Being Muslim in America English

8/14/2019 Being Muslim in America English

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United StateS d epartment of State / B UreaU of international information programS



I love America not be-cause I am under theillusion that i t is per-

ect, but because it allowsme — the child o Muslimimmigrants rom India —to participate in its prog-ress, to carve a place in itspromise, to play a role inits possibility.

John Winthrop, one o the earliest Europeansettlers in America, gave voice to this senseo possibility. He told his compatriots thattheir society would be like a city upon a hill ,a beacon or the world. It was a hope rooted

32

in Winthrop’s Christianaith, and no doubt he

imagined his city on ahill with a steeple in thecenter. Throughout thecenturies, America has re-mained a deeply religiouscountry, while becominga remarkably plural one.

Indeed, we are the most religiously devout

nation in the West and the most religiouslydiverse country in the world. The steeple atthe center o the city on a hill is now sur-rounded by the minaret o Muslim mosques,the Hebrew script o Jewish synagogues, thechanting o Buddhist sangas, and the statues

o Hindu temples. In act, there are now moreMuslims in America than Episcopalians, the

aith pro essed by many o America’s Found-ing Fathers.

One hundred years ago, the great A rican-American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois warnedthat the problem o the century would be thecolor line. The 21st century might well be

dominated by a di erent line — the aith line.The most pressing questions or my country(America), my religion (Islam), and all God’speople may well be these: How will peoplewho may have di erent ideas o heaven in-teract together on Earth? Will the steeple, theminaret, the synagogue, the temple, and thesanga learn to share space in a new city ona hill?

I think the American ethos — mixing toleranceand reverence — may have something specialto contribute to this issue.

America is a grand gathering o souls, thevast majority rom elsewhere. The Americangenius lies in allowing these souls to contrib-ute their texture to the American tradition, toadd new notes to the American song.

I am an American with a Muslim soul. My soul

carries a long history o heroes, movements,and civilizations that sought to submit to thewill o God. My soul listened as the ProphetMuhammad preached the central messages oIslam, tazaaqa and tawhid, compassionatejustice and the oneness o God. In the Middle

Ages, my soul spread to the Eapraying in the mosques and stlibraries o the great medievao Cairo, Baghdad, and Cordowhirled with Rumi, read Aristroes, traveled through Central AKhusrow. In the colonial era, mwas stirred to justice. It marchGha ar Khan and the Khudai

their satyagraha to ree IndiaFarid Esack, Ebrahim Moosa, and the Muslim Youth Movemengle or a multicultural South A

In one eye I carry this anciesion on pluralism; in the other American promise. And in mythat we make real this possibilihill where di erent religious spect ully share space and colthe common good; a world whetions and peoples come to knowin a spirit o brotherhood and a century in which we achieve together.

Author Eboo Patel is executive dir

ter ai th Youth Core in Chicago, I

leader in the inter ai th movement .

“I Am An AmerIcAn W Ith A m uslIm s oul ”

Eboo Patel



4 5

BuIldIng A lIfe In AmerIcA

Immigrants have come to America rom everycorner o the globe. The people are diverse buttheir reasons similar: Some sought to escape an

old way o li e, others to ind a new one. Somewere escaping violence, others the shackles o cus-tom, poverty, or simple lack o opportunity. Theycame largely rom Europe in the 19th century and

rom the rest o the world — Asia, A rica, the Mid-dle East, and Central and South America — in the20th and 21st.

They arrived with hope, and o ten little else.

Their initial reception was rThese new Americans ound a vagry or their labor. But some, unnewcomers’ customs and religions,Americans as outsiders and belienever be real Americans. They we

reedom, aith, and hard work, wave o immigrants has added itstributions to the American story, ciety and culture, and shaped thealways-evolving meaning o the

Abdul and Majida Alsaadi shop at a Wal-Mart in Dearb


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Clockwise from left, Abdi Mohamed says evening prayers in his Omaha, Nebraska, grocery store;

at home in Brooklyn, New York, a family searches

the Internet; Susan Fadlallah prepares the meal to

break the Ramadan fast. Center, butcher Nehme

Mansour grinds halal meat in Michigan.

children’s Nickelodeon station and the news chan-nel Al Jazeera. When they got takeout ood, theysometimes chose Kentucky Fried Chicken and some-times their avorite ala el restaurant.

“In America, we would say we’re Muslim irst,because that’s what makes us di erent, I guess,”Assia, age 20, told NPR. “But in another country,like in a Muslim country, we would say we’re Amer-ican.”

Their story is both remarkable and not so, orthere is nothing more American than new genera-tions — rom kaleidoscopic combinations o ethnic-ity and religion — de ining themselves as Ameri-cans.

“America has always been the promised landor Muslims and non-Muslims,” observes Iranian-

American Behzad Yaghmaian, author oEmbracing

the In idel: Stories o Muslim Migrants on the Jour-

ney West . She told theNew York Times, “They stillcome here because the United States o ers whatthey’re missing at home.”

The tales o Muslim Americans track a amiliararc, but individually they add immeasurably to thevibrant diversity o a nation ounded not on com-mon ancestry, but on the shared values o reedom,opportunity, and equal rights or all.

“In every era o U.S. history, women and menrom around the world have opted or the American

experience,” writes historian Hasia Diner. “They ar-rived as oreigners, bearers o languages, cultures,

and religions that at times seemed alien to Ameri-ca’s essential core. Over time, as ideas about U.S.culture changed, the immigrants and their descen-dants simultaneously built ethnic communities andparticipated in American civic li e, contributing tothe nation as a whole.”



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C Areers

Clockwise from left, Dr. Maya Hammoud holds the

medical handbook in Arabic that she wrote; Samiul

Haque Noor, winner of New York City’s annual

Vendy Award for best street vender food; Mohamad

Atwi’s Wal-Mart name tag is in two languages.

Muslim Americans possthat is extraordinary evestandards. In sharp cont

migrant groups, Muslim Americanined by race or nationality; in this

closely resemble the Hispanic Amegins lie in Spain, the many nations oand the islands o the Caribbean.

Muslim American diversity ma

encompassing origins in South AEast, Southeast Asia, Europe’s BalA rica, as well as a small but grHispanic Muslims.

Because the United States doeslation by religion, there is no authoits Muslim population. Estimates ra2 million to 7 million or more. O proximately 34 percent are o PaAsian origin and 26 percent are Ar

Another 25 percent o Muslim Adigenous, largely A rican Americastill more layers to the rich Muslimence. In other words, the Muslimis not just one o immigration ation, but part o one o the most pAmerican history: the struggle or

There are mosques and Muslimtural institutions throughout the ccenters and rural communities alikthe International Museum o Mus

irst Islamic history museum in tForget about traveling to New Yoton; instead you must head or th

Jackson, Mississippi. Dearborn, Mto the nation’s largest Arab-AmerMuslims rom South Asia and A

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12 1312 13

and growing communities in the New York-New Jer-sey area. Somalis have settled in substantial num-bers in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, andSouthern Cali ornia is home to the country’s largestIranian-American population.

Yet even these ethnic communities are hardlymonolithic. Many o the Arabs living in Dearborn

and elsewhere are Christian, not Muslim, and anumber o Iranian Americans living in Los Angelesare Jewish.

Generalizing about such a diverse a populationcan obscure more than it explains. Better, perhaps,to study representative experiences.

Clockwise from left, former director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni gives a

presentation; comedian Maysoon Zayid does her

stand-up routine; Sacramento Kings forward Sha-

reef Abdur-Rahim goes up for a jump shot; Staff

Sergeant Magda Khalifa in her U.S.Army uniform.

“We all should know that diversity makes ora rich tapestry,” says the noted A rican-Americanpoet Maya Angelou, “and we must understand thatall the threads o the tapestry are equal in value nomatter their color; equal in importance no mattertheir texture.”

Iman Boundaoui o Chicago, or example,

ound that reedom involved her decision to weara head scar . She recalls a vivid incident during ahigh school trip to Paris, France, when her grouptalked with girls at a private Muslim school oundedin response to a French law banning head scarvesin public schools: “And me and my riends were

“We all should know that diversity makes or a richand we must understand that all the threads o the tare equal in value no matter their color; equal in imno matter their texture.” — Maya A



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s erviCe

Clockwise from bottom left, A Somali immigrant casts her ballot; young Muslim activists brainstorm ways to solve problems in their community; Farooq Aboelzahab talks about the diversity at his mosque; religious leaders gather to celebrate peace and tolerance; Sarah Eltantawi answers questions at a news conference.

looking at them,” Boundaoui told Nmoment we were like, ‘Thank God ica,’ that I can walk down the streeon without having to decide to takehave to go to school.”

