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Discrimination Against Muslims in America
Muslims have a unique and often misunderstood place in American society. Being misunderstood many American companies have the impression that all Muslims are immigrants and that the religion of Islam promotes violence. Even though hiring practices by large corporations are designed not to discriminate against any particular race, age, religion or demographic hiring decisions are often made by managers who hold biases.
That creates serious problems for not only American-born Muslims but also those who have come from overseas. Despite their skills, abilities and even excessive qualifications for the job they are often ignored.
Take Murad Ali for example. An American-born Muslim who is working on his doctorate, has a many years of experience, positive references, is a successful entrepreneur on his free time and a U.S. military veteran. After applying for a job that required 2-years of experience and an associate degree he received a letter indicating that he was not qualified.
A 2001 study by the Women Working with Immigrant Women found that out of 32 women surveyed 29 employers commented on their scarves and 19 women were told to remove their scarf. The study also included field work where women who were similar in nearly every way went out and applied for jobs. In half of the cases where women did not wear a scarf the employer asked them to fill out an application or leave a resume. The women with the scarf who applied to the same company were not asked to fill out an application or leave a resume. In this study we find discrimination against Muslims common place and part of the hiring representative’s personal feelings about Muslims. Now imagine how discrete employers can be when looking through stacks of resumes. Certainly in such cases it would be easy to hire someone else that is less qualified for the position and have little chance of being caught. Discrimination seems to be a result of people’s perceptions of Muslims brought forth through the media and their own narcissism about the superiority of their particular religion or faith.
About the Author: Murad Ali is the published author of A Call to Greatness and An American Mecca. He runs a consulting service and is the editor of the Muslim Times at http://www.muradenterprises.org
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