Keywords

A comprehensive understanding of Arab Americans can’t be done without, an understanding of their historical and social position as Muslims in America. Statistics relating to Muslims in America “are difficult to obtain” (Leonard, 2003, p. 149). The American Muslims’ “total population is thought to be between 3 and 8 million” individuals (Leonard, 2003, p. 149). They include three major groups: Arab Americans (33%), African Americans (about 30%), and South Asians (29%) of the total population of American Muslims (Leonard, 2003).

In studying Muslims in America, the literature has divided American Muslims into two groups: (1) African American Muslims, labeled as the “native Muslims,” and (2) the immigrant American Muslims, mostly referring to Arab and South Asian Muslim immigrants. Although the population of African American Muslims is “thought to be” the biggest in United States, very little attention has been given to studying this population. Literature on African American Muslims mostly has dealt with the history of African Muslim slaves in America, their arrival, their religious movements, their establishment of mosques, and their relationship with other American Muslim immigrants. African American Muslim population culture(s) was not examined in the literature included in this Chapter. Conversely, Arab and South Asian American Muslims’ history and cultures were thoroughly examined.

The arrival, a significant event every immigrant goes through. The arrival to the land where they will build their new lives and settle. In History, Muslims in America arrived in two different waves: The “native” African American Muslims coming from Africa and the Arabs and south Asian Muslim immigrants coming from Asia. Each population arrived carrying their native cultures, religions, and ideologies. For an outsider, Muslims are viewed as a one cohesive group, this simplistic way of viewing Muslims is not accurate. Muslims in America, as all Muslims in the world, live with the hope of having Islamic Unity beside their cultural and ideological differences.

3.1 African American Muslim History

Curtis (2009) book on the history of Muslims in America presented evidence that the existence of Islam in America may go back as far as 1492 when Columbus’s first expedition arrived in the American lands, carrying Muslim slaves mostly from West Africa. Historical documents have consistently provided evidence that African Muslim populations have been growing year after year. In the 1530s, the “legendary African explorer Estevanico is said to have explored Arizona and New Mexico in search of gold and treasure” (Curtis, 2009, pp. 4–5). By “the late 1500s, common Muslim-sounding names such as Hassan, Osman, Amar, Ali, and Ramadan appeared in Spanish language colonial documents” (Curtis, 2009, p. 5).

History has provided stories about African slaves practicing Islam after their arrival in the America. A highly educated West African slave, Ayuba Suleiman Diallo—later named Job—from the Fulani ethnic group, who spoke both English and Arabic, arrived in Maryland, where he was sold to a tobacco farmer (Curtis, 2009). Job was allowed to practice his religion by his owner and “maintain[ed] his daily prayer schedule, and he would often walk into the woods to pray” (Curtis, 2009, p. 1). After he was freed, Job kept his Islamic practices and “butchered his own meat according to the rule outlined in the Sharia, or Islamic law and ethics; and avoided all pork” (Curtis, 2009, p. 2). Yet the number of practicing Muslims in this period of time can be estimated between the ranges of “thousands to more than a million” (Curtis, 2009, p. 4). This leaves very “little doubt that Muslims have been part of the continent’s history for hundreds of years” (Curtis, 2009, p. 4).

In addition, some historical accounts have showed that “African American Muslim slaves, like slaves more generally, used whatever means were at their disposal to improve their lives and gain their freedom” (Curtis, 2009, p. 11). This meant “publicly converting to Christianity or perhaps pretending to convert to Christianity” (Curtis, 2009, p. 11). For them, this did not mean leaving Islam or not practicing it. “They claimed that Christianity and Islam were two expressions of the same religious idea. God, they say is Allah, and Jesus Christ is Mohammed—the religion is the same, but different countries have different names” (Curtis, 2009, p. 19).

After the end of slavery, African American Muslims started to form more strict positions. Leonard (2003) discussed how African American Muslims were “driven by a history of slavery and oppression in the US, chose Islam as an alternative to Christianity and to white America” (p. 150). By the early twentieth century, African American Muslims formed many movements in an attempt to reform African American Muslims. The World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 was one of the first movements that African American Muslims participated in. They worked on “featuring mosques and practicing Muslims and including the Parliament of Religions which introduced Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic teachings and missionaries to the American religious scene” (Leonard, 2003, p. 150). In 1920, the Ahmadiyya movement targeted issues related to African American segregation and discrimination with the goal of uniting American Muslims (Curtis, 2009). In 1931, the Moorish movement “provided African descent the means for affirmation of black identity and the advancement in the face of white oppression under a loose rubric of what were claimed to be Islamic oriented beliefs and practices” (Haddad & Smith, 1994, p. xix).

