salaam!
I was getting increasingly frustrated with how Muslim identities were marginalised and how, consistently, the aim of anti-oppressive thought around Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred was aimed at humanising Muslims by making them more palatable, rather than uprooting the discrimination we face.
Growing up as I have in a country that bends over backwards to avoid using words like race/racism, people of colour and ethnicity, Islamophobia was always framed as rejection of an ideology rather than a large and varied group of people (a very smart way to try and get racism and bigotry past any anti-discrimination legislation!). By intellectualising our oppression in this way, they actively hid the root cause of our marginalisation, and with it, our path to liberation.
Insaf’s mission is to build the capacity of individuals, organisations and communities to challenge, disrupt and uproot anti-Muslim hatred. We offer anti-oppressive training and education about anti-Muslim hatred that centres the experiences and lives of Muslim people to be safe, rather than the needs of non-Muslim people to feel safe around us. By unpacking anti-Muslim hatred as a system of oppression that operates globally, we are able to recognise, dismantle and uproot it, and by so doing, create better outcomes for the oppressed.
We are not Islam 101. We will not give you a Level 2 Equality and Inclusion training that teaches you the basic tenets of Islam, so that you may be convinced that Muslims are actually not so scary at all. We reject the idea that it is Muslims’ jobs to do that. Instead, we propose that it shouldn’t matter how palatable our individual beliefs are – we deserve to be treated with respect regardless. We are equally not here to argue with anyone, Muslim or not, about what is or isn’t a Muslim belief. We are not
We are not the judge of who is or isn’t Muslim. Many trainings in this sector operate as “Islam Awareness Trainings”. I know how they work – I’ve done them! These trainings commonly further entrench Islamophobic beliefs by homogenising the Muslim experience. The purpose of this is undoubtedly to support organisations to make space for Muslims and their religious practice, but what it creates instead is a framework against which non-Muslim now get to “test” whether or not someone is Muslim enough to be worthy of adjustments, consideration or legal protection. I’m not here to talk about the contents of my religious practice – I am here to talk about the shape of my oppression, and the role you have to play in disrupting and uprooting it.
We are inclusive. Our aim is to defend all those who experience anti-Muslim hatred. Our umbrella is very large, and we do not differentiate between . Many of the people that we group under our umbrella will likely have opinions about some of the other groups under our umbrella. Our stance on this is that, for the purposes of combating anti-Muslim hatred, it does not matter. As an oppressive ideology, Islamophobia needs to be ripped out at the root. Deciding who is or isn’t Muslim has no part to play in that – especially since we know that due to the racialised elements of the ideology, plenty of people who are not Muslim experience Islamophobia, and people who are Muslim but pass as white Christians do not.
Insaf is Arabic for justice, equity, fairness and impartiality.