The cover of “A History of Islam in America” is very controversial if compared to what is written in the text. My perceptions so far from reading Kambiz GhaneaBassiri book is that he gives factual information on Muslim Black history. But on the cover of the book, the group of people that I see are white skinned immigrants. It confuses me that a historian that spent most of the book from chapter 1-6, discussing the enslavement of African Muslim to the New World and how they had to assimilate to a new society that was forming. So, I’m shocked that from the readings, which mainly discussed African Muslims, and Middle-Eastern Muslim, that there is no depictions on the cover of any person of color. When I think of American history, I mainly focus on the disparities of African Americans faced, slavery, war, and democracy. In class, we talked about how Islam is colorblind and doesn’t hold another race superior to others and that people determine who is higher up in the class system based on race. If Islam is a colorblind religion, then why do we have many segregated mosque for different ethnicity? Is it because people feel that it’s easier to relate to someone with the same skin color? How is a society supposed to unite when we can’t even hold truth on how America was established and its creation was made from slavery and trespassing. “Many Muslim immigrants took Christian names to avoid the stigmatization associated with being a Turk or a Muslim A.”(141).Why do people have to
Muhammad’s father-in-law Abu Bakr took over leadership of the umma as the successor (caliph) of Muhammad. Abu Bakr faced two main tasks: standardization of the Islamic religion and consolidation of the Islamic state. Abu Bakr successfully re-established Muslim authority over the Arabs and oversaw the compilation and organization of the Quran in book form.
rompt: List and explore in depth the factors that contributed to the rapid and widespread adoption of the Islamic Faith and the creation of an empire that extended from Spain to the farthest borders of the Persian Empire.
The history of the Islamic world has been one of weak state institutions and state underperformance, coupled with a high prevalence of violence, both by the state and by individuals. A major reason for these negative trends has been the role of political Islam in privileging homogeneity over diversity, in stifling dissent in public and private life, and the societal stagnation that follows such rigid controls. Malaysia and Indonesia have been notable exceptions to the underperformance of Islamic cultures.
David Eggers, in Zeitoun, shows a story of a Muslim American family living through many challenges. After 9/11 Muslim families, like the Zeitouns, face many problems living in America. Eggers wants to inform other Americans on the situation of Muslim living in the United States, present day. People who are uneducated about the Muslim religion need to be informed on how similar lives are of other people all around the United States. These people throw out stereotypes and aim judgments wrongly at the Zeitoun family. Unjust treatment of the Zeitoun family is a cause of assuming and stereotypes. In this biography, Eggers helps inform his readers about
In the 7th century A.D., Islamic faith was charging through the Middle East. Many reasons are to credit for the rise of Islamic faith. However the muslims attacks on other nations, Islamic beliefs and trade were the key contributors into the rise of the Islamic religion. There army would lay waste to other nations.Also the Islamic beliefs were intriguing and the city of Mecca was in the middle of a bunch of trade routes which helped spread the religion.
On December 1, I attended a program called “Stories of Black Muslims in America” sponsored by Damietta Cross Cultural Center. As a white Muslim, I haven’t experienced any racism toward my skin color so it was interesting to see how black Muslims in America have embraced both sides of their identity. “Black” and “Muslim” are terms often not associated with one another. In fact, most Americans have a hard time understanding the concept.
