Columbia Contemporary American Religion Series

Islam in America
by Jane I. Smitg\h
The Columbia Contemporary American Religion Series
Columbia Univeristy Press, 1999
251 pages
ISBN 0-231-10966-0 (hardcover)
0-231-10967-9 (paperback)

What is "American" Islam? When confronted with the multicultural makeup of the United States, how does Islam accommodate varying needs and identities while maintaining its own traditional character? How do Americans embrace Islam while maintaining their identities as Americans? Are Islam and contemporary America compatible or must they adapt in order to coexist with one another? Jane I. Smith addresses these and other questions in her Islam in America, a book offering a helpful overview of Islam's history in America and a thorough examination of tensions within the American Muslim community and between that community and the U.S. at large.

In discussing the way in which Islam has grown and changed as well as the way in which it has stayed constant during its 1400-year history, Smith raises the issue of how America will contribute to that development. Smith argues that the religiously and ethnically diverse nature of the United States makes it perhaps unique in offering the opportunity for many different visions of Islam to exist in relation to one another. For instance, in discussing different views toward Islamic law, or shari'a, Smith writes that Muslim schools of law while not differing greatly in details, "suggest some regional variations. America, of course, with immigrants from around the world, represents a mix of them all." Added into this mix of traditional interpretations of Islam in the United States are newer movements claiming an Islamic identity but bringing with them problematic features. For instance, Smith observes how the Nation of Islam, among other movements, "may be denied Islamic affiliation by others who accuse them of marginality, sectarianism, or even heresy." Smith's thorough examination of the NOI, the Moorish Science Temple of America and other African-American movements provides an objective history of these groups while clarifying the standing of each in relation to what might be considered traditional Islam.

One of Smith's great successes emerges in her exploration of what "traditional Islam" means within the American context. Since the United States encompasses such a spectrum of backgrounds and nationalities, the interpretations of an Islamic way of life vary drastically. While the assumption might be that American Islam would tend toward a more liberal view of dress, for instance, in fact the experience of Muslim women in the U.S. has included rigid conservatism, as Smith quotes one Egyptian woman: "At home...no woman in my family has worn a veil or head covering since the early part of this century. I find it very painful to come to this country and feel so much pressure to adopt a form of dress that feels just like that which it took so much courage for Muslim feminists to get rid of so many years ago." However, in regard to relationships between men and women, an American Islamic perspective can at the same time reflect what might be seen as a more conservative bent. Smith writes that young Muslim men who strive for a marriage between equal partners in terms of finances and home life "begin to feel pressure from other Muslim immigrants in the mosque or in their community who may not agree with these contemporary American 'liberal' standards." Smith's effectiveness in capturing Islam's complexity-that Islam eludes labels-ensures that a balanced view of Islam in America ensues from her investigation.

Is America providing Islam with an opportunity to realize itself in some new ideal sense or is such a context rife with dangers? Education becomes one arena manifesting both possibilities and pitfalls. In discussing Muslim efforts to raise children in an Islam-based system of ethics by establishing Islamic schools, Smith writes, "Reflecting concern for the perceived moral disintegration of American society, this stress on an Islamically defined morality serves both to provide a serious alternative for American Muslims and to show other Americans the great importance Muslims give to living morally and ethically." So while Muslims may perceive America as presenting them with corrupting images in the entertainment industry, for instance, such a threat only sharpens the need for focusing on education with more intensity and creativity. Smith's depiction of Islam in America is replete with such conundrums-how to be Muslim in a multivalent society. However, Smith sees the problems raised in the U.S. environment to be crystallizing for the Muslim community, that the "coming decades will be crucial as Muslims in the United States and Canada get clearer about who they are, what they need, and how they must organize to make their voices heard amid the competing claims of a diverse American society." However Islam develops in the U.S. it will not remain unaffected by the multicultural American character and Smith suggests that Islam-and America-could be the richer for it.

Jim Ehrenhaft
St. Albans School

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