For Pakistani immigrant Nur Fastead means that a ter moving to alyn, New York, known as Little Pachoose to remove her head scar ,

act that Americans generally regand religious choices as private maland o opportunity, there is equaliFatima told theNew York Times. “I United States because I want to iThis is a second birth or me.”

Today, in a thousand di erenAmericans o Islamic aith embraca crucial part o a sel - ashionedthey choose rom among all the podom that this land bestows upon As they explore the possibilities, ththey, too, have become Americans.

“We stress the American Muslhome is where my grandchildren araised, not where my grand ather iAl-Marayati, executive director o A airs Council, told Cali orniaSac

newspaper.

With growing numberand organization, Mcans contribute in ev

business and scholarship to sportTheir stories range rom PakiHaque Noor, whose spicy halal him the 2006 award or best oo

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1716

Imam Hashim Raza leads the prayers during a fu-

neral at the al-Fatima Islamic Center in Colonie,

New York, for Mohsin Naqvi, a U.S. Army officer

killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

in New York City, to Dr. Elias Zerhria, head o the National Institute2002 to 2008; romNewsweek comeditor Fareed Zakaria, to actor anMos De ; rom pro essional baskeMutombo o the Houston Rockets,Keith Ellison o Minnesota, the io the U.S. Congress.

A new generation o Muslim A

American medicine, science, and litrician and gynecologist Nawal Nodan and raised in Egypt, pioneers wissues as ounder o the A ricanCenter in Boston, Massachusetts. esteemed MacArthur Fellowship “genius grant”) in 2003 and StanMuslim Scholar Award in 2008.

Iranian-American scientist BabUniversity o Washington has madthroughs in nanotechnology — ultrand biological applications at the clecular level — including tiny devsemble and reassemble themselves

Writer Mohja Kah , who cama child, has skewered American cand Muslim Americans themselvesand razor-sharp observations in heFrom Scheherazad ) and an autobiogset in Indiana (The Girl in the Tangbooks that have drawn ervent admamong younger Muslim-American

She also writes a rank online lationships and sex or younger lieves that with such works asThe AutMalcolm X and Khaled Hosseini’sThMuslim-American literature can noconsidered a distinct genre.



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eDuCAtion

Above, students and advisers paint a mural that rec-

ognizes diversity in faith in Philadelphia, Pennsyl-

vania. Right, Yasmine Asfoor answers a question in

government class at Mountain Pointe High School

near Phoenix, Arizona.

Fady Joudah, born to Palestinian parents in Tex-as, grew up to become an emergency-room phy-sician, now working in Houston, and has servedwith Doctors Without Borders at re ugee camps inZambia and in Dar ur, Sudan. He is also a majornew poet and winner o the prestigious Yale Serieso Younger Poets competition or his collectionThe

Earth in the Attic.

“These are small poems, many o them, but the

grandeur o conception inescapable,” wrote poetand critic Louise Glück in her introduction to Jou-dah’s book. “Fathers and brothers become proph-ets, hypothesis becomes dream, simple details olandscape trans orm themselves into emblems andpredictions. The book is varied, coherent, ierce:impossible to put down, impossible to orget.”

A new, truly American Islam is emerging,shaped by American reedoms, but also bythe a termath o the September 11, 2001,

attacks. Even as surveys by the Pew Research Cen-ter and others show that Muslim Americans are bet-ter educated and more prosperous than the aver-age, the terrorist attacks — planned and executedby non-Americans — raised suspicions among oth-er Americans whose immediate responses, racialpro iling among them, triggered in turn a measureo Muslim-American alienation. Sadly, suspicions othis kind are not uncommon — in the United Statesor in other nations — during wartime or when out-side attack is eared. But 2008 is not 2002, when

ears and suspicions were at their height. Contextis also important: Every signi icant immigrant grouphas in the United States aced, and overcome, adegree o discrimination and resentment.

Nur Fatima, or example, celebrated her new-ound reedom in a New York Pakistani communi-

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This page: Clockwise from left, Sister Hala Hazimi, standing, assists Zeinab Ghanem with a math problem in Michigan; Adnan Kasseem bows during a class on prayer etiquette in New Mexico; on a field trip, students

visit the International Museum of Muslim Culture in Jackson, Mississippi. Opposite page: Clockwise from top,

high school basketball players prepare for a game in Michigan; in North Carolina, Ruhi Brelvi, at left, and

Hebah Sedak prepare their basketball uniforms for game day; Laila Alkahlout, front, and Sasha Khaffed battle

for a basketball during a national youth tournament in Florida.



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F Aith

Clockwise from left, Mohamad Ham

the Islamic Center of America mosqMichigan; Mariam Motala, at righ

Islamic Center of Hawthorn, Calif

boy hopes to join in on prayers in B

Jersey; the Islamic Center of Cleve

Ohio, is home to more than 300 wor

ty where, a ew years earlier, ear was high andboth businesses and schools closed in the wakeo 9/11, according to the New York Times. Bythe time Fatima arrived, Little Pakistan had recov-ered under the leadership o local businessmanMoe Razvi, who helped start English and computerclasses, opened a community center, and led com-munity leaders to meet and improve relations with

ederal authorities.“The annual Pakistan Independence Day parade

is awash in American lags,” theTimesreported. “Itis a trans ormation seen in Muslim immigrant com-

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munities around the nation.”Among the healthy responses to the tensions

triggered by the terrorist attacks is an expansion othe inter aith dialogue in the United States.

“Anytime you share a space with someone oanother culture, you are bound to grow as an in-dividual and learn to see things rom another per-spective,” said Kareema Daoud, a doctoral studentin Arabic language and literature at GeorgetownUniversity who has served as a volunteer citizenambassador or the Department o State. “There isbeauty in diversity,” Daoud concludes.



24 25

Above, top, children attend evening prayers; above, women w orship at Masjid Al-Rahman in California. Op-

posite page: Top, Muslims pray in front of the Lincoln Memorial i n Washington, D.C.; bottom, men gather

during the annual meeting of the Islamic Society of North America in Chicago, Illinois.

The 9/11 attacks also galvanized the Muslim-American community to become more activ e in civicand political activities — to advocate or issues oconcern, to build alliances with non-Muslim organi-zations — and to con ront intolerance and threatso violence.

“Active engagement and involvement in politicsre lects the act that American Muslims are part othe social abric o America, and also re lects their

patriotic concern or this country,” says editor andwriter Na ees Syed o Harvard University in a com-mentary on the ree-wheeling discussion Web sitealtmuslim.com

Paraphrasing President John F. Kennedy, Syedcontinues, “The question is not only how taking partin the political process will aid American Muslims,but how American Muslims can help this country.”

Like the global population, the majority o Amer-ican Muslims are Sunni, although there are largenumbers o Shia and groups who actively ollow

Su i traditions. Despite this diversity, says Paul Bar-rett, author o the 2007 bookAmerican Islam: The

Struggle or the Soul o a Religion, “distinctionsthat possibly loomed larger elsewhere are insteadin America ‘diluted’ in the deep pool o pluralismthat characterizes American society. ... Many im-migrants have taken the ambitious step o crossingcontinents and oceans because they want to es-cape old-world antagonisms, to pursue education,economic betterment, and a more hope ul li e ortheir children.”

Progressive orms o belie , a more prominentrole or women, even the recent evolution o “mega-mosques” resembling in size the large evangelicalChristian churches — are among the characteristicso a rapidly evolving, uniquely American Islam.



26 27

Clockwise from above, Nawal Daoud holds the

Quran over the heads of girls as they walk under- neath it during a Takleef ceremony; Hafiz Azzubair

posts a sign urging people to vote; Rutgers Universi-

ty students Lelia Halwani, at left, and Nadia Sheikh

attend a reception at the interfaith dorm where they

live in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

s peCiAl D AysPhoto g AllerY

“I have ound that Muslims in America are meld-ing their aith, ethnic background, and the olkwayso their adopted land in many di erent ways,” Bar-rett said in an interview on altmuslim.com. “Thereis no one ormula, just as there hasn’t been a or-mula or past immigrant groups. ... I’m con identthat there won’t be one story about how Muslimsassimilate. There will be many stories.”



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This page: Clockwise from bottom left, halal turkey is served for Thanksgiving dinner in St. Louis, Missouri;

girls in Paterson, New Jersey, break the Ramadan fast with dates; Fawad Yacoob speaks during the Blessing

of the Waves ceremony in California; in Tyler, Texas, men embrace during Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Opposite

page: Members of the Malaysian Students Association celebrate their graduation from Vanderbilt University

in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I have ound that Muslims in America are melding thethnic background, and the olkways o their adoptedmany di erent ways. ... I’m con ident that there wonstory about how Muslims assimilate. There will be ma

— P



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A rtist h eBA AmInThe contemporary art-ist Heba Amin, 28, hasbeen drawing or as longas she can remember,but pursuing art ull-time

did not occur to her until she was a junior incollege. At the time, Amin, who now lives inMinneapolis, was a math major and irst en-visioned hersel as an architect.

