Demystifying American Muslims’ Faith and Culture

In the United States, Islam is still a minority religion, though a fast-growing one. Although population estimates are little more than guesses, the combination of African American converts, recent immigrants from Pakistan, Iran and Africa, and second- and third-generation Arabs have established Islam as a major part of the American religious scene.

Nonetheless, American Muslims are almost invisible in popular culture. There are no notable Muslim elected officials, few Muslim celebrities and few public figures who identify themselves as Muslim. This invisibility reinforces the widespread ignorance of Islam that is endemic in America, an ignorance invaded only by Hollywood images of Muslim terrorists.

In fact, as Jane Smith notes in her wonderful survey, “Islam in America,” many American Muslims are so disturbed and so threatened by these negative stereotypes that, until recently, they have taken great pains to disguise their religious identity in the hopes that they might safely navigate under the radar screen of our national animus. After the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, there were multiple episodes of anti-Muslim violence before it was revealed that the attack was the work of two disgruntled white Protestant supremacists.

There have been remarkably few books that assess the wide variety of Islam in America. While the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan do register on the national consciousness, the Nation represents a small fraction of American Islam, and many Muslims do not even consider the Nation truly Islamic. Smith assumes no knowledge on the part of the reader, and she spends a quarter of the book offering a condensed primer on Islam and Muslims, covering everything from religious beliefs to historical developments and social mores. She then turns to the beliefs and sects that form the tapestry of Islam in America.

As with many Christian denominations and Judaism, there is no central doctrinal authority for Muslims. Different sects interpret the Koran and the life of Muhammad differently. In the African American community alone, there are dozens of Muslim sects, some of which adhere to “orthodox” (Sunni) Islam, and some of which are even more removed from that fold than the Nation of Islam. One of the leading figures of the orthodox branch is the Imam Wallace Muhammad, who is the son of the Elijah Muhammad, the founder of the Nation. In the mid-1980s, Warith Deen rejected the racialism of the Nation and declared himself a Sunni; he was the first Muslim, Smith writes, to be asked to open the U.S. Senate with a prayer.

Smith devotes several chapters to the social concerns of Muslims living as a minority in a non-Muslim country, and she focuses on the family and the role of women, where the differences between various groups are particularly acute. One fault line exists between Muslims born in the United States (that is, between converts and the children of Muslim immigrants); another is between immigrants--primarily from Pakistan, Bangladesh and African countries--and American Muslims. Immigrants tend to be more socially conservative and favor a circumscribed role for women, heavy supervision of teenage children and familial care for the elderly. American Muslims are more likely to allow their children to dip selectively into American pop culture, but women exhibit a huge array of choices and behavior. Some adopt an even more rigid interpretation of Koranic strictures about what women should wear and how they should conduct themselves in public, while others draw a very American distinction between their private faith and their public persona.

There are some lovely and amusing vignettes in the book, as Smith highlights the practical solutions to problems particular to Muslims. Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day, and in Muslim countries, the call to prayer is broadcast for all to hear. In the United States, Casio has marketed a watch that sounds an electronic call at the appointed times. Computer companies have developed an English-Arabic CD-ROM version of the Koran; and some banks have set up “Islamic deposits” to circumvent the Muslim prohibition against charging interest on loans.

Though Smith provides a lively, engaging overview, the book ends with something of a whimper, as she tacks on a chapter providing thumbnail sketches of important American Muslims. Neither deep nor especially illuminating, they still prove the point that there’s much to learn about American Islam. In the coming decades, Islam and Muslims will shape American culture, perhaps not directly, but by sheer virtue of numbers. We may someday be treated to a Muslim Ricky Martin, and so wake up to the fact that Muslims are a vital segment of our society. But until that happens, we will have to rely on the work of Jane Smith.