Customer Reviews

Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America after 9/11

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This book does a very good job of showing how more religious Muslims practice their faith in America, the issues they face, what activities they are involved in, and just their life experiences in general. The people she interviews and discusses in this book are good examples of the views held widely by many Muslims in the United States, especially those involved in mosques, MSA's, and ISNA.

However, I do have some reservations of the portrayal of so called "progressive Muslims" (a term with different meaning depending on who you ask) such as Amina Wadud. Whether or not one agrees with Ms. Wadud's decision to break with certain past traditions upheld by traditional Muslim scholars and theologians , it would be disingenuous to assume that a good portion of Muslims (theologians and scholars among them) who disagree with some ideas of past act out of media-conciousness and conceit. Abdo herself does a great job of showing the diversity in Islamic interpretation and how it faces Muslim Americans when mentioning how music is seen as OK by some people but forbidden by others, regardless of certain scholars' opinions. But then she casts "progressive Muslims" as being in the same line as wolves in sheepskin like Irshad Manji even though they follow a similar manner of addressing how Islam should manifest itself in a positive manner in our lives. In any event, progressive and traditional are very relative things. Some people would probably lump 'Music is OK in Islam' under the same progressive banner Abdo deems sensationalist.

Nevertheless, I would still highly this book because it documents the voice of the often unheard Muslim activists, community members, and scholars whose views are reflective of Muslims who are more active in their mosques and communities. Keep in mind, though, Muslims are like any other religious group with all shades of religiosity (or lack thereof) present in America. I would suggest reading supplemental books, however, if you wish to gain a better prespective on the intricacies of the Islamic religion itself and the discussions that continue today, whether real or self-imagined by certain Muslims. Leila Ahmad's "Women and Gender in Islam" is a great read and very informative, as is Khaled Abou El Fadl's "The Great Theft". Also, if you're interested, just pick up "Progressive Muslims" (ed. Omid Safi) or Amina Wadud's "Gender Jihad" and examine their views for yourself.

"Mecca and Mainstreet" is must reading for Americans casually curious about Muslims (those who follow the religion of Islam) in America, researchers formally studying the topic, and especially Muslim Americans - a burgeoning community of six million - seeking to discover and learn about their own complex but understudied history in the United States. Geneive Abdo has undertaken an impressive amount of primary source research: the book is the culmination of three years of extensive mixing and interviews with members of the Muslim community primarily in Chicago and to a lesser extent in other major cities such as New York, San Francisco, and LA. Moreover, her writing style is smooth and highly accessible - a key quality that is desperately lacking in most serious academic scholarship. Indeed, the presentation of "Mecca and Mainstreet" is as solid as the content.

Abdo has separate chapters on the Muslim Students' Associations within various universities, new and rising imams (religious guides) - including interviews with some of the most well known spiritual figures within the Muslim American community such as Imam Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid Shakir - and Muslims taking Islam to the streets by providing social services. This latter section zooms in on the creative activities of Rami Nashashibi of IMAN (the Inner-City Muslim Action Network) in inner-city Chicago. There are also chapters on the experiences of Muslim Latino converts, culturally conservative Muslims in certain parts of Michigan, the changing and contested role of women in the mosque, and a concise and informative history that carefully traces the evolution of Islam in America.

The work also has problems. It is ISNA-centric. (ISNA, an acronym for the Islamic Society of North America, is the largest Muslim organization in the United States with immigrant Islam constituting the brunt of its economic base). For example, Arabs and South Asians are the Movers and Shakers of "Mecca and Mainstreet"; the Afro-American Muslim community is portrayed as somewhat stagnant and passive. Although Abdo, commendably, exposes the tension and thus distance that exists between immigrant and Afro-American Muslims - an important issue that is rarely discussed among Muslims - she fails to elaborate upon the significant wealth disparity that clearly exists between both communities. It seems pretty obvious to me that, generally at least, the Arab and South Asian Muslim community is highly-educated and saturated with professionals (doctors, engineers) that in turn give them greater resources to establish themselves - through the creation of mosques, Islamic schools, and other institutions - as the authoritative and representative voice of Muslims in America. The most impressive aspect of Abdo's narrative is that she has a firm grasp of how Muslim American society is transforming as second generation Muslims struggle to create an Islamic identity that transcends race, ethnicity, and petty nationalism - a core theme in her work. I must admit, however, that at times she over-romanticizes this Islamic universalism; there are also a fair share of Muslim youth who still uphold the tradition of their parents by rigidly identifying with their national and especially racial and ethnic baggage.