In addition, one of the movements that created a big impact and controversy across the United States was the Nation of Islam movement. In 1930, W. D. Fard established the movement mainly to fight discrimination and racism against African Americans (Sahib, 1995). Fard, who was Muslim, started as a door-to-door seller of silk to African Americans claiming that his silk came from their country of origin and had been made by their own people (Sahib, 1995). As Fard’s stories gained popularity, attracting many African American listeners, he began the preaching of Islam. According to Sahib (1995) early in Fard’s career, his preaching text of choice was the Bible, but as his audience grew, “he assumed the role of prophet and began to attack teachings of the Bible and the white race.” (p. 54). To help him carry out and extend the movement, Fard hired ministers, such as Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. As the movement grew, Fard established the University of Islam in Chicago and encouraged Muslim families who joined the movement to enroll their children in it rather than in public schools. The University of Islam children were taught about their religion and African culture rather than the “civilization of the Caucasian devils” (Sahib, 1995, p. 57). They also took courses in “higher mathematics, astronomy, general knowledge, and ending of the spook civilization” (Sahib, 1995, p. 57). Nation of Islam as a movement went as far as establishing its own military group called “the fruit of Islam” to fight the police and stand up to the government and to discrimination (Sahib, 1995).

3.2 Arab American and South Asian American Muslim History

Arab American Muslim immigrants arrived in the United States at the end of the 1800s (Haddad & Smith, 1994). Most of them were young men, who came with the goal of working to earn money, and go back to their countries of origin to provide better life for themselves and their families (Haddad & Smith, 1994). After arriving in America, they mainly had two options in terms of occupation: the first option was to work as laborers, peddlers, or traders (Haddad & Smith, 1994) and settle in places like Ross, North Dakota, which has one of the earliest Muslim settlements in the United States (Haddad & Smith, 1994). The second option was to serve “as a cheap labor on work gangs, such as those in the Seattle area who were employed on the railroads” (Haddad & Smith, 1994, p. xvii). After Muslims in America settled for a while in different parts of the country, they started to establish businesses such as grocery stores, coffee shops, and restaurants, while continuing to work in factories and plants such as the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan and Quincy, Massachusetts (Haddad & Smith, 1994). Their dream of returning home faded after a while, but the dream of earning a fortune in the United States and living the American dream was still so real.

Between the 1950s and 1960s, a second wave of Arab American Muslim immigrants arrived in the United States. This time they came with a different orientation than the past immigrants; as they came with secular orientation (Haddad & Smith, 1994). This led them to avoid formatting their new identity based on religion as a starting point and helped them focus on the Arab culture and their political engagement in America (Haddad & Smith, 1994). During this time, America started to receive South Asian Muslim immigrants who were highly educated and qualified (Haddad & Smith, 1994).

In the mid-1960s, Arab American and South Asian Muslim students arrived in the United States. The students came with strong Islamic ideologies that did not necessarily excite the migrants (Haddad & Smith, 1994). The student had significant ideas on the ‘Islamization’ of Muslim communities (Haddad & Smith, 1994). Students coming from Egypt carried the “Brotherhood of Egypt group” ideology, while the students from Pakistan called for the “Jamaati Islami of the Indo-Pakistani group ideology.” Both groups had a different outlook on how a Muslims community in American should look like, compared to the existent Muslims community they found when they arrived (Haddad & Smith, 1994). To some extent, both groups were shocked about “the modernization (liberalization, secularization, westernization) of the Muslims society” (Haddad & Smith, 1994, p. xxi) in America. So both groups went into “forming idealistic communities, at times attempting to impose their response to western influence in Islamic countries on Muslims in America” (Haddad & Smith, 1994, p. xxi).

Both Arab and South Asian Muslim communities in America that arrived prior to the arrival of the students had different reactions to what the groups had to offer and suggest. In general, at the beginning, Muslim immigrant were excited to learn from the students about the Islamic teachings. Later on, Arab and South Asian Muslims found that those Islamic teachings were too extreme or unnecessary or unrealistic and would not work in their “new” life as immigrants in America (Haddad & Smith, 1994). This created tensions between the group of students carrying the more conservative ideas of Islam and the Arab and South Asian Muslim immigrants who had lived in America for a longer time and who became more acculturated to the American life style (Haddad & Smith, 1994).

3.3 “Native” African American Muslims Versus Immigrant American Muslims

Arab and South Asian American Muslim immigrants did not like the idea that African Americans had presented Islam in America prior to their arrival. They “dismissed African American knowledge of America as irrelevant. They then cast Islam as unknowable for those who had been Muslims for decades. Arabic was cast as an extremely difficult language and thus, indigenous Muslims [African Americans] could have only limited access to Islam and thus, only limited authority” (McCloud, 2006, p. 132).

Refusing to recognize African Americans as Muslims was not only discussed on the level of what Muslim immigrants believed. Haddad and Smith (1994) argued that African American Muslims claimed to be Muslims, as they were “motivated primarily by the reasons of the economics (many groups that claimed some kind of Muslim identity maintained platforms of economic advancement of blacks); of justice (reacting to continuing racism in America they ground the egalitarian teaching of Islam particularly attractive); of identity and rootedness in a history, culture, and people from which they had been severed by the experience of slavery; and of rejection of Christianity, which they believed not only had provided the ideological justification for their enslavement but centered on the worship of Jesus depicted as a blue-eyed, fair-haired Caucasian man” (p. xix).