Amin was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt.Her late ather was an interior designer; hermother, an administrative worker at the pri-vate American school Amin attended rom kin-dergarten through 12th grade.

A ter high school, Amin traveled to theUnited States to attend Macalester College,a private, l iberal arts school in St. Paul, Min-nesota. By her third year, Amin realized thather heart lay in art, not math, and in 2002

she earned a bachelor ’s degree in studio ar t,with a concentration in oil painting.

Living in the United States, she told FayeqOweis, editor o theEncyclopedia o Arab

American Artists, allowed her “to take the roleo the outside observer” and opened her eyes

to the richness o Arab and Egthat she had “previously overlo

or granted.”For several years, Amin’s

around portraits o Bedouin wosaid, “are known or their embeaded cra ts.

“The European Union had asigned to preserve these cra twork and encouraging older wo

younger ones. I became intereststayed with di erent tribes to working. I also apprenticed wartist who created sand paintin

As Amin spent time with di

tribes, she realized she was eveested in their way o li e than

“I was struck by how attachto their surroundings and the lsad it was that their culture wadue to urban sprawl and moderrecalled.

Amin begbrightly coloo Bedouin posed with urric patterns. overwhelm trepresentingis taking ovein culture,” s

Am e r I c A n

Pr o f I l e s

Young m uslIms m Ake t heIr m ArkTop row, from left, Imam Khalid Latif; filmmaker Lena Kahn; arti st Heba Amin. Bottom row, from left, business-

man Moose Scheib; fashion designers Nyla Hashmi and Fatima Monkush; singer Kareem Salama; journalist

Kiran Khalid. Opposite page, far right,Bedouin Girlby Heba Amin.



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i m A m k hAlId lAtIf At the age o25, Imam KhalidLati already hasachieved impor-tant leadership

responsibilit ies as chaplain and director o

the Islamic Center at New York University(NYU) and the Muslim chaplain or the NewYork Police Department.

“The university and police departmentare obviously very di erent,” Lati said. “Butthey’re also very similar as American institu-tions with growing Muslim populations whoare trying to ind their way.”

Lati is deeply committed to inter aith dia-logue and community service as integral partso what it means to be Muslim in a modern,

multicultural world. “Each o these interactionscan be an opportunity or spiritual growth,”he said.

As head o the rapidly growing IslamicCenter at New York University, Lati is plan-

Eventually, Amin’s Bedouin paintings led herin a di erent ar tistic direction, toward three-dimensional installation pieces. “As I did theportraits, I ound I was really interested in thecity structure ormat,” she explained.

The next time she was in Cairo, Amin said,“I noticed how many abandoned structuresthere were — expansive masses o land werecovered with un inished buildings. I took pho-tos o these structures, and then started doinga series o works about them, investigatingthem. What they were, why they were aban-doned, their e ect on people.”

Amin became ascinated with the thought othe city as an emotional idea, rather than a struc-tural one, and that led her to a di erent medium.

“I ound that painting was a li t t le restric-tive — I couldn’t really relay the emotion Iwas a ter,” she said. “I wanted to move intosomething that was more experiential. Instal-lation art allowed me to create a space thatexpressed the emotional ideas I was a ter.”

Amin’s work has been shown at a numbero galleries in Minneapolis, New York, andWashington.

“I look at city in rastructure as representationo the progression o a society,” she wrote onher Web site. “Urban planning is indicativeo a society’s political situation, and I am in-terested in investigating Middle Eastern citieswhere the in rastructure is an obstacle and aburden to people’s daily lives. I am interestedin the city’s e ect on personal space, wherecity structure begins to take precedence overindividuality and where buildings and humansbegin to overlap and layer on top o one an-

other instead o coexisting.“These installations are simply intended to

address the idea that one’s surroundings playan immense role in behavior,” she wrote.

In addition to her installations, Amin re-cently illustrated a book that pro iles Muslimwomen in history calledExtraordinary Women

rom the Muslim World .In spite o her artistic success, Amin is

reluctant to depend on her art or her living.“I’m not ocused on selling my work,” shesaid. “And that rees me rom the obligationo making work that other people want. I’vebeen in school now or 10 years, and ulti-mately, I’d like to stay in academia.”

As or living in the United States, she

ning an ambitious undraising he hopes will allow him to hsta and appoint a scholar-in-in three to ive years.

However, Lati never orabove all , the spiritual leaderand varied congregation. Mostseeking to ind their spiritual pwhile acing the challenges o

age people anywhere.In 2007, he was named as o

ond Muslim chaplain to the NeDepartment. Lati , who servesProtestant, and Jewish clergybeen called to hospitals several

ort injured o icers and theio whom has happened to be M

Lati grew up in Edison, Newo Pakistan-born parents. He wa small number o Muslim s tu

But in a pattern that has carriehis li e, Lati also sought out wpositions, becoming student couand captain o his ootball and

i nqu i r y i nt o F A i t h

Lati majored in Middle Eaststudies at New York University sel continuing his inquiry inhis role as a Muslim American most ethnically and religiouslypolitan area in the world.

He also began to perceive tnary diversity o Islam itsel . I met an Indonesian with a sc— and a su r board. That was so

said, “I love it . I love being in the academicenvironment, where I have time to explore myideas and how to express them.”

Above, installation piece Root Shockby Heba Amin.



34 35

But I also met Muslims who were A ricanAmerican, A rican, converted Muslims, andthe children o converts.”

Throughout his university years, Lati con-tinued his in ormal study o Islam, and at age18 he was cajoled into giving his irst sermon.“It seemed to go airly well, and I was askedto give them on a regular basis,” he said.

In 2005, a ter graduating rom NYU, Latientered the Islamic Chaplaincy Program at

the nondenominational Hart ord Seminary inConnecticut, the only accredited program oits kind in the country.

Around the same time, Lati volunteered asthe irst chaplain o NYU’s Islamic Center. Healso co-taught courses on con lict resolutionat Abraham’s Vision, a Muslim-Jewish inter-

aith organization or young people.In 2006, Lati accepted a part-time posi-

tion as the irst Muslim chaplain o PrincetonUniversity in New Jersey; soon he was commut-ing between Princeton and NYU. Both schoolso ered him ull-time positions, and Lati ac-cepted NYU’s o er to serve as director o itsIslamic Center.

s C h o o l C h A p l A i n

In many respects, Lati is a pioneer at atime when the growing Muslim student popu-lation, coupled with large numbers o inter-

national students, has greatly increased theneed or Muslim chaplains on campus.

One o Lati ’s most success ul undertakingswas almost an a terthought: podcasts o his20-minute Friday sermons. A riend suggestedthey record and post them on the Islamic Cen-ter Web site.

The response ar exceeded expectations.The podcast Web site averages 15,000 visitsa month. He has listeners rom 40 to 50 di -

erent countries, notably Indonesia and Ma-laysia, although he also receives appreciativemessages rom schoolteachers and ollowersin Europe.

Lati regards his commitment to inter aithactivities as central to his mission as an imam

FilmmAkerlenA khAn

On a parchedAugust a ternoonin Los Angeles,Lena Khan pe-ruses the aisleso Hand Prop

Room, a company that supplies stage propsor major Hollywood movies such asThe Avia-

to r an d The Departed . From aux meat car-casses to bronze Thai Buddhas, the shelves

Above, the cover of Newsweekmagazine featured

American Muslims from all walks of life. Khalid Latif

is at center left in cap and police uniform.

in today’s multicultural world. “Inter aith workcan be rustrating at t imes,” Lati said, andrequires both time and hard work.

He cites a trip to New Orleans with mem-bers o the Islamic Center and NYU’s JewishBron man Center to help with Hurricane Ka-trina recovery e orts.

By working and living together over aperiod o time, he said, they overcame their

mistrust “and they all learned not to de inestudents by religion or background as the‘Other.’”

“This is real, e ective change,” Lati said,“change that can emanate into the broadercommunity.”

are stu ed with gizmos, gadosities that help make the magWearing a pale green head scarmure beige cardigan, Khan dunsheathes a two- oot long nina mischievous look on her roun“This will work,” she says.

Though she de ies expectatilmmaker should look like — s

male, devoutly Muslim, and In— the 24-year-old ilm school and directs music videos and swell as commercials or a resCrave. (In one ad, a ninja thrsamosas).

