A History of Islam In America

by Kambiz GhaneaBassiri

Muslims began arriving in the New World long before the rise of the Atlantic slave trade. The first arrivals date to the turn of the sixteenth century when European explorers and colonists crossed the Atlantic in search of new horizons and trading routes. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri’s fascinating book traces the history of Muslims in the United States and their different waves of immigration and conversion across five centuries, through colonial and antebellum America, through world wars and civil rights struggles, to the contemporary era. The book tells the often deeply moving stories of individual Muslims and their lives as immigrants and citizens within the broad context of the American religious experience, showing how that experience has been integral to the evolution of American Muslim institutions and practices. This is a unique and intelligent portrayal of a diverse religious community and its relationship with America. It will serve as a strong antidote to the current politicized dichotomy between Islam and the West, which has come to dominate the study of Muslims in America and further afield.

Genres: History, Islam, American History, Religion, Nonfiction, American

446 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2010

Reviews

[The other John · Rating 3 out of 5]

One nice thing about sending your children to college is that they bring home interesting books. In one sense, A History of Islam in America didn't quite live up to its title--the lives and beliefs of American Muslims haven't been all that well documented over the centuries. But some of what Professor GhaneaBassiri did find I found fascinating, especially Islam in antebellum America and the milieu at the turn of the 20th Century. Muslims before the Civil War were mostly Africans, taken from their homes and people, enslaved and transported to North America. For many, with no mosque or community to support it, their religion became a strictly private thing, with nothing but an occasional ritual passed on to younger generations. The chapter about the era after the Civil War was fascinating in how it presented American Protestant culture from the perspective of an ethnic and religious outsider. It's easy to gloss over the sins of one's forebears if the history has been written by said sinners. As I read the book, I heard echoes of Lies My Teacher Told Me and A People's History of the United States.

[Tuscany Bernier · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT READ! I think it is easy for people to blow off the contents of this book as unimportant,(especially in the beginning since the beginning is a bit dry), but it is vital - in my opinion - for American Muslims to look who came before us. Some people weren't who we expected and sometimes our history isn't pretty. Some of the first Muslims to touch this land were enslaved people from West Africa. Do you know about the Ben Ali Diary? Do you know about Inayat Khan or Imam W.D. Muhammad? What about the history of the MSA (Muslim Student Associations) found at most universities across the U.S.? Find these answers and more in this fantastic read!

[Yasmine Flodin-Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal. Very comprehensive, draws on a wide range of sources. Especially wonderful examination of early Muslim American history, which is frequently overlooked/spottily covered.

[Kristian Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the fact that many American Muslim families have lived in the United States for generations they are often thought of as foreigners. I have witnessed on several occasions someone asking an African American Muslim when they converted to Islam or what drew them to the religion. Or asking Muslims from Middle Eastern or Asian descent where they are from or when they came to America. These questions are not always intended to be malicious but they do underscore some of the assumptions about Muslims in American discourse: Muslims are new members of the United States, whether through immigration or conversion.

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, professor of religion at Reed College, challenges these preconceptions by thoroughly outlining the long history of Muslims in American. His new book, A History of Islam in America: From the New World to the New World Order (Cambridge University Press, 2010) maps the activities of various communities of Muslims from the colonial and antebellum period to the present. His account is rich in detail and offers a vibrant portrait of the encounters and exchanges between Muslim communities and their non-Muslim neighbors. It is by far the most comprehensive historical treatment of the Muslims in America and calls for new approaches in the study of Muslim minority populations more generally. GhaneaBassiri situates Islam within the broad context of the American religious experience and displays the complexity and diversity of American Muslim history. This rigorous and richly documented account also challenges and transcends the flat and monolithic presentation of American Muslims that is typically offered in the current politicized discursive dichotomy between Islam and the West. A History of Islam in America should be essential reading for anyone interested in Muslims in the United States and American religions more generally.
http://newbooksinislamicstudies.com/2...

[Vika Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very sophisticated presentation of the topic. Unfortunately, it is too difficult for first year students, although the presentation here is nicely focused on a religious studies context, with excellent discussions of various kinds of conversion that does not paint a black-and-white picture.