Haddad and Smith (1994) also added that the relation between African American Muslims and American Muslim immigrants did not exist only because American Muslim immigrant consider African American Muslims to be not ‘real Muslims’, but also because both groups come from different life experiences, struggles, and have different goals as Americans. American Muslim immigrants are struggling with their identity as ‘new’ Americans, and African American Muslims experience life in America as multigenerational Muslims (Haddad & Smith, 1994).

Although the relation between the African American Muslims in America and the American Muslim immigrants did not exist in many levels for a long time, African American Muslims challenged immigrants by calling on the important of being more strict, especially when it comes to following Islamic laws related to not consuming pork and alcohol, and following the guidance related to racial equality (Haddad & Smith, 1994). But whether American Muslim immigrants have reacted to this was not indicated by Haddad and Smith (1994).

The hope for unity among Muslims in America seems to be far from becoming reality, since unity between groups has it strains, as the above discussion showed (Haddad & Smith, 1994). For many Muslim communities in the United States, the goal of having a one unity no longer exist; the goal become more realistic as they aimed to have a unity with keeping a room for ethnic and culture variation (Haddad & Smith, 1994). Although this outlook seems to be more realistic, having Islamic unity while keeping cultural diversity is still far from being understood.

3.4 The Significance of Mosques in American Muslims’ Lives

When and where were the first mosques in America established, and by whom? This is a question that is still debatable since it is closely related to the discussion of who the first Muslims in America were (Kahera, 2013). The Ross mosque was established in North Dakota in the 1920s by Arab American Muslims and is thought to be the oldest mosque in the country (Kahera, 2013). In Kahera's (2013) review of the history of mosques in America, historical accounts presented evidence mosques were being established in America long before the 1920s, all the way to the slavery era, when African slaves were first brought to American lands. Since then, neighborhood mosques have been built across the United States. African Americans later established mosques such as those in Buffalo, New York, in 1933; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1934; Brooklyn, New York, in 1955; and Abiquiu, New Mexico, in 1980 (Kahera, 2013). Arab Americans established many small mosques across the Unites States and then later established larger mosques and Islamic centers such as the Islamic Cultural Center in Washington, DC, in 1975 and the Islamic Center of New York in Manhattan in 1991 (Kahera, 2013).

Why are mosques important in American Muslims’ lives? Mosques in Muslim countries, like those in the Middle East, are considered to be a “home of God” that is mostly designated for praying (Haddad & Smith, 1994); in America, the purpose and function of mosques is different. For American Muslims, establishing mosques is “a necessary adaptation to the world in which they [have] found themselves. It [is] an act of cultural survival” (Abraham, 2000, p. 301). A mosque in America is a place that immigrants can go to not only to practice their religion but also to socialize and gather (Haddad & Smith, 1994). It is a place that people go to with the goal of celebrating religious and cultural events, getting to know people, learning, and speaking their native languages, discussing politics, and receiving Islamic opinions and teachings on issues they face in their daily life in America.

How do people choose what mosque to attend, especially in areas that have more than one mosque? Mosques in America differ in theological beliefs, the ethnic culture of the people who attend the mosque, the native language the attendants speak in general, and the language used in the prayers in specific. These differences work as filtering mechanisms for how Muslim immigrants choose which mosque to attend. Haddad and Smith (1994) identify the process by which American Muslims make the decision to attend a specific mosque and the factors that play into the discussion. The factors are: (1) geographic location: what mosque is closer to where they live? (2) the theological beliefs they follow—for example, do they agree that women can take the role of mosque executive? (3) language: which language(s) do they prefer to speak and use in their prayers? (4) generation: which mosque do the older generations in their family go to? Are children more likely to attend the same mosque their parents chose to attend? (Haddad & Smith, 1994).

Although Haddad and Smith (1994) succeeded in their discussion of the process by which American Muslims choose which mosque to attend, they did not report on which factors are likely to be compromised over others. For example, are people more likely to compromise their theological beliefs over their language preference in choosing which mosque to attend?

In summer 2016, after a few days of arriving, I drove around the city with the goal of finding places where I could meet and socialize with people. While I was driving down Ford Road, I noticed a large mosque (probably one of the biggest mosques I have seen in America) called the Islamic Center of America and thought that it would make a perfect location to meet people, especially on Friday since most people go to the mosque for the communal Friday afternoon prayer.

Thus, on Friday afternoon I dressed up and went to the mosque one hour before the afternoon prayer. It was almost empty, so I chose a spot and sat waiting. Women sat at the back of the room, men in the front, as in most American mosques I had visited before. As the prayer time came closer, more people started to enter the mosque, and horizontal lines of people started to form. By then, I started to notice that everyone next to me had placed a small stone in front of them. This was when it hit me that everyone in the mosque was Shia Muslims and not Sunni, which is the Islamic branch I follow (Shia and Sunni Muslims have some major differences in Islamic beliefs and in political orientation). As I realized this, I was in panic mode; I really had not thought about this since in my native country, almost everyone is Sunni, and we mostly have Sunni mosques. I was mainly concerned with three things: (1) I didn’t have a stone to place in front of me, and, more importantly, did I really want to place one if I don’t believe in this practice? (2) I didn’t know if the way I pray is similar to the way in which they pray, so should I pray with them or just leave? (3) What would happen if they noticed that I was not Shia? Would they kick me out in front of at least 200 community members? My fear became reality when the women next to me noticed that I didn’t have a stone placed in front of me and they started whispering. I was unable to make the decision, so I started to pray. With every motion and movement, I slowed down to see what they were doing. As the prayer progressed, I started to feel comfortable because the movement almost matched what I was used to. After the prayer ended, it was time for the imam/shaikh (the religious man who leads the prayer) to preach for about 15 min. The subject was Shia and Sunni relations in the context of the wars in Syria and Iraq, which, by sheer luck, could not have been a more perfect subject. Everyone next to me made sure to gaze at me for the duration of the imam’s sermon. Although my experience ended well as I meet new people who asked me if I am Sunni and welcomed me, I knew that being Muslim in a new place need more navigations and considerations. Having lived this experience made me think that it’s more likely that American Muslims would not compromise choosing a mosque that follows the same Islamic branch (Sunni or Shia) they follow over any other factors.

