scholarly journals Bridging the Divide?

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-147
Author(s):  
Fiaz Shuayb
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The United States ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Islamic Terrorism ◽  
Policy Communities

On January 9, 2006, in Washington, DC, the Saban Center for Middle EastPolicy at the Brookings Institution hosted the highest level meeting betweenthe Bush administration and the American Muslim community. Entitled “Bridging the Divide?” and organized by the Brookings Project on USPolicy toward the Islamic World, representatives of various Muslim organizationwere granted the opportunity to interface with C. David Welch, theAssistant Secretary of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. The conference,a follow-up to previous initiatives on “Bridging the Divide” theme, soughtto bring together key leaders and specialists “to explore the potential spacefor the American Muslim community to assist and advance US policytowards the Islamic world and capabilities within the community that mightbe better tapped.” In attendance were representatives from the Americangovernment, officials from a variety of American Muslim organizations,American Muslim foreign policy experts, others from the Washington thinktankand policy communities, and students.In the opening speech, Welch acknowledged several unique characteristicsabout the American Muslim community: its integration into Americancivic life; being Americans as well as Muslims; and, despite post-9/11 tensions,steering a moderate course while confronting extremist Islamist tendencies.As evidence, he cited the Fiqh Council of North America’s recentfatwa against Islamic terrorism that was endorsed by major Muslim organizations.He recognized that American Muslims can play an exceptional rolein explaining the American position, given their cultural, linguistic, and ethnicties with the Islamic world, and acknowledged the history of conflictbetween the United States and the Muslim world. In addition, he condemnedthe seeming “civilizational strife” between Islam and the West as a pointless“jihad/crusade.” He stated that he was more comfortable with the relationshipof the United States with the Muslim – especially Arab – world as beingdefined by a dialog stressing the commonalities of belief in God, virtue,family life, and socioeconomic justice ...

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.

Refining Religious Arbitration in the United States and Abroad

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Broyde
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
American Muslims ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Legal Requirements ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
American Muslim

Basic frameworks for successful religious arbitration exist, though religious communities, particularly the growing American Muslim community, still face challenges in implementing their own ADR systems effectively. This chapter describes some of these challenges, as well as the ways in which they may be addressed. It looks to the example set by the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, a U.K.-based Islamic arbitration organization that has successfully adopted and adapted the Beth Din of America approach to religious arbitration, as a likely model for American Muslims to build on in constructing their own ADR processes. This chapter notes that Christian communities in the United States also face challenges in their attempts to implement effective faith-based arbitration, though these challenges somewhat differ from those dealt with by the more law-centered Jewish and Muslim traditions. Christian communities have responded by creating their own religious arbitration models that conform to the technical legal requirements of the FAA.

American Muslims and Global Islam

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Mandaville
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
American Muslims ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Muslim Intellectuals

This article explores some of the ways in which the religious lives of American Muslims are shaped by—and, in turn, shape—Islamic ideas, doctrines, organizations, and movements that circulate beyond the United States. It surveys the role of global Islam in the development of several of the most important American Muslim organizations and institutions in the twentieth century. Profiles are offered of leading American Muslim intellectuals who serve as bridges between the American Muslim community and broader religious currents in the Muslim world in order to illustrate various modalities of American Muslim transnationalism. With the rise of the internet and new media, young Muslims in the United States can today be thought of as contributors to a global Muslim public sphere.

Shari‘a and Fiqh in the United States

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asma Afsaruddin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Legal Reasoning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Marriage Contracts ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Legal Concepts

This chapter discusses the relation and differences between the legal concepts of shariʿa and fiqh and their implications for the reinterpretation and reform of specific legal rulings today by qualified American Muslim jurists and academic scholars through the process of ijtihad. It indicates some of the intra-Muslim debates concerning the purview of shariʿa, its objectives (maqasid al-shariʿa) and the particular challenges faced by the American Muslim community, which is situated within a larger secular non-Muslim polity. It then proceeds to discuss three American Muslim organizations—the Fiqh Council of North America, Karamah, and the Shura Council of the Women’s Initiative for Spirituality and Equality—and their seminal roles in spearheading innovative legal reasoning within scriptural and classical shar‘i parameters in the United States. Specific legal issues dealt with in this chapter include the articulation of a “jurisprudence of minorities” (fiqh al-aqalliyat), creation of egalitarian marriage contracts, and reinterpretation of the permissibility of adoption within Islamic law.

scholarly journals Debating Moderate Islam

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. i-vi
Author(s):  
Muqtedar Khan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The West ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Muslim Politics ◽  
The Relationship

Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, there have beenseveral conversations about the different interpretations of Islam, its impacton Muslim politics, and the relationship between Islam and the West. Thisdebate gained renewed vigor after the London attacks on July 7 and 21,2005. Scholars and policymakers agree that a politically angry and intellectuallynarrow interpretation of Islam – loosely referred to as militant orradical Islam – is exacerbating the already rampant anti-Americanism inthe Muslim world and encouraging terrorist responses to real and perceivedinjustices. Some analysts assert that the United States is completely innocentand thus blame radical Islamists alone for all of the problems in theworld, while others totally ignore the existence of extremism in the Muslimworld and blame the United States for all of the ills of our times. Most peopleare somewhere in between.Regardless of where one stands in this debate, there is now a growingconsensus that those on the moderate side in the Muslim world must assertthemselves and join the battle against extremism. Western governments arebeing advised to actively welcome the help and cooperation of moderateMuslims in order to ensure that the war against extremism does not become– or appear to be – a war against Islam. This policy idea of including moderateMuslims as allies against extremism in the Muslim world has generatedan interesting debate about what moderation really means and who isa moderate Muslim.In this special issue of the American Journal of Islamic SocialSciences, prominent voices from the policy community, the academic community,and the American Muslim community come together to debate whois a moderate Muslim and just what moderation means in a theological as ...

scholarly journals Ali A. Mazrui, IIIT, and the Muslim Experience in the United States of America

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. i-v
Author(s):  
Zakyi Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reasonable Doubt ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Howard University ◽  
To Come

This editorial is dedicated to paying a tribute to Professor Ali A. Mazrui, whopassed away in Binghamton, New York, on October 13, 2014. From 2009(AJISS 26:1) until his passing, Professor Mazrui was the editor-in-chief forthis journal. In years to come, we may consider dedicating a special issue tohim and his general intellectual contributions. But for now, we present the followingtribute penned by his friend and colleague, Professor Sulayman S.Nyang (Howard University, Washington, DC), as published in IIIT “SpecialIssue: Farewell Professor Ali Mazrui” (October 2014).Professor Ali A. Mazrui, the celebrated scholar, author, and public intellectualfrom Kenya came, performed, and departed gracefully. Certainly, those whoknew him well gladly fared him well, knowing beyond reasonable doubt thathe had the nerve and the verve to represent both Islam and Africa faithfullyand effectively. It is against this background that one can examine a profile ofthe man and his legacies within many domains in America, the Islamic world,and in the larger world ...

The Future of Muslim Education in the United States: An Agenda for Research

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 46-82
Author(s):  
Fathi Malkawi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Education ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Future ◽  
Muslim Education ◽  
Future Plans

This paper addresses some of the Muslim community’s concerns regarding its children’s education and reflects upon how education has shaped the position of other communities in American history. It argues that the future of Muslim education will be influenced directly by the present realities and future trends within American education in general, and, more importantly, by the well-calculated and informed short-term and long-term decisions and future plans taken by the Muslim community. The paper identifies some areas in which a wellestablished knowledge base is critical to making decisions, and calls for serious research to be undertaken to furnish this base.

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