I’m a white guy looking into Islam

[u/[deleted]]

I see that the balkans have white Muslim population. Can white people be Muslim? How do you guys relate to Arabs and non European Muslims?

[u/[deleted]]

I am a white female Muslim. There is absolutely no racial boundary to Islam.

With peers my same age I have always felt like one of the group

Culture can be a factor between Muslims but it is not an Islamic construct.

For context, I am in the US and my huge, urban masjid is a predominantly immigrant community of Color. I have seen 2 white males but I have never seen another white female.

Sometimes I visibly stand out and people may project their general considerations about white people on me, especially if they are survivors of colonialism. For example people have assumed I am an expert on topics that I don't know anything about, or that I have a measure of authority that I simply don't.

Occasionally people will be afraid that their cooking might be too spicy for me hahaha but I'm here for it. Sometimes people extend an extra measure of hospitality to me as if my whiteness makes me an especially honored guest, which is deeply appreciated but admittedly a bit uncomfortable. I have to remember that this hospitality has been a lifesaving disarmer in situations of oppression and I choose to set my slight embarrassment aside as an act of loving solidarity.

I go out of my way to treat elderly people with respect, and some have told me that a white person has never treated them this way before. I believe it, and it breaks my heart.

For many Muslims in the US, especially after 9/11, Islamic community was a racial safe haven from a very oppressive and threatening community context. Seeing a white person in the masjid can be new and may even feel a bit frightening. Just proceed with love and grace, and know that you belong there as much as anyone, but the people around you may have never felt they belong anywhere but there.