After a year of field research in Dearborn, this experience became an opening for discussion, while I was chatting with a group of Iraqi women over Iraqi tea. I told them my story about my first visit to the mosque in Dearborn. They listened to my story very carefully and two of them who are Shia told me that although they are Shia, they would have a similar experience as me. As they explained, feeling that you “belong” to a mosque is beyond the matter of being Sunni or Shia, ethnicity and having the same country of origin as people who attend the mosque is important. After that, I made a point of asking people every chance I got about which mosque they attend, this made me confirm that in Dearborn, choosing a mosque is more complicated than whether you are Shia or Sunni but is also influenced by your country of origin and your ethnicity.

In the nearly quarter century since Haddad and Smith (1994) work, and especially after 9/11 (September 9, 2001) there have been many political changes related to Islam and mosques in America. Some mosques have come under attack, and some are under surveillance by the government. Based on this, the role of mosques, as places where American Muslims pray, socialize, talk politics, and celebrate their holidays, may not be seen as safe anymore. In an article, entitled “From Imam to Cyber-Mufti: Consuming Identity in Muslim America,” Zaman (2008) argued that September 11, 2001 caused mosques to lose some of their importance when it comes to providing Islamic teachings for American Muslims. Zaman (2008) argues that American Muslims thereafter started to use other resources, such as online scholars and religious websites to seek religious teaching.

Semaan and Mishra's (2010) study of Islam in cyberspace among South Asian Muslims in America involved 25 in-depth interviews on the use of the Internet for religious purposes. The study showed that South Asian participants used the Internet to “listen to religious lectures, look up information about prayer times, holidays, halal food, rules regarding the recitation of the Qur’an, and correct pronunciation of Arabic words” (Semaan & Mishra, 2010, p. 87). Also, the study showed that second-generation participants were more likely to use the religious information found online to make lifestyle changes like becoming an organ donor or wearing a hijab (head covering or veil). Semaan and Mishra (2010) argued that although there were some patterns of lifestyle changes examined in this study, it is “difficult to definitively conclude whether access to competing interpretations of Islam necessarily led to moderate or extreme lifestyle choices” (Semaan & Mishra, 2010, p. 87).

Future research on the significance of mosques in America is needed as more war and political refuges arrive in America. Questions like “If mosques are not safe places anymore—especially as a result of people coming from war zones, where mosques are targeted on a daily basis—then where are Muslims going to gather, socialize, and celebrate their holidays?” will be interesting to answer.

3.5 Muslim Americans’ Culture and Identity

Culture and identity of Muslims Americans are complex. Although Muslims in American come from different country of origins, and ideologies, they still share many core beliefs related to family, gender roles, and marriage practices. In addition, they share the daily challenges and struggles they face as they carry and display their Islamic identity.

3.5.1 American Muslims’ Family and Marriage

Immigration to the United States “is typically a ‘family affair’” (Britto & Amer, 2007, p. 138). Muslim immigrants arrived in the United States as families or as individuals who later brought their families along. The maintenance of families’ growth, religion, and ethnic identify gives marriage huge weight, and creates strict regulations on it—mostly practiced and enforced by the first generation of immigrants.

In a critical review of the existing literature on family and marriage among American Muslims, Hammer (2015) found that American Muslims are “concerned about communal cohesion and wanted their children to marry other Muslims, preferably of a similar cultural background” (Hammer, 2015, p. 37). Therefore, Muslim families tightly control the decision of who to marry and who not to. American Muslims frequently practice arranged marriages. They start with choosing a spouse, usually by using “communal structure, social and political activities, online sites, as well as traditional forms of marriage arrangement through mediators and family networks” (Hammer, 2015, p. 37). Arranged marriages among Muslim communities in America usually have high success because families play a huge role in providing support and mediating any dispute later in life (Hammer, 2015).

In addition to the cultural power families have on marriage, Islam limits marriage options, especially for women; most Muslims follow the Islamic law that states that Muslims women can only marry Muslims men, while Muslim men have the option to marry Muslims, Christian, and Jewish women (Hammer, 2015). Hammer (2015) notes that this is not the case for all Muslims: the studies reviewed in his article indicated “shifts in the interpretation of this doctrine have occurred, and there are a number of examples of Muslim women marrying non-Muslim men. Some men nominally convert to Islam while other couples openly challenge the basis of the aforementioned rule” (Hammer, 2015, p. 38).