Khan won $5,000 orBassem

one-minute short that humoroushow a Muslim-American man t

or instance, by blasting hip-his car radio. Her three-minute

Called Paradise , essentially a muto a song o the same name bytry singer Kareem Salama, wogrand prize rom One Nation, acacy group that sponsored the tion. Khan directed dozens o mo diverse backgrounds to holten signs that express messagesworld to know about them as Mcans. The statements are as whtoo, shop at Victoria’s Secret,” as “My sister died on Septembe

One o the judges or the 2tion competition, ormer proball player Kareem Abdul-JabbaCalled Paradise high marks or



36 37

cinematic language,” while journalist Mari-ane Pearl commended the ilm “ or its resh-ness and sense o humor while addressingvital emotions elt by the Muslim populationand the rest o us.”

Pulling o A Land Called Paradise was amajor e ort, Khan recalled. The project start-ed with a question: “I you could say some-thing to everybody in the world who is not

Muslim, what would you say?”“I sent out e-mails; I went to mosques; I

used every major Muslim Listserv I could thinko ,” she said.

The irst response Khan received was “Is-lam inhibits my suicidal thoughts.” “That’swhen I knew that this was the video I was go-ing to do,” she said. “I wouldn’t have thoughto that. I was trying to ix the representationso Muslims, but I don’t think I can speak orall o them. And this was my irst clue. I got

2,500 responses, collected them, narrowedthem down, and made the video.”

Since the video’s launch, Khan has re-ceived hundreds o e-mails rom people whosay the video has made them cry, inspiredthem to open a discussion about Islam withtheir amilies, or broken down walls built bystereotypes. The video also opened pro es-sional doors or Khan, such as a meeting withthe documentary ilmmaker Morgan Spurlock.The Muslim Public A airs Council, at a dinnerin Hollywood, recognized her as a ilmmakerto watch.

“I I hadn’t entered the contest, I’d be atthe same place as I was be ore ,” sa id Khan,a graduate o the Univers i ty o Cal i ornia ,

Los Angeles (UCLA) ilm school.Khan became interested in cinema as a

orm o social activism, which she considersan important tenet o her aith. Because sheis about to get married, she was expected toaccept a diamond engagement ring. “I didn’twant to have anything to do with the diamondindustry, the blood diamonds. It’s just reallybad,” Khan said. “My parents are like, ‘Why

are you being so lame? Just go buy a dia-mond. It’s not that big a deal.’ But I do thinkit’s a big deal. It’s a test to see i you cansacri ice your own things or other people.”She chose a big moissanite ring instead.

And when shooting on location, she insistson using caterers who cook only ree-rangechicken. “My brother always makes un o meand calls me Lisa Simpson,” Khan said, re er-ring to the wonky, intellectual younger sister

rom the American cartoon television series

The Simpsons.As an undergraduate majoring in political

science and history at UCLA, Khan noticedthat students would become interested ingenocides such as those in Rwanda and Dar-

ur only i they saw a movie about the topicor i an actor publicized the cause. She alsowas tired o seeing Hollywood ilms such asThe Siege an d Black Hawk Downuse imagesto connect terrorism to ritual ablutions and thecall to pr ayer.

“These things ate at me. So I decided thatinstead o complaining about them, I wouldenter the ield and do something about it ,”Khan said. “I wanted to make movies aboutsocial issues because it seems like movies are

the best way to tell a story — thple really listen and relate to pegoing through those things.” Sget a master o arts degree in

Back at Hand Prop Room, Ka box o ninja stars. Once sheher props, she hops in her dusPrius and drives over the HollWestern Costume Company in s

masks and suits.

In addition to her ninja comuture projects include a set o

about the presidential electionmusic video or Salama.

But when it comes to a 40-milm that she is making, she sa

expect something big and popuI have a li t t le bit o pressure thKhan to make it look like magi

Lena Khan’s videosBassem i

A Land Called Paradise can be sTube.com.

Top, still frame from Bassem is Trying. Below, three

stills from A Land Called Paradise. Opposite page,

filming Bassem is Trying.

l “S h i i ill d i B S h ib d d d d H h h i b i bl



38 39

BusinessmAn m oose s cheIB

It could be a scenerom a movie. A

young man, theson o immigrants,excels in his stud-ies, attends a dis-

tinguished law school, and lands a job ata top law irm. One day, he walks into therestaurant where his mother has worked as acook or years, takes o his gloves, and says:“Mom, come home with me. You’re never go-ing to have to work again.”

But it’s not a movie. It is part o the storyo Moose Scheib, 28, who today heads acompany that has saved thousands o amilies

rom losing their homes through oreclosure.“The main thing is to be able to help

people stay in their homes — that is the mostexciting thing or me,” Scheib said.

s C h o o l AnD W or k

Scheib was born in Beirut, Lebanon, andsome o his early memories are o the shockand strangeness o a child’s li e during war-time. In his application to law school, Scheib

later wrote, “Such experiences . . . instilled inme an unwavering passion or the pursuit oknowledge and justice.”

The amily o six immigrated to the UnitedStates when Scheib was seven years old, l iv-ing irst in Toledo, Ohio, and then in Dear-born, Michigan. When his ather su ered the

irst o several strokes, Scheib’s mother be-came a ull-time restaurant cook.

“My mother never complained,” he said.“’Your ather can’t do it , I will ,’ she said, andtook a tough job at minimum wage. . . . Allshe told us was to ocus on our education andmake sure to get scholarships, ‘as money orcollege is something I don’t have or you atthis point in our lives.’”

Scheib graduated with honors rom Al-bion College in Michigan, where he oundedthe Muslim Student Association, then attend-ed Columbia Law School in New York City,

where he served as a board member or theMuslim Law Students Association.

Scheib’s one escape rom the unrelent-ing pressures o work and study was sports— especially American-style ootball. “On the

ield, I shed barriers that language, poverty,and race had previously imposed on me,” hewrote in his law school application.

t he l e g A l W o r l D

Scheib ound law school a challenge. “Thecombination o law school and the big citywas a big shock — and Columbia was themost competitive environment I’d ever beenin,” he said.

But Scheib persevered and succeeded. Hereceived an award or public service rom theArab American Institute in 2004 and servedas a clerk or a New York Supreme Courtjustice.

In 2005, Scheib joined the prestigiousNew York law irm Proskauer Rose LLP. Hevalued the business and legal experience hegained there — even though he knew the cor-

porate world didn’t represent his long-termuture.

“One o the actors that led me to Proskau-er is because it’s the largest Jewish law irmin the world,” he said. “I’m all about buildingbridges between our diverse communities.”

s Aving h o m e s

In October 2005, with law school behindhim, Scheib decided the long-anticipated dayhad arrived. He went to the restaurant wherehis mother had cooked or so many years and

gave her the gi t o being ablor good.

“My parents sacri iced so msaid. “They gave up a good li

or us, their children, and I wknow that the sacri ices had be

In 2006, Scheib returned homto launch his business venture, LoanMod renegotiates home

avoid oreclosures in a “win-wbene its both the homeowner a

inancial institution holding thWith a success ul restructur

gage loan — usually a simple lointerest rate — the amily staand the bank avoids the much ho taking control o a oreclo

Scheib believes his compao its kind in the country. “Webusiness, starting by helping

then riends, and realized thatable business model,” he said.

The company has complet5,000 success ul negotiations lowed amilies to keep their hoto avoid the high costs o ocompany anticipates completingmodi ications by the end o 20

l o o k i n g A h e A D

Scheib plans to have more thple on sta to meet the increhis services. As government pulenders and mortgage servicetheir port olios to help home

oreclosure, Loanmod.com is Above, Moose Scheib, center, celebrates his grad-

uation from law school with members of his family.

with its network o 19 000 notaries in all 50 C l h i D i l A very conservative home and my



40 41

F Ashion Designers n YlA h AshmI Andf AtImA m onkush

Nyla Hashmi, 23, and Fatima Monkush, 25,are uncommon women with a lot in common.They grew up best riends in Hart ord, Con-

necticut. Both o them have Muslim athersrom South Asia and American mothers who

converted to Islam.And now, both are committed to designing

chic clothing that o ers Muslim women a wayto dress both modestly and ashionably.

The two hope to launch their new clothingline, called Eva Khurshid. Although the de-signers have a speci ic market in mind, theyalso hope to reach a broad base o potentialcustomers.

“The name will be recognizable as Mus-lim, but any woman would look great in ourclothes,” said Hashmi. She describes the lineas “American clothing or working women 25to 34 years old with an on-the-go li estyle.”

with its network o 19,000 notaries in all 50states. “Our counselors will guide homeown-ers through the loan mod process, and ournotaries will help them properly execute thepaperwork at their kitchen table,” he says.

“Helping people save the most importantmaterial thing in their l i e is the best reward oall ,” Scheib said. “When you save a home, ithelps the neighborhood, the community, and

ultimately the whole country.”Scheib has big changes happening close

to his home as well: A daughter, named So-phia June, was born in 2008. Scheib grewup in the same Dearborn neighborhood as hiswi e, Natalie, who is hal Lebanese and halAmerican Indian.

