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Editorial Review Product Description
"This, the first volume from the Muslims in the American Public Square research project gives theoretical and demographic portraits of Muslims in the American civil landscape." ... Read more Customer Reviews (1) 
Another stage of American Muslim Studies
Reading about Muslims in the American public square has always been an interesting topic. Although their presence on American shore presumably began long years before the coming of Columbus, the presence of Muslim in the American public square has only been perceived in the last 50 years. A number of major literatures such as The Muslim of America (1991) edited by Yvonne Y. Haddad, Islam in America: A Sourcebook (1992) edited by Kõszegi,Michael A. and J. Gordon Melton, Muslims on the Americanization Path? (1998) edited by Yvonne Y. Haddad and John L. Esposito, Sulayman S. Nyang's Islam in the United States of America (1999), or Jane I. Smith'sIslam in America (1999) have explained various aspects of Muslims in America, from the history of the coming of Muslims, to the contemporary issues of theology and the social and political aspirations of Muslims. The research on the topic of Muslim communities itself has became urgent particularly after the unprecedented 9/11 tragedy that impacted not only Muslims and American society in general, but also the whole Muslim world. The questions around hope, fear, and the aspirations of Muslims have been necessary to explain the massive changes in demography and the social circumstance of Muslims in the past few years. This is exactly the purpose of the publication of the book Muslims' Place in the American Public Square; Hope, Fear, and Aspirations (2004).
The book, which is edited by Zahid H. Bukhari, Sulayman S. Nyang, Mumtaz Ahmad, and John L. Esposito, is an anthology of research conducted by fourteen scholars from various backgrounds and institutions sponsored by The Project MAPS (Muslims in American Public Square), the research project that is based at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (CMCU), at Georgetown University, in Washington, DC. The authors of this book, all of them expert in Islamic studies and Muslim society, portray their perspective not only in terms of theoretical analysis but also in critical reflection. As it is also addressed as an effort to synthesize the bulk of literature published by Muslims and non-Muslims, this book has been challenging to read. This is one of the reasons why this book is significant to the on going study of Islam and Muslim societies. In other words, what the authors have expressed in this book is another stage of the development of American Muslim studies, adding up all the efforts and tasks that have been completed by previous literature.
The first part of this book, which seems to be the primary message of the book, is addressed to explain the theoretical perspective of Muslims living in America. Four authors, Taha Jabir Al-Alwani, Omar Khalidi, Aminah Beverly McCloud, and M.A. Muqtedar Khan, share their views on how Muslims should live and address their aspirations in the American public square. Taha Jabir Al-Alwani, with his deep experience as a mufti and the president of the Fiqh Council of North America, proposed an idea that Muslims must create new ijtihad (independent reasoning), so that all the basic ethics and theology of Islam may be relevant to the current condition of Muslims. There is no doubt that American Muslims have found themselves under conditions and circumstances that are radically different from what existed at the time of the Prophet and from all the contemporary Muslim societies outside the country. What becomes a demand today is how to resolve the gap between the traditional formulation of Islamic theology and law and the current circumstances of Muslim communities living in America. In answering that question, Al-Alwani describes methodological principles of studying Al-Qur'an that may assist Muslims to understand the exact purpose of the Al-Qur'an. For Al-Alwani, the lives of Muslims as minorities need a new development of fiqh that is fully aware of their environment and their cultural and social surrounding. Al-Alwani does not agree with the reproduction of old fatwa in contemporary language or of using current vernacular. Instead, what is necessary for Muslims today is "original interpretations that respond to the problem of minorities in a way that is free of the negative effects that are usually associated with the fiqh of expediency or crises" (33).