I highly recommend this book. As a history student of the Islamic revival - that has swept through the Muslim world since the 1970s - I had already been exposed to Abdo's work through her rigorously researched and vigorously written account of political Islamic activism in contemporary Egypt, "No God But God: Egypt and the Triumph of Islam" (Oxford University Press, 2004). "Mecca and Mainstreet" is just as solid, and in its oral research, path breaking. At a time when mainstream journalists consistently manipulate images of Islam and Muslims to concur with, reinforce, and recreate racist assumptions about the religion's alleged "backwardness" and "barbarity", Abdo - as a journalist and a non-Muslim (she is of Lebanese Christian descent) writing for such major papers as the Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune - is to be commended and applauded by both the Muslim and the academic community for her objectivity, and the sheer courage and integrity that must come with that.

Shadaab H. Rahemtulla

M.A. Candidate

Department of History

Simon Fraser University

Vancouver, Canada

I was utterly dumbfounded to read Abdo's book this morning. I was, along with many close friends, one of her interviewee's. She completely misrepresented our conversation and that of others I know. I am completely disgusted by her purposeful and inaccurate fabrications about Islam such as her assertions that men "buy" women for marriage and this is seen by Muslim women as akin to slavery. How ridiculous and outrageous a lie and such a backwards explanation of the concept of mahr which is NOT a brideprice!! How anyone who has spent this many years around Muslims and cannot even get some of the very basics correct leaves me to conclude that her veracity as a writer and academic is in question. I am disgusted that she is making money and her fame on this ignorance.

I actually heard the author speak at the annual Islamic Society of North America conference's "Meet the Author" session. I was very pleased with her take on the situation of Muslims in America and how candid she was about how people view us. When I returned home I was finally able to read her book and I have to say I really enjoyed it. What I find different about this book compared to others written by non-Muslims about us is: (1) She showed the diversity that exists in the Muslim community (something seldom done), (2)she didn't seem to make assumptions about who we are as she was going into various communities (i.e. the women are all oppressed and voiceless, the men are angry and dominating), (3) she was seemed very respectful of Islam, the Muslim community and of the people she spoke with (4) she was honest about what she saw (good and bad). Those four things alone make for an excellent book.

The only issue I had (if any) was the invisibility of immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean (yes we have Muslims too!), and other places where Muslims exist (like Malaysia for instance). So often when people think of Muslims they think of Arabs and people from the Indian sub-continent. When people think of converts it's sometimes African-Americans, possibly White Americans and the new wave of Latino Muslims. The aforementioned categories (and their struggles as Muslims in the U.S.) are often ignored. Then again, maybe that's another book and another subject!

This inspiring, edge of your seat book is both refreshing and welcoming to both Muslim and non-Muslim. This is a review of an American convert who has been spending his Muslim life going from place to place trying to learn traditional Islam from some of the most authoritive figures and opinions that are accessible from the English medium. Also this opinion comes from a patriotic American who cares for the security and concerns of America like any other American has proudly served in the beginnings of the War against Terrorism. That being said I would like to say that this book surprised me at every level.

She uses the opinions of some of the best well trained scholars in the US today whose influence to Muslims in America and abroad are increasing day by day. Scholars like Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Shaykh Zaid Shakir, Shaykh Umar Faruq Abdullah, Shaykh Muhammad Yaqoobi, and Sulyman Nyang (many whom I have had the honor to hear them speak and shake their hands). Their message of peace and tolerance is taking the minds of Muslims and bringing them back to what Islam was for 1400 years. It is totally uprooting the intolerant views that men from Saudi Arabia have been trying to instill into unsuspecting new Muslim immigrants. Geneive does not mention what this means bluntly because her objectivity is trying to be welcoming to all Muslims but basically what this means to Americans is that there is a civil mind war in Islam and the good guys are winning. All the groups that seem anti-American and intolerant are getting kicked out and being replaced with an Islam that tolerates American culture and seeks to live and thrive in harmony with them. I think that this is something American journalists like Geneive Abdo tries to show. To the other majority of journalist, because it lacks the sensationalism of the extremist Islam that they want to create for their audience, does not cover this. But I do my best to inform Americans of this, especially our military. My military friends tell me how their friends in intelligence are being more aware of who the good guys and bad guys in Islam are. They know the names and ideas of these groups in a more sophisticated fashion and not just looking at the old method of stereotypical long bearded man and scarf lady which basically has no foundation.