“I am lucky . . . and truly blessed, nodoubt,” Scheib said. “But I’ve also ound thatthe harder I work, the luckier I am.”

C l o t h i n g D i l e m m A s

Hashmi and Monkush irst became interest-ed in clothing design in their teens. Hashmi’s

amily moved to Pakistan in 1995, when shewas 10, although she continued to spend sum-mers in Connecticut. (The amily moved backto the United States permanently a ter the ter-rorist attacks o September 11, 2001.)

“When we came back the summer I was

13, I went through a huge culture shock,”Hashmi said. “I saw how di erent the Paki-stani and American adolescent cultures were.My parents wanted me to start dr essing moremodestly, because I was growing up. I want-ed to dress cool like the other kids, but therewas nothing in the stores.”

Monkush had a similar experience. “It wasreally di icult to ind anything ready-madethat I could wear,” she said. The girls o tenresorted to layering, “the Muslim girl 's best

riend,” Monkush said with a laugh.Both Hashmi and Monkush learned to sew

rom their mothers. “My mom taught me toollow a pattern and also to change it to cre-

ate something completely di erent, somethingthat was exactly what I wanted,” Monkushsaid. “I was 16 when I started making all myown clothes. That was the summer Nyla and Iset our course.”

C omFor t A n D C l o t h e s

Both women have developed their own de -initions o appropriate attire. “I grew up in a

very conservative home, and myadamant about dressing modesexplained. “I eventually ounzone. I will wear short sleevelow cut or body hugging. Everyown com ort level.”

Monkush’s approach “is nobut about what eels right,” smysel , I’m not going to wal

tank top or a short dress — I’mortable. I do cover my hair an

was 14.”

g r o Wing u p in A m i x e D F Ami l y

Nyla Hashmi’s mother was rlic. Her ather, a Pakistani, camStates in the 1970s and is a U.S.mother was studying to be a numet my ather, who's a heartmother was so inspired — he i

generous — that she became intreligion and converted,” Hashm

Above, Moose Scheib, wife Natalie, and daugh-

ter Sophia June pose for a family portrait.

Right, Fatima Monkush models one of her designs

for Elanmagazine.

Hashmi attended Islamic school on Sundays — but both women are committed to their “Oklahoma like me is a



42 43

Hashmi attended Islamic school on Sundaysin Hart ord, along with her three siblings.

Monkush’s ather is rom Bangladesh. Hecame to the United States in 1971 to stay witha cousin in West Virginia. Monkush’s mothermet him while visiting a riend, and she, too,converted to Islam be ore the two married.

p Ath to th e F Ash ion W o r l D

A ter public high school, Monkush wentto the University o Connecticut and CentralConnecticut State University, where she ma-jored in art. A ter graduation she moved toNew York City and shared an apartment that

irst summer with Hashmi,who was a student at theFashion Institute o Technol-ogy (FIT).

Armed with a bachelor ’sdegree rom FIT, Hashmi

ound a job creating wom-en's sweaters or noted Is-raeli designer Elie Tahari.Monkush, too, has beenworking in ashion, irstwith Coogi, which makeship-hop urban menswear,and then with Married to theMob, an edgy streetwearlabel or women, where sheis today.

Hashmi and Monkushhave been working in theevenings and on weekendsto put together their ledgling collection. It’sa struggle — Hashmi lives in Queens andMonkush lives in Brooklyn with her husband

— but both women are committed to theirdream.

The thought behind their clothing extendedto their choice o a name. “Eva is the name oFatima’s maternal grandmother,” Hashmi ex-plained, “and Khurshid is my dad’s mother ’sname.” Like their designs, i t marries the twocultures.

Hashmi and Monkush aren’t quitting theirday jobs just yet, but they’re hope ul their

collection will i l l a need in the industry. “Wewant to be the biggest and best in what we’redoing,” Hashmi said. “This is not like any oth-er brand.”

s ongWriter

kAreem s AlAmA

For Kareem Sala-ma, home is theAmerican South-west, where coun-try music pro-vides much o the

soundtrack to daily li e. But home also meantgrowing up in a devout Muslim household andstudying the rich textures o classical Arabicliterature and poetry.

So when Salama, 30, started writing andsinging his own songs, i t was quite naturalthat he would combine a sensibility rooted inhis Muslim aith with a compelling voice anda distinctive southern accent — even i others

ind the combination startling.

o k l A h o m A AnD m u s i C

Salama's parents are Egyptians who movedto Oklahoma, where they raised him along

with two brothers and a sister. As a child,Salama traveled to rodeos, county airs, andIndian powwows, and he was exposed to tra-ditional bluegrass and country music in plac-es like Branson, Missouri, and the legendaryGrand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

Oklahoma, like me, is a cultures meet and dance,” Salahis Web site. “Oklahoma is a hyern, western, and Native Ameand thanks to my mother's insatlearn and experience new thinsure that I and everyone in my mersed in it .”

F A i t h AnD m u s i C

At the same time, Salama's pneglect his Muslim religious trhis distinctive southern accentmusic style, he is serious aboudraws on its rich religious andtage in his compositions.

His songs are neither overtlreligious, but they do re lect background, which the Web sicom calls “a living dichotomy”

can musical landscape.In one song dealing with

tolerance, or example, Salamproverb o the noted Islamic scImam Sha i’ee: “I am like ince

you burn me, the more ragranHe acknowledges how his at

shaped both his outlook and muthe maxim ‘Be hard on yourselothers.’”

He inds the songwriting p

intertwined with his aith. “I pa ter I write a song,” he said io Iowa interview. “I choose ea

ully. I try to be very honest God brings this song into peopl

Above, Fatima Monkush, second from right, gath- ers with other young Muslim fashion designers at a photography session for Elanmagazine.

C o u n t r y C o n n e C t i o n s ences in the United States and Europe, ac- He is now working on a commercial debut



44 45

y

Salama's perspective on country musiccan be surprising, especially or those amil-iar only with the dominant commercial strainthat leans toward lyrics celebrating the openroad, honky tonk bars, and lost loves.

“There is a kind o soul in country music.. . something that comes

rom deeper down. . . .

You can still hear some-thing very old and verytraditional,” Salama saidin an altmuslim inter view.

In act, Salama is draw-ing on a much older tra-dition that hearkens backto the roots o so-calledbluegrass rom the Appalachian region o thesoutheastern United States.

Salama also studied English literature, es-

pecially a celebrated spiritual poem by JohnDonne (1572-1631), “A Valediction: Forbid-ding Mourning,” or which he wrote a melodyto help himsel memorize it .

C o m p o s i n g AnD p e r F o r m i n g

Salama wrote songs and lyrics while earn-ing an engineering degree at the University oOklahoma and then attending law school atthe University o Iowa, where he met musicianAristotle Mihalopulos.

In a quintessential American moment, thesons o Egyptian and Greek immigrants de-cided to collaborate on American countrymusic. Over the next several years, Salamaper ormed be ore predominately Muslim audi-

ences in the United States and Europe, accompanied by Mihalopulos on the guitar.

With his trim good looks, conservative hair-cut, and country-classic black cowboy hat,Salama recognizes that people may come orthe novelty o a Muslim country-music singer.

He hopes they’ll stay because they ind hissongs compelling.

He may be succeeding. On his summer2008 tour in Europe, Salama played to enthu-siastic Muslim and non-Muslim audiences inLondon, Berlin, Paris (at Euro Disney), Rome,Genoa, and Amsterdam.

Salama's irst album,Generous Peace , ap-

peared in 2006, ollowed byThis Li e o Mine a year later. His song “A Land Called Paradise”provided the soundtrack or an award-winningmusic video celebrating the diversity and vital-ity o the American-Muslim community.

He is now working on a commercial debutalbum that will eature the best material romthe irst two albums and several new songs.

But Salama is not ocusing exclusivelyon a singing career. Having completed lawschool, he is preparing or the licensing (bar)

examinations and is interested in practicingpatent law.

He summarizes some o his thoughts abouthis music on his MySpace page: “My hope isthat my words will all upon ears and heartsthat may be seeking the same thing I am seek-ing … the inspiration to live a virtuous li ethat is pleasing to God.”

t elevisionJournAlist

k Ir

khA

As a ching toer, Kused ta card

acing“so th

erally in a TV, i not on it ,” Kh

then, Khalid, 35, has pursued atelevision journalist , news broproducer that has taken her rreporting to covering major naternational news events.

