-----

An ethnography of Islamic Relief, the largest Islamic NGO based in the West, Racializing the Ummah explores how a Muslim organization can do good in a world that defines Muslimness as less than human. Analyzing IR’s mission and transnational activities in and across places including the UK, South Africa, and Mali in the broader context of global white supremacy, Racializing the Ummah explores how IR’s efforts often effectively secularize Islam to evade anti-Muslim racism and Islamophobia. Meanwhile, theorizing the tactics of aid workers on the ground, the work locates the possibility of escape from the all-encompassing dictates of racial capitalism in alternative visions of doing good—ones that are grounded in Islam as the foundation of a revolutionary praxis. Exploring themes of racialization among, across, and between Muslim communities worldwide, the book analyzes Islamic Relief through the intersections of anti-Muslim and anti-Black racism.

Rhea Rahman is assistant professor of anthropology at Brooklyn College, CUNY. Her research has been published in Africa, Religions, and an edited volume of The Anthropology of White Supremacy.

-----