In addition to the regulations American Muslim families and Islam have over choosing a spouse, both Islam and ethnic cultures help determine the age of marriage. Early marriage is always preferred for both Muslim men and women. This preference “stems from concerns about sexual propriety and the perceived dangers of a society that appears to be celebrating sexual self-exploration and promiscuity” (Hammer, 2015, p. 38). Although both men and women are pressured to marry early, Muslim women face more pressure regards getting married in young age (Hammer, 2015). Hammer (2015) explains that women are more restricted on premarital sexual relations than men and that Muslim women’s virginity is closely related to family honor and reputation. The “fear of losing one’s reputation in ‘the community’ is a significant danger for women and can potentially affect other members of her family as well. A system in which the family is made responsible for a woman’s sexual conduct can produce regimes of pressure and surveillance while providing few outlets for women” (Hammer, 2015, p. 38).

Hammer (2015) laid out the essential aspects of family and marriage among American Muslim populations in general, but a few critical points are important here. First, he presented American Muslims as a cohesive population that shares the same cultural beliefs, a generalization that does not hold up in deeper level of analysis. Dealing with American Muslims as one population diminishes important cultural dimensions in understanding family and marriage, since each subculture has its own practices and regulations. Hammer (2015) also discussed most aspects of family and marriage from traditional and religious points of view, when acculturation may effect on those traditional practices strongly.

McCloud (2006)Transnational Muslims in American Society makes a similar point. McCloud (2006) starts from the premise that Muslims in America come from different cultures and need to be studied as such. McCloud (2006) paid careful attention, for example, to practices and family marriage among South Asian-American and Arab American Muslim populations. Both mostly live in enclave communities, which creates great pressure on families to maintain their cultural practices and to seek the community approval (McCloud, 2006).

McCloud's (2006) discussion of family and marriage among South Asian American Muslims showed how marriage requires a high level of family engagement. South Asian Muslims American parents start the searching process early, they consider many factors in their search such as class, type of profession, and the social class. This process can be done by using their personal networks or by meeting families in marriage forums and ethnic conventions (McCloud, 2006). McCloud (2006) found marriage for both men and women was always preferred among South Asian Muslim Americans for reasons similar to those discussed in Hammer (2015). That is, South Asian American Muslim women before or immediately after finishing collage (McCloud, 2006) and the idea of getting advanced education is usually delayed until after marriage, as they don’t want to be considered “too educated” which can prevent them from getting married (McCloud, 2006). South Asian Muslim families chose for their daughters’ men who have stable life and income, and who can provide and take care of their daughters as same as the parents did (McCloud, 2006).

In addition, McCloud (2006) discussed very interesting changes in family and marriage that South Asian American Muslim communities go through after arriving in America and the process of acculturating to their new lives. Those changes are not necessarily fully the “American way of doing things,” but an interesting mix of culture in the South Asian countries of origin and in the United States. As noted previously, class is a very important factor in choosing a spouse; the South Asian class concept is based on the Hindu caste system carried to America by first-generation immigrants, and maintained in the South Asian Muslims’ communities generation after generation (McCloud, 2006). Color is closely related to class and lighter is always better (McCloud, 2006). Although South Asian American Muslims strongly emphasize marrying from the same culture, the importance of having light-skinned children seems to diminish this emphasis in some cases. McCloud (2006) showed that while South Asian American Muslim women buy and use skin lighting creams, South Asian American Muslim men and their families see the opportunity of marrying lighter skin women from outside the community (McCloud, 2006). A participant mentioned in McCloud (2006) that families “are very excited to marry their sons to women from cultures where they’re light skinned. Not necessarily that they are non-Muslims but, you know, that they take pride in lighter colored children, here even, folks say, ‘I saw the cutest baby, he was so fair’” (McCloud, 2006, p. 64).

McCloud (2006) discussion of marriage among Arab American Muslim communities in the United States showed that some marriage practices were similar to those of the South Asian American Muslims as well as some differences. Arab American Muslims’ first concern is that “children get married and that they preferably marry Arabs from their country, then perhaps Arab Muslims from other countries, European Americans (Muslims or not), and then perhaps other Muslims. No matter who a young adult marries, there is a general understanding that the family needs to approve” (McCloud, 2006, p. 83). Arab American Muslim communities highly prefer arranged marriage (McCloud, 2006). The male family head usually takes the role of choosing a spouse. They either bring wives for their sons from the family country of origin “back home” or choose them from their community in America (McCloud, 2006). In some cases, couple meet each other while they are in schools or collages in the United States or in other countries (McCloud, 2006). Arab American Muslim men are the head of families, have the power of making decisions, and are expected to have stable work (McCloud, 2006). Arab American Muslim women are the head of the household, are expected to take care and manage their homes, and raise their children to have traditional Arab values (McCloud, 2006).

