Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muna Ali
Keyword(s):  
Identity Crisis ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Narrative Framework

This introductory chapter presents three vignettes that illustrate the four narratives that frame this book: the notion of an identity crisis among young Muslims, the purported conflict between a “pure or true” Islam and a “cultural” Islam, an alleged “Islamization of America,” and the imperative for creating an American Muslim community and culture. It also sketches the methodology employed in the book, detailing the centrality of a narrative framework from the inception of this project to its methods, the challenges encountered, the analysis, and ultimately to the production of this ethnographic narrative. This beginning chapter argues that narrative is a particularly useful way to examine identity.

scholarly journals Muslim Community of the Present-Day USA: Looking for SelfIdentity in the Multicultural Society

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-202
Author(s):  
M. H. Abdullaev
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Muslim Americans ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Black Muslims ◽  
Religious Worldview ◽  
Political Events ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
The Face ◽  
American Society

This article is devoted to the current socio- political processes experienced by the Muslim community in the United States of America. The author studies the process of harmonious integration by Muslim Americans into American society, the search for possible correlations between the religious and secular parts of society, and the requirements of Islam in the face of demo cratic values. The author pays special attention to the issues of self-determination for Islam adherents, including their political search, and attempts to gain a powerful voice in the most important political events. The article analyzes such aspects of American Muslims life as, interaction with representatives of other faiths, discrimination and Islamophobia, and the Islamic religious worldview of black Muslims. The author focuses on problematic discourse. Using methods of analysis, deduction, as well as methods of included observation, the author shows a modern picture of American Muslim life, and also makes important conclusions and predictions regarding their future in a rapidly changing multicultural American society.

The Role of Imams in American Muslim Health: Perspectives of Muslim Community Leaders in Southeast Michigan

2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aasim I. Padela ◽  
Amal Killawi ◽  
Michele Heisler ◽  
Sonya Demonner ◽  
Michael D. Fetters
Keyword(s):  
Community Leaders ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
American Muslim

scholarly journals Religious Values and Healthcare Accommodations: Voices from the American Muslim Community

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 708-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aasim I. Padela ◽  
Katie Gunter ◽  
Amal Killawi ◽  
Michele Heisler
Keyword(s):  
Religious Values ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
American Muslim

scholarly journals The Identity Crisis of the Contemporary Muslim Ummah: The Loss of Tawhidic Epistomoly as its Root Cause

ICR Journal ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-653
Author(s):  
Osman Bakar
Keyword(s):  
Identity Crisis ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Knowledge Community ◽  
Substantial Loss ◽  
Modern Education ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Human Thought ◽  
Modern Era

The author aims to show that the identity of the Muslim community (ummah) in the modern and contemporary period is in a state of crisis. The ummah is defined as a knowledge-community founded on, nourished and sustained by the quranic tawhidic epistemology. The article presents an established concept and theory of crisis for the purpose of arguing that the ummah is facing a knowledge- and identity-crisis. It traces the roots of this crisis to the substantial loss of the tawhidic epistemology that has helped sustain this identity for the greater part of Islamic history before the modern era. It argues further that Muslim modern education in the colonial era based on secular epistemologies quickened the decline of tawhidic epistemology to the point of making it helpless to respond effectively to the challenges posed by those modern epistemologies. The author argues that an unresolved intellectual conflict between the surviving elements of tawhidic epistemology and modern epistemologies has resulted in an epistemological crisis of great consequences to Muslim life and thought. To help overcome this epistemological crisis, he argues for the renewal (tajdid) of tawhidic epistemology in the light of contemporary human thought. Concrete measures are also suggested as to helping make this renewal a reality.  

Mosques in the United States

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ihsan Bagby
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nation Of Islam ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Community Centers ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
The 1960S

In the Muslim world, mosques function as places of worship rather than “congregations” or community centers. Muslims pray in any mosque that is convenient, since they are not considered members of a particular mosque but of the ummah (global community of Muslims). In America, however, Muslims attached to specific mosques have always followed congregational patterns. They transform mosques into community centers aimed at serving the needs of Muslims and use them as the primary vehicle for the collective expression of Islam in the American Muslim community. This chapter provides a historical overview of mosques in America. It also looks at the conversion of African Americans into mainstream Islam starting in the 1960s, the transformation of the Nation of Islam into a mainstream Muslim group, and the growth of mosques in America. In addition, it describes mosque participants, mosque activities, mosque structures, and mosque finances as well as the American mosque’s embrace of civic engagement and the role of women in the American mosque. Finally, the chapter examines the mosque leaders’ approach to Islam.

Shifting Landscapes and a Missing Map

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Juliane Hammer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
The United States ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
The People ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
The World ◽  
Complex Landscape ◽  
Muslim Communities

This introductory chapter provides an overview of American Muslim organizations working against domestic violence in Muslim communities. The central goal of these organizations is simple: the eradication of domestic violence, a scourge that affects too many individuals, families, and communities in the United States and all over the world. Their work, however, is complicated, ongoing, and challenging. This book is about the people who carry out anti-domestic violence work in Muslim communities in the United States. It chronicles their efforts, their motivations, and their engagement with gender dynamics, textual interpretation, and religious authority. The chapter then lays out the framework for the following chapters, including the sources and methods employed in the study and the complex landscape of secondary literature on domestic violence.

scholarly journals Woman and the Masjid between Two Extremes

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-141
Author(s):  
Louay Safi
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
American Muslim

The masjid, better known in North America as the Islamic center, is the centerof spiritual, social, educational, and, most recently, political activities ofthe American Muslim community. The masjid is also the place whereMuslims of diverse cultural and ideological backgrounds meet and interact.The diversity of interpretations of Islamic sources and practices has createdtensions, particularly in Islamic centers where the tendency is to imposestrict interpretations about the appropriate place and role of Muslim womenin the masjid and the community.An increasing number of young Muslim women complain of restrictivearrangements and practices, impeding their ability to fully participate in educationaland social programs. Many masjids today restrict the main prayerhall to men and assign women to secluded quarters. Women are asking outloud: “Is this the place Islam assigns for us, or is it the imposition of culturaltraditions?” Some have even gone to the other extreme of rejecting all traditionsand discarding all limits ...

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document