I think Genieve's book somewhat paints this internal struggle at the end of the book. Also a side note: It's important to mention that these groups that are intolerant and distasteful have only been around for 50-100 years. McCarthy-like journalists try to make it seem as if they have been around throughout Islamic history. A good analysis of this topic is "Islam Fundamentalism and the Betrayal of Tradition" by Joseph Lumbard, a book that I have freely given to professors and soldiers alike.

Now the other point I love about this book is the hopes, dreams, and fears of the Muslims living in America and how they are fully American and should be shown to Americans everywhere. There are stories about women rebelling against oppressive un-Islamic customs of their cultures that is both heart warming for Americans and Muslims alike. There are also stories of heroic Muslims trying to show the loving side of Islam: what Muslims cherish despite the efforts of extremist and over-zealous "patriotic Americans" to try and keep them silenced.

Another part I like is the internal woman's movements and how westerners improperly try to portray it and what the reality really is for Muslims. Geneive is not telling Muslims how they feel but conveying it.

I could go on and on about the virtues of this book but I do not want to ruin it for everyone. I am sure there are Muslims that might not like it because they suspect every non-Muslim with bad intentions and I am sure there are Americans who won't like this book because it doesn't buy into their idea of how Islam should be. About the Muslim beliefs and practices, she does a good job showing the perspective of what Islam has been for 1400 years and how the majority of Muslims view it world wide rather then just how the majority of Muslims view it in America. Some Muslims in America make the religion a free for all interpretation because that's what was first conveyed to them. This is incorrect as there are legitimate scholarly principles to each discipline of learning that once you master, you might be authorized to teach. That being said, one mistake I found in the book was that Geneive portrays Sunni Islam without hierarchy. There is a hierarchy in Islam but it is through knowledge not power. The most knowledgeable and pious a person is his opinion is taken as more of an authority on an Islamic discpline than the lesser. Without structure and hierarchy, religion can be in the hands of the ignorant that can lead to the extreme zealotry or the extreme liberal who waters down a religion until it becomes meaningless. This mistake I forgive because most Muslims I come across aren't even aware of this either. Overall this is a good and authoritive book for any one wanting to learn about their Muslim neighbor. I myself and many others who would like to convey that such a topic couldn't have had a better job done on it.
-Chris

It is seldom seen that a non-muslim has to say anything positive about muslims, specially in the Unites States. Lot of credit goes to Ms. Abdo for her fair and balanced view of Muslim life in America. Americans really need to open up their hearts and minds about muslims and stop judging through a tainted glass of hate and right wing brain washing. Don't judge the whole muslim "umma" due to the actions of 0.000001 %fanatics who think they are doing it in the name of religion.

The only complaint I have is that she didn't discuss much about muslims in America from the Indo-Pak sub continent, as they make up a substantial number in this country.

Because of the short sighted view of Muslims presented on, say, the evening news, far too many Americans are unaware of the diversity of the ummah
in this society. Mecca and Main Street provides a substantive glimpse of the aforementioned, and does so in a compelling fashion.

While this book does offer an interesting look into the Muslim community in Chicago, especially the generational divide, this book should *not* be considered comprehensive. It is, at best, a very introductory look into the Muslim communities within the USA. Ms. Abdo focuses solely on the Chicago Muslim community at the exclusion of the many varied Muslim communities throughout the United States.