[Roger DeBlanck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book is essential for anyone seeking knowledge of Islam's origins and development in America, it is primarily an academic study. It is heavy with erudite theory that can slow down the overall narrative flow of the history chronicled. Still, it is fascinating to trace the facts and details of Muslims in America since the settling of the "New World" through the millennium.

[Gayla Bassham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a more academic, less narrative history than I was really looking for. Still, it is valuable scholarship, and I found it quite interesting once I adjusted my expectations.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be clear, I didn't read it cover to cover, but this is an important history lesson.

[آية · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive history of Muslims in America spanning 5 centuries. Our history as American Muslims starts well before 9/11. Muslims were on this continent ever since Columbus stepped foot on it--and perhaps even before him. This book traces their journeys through colonial America, antebellum America, the Civil Rights era, World Wars, the post-colonial world, and beyond.

This subject is super important for American Muslims to educate themselves about. Understanding the struggles of past American Muslims--how they constructed their American and Muslim identities, their relationships to their faith, the ways they navigated American society and politics--is necessary to understanding our current positions and identities as American Muslims today.

Up to the nineteenth century, most Muslims in America were either brought over as enslaved Africans or they descended from them. After that, many Muslims came to America as immigrants.

Naturally, the most interesting parts to me were the summarized biographies of various notable Muslims in America across the centuries. Like Estebanico, who was served as Columbus's interpreter through their journeys on the continent. Of course, no history of America would be complete without discussing Malcolm X. And the book also discusses various white converts as far back as the 19th century. And, to me the most interesting, was Umar ibn Said, who was a highly educated West African Muslim and, when enslaved, used the Quran to assert Allah's authority above his slavers. He was one of the few enslaved people in America to have written an autiobiography, and he prefaced his by writing Surat al-Mulk. How powerful is that? That he chose this surah to be forever tied to his identity--the surah that asserts that the dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs only to Allah, and that Allah is the only one with any power in the universe--not Umar's slavers.

The author emphasizes the concept of "liminality" throughout the book. He argues that Muslims have always occupied a "liminal" identity in America. Islam was not seen as a fully savage religion, but neither was it seen as a fully civilized one. Enslaved Africans tried to use their Muslim-ness to argue that they were not black--to "de-negrofy" themselves and thus be perceived better by white Americans. Islam thus occupied a liminal space between savage and civilized, black and white.

It was also interesting, and troubling, to learn that the reason why Arabs are labelled as white on the US Census today is because of the advocacy of Arab immigrants in the early 20th century. By distancing themselves from "colored" people, they tried to earn their place in a very racist system and society--if they didn't advocate for their whiteness, they quite possibly wouldn't have gained rights to citizenship, yet by doing so, they alienated themselves from black Americans and risked losing their distinct identity.

The book emphasizes the ways in which Muslims built identities, mosques, and communities. It was fascinating to learn about earlier Muslim immigrants who were initially more connected to their cultural heritage but then, overtime, began defining themselves on religious terms. Also, the strength and resilience that Black Muslims had while trying to keep their Islamic teachings alive through generations of slavery was inspiring. I wish the book spent more time discussing the relationships between Black Muslims and Muslim immigrants rather than treating them as separate entities most of the time.

It was also interesting to learn that in the 20th century, many mosques first started as gatherings in people's homes and then, once a stronger community was established, they gathered enough money to open new masjids. This is a phenomenon that I still see happening in America today subhanAllah.

I know it's beyond this book's scope, but just putting this out there since we're on the subject: it would be interesting to compare American vs British Muslims and study the factors that led to their differences.

It was published in 2010, so there was not much commentary on the changing attitudes/strategies/rhetoric employed by Muslims after that—which, based on my knowledge and discussions with older generation Muslims, appears to have shifted to become less apologetic as time shifted

[Koleksi American Corner UGM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kambiz Ghanea Bassiri, A History of Islam in America. (United States of America: Cambridge University Press, 2010).

