Go Back Where You Came From

There is the account of an American who became Muslim, and who grew up part of the dominant culture: a white American, educated at very elite schools in this country, with a lot of opportunities that a lot of other people did not have. But then, on becoming a Muslim, and seeing how a lot of Americans relate to him as a Muslim, it suddenly changes. He also changed his name — which one does not have to do; he was quite young when he became Muslim, and the name was given to him and he took it. In retrospect, one does not have to, and it may not really be that wise a thing to do, because it creates this idea that you have to be an Arab to become Muslim; there are many American Muslims who do not change their name. But the fact of having a Muslim name as one's legal name has caused some very interesting things to happen to him and his wife.

She is Native American, Mexican, Indian; and because she wears the ḥijāb, during the Gulf crisis she was spat at and told to go home, to go back where she came from. Which was rather ironic, since she does not need to get on a plane or a boat to go back where she came from: she is from here, and her roots are in the Sonoran Desert.

And she was in a supermarket once with the ḥijāb, and there was a young Mexican girl there; the baby was in the basket and the woman wanted to put the groceries into the basket, and they were both Mexican, and one of them said to the other, in Spanish: just knock him out of the way. She was so upset about that, and being a very gentle soul she did not say anything. She might have told them that she speaks Spanish. The matter was taken up with the manager of the store, who was told what had happened — and reminded that, the store being right next to a very large Muslim population, they have a lot of Muslims who buy there, which is always the bottom line if one can bring that in and get some action. He was really horrified, and said he would talk to the people.

But we forget that these things do happen. It is a very interesting occurrence, to feel the brunt of that — the "black like me" type of thing — where one suddenly realises that there is another world of experience for other people; and for the Muslim it is just by the fact that they are Muslim. So it goes back to some real basic prejudices and some basic things; and hopefully — for one who tends to be an optimist, sceptical of a lot of things but an optimist — the Qurʾān does say: do not despair. It is not a good thing to do. It is the only unforgivable sin for the Catholics.