Towards Creating a Genuine Muslim Political Identity in Canada: The Post-colonial Way.

Young Canadian Muslims are tired of the politicized hijab.

We're tired of apologizing for ISIL. We're tired of towing the Liberal party line, and we're definitely pissed of at racist and Islamophobic federal conservative political agendas. The Sikh Canadians took over the NDP, and no they are not Muslims, trust me, they make it a point NOT to eat halal meat. Can we politically support LGBTQ234XS24 communities? Oh, and guess what? Chinese Canadians are jumping on the lets-hate-on-Muslims bandwagon too!

Meanwhile Trudeau Jr. is finding it increasingly difficult to fulfil his father's dream of a Republican French-Canada. Amidst the political confusion and divisions, however, some political groups are caking and some groups are faking.

Muslims are faking. Hard. So let's start by doing some house cleaning.

It's out there. The hijab is a female domain, men have no say in it. Anything else? Oh yes, sexual assault is shame-worthy. Got it. Muslims are not terrorists...speak up man, I can't hear you over the Black Lives Matter movement.

My favourite: "Women are not safe havens for improperly raised boys". Alas, this is political activism in the Muslim community.

What happens though, when we move beyond these lessons having absorbed them, and become adults. How are we further helping to make Canada a better place for ourselves and others?

Well, before we can be productive members of society, there's a lot we have to unpack about our lived experiences.

To understand the plight of Western Muslims, we should stop referring to Ottomanism, or the Golden Age of Islam. There is no point in proving to the European world that Muslims did it first and that we did it better. Frankly, it frustrates me how Muslims refer to Istanbul as a Westernized city (I used to be one of those poor blokes). Istanbul has been a cosmopolitan project since before the Europeans were "enlightened"--and back then it was called Islambul.

Secularism is not a Western construct. Not convinced? read Edward Said's Orientalism. Or ask a student of Averroes (Ibn Rushd).

All I am saying is, there is no need for Muslim youth to be insecure about their Islamic roots. What they need to be insecure about is how colonized their understanding of their Islamic faith and its rich traditions, has been. It's one thing to be told about how Muslims dissolved the Caliphate in 1924, and another to go through soul searching quests to understand your roots, and the effect colonization had on your people, their culture, society and faith--right down to your family.

Concept like interest (usury), toxic masculinity and white feminist responses to toxic masculinity are paradigms, in my opinion, that are deeply rooted in Western materialism.

There is much we can learn from past Islamic societies and Indigenous and African communities in regards to what social harmony, social justice and prosperity look like.

Remember, most Muslims born or living in the West have their ethnic roots in the subcontinent, Africa and the Middle East--with a good chunk of Muslims hailing from South America and Far East Asia. Nearly all of us (or our parents), come from nations that have been (and still are!), in the past 100 years colonized by imperial European interest. How has this affected the generational understanding of Islam? How has colonization affected our political identity as Muslims in the West?

When we begin to deconstruct colonization in its economic, intellectual, social and cultural forms, we can begin to deconstruct current social, political and economics systems and structures we are subject to and active or passive players in, and form a Canadian political identity that advocates for more just and prosperous societies. Maybe even help solve humanity's problems drawing from our own (Islamic) traditions.

After all, Islam was meant to be for everyone. So, what are we waiting for?