merican Muslim: The Heritage of Muslim Identity in Shaping the Americas’ Civilization

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Latin American

Abstract

Purpose: The September 11 attacks contributed to the perception of Muslims in the Americas as foreign adherents of Eastern religions and as a threat to Christian culture. This Islamophobic sentiment has led to policies that bar Muslims from entering the United States. At the same time, many Muslims in the East perceive the Muslim identity in the Americas as being outside of mainstream Islamic thought. This study aims to challenge these perspectives and clarify the complexities surrounding the American and Islamic identities of Muslims in the Americas.
Methodology: This research employs a descriptive-analytical method grounded in identity theories and historical analyses. It is classified as a scientific study of the history of Muslim civilization in the Americas. The study emphasizes Muslims as a cultural group rather than Islam as a religion, thereby excluding topics related to beliefs or religious rituals.
Findings: Historical evidence indicates that Muslims, whether by force or by choice, arrived in the Americas alongside Catholic Christians. Their contributions to the development of American civilization have significantly influenced the American aspect of their Muslim identity, allowing them to transfer elements of their Islamic cultural heritage to this new land. Despite external environmental influences, the profound cultural attachment of American Muslims to Islam remains intact, reinforcing their identity as part of the global Ummah.
Conclusion: The Americas are as much a homeland for Muslims as they are for Christians, and their minority status does not negate this fact. Acknowledging the American identity of Muslims in the Americas is essential for three reasons:
1. It fosters a nuanced understanding of the interplay between Islamic identity and American sociocultural dynamics.
2. It restricts the imposition of external standards for evaluating American Muslims, particularly in the development of Da’wah programs.
3. It encourages researchers to adopt a new approach that accommodates the diversity of Muslim experiences worldwide.
As Diouf’s research highlights, African Muslims in the Americas have successfully maintained their beliefs and practices while promoting Islamic values through unique cultural names and forms. The diversity and multiplicity of American Muslim communities are so extensive that achieving convergence through the unification of beliefs and rituals seems unrealistic. Scholars should broaden the scope of Islamic studies, as Talal Asad suggests, by reaching a consensus on foundational Islamic principles that reflect the lived experiences of American Muslims. Furthermore, American Muslims are uniquely positioned, possessing firsthand experience with modernity, nation-state governance, and democracy. These experiences offer critical insights that can enhance the study of Islamic civilization and address developmental challenges. Continued neglect of their contributions deprives the Ummah of valuable lessons from this successful segment of the global Muslim community.
 
 

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  • Ali, J. (2015). Bahamian and Brazilian Muslimahs: Struggle for Identity and Belonging. In A. Khan (Ed.), Islam and the Americas. University Press of Florida. https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813060132.003.0009
  • Bell, V. (1999). Performativity and Belonging: An Introduction. Theory, Culture and Society (Special Issue on Performativity and Belonging). 16(2), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/02632769922050511
  • Berdún, M. M. G. i, & Guibernau, M. (1996). Nationalisms: The Nation-state and Nationalism in the Twentieth Century. Polity Press.
  • Catlos, B. A. (2014). Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, c. 1050-1614. Cambridge University Press.
  • Catlos, B. A. (2018). Kingdoms of Faith: A New History Of Islamic Spain. HURDT & COMPANY, LONDON.
  • Chitwood, K. (2017). The Study of Islam and Muslim Communities in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Americas: The State of the Field. International Journal of Latin American Religions, 1, 57–76.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-017-0008-3

  • Cook, K. P. (2016). Forbidden Passages: Muslim and Moriscos in Colonial Spanish America. University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • Cooley, C. H. (1912). Valuation as a social process. Psychological Bulletin, 9(12), 441–450. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0070870
  • Curtis, E. I. (2006). Black Muslim Religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960–1975. University of North Carolina Press.
  • Dame, W. F. (2013). The Muslim Discovery of America. Books on Demand.
  • Deutsch, N. (2015). Fear of a Brown Planet: Pan-Islamism, Black Nationalism, and the Tribal Twenties. In A. Khan (Ed.). Islam and the Americas (p. 0), University Press of Florida.