Other studies show acculturation has contributed to changes in family and marriage. Kulczycki and Lobo (2002) used the marriage data on Arab Americans in the US 1990 census data to examine the effect of acculturation on intermarriage. They found that 79% of Arab men and 73% of Arab women born in the United States had a non-Arab spouse. They also found that people with high levels of acculturation who speak English fluently and have higher education are more likely to marry non-Arabs. The study also found that “one major consequence of the high rates of intermarriage is that fewer children are reported as Arab” (Kulczycki & Lobo, 2002, p. 208). Although this study did not measure the effect of religion of the intermarriage patterns found, Kulczycki and Lobo (2002) suggested that Arab American Muslims are less likely to have intermarriage than Arab American Christians.

Britto and Amer (2007) conducted an internet study to examined cultural identity within sociodemographic and family contexts among 150 Arab American Muslims age between 18 and 25. The participants of the study “fell into three cultural identity groups: High Bicultural, Moderate Bicultural, and High Arab Cultural” (Britto & Amer, 2007, p. 137). What is interesting is that the study found links between these three cultures’ identity groups, getting married, and receiving family support. Moderate Bicultural people were “more likely to be single and with higher academic achievement compared to the High Bicultural and High Arab cultural identity groups. On the other hand they also experienced greater acculturative stress and less family support compared to the other two groups” (Britto & Amer, 2007, p. 145).

Al‐Johar (2005) interviewed 27 Muslim Americans from different ethnic groups (Arab and South Asian) groups in Houston, Texas to examine “how strongly Muslims born or raised in the United States identify with the cultural heritage of their immigrant parents affects the choices they make with respect to marriage” (Al‐Johar, 2005, p. 557). Al‐Johar (2005) found that American Muslims who practice arranged marriage (which requires the family to become very involved in choosing a spouse and a huge preference for marrying from the same ethnic group) are more likely to identify themselves as being from a specific ethnic group first. The study also showed that people who self-identify as being Muslims are more likely to practice self-initiated marriages, where participants recognize “the importance of preserving religious viability rather than, and sometimes at the expense of, cultural viability” (Al‐Johar, 2005, p. 566). Putting religion first is common among second-generation American Muslims, since second generation “has become more orthodox overseas (both in the U.K. and the U.S.) and is more attracted to Muslim organizations” (Al‐Johar, 2005, p. 567). In addition, Al‐Johar (2005) found that American Muslims who self-identify as American first are more likely to practice self-achieved marriages, where they “place greater importance on choosing their own spouses and fulfilling their own personal desires than on prerequisites such as religiosity or language ability” (Al‐Johar, 2005, p. 571). In this type of selecting a spouse, American Muslims minimize the role of family by making “the decision to marry without consulting family and relatives” (Al‐Johar, 2005, p. 571).

3.5.2 Living Everyday Life as American Muslim Women, and Men

There is no doubt that living in America as a Muslim woman or man from different ethnic cultures can be challenging. The challenges they face come from their ethnic cultural obligations and practices, from acculturation to life in America, and stereotypes and discrimination. Those challenges become more obvious when it’s come to American Muslim women and men roles outside the family: what is expected from them, their experiences with stereotypes and discrimination in public, and the challenges they face from the way they look and dress and from the way they chose to identify themselves to others.

Meeting family expectations and performing what is expected from them as a man and women coming from ethnic culture who live in the United States are highly important. McCloud (2006) discussed how in South Asian American Muslim communities, both men and women are hold to high standards by family and community. Both men and women “are reared to excel, be mindful of their parents’ desires, and to struggle for the best at every level. When this does not happen, the shame on the family is made even more intense by the south Asian community as gossip begins” (McCloud, 2006, p. 62). South Asian American Muslim men usually are put under huge pressure to meet their family expectations (McCloud, 2006). Those expectations requires them to have advance profession, acquire a lot of wealth and provide for their family (McCloud, 2006). Men in South Asian Muslim communities in America are pushed to seek high degrees in medicine and natural sciences; if not, community members practice shaming as they think less of any other families who have male who is not specialized in medicine or natural sciences (McCloud, 2006). Women in South Asian communities are “looked at pretty much to serve men” (McCloud, 2006, p. 63), learning from young age how to be good daughters, sisters, wives, and moms, and how to take care of a home. (McCloud, 2006). In addition, South Asian women are expected to go to the best school, excel in education, with keeping in mind that their main goal is to get married to a man with a certain profession (McCloud, 2006).

Although women’s education seems to be important among American Muslims, work can be a secondary goal. Read and Oselin (2008) conducted a study among 38 Arab American Muslims and Christians in Houston, Texas to examine the relation between education and employment. They found that education is weakly related to employment; women receiving advanced degrees does not guarantee their involvement in the workforce. Arab Americans support female education “as a resource, not for economic mobility, but to ensure the proper socialization of children, solidarity of the family, and ultimately the maintenance of ethnic and religious identity” (Read & Oselin, 2008, p. 296).

Kumar et al. (2014) conducted a study among Arab American Muslim male and female adolescents from seven schools from the American Midwest. They found that gender roles among the participants are salient to Arab culture. The participants discussed how brothers would not allow their sisters to communicate with other boys in school (Kumar et al., 2014). Participants saw themselves as being able to protect themselves and providing needed protection to females; this belief is driven by the gender role of men in Arab culture, as the men are seen as the head of the household, and the ones responsible for protecting and providing for the family (Kumar et al., 2014).

