Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

2 9 8Islam i n World Cult u r e sof Islam. Even more, Farrakhan, who has been strongly linked to anti-Semitismin the past, has become a spokesperson for interfaith dialogue, interracial harmo n y, and social justice.Contemporary U.S. Muslim LifeDuring the recent past, especially after September 11, 2001, many non-MuslimAmericans have become far more aware of their Muslim neighbors. Interf a i t hdialogues, governmental surveillance, civil rights activism, and unprecedentedpress coverage have acted as magnifying and sometimes distorting lensesthrough which various public faces of Islam have emerged. In order to understandthese public guises of Muslim identity, one must pay close attention tothe overlapping contexts and multiple sites in which these identities have beenconstructed and contested. One obvious site for scholarly examination is the“public square,” where the relationship between Muslimness and Americannessis constantly debated.In the past, some Muslims have questioned whether they should fully participatein U.S. public life. Before 1975, for example, members of the Nation ofIslam refused to call themselves “Americans,” formed all-black Muslim businessesand schools, and were willing to go to jail to avoid serving in the U.S.m i l i t a ry, as did Elijah Muhammad in World War II and as did his son, Wa l l a c e ,after the Korean Wa r. Some Muslim immigrants in the 1960s and 1970s sharedthis ambivalence about active engagement with the state. They saw the UnitedStates as immoral and un-Islamic. Their current-day heirs, a marked minorityamong Muslims in the United States, hold similar views, questioning the extentto which Muslims should interact with non-Muslims and in what contexts,generally avoiding participation in elections, and discouraging their childrenfrom serving in the military. For example, the Tablighi Jama’at, a relativelynonpolitical organization with South Asian roots, fears that integration intopopular U.S. Muslim culture will threaten Muslim piety and identity. The HizbTahrir (Liberation Party) sees the United States as dar al-kufr (the abode of disbelief)and advocates the restoration of unified political leadership in all ofthe historically Islamic lands.But the overwhelming majority of Muslims support involvement in politicaland public affairs, and they are an incredibly diverse group. Some proudly andpublicly proclaim their patriotism, and celebrate the United States as a land offreedom and opportunity where they can spread the message of Islam. LikeAmericans as a whole, however, those who advocate participation in U.S. publiclife disagree about the most basic social, economic, and cultural issues.They are Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, although most blackMuslims, like other African Americans, tend to vote Democratic. How Muslims