“I was the irst Pakistani-Ain broadcast news in the Unitesaid. “I I’m wrong about that, meet the true pioneer because been told, my road was untrave

g r o Wing u p in t e x A s

Khalid’s ather was born in dia, and her mother in Karachi,Khalid hersel grew up in subuTexas, where her ather was a la

Above left, the cover for Kareem Salama ’s second CD release , This Li e o Mine.Above, in concert in Berlin, Ger many, 2008.

Corpus Christi provided many news oppor- F r e e l A n C i n g and I knew it was now or never



46 47

She ocused on journalism early in li e. “Myinterest was ignited through a love o writ-ing,” she said. “I was o ten busy writing shortstories growing up.”

Khalid, l ike her two brothers and her sister,excelled in school. The siblings’ high per or-mance helped them overcome the strain obeing the only minority amily in their small

community.“It was o ten a situation where you simply

accepted that that’s the way the world was,”she said, “and I’m grate ul or those earlyencounters because they prepared me or thepost-9/11 backlash.”

l o C A l tv n eW s

Khalid graduated with a major in jour-nalism rom the University o Texas in Austin,where she said she ell “ or the immediacy otelevision, the idea o being on the air withbreaking news.”

In 1996, she went to work or the localCBS station in Corpus Christi , Texas, a jobthat she ound both exciting and rustrating.

p p y pptunities — storms, drug smuggling, and im-migration — but the station had antiquatedequipment, which made work di icult.

“Still , I enjoyed the work, being in ronto the camera,” she recalled. “I just knew Icould be good at this.”

At another TV station in Lake Charles,Louisiana, Khalid ound the reverse situation:state-o -the-art equipment but a relatively qui-et news environment. “I worked hard and be-came the weekend anchor,” she said.

She also became something o a local ce-lebrity. “Walking into the mall would be likewalking on stage,” she said with a laugh.“Everybody seemed to recognize me.”

In Mobile, Alabama, Khalid was on the airas many as our or ive times a day, but she

ound hersel exhausted. “I elt I was just go-ing in circles.” She decided to try the riskier

but reer li e o a reelance journalist .Looking back, “the most grati ying as-

pect o local news is consumer investigativereporting,” Khalid said. “Holding shady busi-nesses and people accountable or their ac-tions through the glare o a television lens isa community service local news provides thatis o ten overlooked.”

She added, “The pressures are o ten im-mense as more and more news outlets valuethe breaking-news model over the virtue o

substantive, thought ul reporting.”

In 2005, Khalid reported on the grim liveso subsistence armers threatened by aminein Niger and Mali. Her documentary,Th e

Hunger Gap , was a inalist in a United Na-tions ilm estival.

In the United States, Khalid worked asa ield producer or a very di erent kind onews operation, Court TV, which covers major

criminal and civil trials.Khalid also became an active member othe South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA).

“I’m very proud o my role on SAJA’s board,”Khalid said. “I love working with an organi-zation that does so much or young journal-ists, such as mentoring and scholarships.”

p Ak i s tAn AnD A m e r i C A

Following the September 11 terrorist at-tacks in 2001, Khalid quickly recognized that“Pakistan was going to be a central player,

the story.”Fluent in Urdu, she traveled t

became one o the irst Westto report rom inside the Pakschools, or madrassahs, that maencouraging terrorism.

In 2007, Khalid returned orgerous assignment, to ilm acalled We Are Not Free , on mediaand attacks on journalists by government in Pakistan.

In an interview withAsiaMedi

“The thing that really struck methey were . . . willingly to put risk in order to pursue what tnoble calling.”

Since January 2008, Khaworking as a producer or one most popular news and eatu

ABC’sGood Morning America(G“I like the intensity o the w

which may mean preparing a prices one day and one on the dential campaign the next.

“GMA has a orded me tto write and produce stories thamillions,” she said. “In 10 yearsbe working on stories that areserve a greater purpose.”

Above left , Kiran Khalid stuck in mud on as-

signment in Africa, 2005. Above right, inter-

viewing singer John Mayer at the annual Save

the Music Foundation Gala, 2007 .



since World War II have been Muslims, and Mus- ers, with 19 percent claiming ann



50 51

MOSQUE diStribUtiOn in thE UnitEd StatESCalling itsel the Global Muslim eCommunity,IslamiCity.comhas compiled in ormation about Muslims in the United Statessince 1995. Its online database tallies more than 2,300 mosques, Islamic schools, and organizations in the 50 states. Listed here by state is the number o mosques in the IslamiCity.comdatabase in December 2008. The statistic or the District o Columbia is rom the Islamic Center o Washington, DC. The total is 1,018.

Mosques in each of theUnited States

100 to 200 50 to 99

20 to 49 10 to 19

0 to 9

NV

TX

OK NM AZ

UTCOCA

KS

NE

WY

IDOR

WA

MT ND

SDMN

IA

MO

AR

LA MS

TN

KY

INIL

WIMI

AK

HI

FL

GA AL

SC

NC

VA WV OH

PA

NY

ME

NH VTMA RICTNJDEMDDC

Al Alabama 20

Ak Alaska 0

AZ Arizona 10

Ar Arkansas 1

cA Cali ornia 198

co Colorado 8

ct Connecticut 17

de Delaware 2dc District o Columbia 8

FL Florida 42

gA Georgia 40

hI Hawaii 1

Id Idaho 3

Il Illinois 43

In Indiana 14

IA Iowa 5

ks Kansas 2

kY Kentucky 9

lA Louisiana 17

me Maine 1

md Maryland 18

MA Massachusetts 13

mI Michigan 55

mn Minnesota 3

ms Mississippi 9

mo Missouri 7

mt Montana 2

ne Nebraska 1

nv Nevada 3

nh New Hampshire 3

nJ New Jersey 56

nm New Mexico 7

nY New York 131

NC North Carolina 20nd North Dakota 4

oh Ohio 41

ok Oklahoma 8

or Oregon 10

PA Pennsylvania 43

rI Rhode Island 2

sc South Carolina 12

sd South Dakota 2

tn Tennessee 10

tX Texas 58

ut Utah 5

V T Vermont 0

vA Virginia 27WA Washington 10

Wv West Virginia 3

WI Wisconsin 13

WY Wyoming 1

lims are the astest-growing segment o the Arab-American population. South Asians constitute the

astest-growing Muslim community, perhaps ac-counting or a quarter o all Muslim Americans.The Muslim population o the United States alsoincludes Turks, Iranians, Bosnians, Malays, Indo-nesians, Nigerians, Somalis, Liberians, Kenyans,and Senegalese, among others. In addition, thereis a small but growing population o white andHispanic converts, many o them women whohave married Muslim men.

Although Muslims live in every corner o thenation, many have settled in major metropolitanareas along the two coasts and in the Midwest:New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit/Dearborn. The 10 states with the largest Muslimpopulations are Cali ornia, New York, Illinois,New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan, Virginia, Texas,Ohio, and Maryland. There are also established

communities near state universities, which o tenhave sizable numbers o oreign-born Muslim stu-dents and aculty.

The 2007 Pew survey ound that MuslimAmericans generally mirror the U.S. public in edu-cation and income levels, with immigrant Muslimsslightly more a luent and better educated than na-tive-born Muslims. Twenty- our percent o all Mus-lims and 29 percent o immigrant Muslims havecollege degrees, compared to 25 percent or theU.S. general population. Forty-one percent o all

Muslim Americans and 45 percent o immigrantMuslims report annual household income levelso $50,000 or higher. This compares to the na-tional average o 44 percent. Immigrant Muslimsare well represented among higher-income earn-

incomes o $100,000 or higher (compercent or the Muslim population 17 percent or the U.S. average).due to the strong concentration o

essional, managerial, and techniccially in in ormation technology, ecine, law, and the corporate world. evidence o a decline in the wages Arab men since 2001, although mosuggest the trend might be reversin

The Muslim-American journey it is part o two quintessentially Aences: the A rican American and Immigrant Muslims and A rican-Ahave worked to establish their voand society, sometimes together, bon their own. While they share aMuslims, their racial, cultural, and historical circumstances have d

In working toward ull political pmigrant Muslims have a great dealthe successes o A rican-Americticularly in building institutional camunicating e ectively with other

Sources: Statistical data excerpted romMcans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainsearch Center, May 22, 2007. Text oexcerpted romStrengthening Amerand Political Integration o MuslimChicago Council on Global A air



Masjid Abu-Bakr (Colorado Muslim Society)2071 South Parker Road, Denver, Colorado

With a weekly prayer attendance between 2,000 and3,000 people, the Colorado Muslim Society is a pillaro Islamic li e in Denver. It recently undertook a large ex-pansion project that doubled the size o its prayer spacein order to accommodate an increasing population oMuslims in the area. Located on one o the area’s busi-est thorough ares, the society serves as the hub or Mus-lim civic li e, especially or its younger members. Youngadults serve as teachers in the society’s Islamic Sundayschool. In addition to the Sunday lessons, the societyis involved with Islamic education through the Cr escentView Academy. Educating Muslims and non-Muslims

rom kindergarten through eighth grade, the academyplaces strong emphasis on learning Arabic and generalIslamic knowledge.

