Bosnian (white!) Muslim. Fed up of having to explain I'm born Muslim...

[sanellao]

Just that really!
I'm ethnically Bosnian, white with blond hair and green eyes and my whole family for as far back as it's possible to trace on both sides are Muslim.
Why do so many people I come across in the UK seem to equate "being Muslim" with being darker skinned like brown Asian or certain black African peoples? In fairness, the largest Muslim populations in our city are Pakistani and sub-continent, as well as various Middle East background Muslims.... But the Bosnian community is relatively tiny here. But....Why is is so inconceivable that a pale skinned blond person can be of Muslim origin too?
Haha.
I've recently started a new job and keep getting questions from colleagues (they're probably just curious or something), asking "when did you convert" or "what do your family think about you being Muslim"... When I reply that I was born Muslim and my family on all sides are Muslim I get met with looks of confusion.. Colleagues looking at each other then back at me.
Like, what's the issue? Haha.
Just wondering if and other white "born" Muslims feel these frustrations!

I wouldnt stress about it. Sounds like people are just a bit curious and wonder if/why you converted (even though you know you didnt), because white muslims are very rare after all

I'm Swedish but not blonde and have an unusual first name. I've spent my whole life answering the question "Where are you from? No, I mean where are you originally from?". It's sometimes exhausting but it's just people being curious, so have to keep reminding myself they're not being intentionally offensive.

We had lots of people come to Sweden during the Balkan war so I'm personally very well aware of the existence of white Muslims. However, I wasn't aware of the existence of Chinese Muslims until a year or two ago. It just hadn't even occurred to me that they might exist until I heard about the genocide against them. It's just one of those things - you generally don't know what you haven't been taught or exposed to.

I grew up with lots of Bosnian refugees in the 90's, therefore, I tend assume white muslims from the Balkans.

Because people are ignorant.
There's a blonde haired blue eyed girl in my dds class who's parents are from Bulgaria, one time she told her classmates she was Muslim and her teacher told her she wasn't! Sheer ignorance.

We don't teach this history of the Ottoman Empire in schools and TV history is dominated by the bloody Tudors so unless you are really interested in History you're not going to realise there are lots of white muslims in Europe, whether that is in the Balkans or the Crimea or Russia.

I'm off to Crete soon and when reading about the history found out lots of Cretans converted to Islam when it was ruled by the Ottomans. Then after the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 there was an exchange of Cretan Muslims and Greek Orthodox Christians from Anatolia (1.6M people were forcibly moved). We need to spend a lot more time learning about the long term impacts of the British, French, Ottoman and Russian empires, it explains so much of the reasons behind modern conflicts.

Honestly I know very little about the Balkans or the war and your post has made me realise I need to read up on it!
I would never question someone about their religion though, unless they initiated a discussion about it and I felt they were open to being asked. The only white Muslims that I personally know would class themselves as reverts, so if I'm honest I might make that assumption but it's certainly not something I'd say out loud. And it's something I'll try and remember not to assume in future!

UK schools do educate a little of the Ottoman empire in history class. Showing the connection between the Tudors & the Crusades to the Ottomans. But given the Ottoman empire lasted around 700 years, it would be impossible to cover it all in the short time history is taught in school.

Perhaps if more people were aware of the genocides since the second world war they would know about Bosnian muslims.

What a refreshingly sensible attitude. 👏👏

I think you are partially correct there. Certain mass killings and persecution of certain people do seem to ge far more coverage than others. We just have to look at what is happening in Lebanon just now.

On the subject of whether one can be born a Muslim / Jew / Christian I think it does depend where you are from.

In the UK we see religion as being something you can chose to follow or not.

In some parts of the world your religion is dictated by the state / law and it isn't always legal to change it.

In Saudi Arabia a child who's father is Muslim is legally Muslim regardless of what they believe.

I think when your faith aligns closely with a culture or ethnicity then you may feel you have been born 'X Y or Z', eg Judaism and Sikhism are both linked to a particular cultural group.

There was masses of coverage of the Balkans war at the time, including the mass murder of Muslim Bosnian men and boys. It's not taught in schools though.

But agree there is much more coverage of some conflicts than others, there are over 10M Sudanese people displaced because of the conflict there and we hear nothing about it unless we go looking.

Being Jewish is a bit different because it's not just a religion but also an ethnic group.
So even if you dont practice Judaism, if you were born into a Jewish family you will still be Jewish. And even if I adopted Judaism and practised it I would never be Jewish

Why do you need to talk about religion at work though? I've never mentioned my lack of faith (agnostic) to anyone but friends..

A lot of muslim women were hijabs though so seeing that might have been a giveaway.

YANBU, I have a couple of close Bosnian friends so maybe it's just more familiar, I don't know. But I think the general public can be really uneducated about ethnicity and religion in general. Some cousins of ours on DH's side (from a West African English-speaking country) got made to take and pay for an IELTS test when applying to renew visas despite their first language being English. I mentioned it to colleagues and one quite dim-witted one thought it made sense as her Polish friend also had to take one... One of said cousins has had questions from his colleagues such as how did he learn to speak English so well?

Anyway, even outside of the Bosnian community I have definitely met Muslims with blonde or lighter hair, pale skin, blue or green eyes, I just assume people who are surprised by that have quite a limited or homogeneous social circle.

Maybe it's just me but I'd also find it quite intrusive to be assuming you converted and asking about it - idk if it's just the old saying about no politics or religion in small talk making me think that!

TBF though it would be impossible to cover every conflict during history classes. As I say, the connection of the Ottoman empire to the Tudors and the Crusades does get touched on. Ottomans as you know is one of the major points in history of the Countries that made up the former Yugoslavia.

Wctually the largest Muslim population are Indonesian and Malaysian. Then it is South Asians. Then Africans. Then Arabs. Then all other(s).

I am a mix north African and middle eastern and my family are all Muslim and have been for eons. We wre all mixed up, blond hair blue eyes, black skin and dark hair. I am pale with fair features and my brtohers are dark skin with dark features and people always ask if I am a revert or if my brother(s) are my husband and I converted 😂
Very frustrating, depending on my mood

Sadly, it's general racism anf pig ignorance.
I'm sorry you have to deal with scummy people who have no fucking idea, and who cannot think that anyone can be outside their racist little boxes.

Did you not read the OP??

Oh, which Quranic verse says that?

Because they come from a part of Europe that wasn’t conquered by Islam and they don’t know history very well 🤷‍♀️