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Gonna try to do a thread on MT and the obsession with the “evils of liberalism” today. Class analysis is fairly important in getting through this topic without blunders as it’s an argument largely put forward by those who can segregate themselves from the larger population.
When we look at what “liberalism” is according to these people, we get a general term that is used as an umbrella to grab up everything that is not its opposite, conservatism.
It can be anything from immodest clothing marketed toward Muslim women, “bending” your religion for the sake of appealing to non-Muslims, “befriending” people from the LGBT community, participating in protests and so on. It’s identity politics but sprinkled with Muslim parsley.
As far as who champions these takes, we often find Muslim figures that are a part of large and profitable establishments. They often come from middle to upper-middle class families that are situated in the suburbs.
Their target audience happens to be people of similar social and financial background. If you think about the type of person this is in your mind, hopefully you will get the picture I am making.
It only gets interesting when you look at possible reasons why this is so important. Are there valid reasons to avoid liberalism as Muslims? Of course, and those reasons should be mentioned.
But I find these points are often used to serve as a wall that ensures they create a mindset that is never pushed against. So, the benefit of being general with what liberalism is has fruit as you can suggest that your target audience adopts the opposite
Some are more subtle as to why and will say they are against Muslim values, while others are more open and mention that Muslims align better with conservative political parties. Both sides can be critiqued but the open honesty of the latter allows you to see where this takes you.
The boat ride is familiar for many religious groups who come to the UK/US. You have Indian Hindu’s & European Jew’s who took the same route in hopes of leveraging political groups for the sake of improving the collective as becoming a model minority voting bloc has it’s benefits.
Most are brainwashed to ignore the harms that happen to others for the sake of benefitting the collective, but ignorance does not mean it does not exist.
There are many but one example is James Baldwin’s NYT piece The Negro is Anti-Semitic Because He is Anti-White where he discusses Jewish landlords exploiting black tenants. Be it Indian, Korean or whoever, this story of exploitation is common when you look at model minorities.
Another point that is interesting, to me, is why these arguments or topics are mostly ignored by the poor of these groups? To cut a large argument short, it is the understanding that you have when you are overcome with hunger and lack of improvement.
I do hope working class Muslims can learn to ignore these people and establish religious outlooks that benefit themselves instead of being pulled elsewhere. Walter Rodney makes a good point here on this and it is what you saw with Imam Jamil’s Darul Islam Movement.