When students think of Islam—if they do at all—they might summon an image of Denzel Washington playing a stern and passionate Malcolm X in Spike Lee's 1992 film, or maybe they imagine Louis Farrakhan on the speaker's platform at the Million Man March in 1995. Some might have encountered Middle Eastern Muslims on the nightly news, mostly as "fundamentalists" and "terrorists." A few have met immigrant Muslims in their neighborhood. Muslim students might be among their classmates. But Muslims are more diverse than popular images allow, and American Muslim history is longer than most might think, extending back to the day that the first slave ship landed on Virginia's coast in 1619. It encorporates two groups—Muslims from other countries who migrated
America has a long history of excluding people from society based on race, gender, class, and religion. There is a growing trend of the social exclusion of people based on phenotype, dress, and religious preference. Many Muslims in the United States are denied cultural citizenship. Today, citizenship can not be denied from a person based on these apearence. Since 9/11, the status of Muslims both within the USA and globally has garnered significant attention from scholars, researchers, politicians, and the media. The Pew Research Center pubished several reports on Muslims, from public opinion polls capturing Muslim worldviews and their attitudes toward America and Islamic extremism to the impact Islam has had on the religious and political landscape
PBS, n.d. Web. 27 May 2015). Islam is among the largest faith in the United
With the American people showing ever increasing interest in Muslims since the attacks on America, it was inevitable that this would change the way Muslims would be viewed in the United States. The 9/11 attacks - carried out by nineteen Islamic extremists - have no doubt changed how Muslim-Americans are perceived in this country, and those feelings have simmered for 15 years now. Even though a stigma against the Muslim American community had been growing in the US because of wars and conflicts, the attacks on the world trade centers in New york marked an era that ushered in mass stereotypes and disenfranchisement for Muslim Americans (Bakalian, Anny, and Mehdi Bozorgmehr). According to Mehdi Bozorgmehr and Anny Bakalian, an Associate Director and Mehdi Bozorgmehr is Co-Director of the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center at the Graduate Center, immigrants from the Middle East are familiar with stereotypes and discrimination in the United States. In backlash 9 ⁄ 11, they examined the harassment, discrimination, and hate crimes committed by individuals against members of the targeted communities or people who look ‘‘Middle Eastern.’’Islam has established a niche in America. Estimates vary, but there are about 4 million Muslims in the United States and Canada. Although a major portion of this community is made up of immigrants, there has been a steady increase in the number of Americans accepting Islam (History of Islam). According to Karine Walther, an Assistant
Islamic rule spread over major areas of Africa, the Middle East, South, Southeast and Central Asia, Spain, and Southern Italy. Many Christians saw Islam as a religion of the sword. They have been very violent throughout their history. Arabian armies engaged in attacking the remnants of the Byzantine Empire. The First Crusade was launched in order to stop the Arabian invaders.
Jihad – a dispute or war between followers of Islam faith and those who do not follow the Islam faith; a struggle within a Muslim between good and evil (Dictionary)
"Islam" is derived from the Arabic root salaama meaning peace, purity, submission and obedience. Islam stands for making peace by submitting to the will of God and obeying His law. Jews and Christians view Islam as the latest of the world's great religions. However, worldwide Muslims (sometimes written "Moslems") understand their universal religion as the "final religion" and the "primal religion."
Islam is one of the oldest religions in history dating back to about 600 AD. It began when a man named Muhammad heard a voice from the heavens instructing him to proclaim the word of god. Currently there are over 800 million followers of the Muslim religion. The main text of the religion is the Quran which is said to be the word of God, or Allah as called in Muslim. Within the Quran, The five pillars of Islam are proclaimed along with many other concepts very unique to the Muslim religion. Prayer is a very important aspect of Islam as well. Islam has a long history of invention, heritage, and world imperialism that must be understood to completely identify with the concepts of the religion and culture.
This survey reveals that the problem with the Islam faith is not racial: The Muslim people are welcomed, the Islam faith is not. The violence that has been perpetrated against America, whether executed or planned, has brought to fruition religious persecution not seen since the persecution of the Jews in W.W.II. This “trust no Arab” attitude has brought shame to the Constitutional intentions of freedom of religion intended by our forefathers, and has set religious tolerance back 200 years. Looking at media representation of Muslim Americans prior to 9-11, it shows religious diversity in America, depicting Muslim America as just another religious community seeking to advance and protect their interests, not unlike other Americans. After 9-11 the media portrayed representations of threat and fear, creating boundaries between Muslims and other Americans. Such depiction transforms the identity of Muslims and American religious pluralism (Byng, M. pg. 3).