veiled4allah: Muslims on the Americanization path?

I've been reading Muslims on the Americanization Path?, a collection of essays from 1998. The essays are grouped into four broad themes, "The American Path Option: Between Tradition and Reality", "North American Pluralism and the Challenge of the Veil", "Americans on the Islamization Path? The African-American Experience", and "Americanization and the Preservation of Cultural Identity".

The first section provides an overview of the experiences and challenges of Muslims in American society. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad provides a good discussion while M.A. Muqtedar Khan looks more deeply at the question of identity formation. Khaled Abou El Fadl approaches the question from a juristic angle, and examines what various schools of thought and legal scholars have said about Muslims living as religious minorities in non-Muslim lands. Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo describes the work of the Fiqh Council of North America to provide religious guidance for Muslims based on a close knowledge of the American context (as opposed to Muslims relying on foreign scholars).

The second section looks at hijab. Kathleen Moore analyzes some court cases about the right of Muslim women to wear hijab, while Esmail Shakeri looks at how the issue is discussed in Canada. I would particularly recommend this essay for those who are interested in the hijab issue. Also, Carol Amway reports on the experiences of convert women, including their views on hijab. This seems to be based on her book "Daughter of Another Path", which provides an in-depth look at American women who convert to Islam.

The third section looks at African-American Muslims. Ernest Allen, Jr., and Yusuf Nuruddin offer different perspectives on the history of movements such as the Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Islam, and other groups. Nuruddin also looks at the controversy in African-American studies between Islam and Afrocentricity. Additionally, Robert Dannin (author of "Black Pilgrimage to Islam", review here previously) looks at the current situation of African-American Muslims. I recommend all three of these essays to people who are seeking to increase their knowledge in this area; they provide an excellent complement to the other works I've discussed.

The last section returns to the larger question of Muslim identity in America. Greg Noakes looks at the portrayal of Islam and Muslim in the media and the effect this has on the lives of American Muslims. Elise Goldwasser profiles the Muslim community of Durham, North Carolina, and compares the attitudes towards Americanization of immigrants of different social classes. Finally, Omar Khalidi looks at trends in mosque design in North America and what he feels that different types of design say about the Muslim presence.

This is an excellent book and I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the Muslim experience in America. It would be interesting to see a follow-up volume looking at the post-9/11 experience; perhaps someone is at work on such a book now.