is the peoples’ connection to Islam, not to a geography, that determines their inclusion in the racial group of Islam. Christian Arabs have passed into whiteness with relative ease. Moreover, because of the reliance on underlying phenotypical difference—the existence of another racial group—some proponents of racialization cannot explain how white Muslims are also racialized. In other words, such positions struggle to explain how people who both look and don’t look Middle Eastern or Black/brown or are white, who are and are not Muslims, who practice and do not practice Islam59 have been targeted for Islamophobic treatment. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 107

Islam is now more than a religious identity but the race that Islamophobic racecraft has produced. It is not a race based solely on a geographical affiliation (unlike Asians, who are emerging as such in the United States). The proponents of a “Middle Eastern race”” fail to capture the key fact that it is the peoples’ connection to Islam, not to a geography, that determines their inclusion in the racial group of Islam. Christian Arabs have passed into whiteness with relative ease. Moreover, because of the reliance on underlying phenotypical difference—the existence of another racial group—some proponents of racialization cannot explain how white Muslims are also racialized. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 107

Categorization

• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s core question: the racial anchor is affiliation with Islam, not a single homeland claim — bearing on why American Islam lacks the shared-arrival narrative of Black/Maori/Québécois inversion. — connects to: The racialized Muslim category flexibly absorbs perceived Muslims across ethnicity, nationality, and religion. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 630; Islam-as-race is a construct independent of actual religious practice. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 36; Muslim racialization developed relationally with other minority racializations. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 833 (+9 more)
• QUESTION: If the racial binding principle is connection to Islam rather than a homeland, does that preclude the identity-inversion dynamic documented among territorial subordinate groups?
• DEFINE: Distinguishes Islam-as-race from a Middle Eastern race by its organizing principle: religious/cultural connection rather than geography or phenotype.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 107
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Shared connection to Islam, not color, now anchors Muslim racialization #corroborates (0.95) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 516
• Muslim racialization into Whiteness depends on phenotype and skin color #contradicts (0.92)
• Anti-Muslim discrimination can target ideology and affiliation rather than phenotype #expands (0.85)
• Muslims are racialized as a social group rather than a religious one #expands (0.82)
• Muslim racialization developed relationally with other minority racializations. #expands (0.80) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 833
• Religious identity racializes Arab and South Asian Muslims along shared lines #expands (0.80)
• Structural utility, not ignorance, sustains Muslim racialization. #expands (0.78)
• Islam-as-race emerges only after Muslims coalesce as a racial group #qualifies (0.75) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 110
• Muslim racialization is structural and persists with political utility #corroborates (0.75) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 480