Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807083836 ISBN 13: 9780807083833

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2005

Synopsis

Living Islam Out Loud presents the first generation of American Muslim women who have always identified as both American and Muslim. These pioneers have forged new identities for themselves and for future generations, and they speak out about the hijab, relationships, sex and sexuality, activism, spirituality, and much more.

Contributors: Su'ad Abdul-Khabeer, Sham-e-Ali al-Jamil, Samina Ali, Sarah Eltantawi, Yousra Y. Fazili, Suheir Hammad, Mohja Kahf, Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, Asra Q. Nomani, Manal Omar, Khalida Saed, Asia Sharif-Clark, Khadijah Sharif-Drinkard, Aroosha Zoq Rana, Inas Younis

About this title

About the Author

Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur was chief executive of Azizah, a magazine for Muslim women. In 2004, she was an integral part of a national movement to give women space and voice in American mosques, and in 2005 she co-organized the historic woman-led prayer in New York City. A frequent presenter on Islam and women, Abdul-Ghafur lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

From Publishers Weekly

Muslim activist Abdul-Ghafur edits this book of essays and poems, all related to the experience of growing up Muslim and female in the United States. Two of the best and most absorbing essays come from African-American women: Khadijah Sharif-Drinkard, who grew up in Harlem and became a successful corporate attorney and public servant, and Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, who describes her childhood in the Nation of Islam as a dynamic, educational experience. But the tone of some of the other contributors can be whiny. Many seem marked by tragedy, varying from things unrelated to Islam (having an autistic child) to tensions arising from ethnic cultures (marrying a non-Muslim, enduring abusive semiarranged marriages). Some of the authors engage in vague spiritual discussions about the omnipresence of God and compare Islam to a forest, with male chauvinism being the weeds in the forest, but their ideas are too abstract to enhance one's understanding of Islamic spirituality. As with many anthologies, there is some repetition of ideas, not only within the book itself but also echoing themes from the authors' previous writings. Although the contributions are uneven, this anthology opens the door for other writers to explore the important and understudied topic of Muslim American women. (Sept.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0807083836
• ISBN 13: 9780807083833
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224
• Editor: Abdul-Ghafur Saleemah