Following those ethnic traditional gender roles and expectations seems to create acculturation difficulties among American Muslims, especially among first-generation American Muslims. Volk (2009) conducted a study among Muslim Yemeni immigrant women in San Francisco attending ESL classes. The goal of the study was to examine their experience as women living in San Francisco. The women were all married, had lived in the United States at least five years, and were aged 22–36. One of the challenges they had was learning English. The participants in the study had in common that performing their traditional role of being mothers has burdened their English language learning process. The women who participated in the study felt it was their responsibility to make sure their children spoke Arabic and therefore practiced the rule of only speaking Arabic with their children (Volk, 2009).

Women’s transition from their country of origin to the United States might not give them an easier life. Sayigh (2012) noted that American Muslim immigrant women have huge responsibilities, as on one hand, they are “often face the contradictory expectations of maintaining their family’s ethnic identity and cultural continuity based on practices and beliefs of their country of origin, while at the same time helping family members be successful in their host country” (p. 409) and on the other hand, they struggle as individuals to live in America. This has disturbed the picture painted of the United States as the “land of the free,” especially when it comes to Muslim women, for whom the land of free “has brought pain, frustration, and insecurity rather than liberation” (Sayigh, 2012, p. 109).

Do women always choose to maintain their cultural and religious traditions or do they choose to alter some of their beliefs and cultural practice to cope with their lives in America? Volk (2009) discussed how maintaining Islamic dress in America became one of the struggles that American Yemeni Muslim immigrant women have. The women in the study felt the need to respect their religion and culture but were concerned about how other people will perceive them. Volk (2009) participants did not share beliefs about which Islamic dress code is acceptable. Some women only wear hijabs, covering their hair, while others wear niqabs, covering their face except for their eyes. The participants in the study were mainly divided into two groups, some who felt they needed to modify the way they dressed since they were no longer in Yemen and others who insisted on keeping their dress as it is. One participant said that “she had ignored encouragements from her husband to take off the face veil to make herself less conspicuous in public. She proudly maintained it was her choice to wear the niqab, which she considered the proper dress for a Muslim woman. But she also admitted that, as a result, she rarely left the home alone” (Volk, 2009, p. 403). As a reaction to this story, other women in the group felt that a woman should not keep her niqab because she is in a new environment and taking it off would “make it easier on herself” (Volk, 2009, p. 404). Some participants also suggested wearing a colorful veil insisted of a black veil. But all Yemeni women in this study “felt strongly about wearing their veils, be it in traditional or ‘advanced’ styles, because they felt women should dress modestly, even if it meant that they were scrutinized in public.” (Volk, 2009, p. 404).

Read's (2003) study on the impact of religion on gender roles among Arab Christian and Muslim American women showed that the stereotypes of Arab American women as “veiled and secluded” were not necessarily true. Still, in an email survey of a sample of Arab American Christian and Muslim women Read found that Muslim women are “more gender traditional than Christian respondents, even when considering differences in educational attainment, presence of children, and age” (Read, 2003, p. 207). In addition, he found that American Muslim women born outside the United States, who had Arab spouses, and who lived in Arab communities were “significantly more traditional in their gender role attitudes than those respondents without these ethnic affiliations” (Read, 2003, p. 216). Read (2003) explained that this result of his study should not be seen as the effect of religion on gender, because factors such as marrying Arabs and living in Arab communities also contributed to keeping their traditional gender roles.

It is a truism in Anthropology that beliefs, whether they come from ethnic cultures or religion, go through modifications, and alterations. This does not always happen at the community level or family level, but mostly on the individual’s level—and sometimes in shocking and challenging ways to American Muslims communities. Haddad and Sharify-funk (2012) studied the controversy of female imams (leaders of prayer, a role always taken by men according to interpretations of Islamic texts mostly made by men). They presented one of the first, Amina Wadud (followed later by a few other Muslim women in America), who led Friday prayer as an imam in a public prayer of a mixed gender group. Wadud was an Islamic Studies professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. The goal behind the idea of women becoming imams was to challenge the classic interpretations of Islamic texts. The main question was, “Can Islamic texts and communities of interpreters accommodate female religious authorities?” (Haddad & Sharify-funk, 2012, p. 102). This action has created controversy between Muslims and non-Muslims, not only in America, but around the world, concerning how much freedom women have when it comes to religious authority, and religion practices.

