Living Islam Out Loud

June 27, 2005
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.

Starred review from June 15, 2005
These two books represent profound efforts to humanize and contextualize the female Islamic American experience. "Living Islam Out Loud" is made up of disparate essays dedicated to topics like love, faith, and religion, with contributions from Sarah El-Tantawi, who has appeared on "Hardball", and Asra Nomani, a former reporter for the "Wall Street Journal". Some essays are passionate, while others are more subdued, but all attempt to define female identity in the context of American and Muslim ties. As editor Abdul-Ghafur, a former chief executive of "Azizah", a leading magazine for Muslim women, notes, this identity reflects the continuum of Muslim women in the West -evolving, spiritual, and unique. Moving essays and poems cover marriage, religious beliefs, homosexuality, abuse, American cultural expectations, and religious ecstasy in the idiom of Islamic belief. All entail some element of spiritual transformation and provide a wonderfully satisfying read. "Shattering the Stereotypes" collects personal essays as well as fiction, plays, and selections under the rubric of journalism, and is far more political in tone than Abdul-Ghafur's work. Edited by Afzal-Khan (English, Montclair State Univ.), the collection self-consciously employs 9/11 as a backdrop, using it to consider what it means to be an American Muslim woman. As feminist and human rights activist Nawal El Saadawi writes, "The personal is political. Fiction and facts are inseparable." These varied pieces deconstruct political, social, economic, and religious concerns. Ardently creative, the book is at times uneven, but the political and religious passion are real and dramatic, highlighting the complexity and enormity of experiences that defy the dismissive categorization of all Muslims as Arabs or fundamentalists or both. Taken together, both of these books offer at once a comprehensive and an enlightening approach to American Islamic women. Strongly recommended for all collections hoping to develop their Islamic studies materials. -Sandra Collins, Duquesne Univ. Lib., Pittsburgh

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