Why Andrew Tate is a threat to the Muslim community
Andrew Tate is in the headlines yet again. I explain why myself and other Muslims take issue with him and are wary of his conversion to Islam
Welcome back to ‘Eyb, my newsletter in which I write frankly on issues that affect myself and other BIPOC and Muslim women, issues that as a young Arab woman I would be told are shameful or ‘eyb to speak about openly. I also share what I have been writing, reading and watching.
If you have recently subscribed a massive ahlan wa sahlan - welcome - to you!
I know it’s been a while since I’ve written a newsletter; I took the Christmas and New Year period to take a break from writing and also had a little health scare which thankfully was investigated quickly. January tends to be the time of year where my depression makes a brief comeback and when my autoimmune symptoms flare up.
I always look forward to reaching the end of January (and we are here already!) For some reason January always feels like a month of stagnation to me and February in the UK is usually marked by being stuck indoors all month due to a series of gale-force storms. For me, the year feels as if it really starts in March!
Why myself and other Muslims are worried about Andrew Tate’s recent conversion to Islam
Shortly after Andrew Tate converted to Islam, I wrote an op-ed for Al Jazeera on why this caused concern for myself and other Muslims. What ensued was a barrage of hate mail in my Instagram DMs and email inbox from men - white men and BIPOC men, Muslim men and non-Muslim men - who accused me of slander, who told me what a terrible person I was, who said I was disgusting and disgraceful and that they hoped God would forgive me for what I had written. This wasn’t as bad as other female Muslim journalists I personally know who received rape and death threats after writing critical pieces on Tate.
Any Muslim who has expressed concern on social media at Tate’s conversion and what it could mean for young impressionable Muslim men who may take his conversion as validation of his hateful and misogynistic views, has been met with a barrage of insults from an online community of neo-trad Muslim men who are Tate fans, or at the very least Tate sympathisers/justifiers/apologists.
Never in my entire life have I seen Muslim men defend someone to the extent they defend Tate, even now as he is being investigated in Romania for human trafficking.
“Have husn al thann (thinking the best of someone),” say his supporters/sympathisers, “His sins have been wiped clean now he has converted.” “He’s on a journey,” they say. A couple of my male family members reacted to comments I made in the Telegraph last week by saying, “Tate isn’t actually violent in real life, he just says this stuff for social media. Every woman who has interacted with him in real life says how nice he is.” I once worked at a gym with a man who was very nice to me. A year later he turned out to be part of a sex grooming ring in Yorkshire and is now serving a lengthy sentence in prison.
Even if Tate actually doesn’t mean the misogynistic and violent things he has said online (I’m sceptical), it doesn’t make it any better. He has still caused an incredible amount of harm, influencing hordes of young men into believing that violence against women is acceptable and justified, and promoting a philosophy of toxic masculinity.
Indeed when a person becomes Muslim their prior sins are wiped clean. However this comes with the condition that they denounce any behaviour or action considered acts of wickedness - sexual exploitation and running an Only Fans/sex webcam business comes under that.
Publicly condoning violence against women also comes under that. Tate has made no public denouncement or apology, no announcement that what he promoted and what he did was wrong and that he rejects it all. This is what concerns myself and other Muslims.
Post-conversion Tate was still re-posting old content; after his Twitter account was reactivated he was posting photos of himself drinking alcohol and The Times reported that when the Romanian authorities raided his property in December, he and his brother Tristan were planning a New Year’s party. According to followchain, while Tate has little involvement now in the sex webcam business, he still takes a cut of the women’s earnings. None of these things suggest he has reformed since becoming a Muslim, a key condition to having those sins wiped clean.
“He’s still on his journey, it won’t happen overnight,” say his male Muslim cheerleaders. But do we extend the same non-judgement, understanding and support to women who become Muslim and haven’t put the hijab on, or still have tattoos, or do we judge them, make cruel remarks and offer little-to-no support?
In a world where violence and hate against women have become a fully-fledged pandemic, Tate’s words have added fuel to the fire. I work in the education sector and the number one safeguarding issue colleges now have is inceldom, the Red Pill movement and sexual harassment of female students, with male students being caught watching Andrew Tate’s videos in groups.
As educators Tate’s Hustler University is also damaging to our young male students as it undoes the idea that you should work hard and get an education to succeed in life. Tate convinces them to believe that they can put minimal effort in to make millions.
As I said to the Telegraph what concerns myself and other Muslims is that we worry about what it was that attracted Tate to our faith, given his previous videos in which he praised Islam for what he believes allows the stoning of women as a punishment for adultery. Has he converted because the West “cancelled” him and he wants to secure a fanbase with the minority of Muslim men who share his ideas?
Was he attracted to Islam because he holds the Western misconception that Islam allows violence against women? Do these neo-trad Muslim men welcome him with open arms because now that he is a Muslim they have a high-profile figure who represents the views that they cannot get away with holding publicly without backlash?
I think Palestinian Australian comedian Aamer Rahman summed it up best in this tweet:
What I’ve been writing…
Illustration by The New Arab
I explained why Western media’s criticism of the Emir of Qatar gowning Messi in a bisht shows contempt and ignorance of Arab culture. Read it here.
I interviewed scholars from Musawah about their latest body of work, the book Justice and Beauty in Muslim Marriage, which offers guidance on how to achieve an egalitarian and gender-just marriage model. Check it out here.
I investigated the serious consequences that the NHS’ discrimination and lack of urgency in gynaecological healthcare and maternity services has on British Muslim women’s reproductive health. Read it here.
What I’ve been reading…
I thoroughly enjoyed author Layla AlAmmar’s treatise on why the English language will not cause the death of Modern Standard Arabic for The New Arab. Read ‘The “death” of Arabic may come from where we least expect it’
To learn more about how Andrew Tate has affected the Muslim community, read:
Nadeine Asbali’s piece for Glamour UK, ‘Red-Pill misogyny is thriving: here’s how Muslim women are challenging it in their communities’
Imran Mulla’s op-ed for Middle East Eye, ‘Andrew Tate is no role model for young Muslims - he’s a vulgar misogynist’
Hafsa Lodi’s op-ed for The Independent, ‘This is what Andrew Tate means for Muslim women like me.’
Finally, if you enjoy reading my work, do support me by purchasing a copy of my semi-autobiographical novel, Hijab and Red Lipstick, published by Hashtag Press. You can find it on Amazon, Waterstones, Blackwell’s, Book Depository and in the Hashtag Press Shop.