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| 1.18.02 |
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| Muslims in America |
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A number of Arab and Islamic scholars and public figures have
been attempting to clarify what it means to be Muslim and American.
Here is some of what they had to say on NPR's TALK OF THE NATION
on November, 15, 2001:
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"I would say half of the American Muslim community is recent
immigration. And it takes a while for immigrants to be rooted
in the country and to establish themselves and integrate themselves
into the rest of society. ½So there was an element of seclusion
going on. But I think that now everybody realizes that we can't
afford to be hiding ourselves. We have to be out in public fulfilling
our roles."
imam Anwar al-Awlaki, leader of the Dar al-Hijra mosque
in Falls Church, Virginia
"[The idea of a strictly American Muslim identity] evolved about
20 years ago, when we said we don't want to be in America as
an appendage of the Middle East or the Far East. We'd like to
be here as full-fledged American citizens, part of the American
pluralism, that part that happened to be Muslim and is guided
by the values of Islam. And so we were very keen to say that
American Muslim identity is not attached organically to any
other country or any other Muslim organization. This is home,
because home is not where my grandfather is buried but where
my grandson is being brought up, and we deliberately chose America
to be home, to join those who have been born in America as Muslims,
and we felt that this is an identity of its own. Similar to
an Egyptian Muslim identity or a Pakistani Muslim identity,
there is an American Muslim identity. We defended that concept
very, very enthusiastically, and I think it took roots."
Dr. Maher Hatout, leader of the Islamic Center of
Southern California |
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| Azizah Y. al-Hibri is an associate
professor of law, specializing in securities regulation,
corporate finance, and Islamic jurisprudence at the University
of Richmond, in Virginia. She is the author of the Modesty entry
in the Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (Oxford
University Press, 1995) and is the founder and former
president of Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights.
a member of the editorial board of "The Journal of Law
and Religion," and editor of Women and Islam. Professor
al-Hibri participated in Bill Moyers' groundbreaking interfaith
documentary series Genesis.
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