52 5352 53

n eIghBorhood mosques

Islamic Community Center / Tempe Masjid131 E. Sixth Street, Tempe, Arizona

A cultural center, masjid, and school located just north oArizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, the IslamicCommunity Center welcomes members rom more than75 nationalities and all socioeconomic backgrounds.The center was ounded in 1984 to bring together Mus-lims who had previously worshipped in small groupsin homes across the area. About 300 attend Fridayprayers, but the mosque is actively involved in boththe Muslim Student Association at Arizona State and inthe community at large. The center maintains a smalllibrary with resources on Islam and gives tours o themosque, which is modeled a ter the Dome o the Rockin Jerusalem, or the general public. Providing socialservices such as marriage ceremonies and burials, thecenter also operates the Phoenix Metro Islamic School

or elementary students.

Islamic Society o Central Florida1089 N. Goldenrod Road, Orlando, Florida

The Islamic Society o Central Florida had modest begin-nings in Orlando in the early 1970s. The rst mosque,Masjid al-Rahman, or Mosque o the Merci ul, was builtin the early 1980s. Rapid growth in the area led the

society to expand. Today, the society has nine mosquesthroughout the area, serving 40,000 Muslims rom ethni-cally diverse backgrounds. In 2001, the society oundedthe Center or Peace, which works to dispel stereotypesabout Muslims and promote peace and understandingamong people. The Islamic Society o Central Floridaalso supports the Muslim Student League at the Univer-sity o Central Florida.

Masjid Abu-Bakr Al-Siddiq4425 David Drive, Metairie, Louisian

The architecture o the Masjid Abuunique, as it is the only mosque in tharea that was built speci cally as a mgeodesic dome and minaret. The 25shippers are mostly rst- and second-cans rom Pakistan, India, and the Mipercent o the congregation are recenconverts. The mosque serves MuslimKenner, Lousiana, and Orleans Parishmosque su ered little damage romMost members have returned to theirmosque has retained most o its mem



54 55

Albanian Islamic Center19775 Harper Avenue, Harper Woods, Michigan

The Albanian Islamic Center was ounded in 1962 bythe Albanian-Muslim population in the Detroit area. Lo-cated in the suburbs o Wayne County, the center servesabout 150 amilies o Tosk and Gega Albanians, aswell as Iranians, Palestinians, Maltese, Arabs, and In-dians. Worship styles have fuctuated with immigration.Tosk Albanians, rom the southern region o the country,are considered re ormed Muslims and have lived in theUnited States since the 19th century. Their worship styleand social norms are more relaxed. The Gega Alba-nians, who are rom northern Albania, tend to refectmore traditional Islamic practices. As immigration pat-terns have changed, so has the style o worship.

Islamic Society o Greater Kansas City8501 E. 99th Street, Kansas City, Missouri

A group o residents in Kansas City began planningor a mosque in the early 1970s a ter the rst Salah(prayer) or Eid al-Fitr. Ten years later, the Islamic Society

o Greater Kansas City opened the doors o its mosqueto the public and was incorporated as a nonpro t. Thesociety has been expanding ever since, acquiring prop-erty or a community park and a Muslim cemetery. A ull-time Islamic school opened at the center in 1987 andhas more than 100 students. The society estimates thatit serves more than 8,000 Muslims in the Kansas Cityarea, but its reach extends into the non-Muslim commu-nity. Visits to the center are encouraged, and the centeropens its study sessions on Arabic language, Islam, andthe study o the Quran to the public.

Masjid Al-Islam40 Sayles Hill Road, North Smith eld, Rhode Island

The largest masjid in Rhode Island, Masjid al-Islam wasbuilt in 1994 to serve the needs o the growing Muslimpopulation in North Smith eld. The masjid openly wel-

comes Muslims o all religious a liations rom all racialand ethnic backgrounds, but holds primary the Quranicscriptures and the Sunnah. Governance o the mosqueis democratic; a committee o six congregants attends toadministrative matters, but all major issues are broughtbe ore the community be ore a decision is nalized.Masjid al-Islam works to build inter aith dialogue andactively reaches out to the Christian and Jewish com-munities or collaboration on community programming.Future plans include partnering with local hospitals or

yearly health screening, as part o a health educationday or the community. About 250 attend Jumah prayers,but no ormal membership is required.

Masjid Al-Muslimiin (Islamic Center1929 Gervais Street, Columbia, South

Five hundred Muslims worship at M

in downtown Columbia, South Caroliproximity to the University o Southter, which began operation in 1981, ostudents to bring prominent Islamicarea. The center o ers many servicincluding Sunday school or Muslim recitation and Islamic history and a weducational development, health, andActively involved in spreading the Mcommunity at large through its prison the center hopes to improve its transitance to Muslim ex-o enders and allcommunity. The center also plans to community ood co-op.



56 57

1619-1800s An estimat-ed 10 million A ricans arebrought to North Americaas slaves. Approximately 30percent are Muslim.

1796 President John Ad-ams signs a Treaty o Peaceand Friendship with the Beyand Subjects o Tripoli oBarbary.

1898 Kawkab Amrika(Staro America), the irst Arabicnewspaper to appear in theUnited States, begins dailypublication, as reported byth e New York Timesabove.

1908 Large numbers o

Muslim immigrants beginto enter the United States

rom parts o the OttomanEmpire, including today’sSyria, Lebanon, Jordan,and Turkey.

1913 Noble Drew Ali(1886-1929) ounds theMoorish Science Temple oAmerica (MSTA) in Newark,New Jersey. This religious

group claims to be an Islam-ic sect but incorporates in lu-ences rom many religions.

1919 The irst Islamic asso-ciation is ounded in High-land Park outside o Detroit ,

Michigan, where many im-migrants ound work in automanu acturing plants.

1924 The Johnson-Reed Im-migration Act imposes na-tional quotas that restrictsharply the number o newimmigrants to the UnitedStates.

1934 The Mother Mosque, theirst building built speci ically

to be a mosque, is establishedin Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

1775 Former slave PeterSalem (Saleem) ights in theBattle o Bunker Hill and

throughout the AmericanRevolution. Muslim Ameri-cans have served with dis-tinction in all U.S. wars.

A t ImelIne of keY events

1819 Freed by his mas-ter in middle age, Yarrow(Mamout) Marmood, de-

picted here in 1819, estab-lishes himsel as a propertyowner and bank investor inGeorgetown, today part oWashington, D.C.

1907 Tatar immigrants romPoland, Russia, and Lithu-ania ound the AmericanMohammedan Society, thenation’s the irst Muslim or-ganization.

1957 The Islamo Washingtonmosque and Islacenter, is dedicPresident Dwighhower and First LEisenhower in at

1934 Elijah M

becomes Supreter o the Natio(NOI), a black organization adsome Islamic pra



58 59

1965 Published soon a terits subject’s assassination inFebruary 1965,The Autobi-

ography o Malcolm X tellsthe story o one man’s con-version to Islam in the largercontext o the A rican-Amer-ican experience. It remainsone o the most in luentialbooks o the 20th century.

1991 The Islamic Cul-tural Center in New YorkCity is completed. It is the

irst building erected as amosque in New York Cityand regularly draws morethan 4,000 aith ul or Fri-day prayers. 1996 The irst celebration

o Eid al-Fitr is held at theWhite House.

1991 Charles Bilal is elect-ed mayor o Kountze, Tex-as, the irst Muslim to heada U.S. municipality.

2005 The irst Muslimnational sorority in UnitedStates, Gamma GammaChi, is ounded by themother-daughter team oImani Abdul-Haqq and Dr.Althia F. Ali to help improvethe image o Muslim womenand Islam in general.

2001 The U.S. Postal Ser-vice issues the irst stamphonoring a Muslim holiday.The 34-cent Eid stamp ispart o the Holiday Cele-brations series.

2006 Keith Ellison be-comes the irst Muslim elect-ed to the U.S. Congress, asa member o the House oRepresentatives rom Min-nesota.

2006 Canadian-born In-grid Mattson is elected the

irst emale president o theIslamic Society o NorthAmerica.

2007 President GerogeW. Bush participates in thecelebration o the 50th an-

niversary o the Islamic Cen-ter o Washington, D.C.

1993 Abdul-Rasheed Mu-hammad is appointed asthe U.S. Army’s irst Muslimchaplain.

2008 Imam WMohammed dies

“America’s Imathe irst MuslimU.S. Senate’s (1990). He alsprayers at PreClinton’s interservices and heMosque Cares, project.