Case in point: African American Muslims. When I began the book, I thought that Ms. Abdo was biased against African American Muslims. She portrays them as backward, unorthodox heretics that have little to offer to the wider ummah. I later realized that this is actually a by-product of her very poor sample; as someone who works with the West Philadelphia Muslim community, I can tell a prospective reader that not all black Muslims in America are throwbacks to the Nation of Islam, though Ms. Abdo would have you believe this. She devotes a chapter to the Latino Muslim Community (about 75k people) at the direct exclusion of the Black Muslim community, and explains why: "Despite the far greater number of African American converts [to Islam], I have chosen to write about the conversions of Latinos. I think the reasons they are converting - their attraction to the intellectual nature of Islam and their disillusionment with religions they feel are guided by blind faith - reflect powerful global trends that will continue, even accelerate, in the foreseeable future. African Americans, on the other hand, have converted for reasons that are particular to their history in America, often as recourse against their discrimination at the hands of white society" (176). Ms. Abdo apparently sees the Latino community as more intellectually inclined in terms of religion. She justifies this by saying that black converts begin their conversion process in prison, but does not mention that black *males* are incarcerated at an incredibly high rate, usually because of a lack of opportunity and education. Black females are also converts, but they are not mentioned in the chapter on feminist Islam. I find this statement and others slightly disturbing.

The beauty of Islam is how it can adapt to its surroundings, both in praxis and in substance, especially over wide geographical divides. One need look no further than Muslims on the fringes (Berber, Malaysian or Chinese Muslims, for example) to see examples of this. Ms. Abdo would have benefited from putting more effort into her examination of American Muslims in all their manifestations, white or black, rich or poor. The fact that this book passes itself off as a layman's guide to Muslim life in the United States excuses the lack of detail, but only to an extent; simultaneously, a layman would not understand the great diversity of Islam within the United States. Go elsewhere if you're looking for that.

A previous study of "American Muslims" sketched examples simplified as an American reporter largely ignorant of Islam and Arabic and an outsider was not a bad introduction. Abdo ads knowlege of Arabic, years living in Egypt studying Islamist parties, and in Iran wearing Chador has much better depth and understanding and is better organized to analyse the issues anong Muslims: not just ptofiling and persecution, but also generational conflict, multicultul Islam developing from the universities, dealing with the real social and personal issues wihin the community itself. Better understanding the role of women and differences from integration in the US versus Europe are clarified. We still don't have a thorough study by a Muslim but the knowlege and empathy here achieves much credibility. Should be read and discussesd by interested Americans including student and Mosque reading groups.

As an American Muslim myself, I was looking forward to Abdo's work. I was wary of reading a book on Islam by a non-muslim journalist. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised with Abdo's approach of Islam and Muslims in general. She doesn't take the opinion that the religion needs to be modernized and secularized; she makes it known early on that she doesn't feel that being more western makes for a "good" Islam (as opposed to a "bad" eastern/traditional Islam). It seems her years in the Middle East, and perhaps her own experience as an Arab minority in the US have given her enough experience to write with a sensitivity that most Muslims will appreciate, especially after such books as Irshad Manji's Trouble with Islam (which coincidentally Abdo mentions unfavorably in her own work).

So, besides the point that I was pleased that she kept herself politically correct and culturally aware, I was not too impressed with the book. Its sloppy editing and slapdash writing lead to an end product which feels like it was published a little too early in order to capitalize on the 5th anniversary of 9/11 (a feat which the inside cover of the book jacket mentions). This is unfortunate because it seems Abdo has been researching this book for many years, and it could have been a lot better with a bit more work. In Mecca she doesn't seem to focus on the main topic, but strays (sometimes interestingly) into the foundations of Islam, particular character histories, and even her own journalistic past in the Middle East. She also repeats facts and stories over and over again, to the point that it feels she is trying to take up space, and simply produce enough material to get the book published.

All of this is tragic to me, because Abdo presents some fresh insights into the American Muslim experience. I have read many other secular books on Islam, hoping to find something to recommend to friends and those interested to know about my religion and my lifestyle. Abdo's book hits some things right on the head. I would suggest it for those who already know a little bit about Islam, or maybe a Muslim or two, and are looking for a different perspective than that presented on Fox News. It is a worthwhile read if you can get past some of the structural errors.