In addition to challenging female gender roles by changing classical interpretations of Islamic texts, other studies have examined different approaches to challenge gender roles, and ethnic cultural traditional practices. Naber's (2005) study of “Muslim first, Arab second” is based on 35 interviews of young, second-generation Arab American activists in the San Francisco Bay area who self-identify as Muslims first and Arab second. According to Naber (2005), the participants made that choice because it “provide[d] a broad ideological framework for confronting and reconfiguring family relationships, in particular, their immigrant parents’ constructions of masculinity, femininity, and marriage” (p. 479). In other words, the group of participants felt the need to extend their accepted behavior options, marriage options, and gender roles, mostly imposed by their Arab parents. For instance, Arab parents only allow their daughters to marry Arab Muslims based on Arab traditions, whereas as a matter of doctrine, a Muslim can marry any Muslim, by birth of conversion. What is interesting is that the participants in the study expressed how their parents had not separated those two identities in their upbringing: as one said, “‘The religion was the culture and the culture was the religion’… The distinction between the things that are ‘Arab’ and the things that are ‘Muslim’ were blurred throughout the childhood and adolescent years for most of my research participants” (Naber, 2005, p. 483). One of the most significant points in the study is how the identity participants presented altered their views on traditional roles of men and women in marriage. For a women to be considered good, “she has to come from a good background, know how to cook, and seem like she can be fertile and have lots of kids and be good to her in-laws,” while a man “has to come from a good family and has to have a good financial background” (Naber, 2005, pp. 483–484).

McCloud (2006) showed how being “Muslim first” was also common among young South Asian American Muslim generations, but not necessary for the same reasons Naber (2005) discussed. To him, Muslim reject being identify as American Muslims, because they never felt that they belong to their homeland (McCloud, 2006).

Self-identification of being Muslim first seems to be driven with the feeling of a need for more freedom (more room of acceptable behaviors) or coming from the feeling of not belonging to the countries of origin cultures. Other reasons of self-identification as Muslim in the United States were strongly related to political awareness, experiences with discrimination, and religious differences within American Muslim communities. Kumar et al. (2014) studied Arab American Muslim male and female adolescents from seven schools in the American Midwest. They found finding that understanding the formation of identity among Arab American adolescents is complicated, as the early stage of their lives were effected by 9/11 and what it caused of anger, and discrimination against Muslims in America (Kumar et al., 2014). Arab American Muslim adolescents report events “where they felt unfairly judged and unwelcome in this country, expressing anger, frustration, and anxiety at being misunderstood and misjudged” (Kumar et al., 2014, p. 33). The participants of the study reported not feeling safe, and facing violent from the public, especially outside of their communities. (Kumar et al., 2014); the feeling of rejection was very clear as one study participants expressed that in America they don’t like Arab American (Kumar et al., 2014). The participants also reported problems based on the way they dressed and looked. One participant described the airport: “like you wear a scarf, or a beard and they’ll like search you and stuff… after 9/11 they started like picking on us… I don’t care what they say; I just ignore them, just pretend like I didn’t hear. Like there’s some nice people, they treat you the same as like everybody” (Kumar et al., 2014, p. 34). In conversation between the participants, the effects of these experiences of discrimination could not be clearer or stronger:

Omar: No. Well we’re Arab-American.

Wasim: I mean we’re all Americans.

Ahmad: No. I’m not… don’t even put American next to my name… it makes me 100 percent Arab. (Kumar et al., 2014, p. 36)

Some participants felt that self-identifying as American could diminish or even minimize the chance of receiving discrimination in public and feeling more acceptance (Kumar et al., 2014). On the other hand, at least in Kumar et al.’s study, choosing to be Arab and not American possibly shows strong resistance and feeling unwelcome to be an American.

Kumar et al. (2014) also discussed how the two main Islamic branches (Sunni and Shia) affected the way in which American Muslims choose to self-identify. A Muslim participant in Kumar et al.'s (2014) study said “We [he and his family] go to the Mosque every weekend… we pray every single day five times… Most Arab families are like that… Like in our religion, we look at each other as brothers and sisters, all of the Muslim community” (Kumar et al., 2014, p. 29). Although the participant emphasized Muslim community, other participants did not necessarily agree on the idea of one cohesive Arab Muslim community. A part of conversation between four participants who were Sunni and Shia was as follows:

Ahmad: Yea, I’m a Shia, we’re all Shia.

Omar: Yea, we’re Shia.

Omar: Yea, he’s a Sunni.

Ahmad: You’re Sunni?

Wasim: I don’t, I don’t find that a difference between people. I don’t… It doesn’t matter if you are Sunni or Shia.

Ahmad: Yea it does.

Sara: No it doesn’t. (Kumar et al., 2014, p. 29)

American Muslims are diverse; they come from different ethnic backgrounds, political orientations, and Islamic ideologies and they go through different life experiences and acculturation processes. Mosques play a major role in American Muslims’ lives and can be considered one way in which American Muslims maintain their ethnic cultures. Mosques are places where American Muslims practice their religion, socialize with other people, talk politics, practice their native languages, and celebrate their cultural and religious holidays (Haddad & Smith, 1994). They also are places where native cultures survive and thrive in America (Abraham, 2000). This importance has continued generation after generation, but it seems to be threatened by recent political events.

When it comes to understanding the culture of American Muslims—including their marriage practices, family practices, gender roles, and identity—not only religion must be examined, but also the role of ethnic cultures in regulating and navigating its individual members through what are accepted behaviors and what are not. Examining the formation of American Muslims’ identity shows that there were no single or common identity-formation patters. Some American Muslims preferred to keep self-identifying as Arabs only (Kumar et al., 2014), and others chose to be Muslims first (McCloud, 2006).