Across the Muslim world, there’s growing talk of revival—of reclaiming dignity, resisting oppression, and rebuilding what was lost. But beneath the surface, something far more difficult remains unaddressed.

Why is fair skin still seen as more beautiful?
Why do English and French still signal intelligence or status in Muslim societies?
Why are Black Muslims marginalized, their histories ignored?
Why are Western styles, Gulf culture, and Arab accents treated as superior, while other Islamic traditions are dismissed or erased?

These aren’t just cultural quirks—they’re symptoms of something deeper.
White supremacy didn’t end with colonialism. It was absorbed, internalized, and left to grow quietly in our institutions, marriages, and self-image.

Until we confront this silent inheritance, every call to decolonize will fall short.
True liberation begins not just by resisting the West, but by removing the West’s gaze from within ourselves.

Colonialism Was Built on White Supremacy


Colonialism wasn’t only a project of conquest—it was a project of hierarchy.
European powers justified their domination of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East through a belief system: that whiteness represented progress, reason, and civilization, while everyone else was inferior, emotional, and backwards.

This wasn’t just political—it was cultural, spiritual, and psychological.

Whiteness became the standard for beauty.
European languages became the markers of education and intelligence.
Western styles of dress, governance, and thought were imposed as the norm.

White supremacy wasn’t just the justification for colonialism—it was its operating system.

The Muslim World Has Not Fully Decolonized


After colonial empires officially ended, Muslim societies inherited far more than new flags and national anthems. They inherited systems built by their colonizers—legal codes, borders, educational models, and bureaucracies rooted in Eurocentric ideals.

But more dangerously, they inherited a worldview.

Today, in many Muslim communities:

  • Skin-lightening products are marketed as beauty essentials
  • Speaking Arabic with a Gulf accent adds credibility; speaking with an African or Southeast Asian accent diminishes it
  • English and French dominate elite education systems, even in Islamic studies
  • Local traditions, languages, and expressions of Islam are erased or deemed “cultural Islam,” as if they are impure or diluted

These are not accidents. They are the lingering effects of colonization—a colonization of perception.

And so, while Muslim leaders and thinkers call for revival, they often do so while carrying the very logic that subdued their people.

Islamic Revival Requires Dismantling White Supremacy


Islam, at its core, is a radical rejection of racial hierarchy.
It centers human dignity on taqwa (God-consciousness), not skin color, tribe, or wealth.
In the early Islamic world, people of various backgrounds—many of whom would be considered Black by today’s standards—formed the foundation of the Ummah, without artificial racial boundaries.

Yet today, those same values are often buried beneath layers of colonial conditioning.

A true Islamic revival cannot occur until we actively uproot the white supremacist mindset that still defines success, respectability, and legitimacy in many Muslim spaces.

This means:

  • Valuing the contributions of African, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Indigenous Muslim communities—not just Arab or Western-approved models
  • Breaking the myth that Gulf Arab culture is the gold standard of Islamic authenticity
  • Rebuilding institutions free from colonial-era hierarchies and Gulf political influence
  • Training a new generation of thinkers who are grounded in Islamic tradition but equipped to challenge colonial psychology
  • Funding research, education, and social programs that confront colorism, classism, and internalized racism in Muslim societies

Islam was never meant to be an imitation of empire. It was meant to be a cure for it.

Liberation Starts Within


We cannot speak of justice for Palestine while accepting injustice in our own communities.
We cannot decry colonialism while replicating it in our marriages, our mosques, and our schools.
And we cannot hope for revival while measuring our worth through the lens of someone else’s superiority.

White supremacy is not just a Western disease. It’s a global infection—and many Muslims are unknowingly its hosts.

If we want liberation, we must begin with truth.
And the truth is: until we remove the colonizer’s voice from within, we will keep mistaking our chains for principles.