Sheikh Google doesn’t help us

It's getting harder to be young and Muslim, worries Shelina Janmohamed

Sri Lankans participate in a rally calling for a ban on Islamic halal-slaughtered meat at Maharagama, a suburb of the capital Colombo (AFP PHOTO/Ishara S.KODIKARA)

For a while, it felt like it was getting easier to be a Muslim citizen of the global village. But for young Muslims today it seems harder than ever.

Nearly half of today’s young Muslims are under 25. That means they have spent most or all of their lives under the shadow of September 11. Whether they are young Muslims in America, Afghanistan or Abu Dhabi it has had an effect on how they’re seen and how they see themselves.

Every news programme and newspaper has screaming headlines scrutinising the actions of Muslims, laying blame for their and the world’s problems on their religious affiliation. It might be extremist Americans calling Muslims “savages”, the Buddhist monks of Myanmar persecuting Rohingya Muslims or the riots in Sri Lanka against government-stamped halal food.

When I was growing up in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s, I felt a constant burden to demystify Islam and explain that Muslims are human beings like everyone else. But we had allies – there were alliances to be made by the wider politically “black” groups fighting racism. Muslim nations banded together in a postcolonial world, struggling together in the possibilities of independence.

But today, the spotlight shines harshly on the global Muslim population. The response to this barrage of anti-Muslim hatred is a growing assertion of Muslim consciousness and shared global Muslim identity.

There are aspects of this shared global identity that are very heartening. Many young Muslims are finding a strength and pride in such a shared identity, and inspiration from their faith values to build better communities and societies.

But this requires resilience and wisdom. The ability to discern the difference between good voices and loud voices – withstanding the latter in favour of the former – comes with experience as well as the right resources and support. Without them, it’s easy to run into the arms of those who appear to be offering solutions, but who instead are perpetrators of the cycle of hate.

Undoubtedly, it is emotionally draining to stand up to the global Islamophobia industry. But in my view the bigger challenge for young Muslims is to withstand the varied, vocal and often very dangerous voices that wrap their hatred up under the banner of Islam.

The most obvious is ISIL, with its promises of an Islamic utopia. But there are plenty of other, less high-profile groups. This is coupled with a growing push towards literalism and losing the spirit of Islam, a sense that with Sheikh Google at your disposal to answer every query, everyone is knowledgeable. But most dangerous of all, is that these groups are defining being Muslim in opposition to anti-Muslim hatred, and the two feed off each other in a vicious cycle.

The challenge for young Muslims is to avoid running into the arms of political extremists at either end of this spectrum and instead find an expression of their Muslim consciousness and identity that rejects both. So far, political strategies have focused only on these dynamics which have only served to entrench the vicious cycle. Instead – and this won’t be easy – we should support young Muslims in celebrating their identity.

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and blogs at www.spirit21.co.uk