To be Muslim and American: two books examine how

How do US Muslims reconcile their seemingly disparate worlds?

from the March 20, 2007 edition

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The aptly titled Mecca and Main Street by Geneive Abdo explores a younger generation that is shaping an identity that is both American and Muslim.

An American of Lebanese-Christian background, Abdo reported from the Middle East for nearly a decade. Here she draws on three years of interviewing in major US cities to produce a book that is honest, perceptive, and nuanced.

Her reporting demonstrates that the societal suspicions and government intrusions since 9/11 have led Muslims to embrace their faith more vigorously, study more deeply, and try to bridge ethnic divisions to create a more unified Muslim community.

On the West Coast, nationally popular imams Hamza Yusuf and Zaid Shakir, of the Zaytuna Institute, hold teaching sessions avidly attended by young men and women, many of whom, Abdo says, are engaged in a "rejectionist movement" – an attempt to create a world where they can find comfort in their faith while "negotiating the rigors of daily life in modern America."

In Chicago, social activist Rami Nashashibi engages hip-hop artists to help draw Chicago street kids into a Muslim multicultural network. In Michigan, young leaders of a Muslim Student Association brave threats (and a beating) to move the organization toward a more moderate, pluralistic version of Islam.

Abdo also explores the growing influence of women in mosque life as well as the challenges they face in a tight-knit, conservative Yemeni community near Detroit.

These absorbing books introduce a Muslim community that is both an American immigration success story and a population struggling to define itself under unprecedented circumstances. There are elements of fundamentalism, but that, Barrett writes, does not necessarily entail violence.

The authors agree the resolution of this struggle depends as much on non-Muslim Americans as on Muslims. Barrett outlines steps government officials and ordinary citizens can take to ensure that Muslims enjoy a full sense of citizenship.

Abdo sees things American Muslim youth have in common with European Muslims, but little evidence they are answering the call of extremism. More pertinent is the image of hijab-wearing Hadia Mubarak, called "Magic Muslim" by her soccer teammates. The articulate young woman broke the glass ceiling to head the national Muslim Student Association and plans to become a lawyer.

• Jane Lampman is a Monitor staffer.

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