Judul : A History of Islam in America

Penulis/Editor : Kambiz Ghanea Bassiri

Ringkasan : Buku ini bercerita tentang awal kedatangan umat Muslim di Amerika pada era New World, jauh sebelum tahun-tahun penjualan buruh Atlantik. Kambiz Ghanea Bassiri menceritakan kilas balik sejarah umat Muslim di Amerika dan perbedaan gelombang imigrasi dan konversinya yang terjadi pada lima benua besar dunia. Buku ini merangkum kejadian-kejadian pada zaman kolonial dan zaman sebelum perang (antebellum) Amerika, hingga PD dan perjuangan hak sipil, dan mencakup era konteporer.
Muslims began arriving in the New World long before the rise of the Atlantic slave trade. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri's fascinating book traces the history of Muslims in the United States and their different waves of immigration and conversion across five centuries, through colonial and antebellum America, through world wars and civil rights struggles, to the contemporary era. The book tells the often deeply moving stories of individual Muslims and their lives as immigrants and citizens within the broad context of the American religious experience, showing how that experience has been integral to the evolution of American Muslim institutions and practices. This is a unique and intelligent portrayal of a diverse religious community and its relationship with America. It will serve as a strong antidote to the current politicized dichotomy between Islam and the West, which has come to dominate the study of Muslims in America and further afield.

Daftar Isi :

Introduction
1. Islam in the 'New World': the historical setting
2. Islamic beliefs and practice in colonial and antebellum America
3. Conflating race, religion and progress: social change, national identity, and Islam in the post-Civil War era
4. Race, ethnicity, religion and citizenship: Muslim immigration at the turn of the twentieth century
5. Rooting Islam in America: community and institution building in the interwar period
6. Islam and American civil religion in the aftermath of World War II
7. A new religious America and post-colonial Muslim world: American Muslim institution building and activism, 1960s–80s
8. Between experience and politics: American Muslims and the 'new world order', 1989–2008
Epilogue.


Bahasa : Inggris

Halaman : 381

Penerbit : Cambridge University Press

Tahun terbit : 2010

Harga : £19.99

[ficulyus · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, if repetitive book.

GhaneaBassiri begins with the slavocracy - as it is often forgotten that Islam first reached America's shores by way of West African slaves. He conveys the relationship between Islamic beliefs and African Muslims through the nexus of white, protestant supremacy, and examines how the Muslims of the day tended to understand their faith in relationship to their predicament as colored/foreign aliens. The 19th century is conveyed by testimonials of former slaves, many of whom were the children of slaves, or witnessed Islamic "syncretism" on plantations, as well as by the various lives & slave narratives of noteworthy Muslim Americans.

The 20th century describes the progressive movement, and the widening of the "melting pot" in the post-WWI world, up to the shattering of the progressive consensus in the post-WWII environs. Thereafter the book describes much that is familiar to us. The trend of African-Americans delving into the past history of Islam as the liberating faith of slaves (which, as Bassiri notes, is rather untrue); the trend of Muslim immigration to America, and how pan-Islamism affected new immigrants who sought to reconcile the American dream with Islamic principles. It concludes in the modern era, in the post-911 landscape.

While Bassiri is a little repetitive at times, his point is clear: the history of Muslims in America is really the history of a medley of individuals, reacting in various ways to the white Protestant consensus. Islam was a tool of distinction from the 17th to 19th century, as a mode of civilization between "black civilization" and righteous Christiandom; thus many slaves aspired to it. In the 20th century, African-Americans seized on it, too, as the progressive era's focus on pride of civilization took hold of them; thus we have the Moorish Science Temple, and, most famously, the Nation of Islam, as well as many other groups. In the 1960s, Islam becomes associated with the Middle East, a distinction that never quite shakes, and the Muslim community begins to organize in earnest.

The history of Islam in America, then, is rich, and cross-cultural. It would aid any interested in American history, or Islam, to read this book.

[Dan Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magisterial study of Islam in the United States from the colonial age to the present. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri makes the valid point, over and over, that there is no single Muslim experience in America. Islam is as diverse as any other religion (or cluster of religions, depending on how you define smaller sects). Muslim immigrants, like Jews and Catholics and so many others before them, have had to juggle their heritage and their new U.S. context. The book's discussions of Muslim pan-Africanists, such as those who affected Marcus Garvey, Noble Drew Ali, and Wallace Fard, are particularly enlightening.

[Humza · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative and interesting read that highlights the often overlooked historical legacy of Islam in America and how deeply it is actually ingrained into American history and culture.

[Tawsif Elahi Chowdhury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely useful as a reference text for those who are interested in Islam in the Americas.