This study examines the way immigrant Muslim parents and their offspring perceive
Islam and view its practice in the context of the Societies of the United States
and Canada.
Historically and at present, the worldview of North American Muslims has generally
differed from that of other groups who are either natives of or immigrants to
North America. Yet not until recently has any substantial research been done
on the presence of Muslims in North America let alone on their learning patterns
or the role of differing worldviews in the education of their children.
Muslims may not be considered a minority ethnic group because they neither
have the characteristics of the term minority ethnic nor Constitute a single
linguistic, cultural, or socioeconomic group. Study of Muslims simply as minority
ethnics or national groups will not help in understanding the variations in
their attempts to maintain their Islamic identity. That is because, as Abdo
A. Elkholy notes, "As Muslims in America are being assimilated, as Arabs,
Turks, and other ethnic groups, many do not see the religious wrong in mixed
marriage."
Elkholy's observation relates to communicating Islam in North America on two
levels. The first level is the way Muslims perceive themselves and hence identify
with (a) Islam as a way of life, (b) Muslims as a religious group with which
one may affiliate, or (c) nationality/ethnicity as an identity given to the
Muslim subcultures by Western colonizers. The Muslim's perception of his/her
own identity is the cornerstone in his/her ability to adjust to the new environment
while maintaining the basics of the Islamic belief system and to transmit that
system to the next generation in an integrative manner.
This perception of identity determines whether one's response is assimilation,
integration, or withdrawal. The second level pertains to the realities of the
North American pluralistic societies and their implicit and explicit demands
for individual conformity to societal "norms." North American societies
are established on a secular value system. They may allow for different religious
practices, in the narrow sense of the word, but may not allow for ideological
and epistemological differences. Therefore, Muslims will be assimilated as subcultural
groups (Arabs, Turks, etc.) despite vigorous attempts by Muslim leaders and
organizations to maintain the Islamic identity.
These leaders have failed to recognize that assimilation will persist as long
as people's identity is in a state of confusion between ideological (Islamic),
religious (Muslim), and ethnic (Arab, Turks, etc.) attachments. The clarity
or confusion of one's identity is the key to the variation in Muslims' assimilation.
The degree of Muslims' religiosity, as suggested by Elkholy, is only a part
in the question of identification. The effort of any Muslim community in North
America to formulate an educational program that will transmit the Islamic cultural
and ideological heritage to its children is viewed here more as a conceptual
than a socio-anthropological problem.
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Copyright 1991, Oxford University Press.
This is a pre-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in the edited book The Muslims of America following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available through Oxford University Press: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/Islam/?view=usa&ci=9780195085594