1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the

Immigration and Nation-ality Act o 1965, whichabol ishes the na t ional -origin quotas establishedin 1924, and spurs non-Eu-ropean immigration to theUnited States.



60

BiBliogrAphy

Abdo, Geneive.Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Li e inAmerica A ter 9/11. Ox ord;New York: Ox ord UniversityPress, 2006.

Barrett, Paul.American Islam: The Struggle or the Soul o a Reli- gion. New York: Farrar, Strausand Giroux, 2007.

Cesari, Jocelyne, ed.Encyclope- dia o Islam in the United States.Westport, CT: Greenwood Press ,2007.

Cesari, Jocelyne.When Islamand Democracy Meet: Muslimsin Europe and in the United States.New York: Palgrave Mac-millan, 2004.

Chicago Council on Global A -airs.Strengthening America: The

Civic and Political Integration o Muslim Americans. Report o the Task Force on Muslim AmericanCivic and Political Engagement.Chicago: The Council, 2007.

Esposito, John L., and DaliaMogahed.Who Speaks or Islam?: What a Billion MuslimsReally Think.New York: GallupPress, 2008.

Hammond, Andrew.What the Arabs Think o America.Ox-

ord; Westport, CT: Greenwood

World Publishing, 2007.

Hasan, Asma G.American Mus- lims: The New Generation. NewYork and London: Continuum,2000.

Huda, Qamar-ul.The Diversity o Muslims in the United States: Viewsas Americans.Washington, DC:United States Institute o Peace,2006.

Pew Research Center.Muslim Amer- icans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream.Washington DC: PewResearch Center, May 22, 2007.

Strum, Philippa, ed.Muslims in the United States: Identity, Infuence, In- novation.Washington, DC: Wood-row Wilson International Center orScholars, 2005.

Yazbeck, Yvonne Haddad, Jane I.Smith, and John L. Esposito, eds.Religion and Immigration: Chris- tian, Jewish, and Muslim Experi- ences in the United States. WalnutCreek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2003.

W eB sites

The ol lowing web si tes were used in the development o thispublicat ion:

The Aga Khan Program or IslamicArchitecture at Harvard Universityand the Massachusetts Institute o

Technologyhttp://web.mit.edu/akpia/www

Fazlur Rahman Khan Web sitehttp:// azlurrkhan.com

Gamma Gamma Chi Sorority,Inc.http://gammagammachi.org

Heba Aminhttp://hebaamin.com

Inter aith Youth Core http://i yc.org

The Islamic Center at New York University http://icnyu.org

IslamiCity http://www.islamicity.com

Kareem Salamahttp://kareemsalama.com

LoanMod.comhttp://loanmod.com

The Mother Mosque o Americahttp://mothermosque.org

Pew Research Centerhttp://pewresearch.org

The Pluralism Project at HarvardUniversityhttp://pluralism.org

Dalia Ghanem’s t-shirtat.comhttp://t-shirtat.com

61

u nIted s tAtes d ePArtment of s tAte / B ureAu of InternAtIonAl InformAtIon ProgrA

photo C reDits

All photos © AP Images except the ollowing:Page 2: courtesy Eboo Patel.14: (bottom) © Chris Fitzgerald / Candidate Photos / The Image Works.29: © Mohammad Muhaimin Aminuddin.30: (top, le t to right) © Ricardo Barros, courtesy Serena Kim; (bottom, le t to right) courtesy MScheib, courtesy Nyla Hashmi and Fatima Monkush, courtesy Kareem Salama, courtesy Kiran Kh31: (top) courtesy Kitty Aal; (bottom) courtesy Heba Amin.32: courtesy Kitty Aal.33: © Ricardo Barros.35: courtesy Serena Kim.36-37: (all) courtesy Lena Khan.38-39: (all) courtesy Moose M. Scheib.40: (le t) courtesy Moose M. Scheib, (right) courtesy Nyla Hashmi and Fatima Monkush.41-42: (all) courtesy Carolina Rivera,ElanMagazine.43-44: (all) courtesy Kareem Salama.45-47: (all) courtesy Kiran Khalid.52-55: (all) courtesy Omar Khalidi, The Aga Khan Program or Islamic Architecture at Harvard sity and the Massachusetts Institute o Technology.56: (le t, bottom) Library o Congress, Prints & Photographs Division; (middle, top) Library oPrints & Photographs Division; (middle, bottom) portrait o Yarrow Mamout by Charles Wilson Pcourtesy The Historical Society o Pennsylvania Collection, Atwater Kent Museum o Philadelp57: (le t, top) Library o Congress, Prints & Photographs Division; (le t, bottom) courtesy MooTemple o America, Inc.; (middle, center) Librar y o Congress, Prints & Photographs Division; (courtesy The Mother Mosque o America.58: (middle, top) Omar Khalidi, The Aga Khan Program or Islamic Architecture at Harvard Uniand the Massachusetts Institute o Technology; (middle, bottom) courtesy Charles Bilal; (right, totesy Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad.59: (le t, top) Gamma Gamma Chi Sorority, Inc.; (right) courtesyThe Chicago Tribune .Supplement, page 2: (top) courtesy Dalia Ghanem; (third rom bottom) courtesy Yasmin Khan By

p roDuCtion

Executive Editor: George ClackEditor-in-Chie : Michael Jay FriedmanManaging Editor: Chandley McDonaldContributing Editor: Raphael CalisPhoto Editor / Designer: Tim BrownWriters: Howard Cincotta, Deborah Conn, Serena Kim, Meghan Lo tusResearcher: Martin Manning

Photo Researcher: Joann Stern

A s upplement to

g



DiD y ou k noW ?

Sixty-five percent o the Muslim American popula-tion are irst-generation immigrants, and 61 percento the oreign-born arrived in the 1990s or later.

Muslim Americans spendabout $170 billion onconsumer products annually, according to a 2007

igure by advertising agency JWT, and this igure isexpected to grow.

Iftar dinners at the White Houseduring Ramadanhave become regular occasions since the mid-

1990s.

An imam can servein several di erent roles in theUnited States. In most A rican-American mosques,the imam operates in both spiritual and adminis-trative capacities. In predominantly immigrantmosques, however, the imam is more likely to be aspiritual leader only.

Children’s books bringthe Muslim holy month oRamadan, like other holidays, into the Americanmainstream.

The largest mosque in the United States,openedby the Islamic Center o America in 2005, is inDearborn, Michigan.

g overnment

Muslim Americanswork in ederal, stagovernments throughout the United Stop to bottom, is a s ample.

Keith Ellisonbecame the rst Muslim eU.S. Congress, as the representative Fi th District, in 2006. He took his oacopy o the Quran once owned by Th

André Carson, a member o the IndianCounty Council, became the second Mo Congress a ter winning a special e2008 to become the congressman or District o Indiana.

DiplomatZalmay Khalilzadhas served

States Ambassador to the United NatiAmbassador to Iraq and A ghanistan

DoctorElias A. Zerhouniwas director oInstitutes o Health rom 2002 to 200

AmbassadorShirin Tahir-Kheliserved assor to the United States Secretary o

RepresentativeSaqib Alirepresents partery County in the Maryland General A

o Delegates.

B i s t



u nIted s tAtes d ePArtment of s tAte / B ureAu of InternAtIonAl InformAtIon P

Business

Muslim Americanscontribute to all aspects o U.S.business. Pictured at right, starting at the top, is asampling.

New York ashion designerd l G em,givesArab traditions an American twist.

Scientist a me Zew lo the Cali ornia Institute oTechnology won the Nobel Prize or chemistry.

The books o author Y y Eme ckpresent Islamicthemes and history to non-Muslim audiences.

The innovations o structural engineerF zlu r.K , honored on this postage stamp rom Bangla-desh, led to Chicago’s 110-story Sears Tower, theworld’s tallest building when completed in 1974.

JournalistF ee Z k is the editor o News-

week International magazine and host o the CNNinterview programFareed Zakaria GPS .

Hollywood producer and directorMous p akk ilmed stories o Islamic history such asThe

Message and Lion o the Desert , and the popularHalloweenmovies.

s ports

Sports in the United Stateshave beenroute to prominence or many Am

At top, a youngMuhammad Ali, wheavyweight champion o the worboxer had changed his name and coNation o Islam. Later Ali becameand he now practices Su ism.

The basketball playerKareem Abd

ar le t, is also a Muslim converttired rom pro essional basketbalNational Basketball Association’s scorer.

Jihad Muhammad, in the white heaother basketball player who recentop college team, the University o

Pro essional ootball player Az-Zahir

ing to catch a pass, had a 10-yearNational Football League.

BoxerBernard Hopkinslearned his cra young man and was later th e middpion or more than 10 years. He sti



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