The more specific explanation of Muslims living in a pluralistic society is stated by Omar Khalidi. He elaborates the experience of Muslims living in certain areas such as Spain, India, Russia and the Balkans. After reviewing the classical thought of Islam and Muslim society from various scholars, he comes to the conclusion that Muslims can and should be able to live in harmony with predominantly non-Muslim environments. The old distinction of the land between dar al-Islam and dar al-hard, or the realms of peace and the realms of war, is no longer acceptable, for both are relative in its usage. Thus, in the context of Muslims in America today, there would be no other choice for Muslims except to live peacefully anywhere they have chosen to live in this country. Implicitly, Khalidi states that whatever the situation faced by Muslims, this country is much better to live in, given the unfortunate situation in almost the entire Muslim world today. To Khalidi, the next agenda that Muslims should be aware of is how to formulate their participation and their political program. The fact that American Muslims are diverse in ethnic and national background may, of course, make the task difficult. For this situation, Muslims should struggle in finding a balance between the necessity of their participation on the national agenda and their specific communal issues or local interests.
Aminah Beverly McCloud and M.A. Muqtedar Khan, who write the two articles in the last part of the first topic, explore the problem of Muslim immigrants and their new environment in the United States. Restating the main idea of the first two chapters, McCloud urges that Muslims must engage in and involve themselves in their American communities, and at the same time put aside the different self-concerns of each Muslim community. McCloud reminds the leader that the long concern of Muslim immigrants toward their old countries is an unfinished passion, and useless, an activity that separates them from American community. Furthermore, she also argues that failure to understand their new community may create problems, and as a result, they might be considered ineffective citizens in this country.
The very question of how to be effective citizens is exactly what Muqtedar Khan means by defining a so-called `American Muslim identity.' Looking back to the classical antagonism of Samuel Huntington's clash of civilizations, Khan actually wants to build a new consciousness that Muslims in America are not the same condition as Muslims outside the Western world. Muslims living in America are American Muslims who definitely share the same faith with all fellows Muslims (Muslim ummah) but more focus on building community inside America. Khan explains that there are two images of America in Muslim minds today: "America the democracy," and "America the colonial power." Khan himself, to the best of my knowledge from reading his articles, seems to promote the first image. He is one among Muslims who considers America as their homeland. However, he also does not deny the fact that there is a group of Muslims who reject the idea of assimilation of Muslims into American society. He also laments that this group of Muslims has spent huge energy on harassing their fellow Muslims who try to bridge the gap between Islam and the West. Khan questions, "What does it mean to have a balanced view of the West? It means that we do not throw out the baby with the bath water" (108). Moreover, he argues; "Because Muslims are upset that the U.S. has chosen to be friends with Israel and not with the Arabs, just because the U.S. has committed crimes against Iraqi children, we must not reject democracy, human right, respect for freedom, and the rule of law" (108). It is time for Muslims to stop their uncritical prejudices toward America. Instead, Khan argues, American Muslims today should become `the first hand' in interpreting what the West really is and should not support the opinion of the old divergence between Islam and the West made by the Muslims who have no experience living in American society.
Another helpful part of this book is the study of Christian and American Muslim relation written by Jane I. Smith in chapter 7. Her well-known expertise on Christians-Muslims encounters has made this book rich with reflections on the subject. Smith concisely explores models of dialog or engagement that have characterized Christian-American Muslim relations. One model that she mentions in her explanation is "the theological exchange model," the model that is feared by some Muslims as another effort of Christian evangelization of Muslims. Although many Muslim leaders tend to avoid it, this model is important given the fact that both Christians and Muslims still do not know the elements of others' faith. Muzammil Siddiqi, the former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is one of those who support this model. Another fascinating type of encounter between Muslims and Christians is "the ethical exchange model." The advocates of this model, most notably Ismail al-Faruqi, believe that the arena for discussion between Muslims and Christians is not theology but ethics. The proponents of this model are convinced that Muslims and Christians can provide the common solution of various ethical problems that haunt American society. In brief, Smith mentions that there is no question that most Muslims who have chosen to participate in dialog have found it beneficial. However, she also explores several crucial problems of which Muslims should be aware. Despite the fact that many Muslims still continue to suspect that Christians have an agenda of converting them away from Islam, Muslims do not seem to have developed a conceptual framework for dialog. Quoting Imam Ahmad Chebli, with whom she corresponded, Smith writes "up to today we do not have any by-laws or constitution or guidelines for dialog. We just come together and decide to talk about this and that" (178). In addition, another problem comes up because of the lack of understanding among various Muslim communities, and as a result, "many Muslims are concerned that the dialogue is dominated by particular groups of Muslims" (180). The complex disparity between Muslims from South Asia, Arabs, and African American, Sunni and Shia, has forced the process of dialog to be sensitive to the different perspectives among Muslims, which is actually a good thing. However, this situation often creates another problem, as she notes, referring to Sheikh Ibrahim Nejm, "when immigrant and African American Muslims participate together in a dialog session, it often turns into a debate rather than a dialogue, or more specifically a subdebate within the overall conversation" (182). Over all, although Smith does not come up with a new idea for the development of interfaith dialog, her reflections in this book may become advantageous in directing where American Muslims must address their concerns and aspirations.
