ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad Naʿīm

As American as apple pie, with figs and milk

What Is an American Muslim? Embracing Faith and Citizenship by Abdullah Ahmed An-Nai’im (Oxford University Press, $27.95).

Abdullah Ahmed An-Nai’im is the Charles Howard Candler professor of law at Emory University, where he specializes in the intersection of human rights, constitutionalism, Islamic law and politics. His 2008 book, Islam and the Secular State, drew rave reviews for its advocacy of the development of a constitutional, secular show more Islamic state where Islam is the predominant religion.

In What Is an American Muslim? An-Nai’im examines the diversity of Muslims in this country—far greater than most non-Muslim Americans perceive—and includes studies that point to the fatigue American Muslims experience as a result of constantly being forced to explain and defend their faith. Well, who wouldn’t? Misunderstandings about the nature of Islam persist across a wide swath of the U.S., and An-Nai’im is clear about how demoralizing this has been for the vast majority of both immigrant Muslims and American-born Muslims, most of whom are trying to find a way to assimilate while retaining their religious and ethnic heritage.

In short, American Muslims have exactly the same difficulties every other minority group in the country has, with the added complication of a recent series of military conflicts between the U.S. and Muslim nations and the willingness of most Americans to demonize the “other”—even when they’re not all that “other.”

An-Nai’im encourages American Muslims to seek full membership in communities and civic affairs, pointing to the long tradition of Muslim immigrants of adapting to their new homes while retaining their religious beliefs. In some ways, his approach is reminiscent of most immigrant assimilationist practice, and the short form is: Don’t let other people’s prejudices keep you from embracing your American-ness.

Because that’s also a very basic truth: Like Americans who happen to be Jews or descended from Italians, Mexicans, Germans, Irish, et cetera ad nauseum, American Muslims are very different from their co-religionists who remain in traditionally Muslim countries.

American Muslims are, usually (and especially in the second and third generation), not all that different from American Catholics, American Protestants, American Buddhists and American Jews: They’re American first.

Now, the rest of us just need to stop trying to keep them out. show less

Liked it a lot. Its perhaps one of the most important books coming out in last decade in terms of contemporary value. There are of course gaps which needs to be filled, especially in terms of supporting 'civic reason', 'individual liberty' and differentiation between politics and state from revelation itself. Moreover, as the author himself acknowledges, there is extensive field work required extending the pointers which have been provided for the case of India, Indonesia and Turkey, to show more other Muslim societies. show less

The theoretical theme of this important volume is summarized by the editor:

"If international standards of human rights are to be implemented in a manner consistent with their own rationale, the people (who are to implement these standards) must perceive the concept of human rights and its content as their own. To be committed to carrying out human rights standards, people must hold these standards as emanating from their worldview and values; not imposed on them by outsiders."

He describes a show more method of cross-cultural dialogue which he hopes will channel locally diverse moral opinions toward the norms embodied within international human rights law. show less