Two attributes connect individuals like professor Zareena Grewal of Yale University, writer and blogger Wajahat Ali, Congressman André Carson, fashion designer Nyla Hashmi, boxing coach Victor Perez, and California artist Dalah Faytrouni.
They are Muslim and American — and constitute part of a remarkable community that, in large measure, mirrors the diversity of the United States itself.
Muslims in the United States come from 80 different countries and tend to be younger, better educated and in more highly skilled or professional careers than the general population, says Zahid Bukhari of the Georgetown University-based Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
Along with their varied ethnic identities, they are Sunni and Shiite — and range from orthodox to secular in their beliefs. They comprise recent immigrants as well as younger generations born in the United States, according to a 2007 survey by the Pew Research Center.
“We are the only country where you have a representation of the global Muslim community,” says Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. “You can call us a mini-hajj — and an opportunity to be a model community for others.”
DIVERSITY AND DEMOCRACY
Faced with such a range of backgrounds, is it possible to speak of a specific identity for Muslim Americans? For most, the answer is yes — even though the precise contours of that identity are still evolving.
“American Muslims are defined by the saying that ‘home is not where your grandparents were born but where your grandchildren will live,’” says Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Khan sees no contradiction between the foundational values of Islam and the demands of American democracy. “In fact, Islam demands the kind of approach that reconciles these values,” she says.
She sees a very significant process under way that is typical of how religions become “Americanized.” Historically, what was once an overwhelmingly Protestant Christian country grew to accept Catholic and Jewish faiths into what is termed a “Judeo-Christian ethic.”
That viewpoint is now evolving into a new “Abrahamic ethic” that encompasses the three monotheistic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, according to Khan. “Over time, as Muslims are accepted into the larger Abrahamic ethic, they will be seen as an authentic part of the American experience,” she says.
DIALOGUE AND COMMUNITY
Ingrid Mattson, Canadian-born convert to Islam and head of the Islamic Society of North America, sees her job chiefly as making connections and negotiating differences in ways that not only reduce conflict but lead to positive growth and understanding with the larger American society.
“We represent a Muslim identity that flourishes in democracy,” she said in a recent interview on the American Public Radio program Speaking of Faith.
Mattson states that many European governments now are looking to American Muslims as a kind of model community.
“People [who criticize American Muslims] need to recognize the flaws in an approach that is confrontational, oppositional and does not engage in the patient work of consensus-building and conceding the rights of other parties,” says Mattson.
A new survey on the “state of faith relations” in nine North American and European countries seems to substantiate Mattson’s view. American and Canadian religious groups are more likely than Europeans to be classified as “integrated” into their societies, according to the U.S. Gallup Poll organization and British-based Coexist Foundation.
Muslim Americans may follow the classic integration pattern of other minority groups in the United States, but they also face the unique legacy of the September 11, 2001, attacks, according to John Esposito, director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
“For many Muslims, there is an additional challenge of those who have not sharply distinguished between Islam and a minority of extremists in the world,” he says.
The answer is to empower a voice that is both mainstream and connected to the community, according to Marayati. “In my mind, engagement means working for authentic reform that doesn’t depart from Islam — reform based on the Quran — not the isolated sayings that the extremists inflate and use.”
For Reza Aslan, author of No god But God, the growth in global education and communications offers an unprecedented opportunity.
“It is up to those of us who are practicing and preaching a pluralistic, reform-minded, and more open ideal of Islam to get our voices out there and make sure we are part of the debate about the meaning and message of Islam,” he said in an altmuslim.com interview.
MUSLIM AND AMERICAN
In her counseling work, Khan sees the process by which people reconcile their Muslim and American identities firsthand. “It’s not enough to say you’re accidently here and happen to be American,” she says. “You have to forge a new identity.”
A critical step is to recognize the difference between cultural practices that can be shed and the core values of Islam, according to Khan. She frequently makes this distinction in her counseling work with young people about what may be traditional practice in a parent’s home country — and what is “allowed or not allowed” in Islam.
First-generation Muslim Americans — in the same classic pattern of earlier immigrants — often choose to live and worship within their own ethnic and religious communities, she observed.
But as younger generations become more secure in balancing their dual identities as citizens and as Muslims, they can reach out and become more invested in the American experience — also a classic process that other minority groups have experienced.
“This gives me a lot of hope,” Khan says.
GOVERNMENT OUTREACH
Another critical factor in shaping Muslim-American perceptions is the response of government. A number of federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, have instituted vigorous outreach programs to the Muslim-American community.
“Here in the Justice Department, we are committed to using criminal and civil rights laws to protect Muslim Americans,” declared Attorney General Eric Holder in June. “A top priority is a return to robust civil rights enforcement and outreach in defending religious freedoms and other fundamental rights of all of our fellow citizens.”
Valerie Jarrett, one of President Obama’s closest advisers and head of the White House Office for Public Engagement, spoke at the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America in July.
“I will tell you, it is not always easy to identify American ‘Muslim’ business leaders, scientists, artists, athletes, and so on,” Jarrett said. “Not because there aren’t any, but because there are too many, and they are known for their talents and character — not simply their religion. This is a great thing. It is a reflection of the American dream, which is ultimately rooted in these values that we all share — values that are common to all of humanity.”
See also Being Muslim in America, an America.gov publication.
For more information, see the Web sites of the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, the Fiqh Council of North America, and the American Society for Muslim Advancement.