https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813060132.003.0005

  • Diouf, S. A. (1998). Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas. NYU Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qfp48
  • Dorman, J. S. (2015). Oriental Hieroglyphics Understood Only by the Priesthood and a Chosen Few: The Islamic Orientalism of White and Black Masons and Shriners. In A. Khan (Ed.), Islam and the Americas. University Press of Florida. https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813060132.003.0003
  • Espinosa, G., Morales, H., & Galvan, J. (2017). Latino Muslims in the United States: Reversion, Politics, and Islamidad, 8(1).
  • Fletcher, J. C., & Kidder, D. P. (2006). Brazil and the Brazilians (1st edition). Routledge.
  • Gomez, M. A. (1998). Exchanging our country marks: The transformation of African identities in the colonial and antebellum South. University of North Carolina Press.
  • Gomez, M. A. (2005). Black Crescent: The Experience and Legacy of African Muslims in the Americas. Cambridge University Press.https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511802768
  • Grotenhuis, R. (2016). Nation-Building as Necessary Effort in Fragile States. Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789462982192
  • Guzmán, R. M. (2011). El viaje del imam ’Abd al-rahman ibn ’Abd-allah al-baghdadi a brasil en el siglo XIX. El Colegio de México.

https://libros.colmex.mx/tienda/el-viaje-del-imam-abd-al-rahman-ibn-abd-allah-al-baghadai-a-brasil-en-el-siglo-xix/

  • Ingalls, M., & Perez, M. V. (2021). Chile has a growing Muslim community – but few know about it. The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/chile-has-a-growing-muslim-community-but-few-know-about-it-165942
  • Jacob Neusner, editor. (1994). World religions in America: An introduction. First edition. Louisville, Ky. : Westminster/John Knox Press, [1994] ©1994. https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999740992102121
  • Johnson, T. M., & Scoggins, D. R. (2005). Christian Missions and Islamic Da’wah: A Preliminary Quantitative Assessment. International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 29(1), 8–12.

https://doi.org/10.1177/239693930502900102

  • Karam, J. T., Narbona, M. del M. L., & Pinto, P. G. (2015). Introduction: Latino America in the Umma/ the Umma in Latino America. In M. del M. Logroño Narbona, P. G. Pinto, & J. T. Karam (Eds.), Crescent over Another Horizon: Islam in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latino USA (pp. 1–22), University of Texas Press. https://doi.org/10.7560/302293-002
  • Khan, A. (2015). Contours: Approaching Islam, Comparatively Speaking. In A. KHAN (Ed.), Islam and the Americas. In A. KHAN (Ed.), Islam and the Americas (pp. 23–46), University Press of Florida; JSTOR.

https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvx07591.6

  • Liu, J. H., & Hilton, D. J. (2005). How the past weighs on the present: Social representations of history and their role in identity politics. British Journal of Social Psychology, 44(4), 537–556.

https://doi.org/10.1348/014466605X27162

  • Montenegro, S. (2021). Experience of Muslims in Latin America. In R. Lukens-Bull & M. Woodward (Eds.), Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives (pp. 217–235), Springer International Publishing.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32626-5_17

  • Perry, J. B. (2009). Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918. Columbia University Press.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/perr13910

  • Pew Research Center. (2011). Future of the Global Muslim Population: Regional Americas.

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/01/27/future-of-the-global-muslim-population-regional-americas/

  • Ramadan-Santiago, O. (2015). Insha’Allah/Ojalá, Yes Yes Y’all: Puerto Ricans (Re)examining and (Re)imagining Their Identities through Islam and Hip Hop. In A. Khan (Ed.), Islam and the Americas (p. 0). University Press of Florida. https://doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813060132.003.0006
  • Reicher, S., & Hopkins, N. (2001). Self and Nation: Categorization, Contestation and Mobilization. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446220429
  • Reis, J. J. (1993). Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia. Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Rodrigues, N. (1932). Os Africanos no Brasil. P55 Edição.

http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=EF47F3210CF96FFB0E580CDC78F8CF3B

  • Sertima, I. V. (1976). They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America (Reprint edition). Random House Trade Paperbacks.
  • Tibor Pólya. (2017). National History Contributes to the Definition of National Identity. Journal of Psychology Research, 7(8).

https://doi.org/10.17265/2159-5542/2017.08.006

  • Yuval-Davis, N. (2011). The Politics of Belonging. In

Http://journals.openedition.org/lectures. Sage.

https://journals.openedition.org/lectures/6961? lang=es.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics