In times of heightened national security, scholars and activists from the communities under suspicion often attempt to alert the public to the more complex stories behind the headlines. But when they raise questions about the government, military and police policy, these individuals are routinely shut down and accused of being terrorist sympathisers or apologists for gang culture. In such environments, there is immense pressure to condemn what society at large fears. This collection explains how the expectation to condemn has emerged, tracking it against the normalisation of racism, and explores how writers manage to subvert expectations as part of their commitment to anti-racism.

Reviews

'I Refuse to Condemn gives a direct window into multifarious ways that Muslim and minoritized voices are subjected to containment and constraint - but more importantly, how they think through such experiences and respond to them.'
Contemporary Studies of Islam

'The text's compilation is powerful; it sheds light on different approaches to exploring and uncovering systematic injustice and malpractice and encourages the reader not necessarily to agree but to understand and to challenge preconceived ideas and thinking.'
The Muslim World Book Review (42:2, 2022)

Introduction: 'You know nothing, Jon Snow' - Asim Qureshi

I How did we get here?
1 Remaking rule #1: 'I utterly refuse to condemn...' - Shenaz Bunglawala
2 They needed us, and now they are terrified - Fatima Rajina
3 The four stages of moral panic - Adam Elliott-Cooper
4 The duty to see, the yearning to be seen - Tarek Younis

II Resisting the structure
5 Refusing to condemn as a political act - Remi Joseph-Salisbury
6 Navigating refusal within the academy - Shereen Fernandez and Azeezat Johnson
7 Randomly selected: close encounters of the hive mind - Shafiuddean Choudry
8 Guilty without a crime - Saffa Mir
9 The struggle of a Muslim terror 'suspect lawyer' - Fahad Ansari

III Resisting the personal
10 The (im)possible Muslim - Yassir Morsi
11 The racialised 'go-to Muslim' - Sadia Habib
12 Writing for the kids - Nadya Ali
13 It is Allah who condemns - Cyrus McGoldrick

IV Resisting the performance
14 Is this radical? Am I radical? - Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan
15 Grappling with shadows - Lowkey
16 That's because I've read - Hoda Katebi
17 My art is for my people - Aamer Rahman

Glossary
Acknowledgements
Notes
Further reading