Muslim Women

Muslim Women

When I chose the topic of Americanization of immigrant Muslim women, I think I expected a straightforward, easy to categorize, research project. On the contrary, what I found was surprisingly different. While I think of myself as a liberal, open-minded female, this project gave me a very new perspective on myself and many of my views as well. Muslim women living in the United States are quite honestly more diverse, more complex, more structured, more contemplative, and more culturally intuitive than I could have ever imagined in my limited experience and knowledge of them. The ‘Americanization’ I sought to illustrate turned out to resemble something closer to a religio-cultural tug-of-war than the predicted homogeneous transformation, or adaptation, to our Western society and religious orientation.

The women whose lives I read about (individually as well as in group studies) seemed without exception to be in a constant state of tension from numerous external and internal sources. The many token examples of varying degrees of Americanization- or in some cases, resistance to this phenomenon- included, but were not limited to, wanting to uphold traditional homeland customs and practices; asserting new freedoms to take on more responsibility in religious and political arenas; working to improve traditional inadequacies of U.S. mosques to better accommodate women of faith; the dilemma of appropriate dressing for religious and professional communities; challenging traditional and current marriage practices and the difficulties associated with them; and maybe most significantly, combating the general naiveté, or even outright discriminatory ignorance of Americans about Islam. Considering the fact that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world (between new births and the increasing number of conversions), and the United States is arguably the most influential and powerful country in the world, the last of these examples must, and will, be given some extra attention at the end of this paper.

Finding Balance Between Islamic Tradition and U.S. Culture

Although almost every source I consulted stressed the progressive nature of the Quran and its ability to adapt to changing society, I found that a main thrust of the American Muslim communities was best exemplified in a quote from Carol L. Anway, that women strive toward “b...

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...usaf Ali.” 12-18. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, Ph.D, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2001. .

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Aswad, Barbara. “Attitudes of Immigrant Women and Men in the Dearborn Area Toward Women’s Employment and Welfare.” Muslim Communities in North America. Ed. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Jane Idleman Smith. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1994. 501-519.

Hathout, Samer. “Challenges Facing American Muslim Women.” http://www.islamfortoday.com/americanmuslimwomen.htm.

Hermansen, Marcia K. “Two-Way Acculteration: Muslim Women in America Between Individual Choice (Liminality) and Community Affiliation (Communitas).” The Muslims of America. Ed. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 1991. 188-201.

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