Al-Mughtaribun: American Law and the Transformation of Muslim Life (Suny Series, Middle Eastern Studies) [Paperback]

Kathleen M. Moore (Author)

Book Description

Series: Suny Series, Middle Eastern Studies | Publication Date: August 10, 1995

Al-Mughtaribun explores the influence of American law on Muslim life in the United States. It examines pluralism and religious toleration in America, viewed from the vantage point offered by the experiences of Muslims in the United States, a significant and growing part of an increasingly pluralistic society. By tracing the historical shift in the consciousness of American Muslims, precipitated by their interactions with the legal institutions of the dominant culture, Moore demonstrates the transformative impact of law on a minority community seeking religious toleration. She treats issues of immigration and naturalization, civil rights, Black Muslims and the prisoners' rights movement, municipal zoning, and hate crimes legislation.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kathleen M. Moore is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut.

Product Details

• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (August 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791425800
• ISBN-13: 978-0791425800
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,969,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Al-Mughtaribun..., August 2, 2001

By 

Daniel Pipes, Middle East Forum, Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Al-Mughtaribun (Suny Series, Middle Eastern Studies) (Hardcover)

Moore argues that "there is a distinctively American Muslim experience which is the product of a particular social environment." To discern what this is might be, she focuses on the role of U.S. civil law in Muslim lives. The subject matter of Al-Mughtaribun (Arabic for "emigrants," also a hint of a pun on the word "Westernizers,") ranges widely and includes Muslim efforts to emigrate to the United States a century ago, Muslim prisoners in American jails, "hate-crime" legislation, and attempts to build mosques in suburban areas.

Although Moore is not always a reliable guide (her political views sometimes get in the way), her subject matter is original and always interesting. She digs up what may be the first reference to Islam in the U.S. legal literature (an 1811 blasphemy case, calling it an "imposter" religion) and shows how the anti-Mormon campaign of the late nineteenth century turned polygamy into a barrier against Muslim immigration. (Indeed, the first foreign Islamic missionary to the United States, a very respectable Ahmadi who arrived in Philadelphia from Great Britain in February 1920, was straightaway incarcerated and told to return whence he came, on the grounds that he advocated polygamy; after two months in custody he was released-but only on strict condition that he not promote polygamy). The law does provide, as Moore holds, an excellent prism through which to understand the specifics of American Islam.

Middle East Quarterly, December 1998