What is also distinctive in the study of American Muslims is the relation of Islam to the Black experience that has become an inseparable experience of African American Muslims. In explaining the complex experience of African American Muslims, this book elucidates the matters broadly in the third part, where three scholars from three different backgrounds combine their arguments. One of the scholars, Sherman A. Jackson, an African American Muslim, describes Islam among African Americans and argues that Black religion has a central influence on the heart of African American Muslims. Black religion is the instrument in which the religious message of justice and equality is combined with the radical opposition to racial oppression as the ruin of slavery. This is the exceptional situation that has characterized African American Muslims, when compared to all immigrant Muslims from all over the world. Jackson also notes the general admiration for Noble Drew Ali and Elijah Muhammad who, he argues, rendered a `psychological space' through which millions of African American would later convert, or specifically, `reinvented' Islam, this despite the fact that the majority of Muslims would not consider Drew Ali and Elijah Muhammad as preaching the mainstream Islam. Had the Islam introduced to the African American been `the mainstream immigrant' Islam from which the Black oppressed experience was absent, the African American would probably not have been interested in it.
The last part of this book that may lift up its value and make it required reading not only for students, policy makers, or journalists, but also for Muslim leaders is written by Ilyas Ba-Yunus and Kassim Kone. In their research, the two authors questioned the existing literature of demography of American Muslims conducted by previous researchers. What they found and present in this book is fresh data on the social composition of Muslim communities and where they primarily live. They estimate that those of Arab origin are the largest group of Muslims in America, followed by those of African American and South Asian origin. Another smaller composition of Muslims varies among Muslims from Turkey, the Balkans, Indonesia, and Iran. In recent years, they also describe, Muslims are not only living in metropolitan areas such as New York City and Detroit, but are starting to spread into smaller towns and suburban areas. This situation confirms that American Muslims are not only crowding into the corners of metropolitan areas, but are also showing a growing interest in acquiring more professional jobs across the country.
At the end of this book, Ihsan Bagby and Iqbal J. Unus, who conducted research on the presence of mosques and Muslim community organizations, conclude that the past majority of American Muslims have already become involved and have fully participated in the American public square and social activities. Iqbal J. Unus, who specifically focuses on the role of Muslims organization, states that the presence of Muslims in community organizations, including the leadership structure of the mosque, has changed what was the traditional organization. Muslim community organizations have transformed their instruments of decision making from unstructured systems to more transparent and accountable organizations, where membership and leadership are more structured.
Having explained the content of the Muslims' Place in the American Public Square, it can be concluded that this book has shown how far Muslims have come in playing their role and in forming their identity in the plurality of American Society. As in the foregoing paragraph stated by the authors, the problems and responsibilities of Muslims still need more attention, ranging from the need to explore fiqh or theology of Islam in the context of American society and to grapple with the problem of divergence of Muslim communities, to the need to build a new identity for Muslims living in America. This book has also shown another major fact that Muslims can live and participate in the public square of a secular democratic country without sacrificing their faith as Muslims. Instead, the freedom of religion that is guaranteed by the Constitution has helped Muslim communities and all their religious institutions to flourish, a situation that is far better than what Muslims have experienced in the undemocratic regimes in their old countries. Last of all, this book is necessary, not only for Muslims living in America and the Western countries, but also for Muslims all over the world. What the book has shown is a sincere reflection for all Muslims living in the Muslim world to learn from their fellows living in the West.
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This is not orthodox Islam!