Comments on: What’s an Asian? Race and Identity for a New Generation

By: Samar

Samar — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:41:41 +0000

Umm Saliha, You always write such insightful articles! I love your open mindedness and willingness to think outside of your socialised upbringing.
However, as it pertains to this article in particular, and its not a criticism of your work, but is really something that I think is overlooked by Muslims of Asian descent.
How do we teach our children to not be ethnocentric? I am Asian and I have found that there is never enough evaluation of our own selves on the community level as it pertains to the concepts of beauty, ideas of fairness, and what constitutes ‘good’ and ‘bad.’ Many times, most Asians associate beauty with being fair and having typical Asian (read Indian, Pakistani, etc) features. Asians seem to have an obsession about being fair and cannot get away from socialised understandings of beauty as being fair-skinned.
As Muslims, how accepting are we to other Muslims who are not like us, who do not look like us?

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 04:17:11 +0000

My dear friend, as always, I love to read your articles and blog posts. Your writing so easily expresses what so many of us think and feel. You know my situation, having a Peruvian husband and biracial children, and having lived in Peru for just over three years. My husband is very dark (he looks South Asian, and has even been asked by a Bangladeshi once if he was from Pakistan). When my oldest was very young, if you asked him what color someone was, he would tell you their shirt color. Later he would say Daddy is brown, Joshie is yellow, and Mama is pink (I am very rosy, LOL). But all of my boys identify themselves as American. None of them would say he is Hispanic, though half of their blood came from a different continent. I am glad that we are a point where they don’t have to feel like they are strangers in their own land. I also worry about when they are older, will police stop them and ask for papers, due to many of our states’ new laws requiring the police to do so. My boys were born in the US, only learned Spanish because we took them to another country, and my youngest has actually forgotten a lot of it in a short time.

I have always wondered, though, and this applies to all people born in Great Britain: do English people consider themselves English, British, both, or are they used interchangeably? Do Scots and Welsh people consider themselves British?

Love reading your work.

By: Fruitful Fusion

Fruitful Fusion — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:20:03 +0000

Brilliant article ma sha Allah. I can relate to so many parts. But being an expat in Saudi Arabia and raising my children here (currently) they have such mixed views. Some I’m not particularly happy about, as they go to Saudi schools. It makes me realise that there is still so much to teach them!

By: Ammena

Ammena — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:27:30 +0000

Assalamalikum sis…. interesting some of the things you say in this. As you know I dont have any children yet, but I still hear and see many things children related. Whether it be from my nephews versions of things, or my brothers reasonings or the young muslim community where I live. This Ramadhan I was in the mosque for taraweeh prayers and I overheard a conversation between two young girls, it started off with the usual questions, how old are you? where do you live? even what religion are you? (so it isnt just adults that assume you still cant be muslim just because youre wearing a scarf or in a mosque!) when it came to where are you from the elder girl proudly continued to tell the younger girl that she couldnt be english because only kuffars (non-believers) are english I pray this girls parents teach her better and she finds her identity