Ethnic Studies Muslim and Arab Americans

UNIT 1: MUSLIM AND ARAB AMERICANS ● The Arab American and Muslim American communities are among the most rapidly growing minority groups in the United States ● Many confuse the two groups ○ Arabs are an ethnic group ○ Muslims are a religious group ■ Islam is the faith (like Christianity), and a Muslim is a believer of that religion (like a Chrisitan) ● ‘Arab Americans’ refers to the immigrants and possible children from the countries that now make up the “Arab world” ○ these are the 22 nations of North Africa, including what is known as the Middle East, including Morocco, Syria, Iraq, Saudi, and Somalia ■ Not all people living in these countries are necessarily Arab (e.g,. The Kurds of Iraq, etc.) ■ The Middle East includes large numbers of people who are not Muslim or Arab (such as Jews from Israel) ● Arabic is a common language among most Arabs ○ People in different parts of the Arab world speak with a different dialect, using different choices of vocabulary and pronunciation ■ For example, if you talk to any Arab some might say I speak an Egyptian type of Arabic and others might say they speak an Algerian version of Arabic, etc. ● Estimates of the size of the Arab American community are not, and probably never will be, exact ○ The government counts aren’t entirely accurate ■ only counts individuals who have identified their ancestry from the Arab countries ■ does not include those descended from other large overseas Arab communities ○ By some estimates, there are as many as 3 million people with Arab ancestry in the US (obviously, over time this will change) ■ it will change because immigration patterns change over time ○ Among those who identify themselves as Arab Americans, the largest single source of ancestry was Lebanon ■ followed by Syria, Egypt, and Palestine. ■ These four groups accounted for two-thirds of Arab Americans in 2000 ● The diversity in Arab Americans is similar to the diversity in Hispanics, and it reflects panethnicity ○ panethnicity= a political expression used to group various ethnic groups together based on cultural, geographical, or other similarities ○ There are many differences in time of arrival ■ many Arab Americans have lived for several generations in the US ■ others were born overseas and immigrated to the United States ○ The second aspect of diversity is point of origin ■ which ranges from Egypt to Morocco (and more of course) ○ There is a variety of religions ■ can include Christian or Muslim, practicing or nonpracticing, and more ● Like any ethnic or immigrant community, there are different views over who can really be considered a member of the community ○ in this case, a member of the arab community ○ Sociologist Gary David developed the idea of a deficit model of ethnic identity ■ states that some people will see some factors that are in a person, and view this as a characteristic that is different from the typical arab (or other cultures) identity. ■ this can cause a person to be viewed as more “American” (or more assimilated) and further away from their culture ● Depending on one’s perspective, Arabs can depict another Arab American as “too American” or “too Arab.” ○ Think of it as someone thinking the other has conformed too much to American culture, and someone else who hasn’t even attempted to “fit in” ■ Kinda like that stereotypical fight that happens between the parents and children of a family who has immigrated here. ● The child thinks the parent hasn't tried hard enough to fit in, whereas the parent thinks the child has forgotten their true identity and roots ISLAM ● Islam hasapproximately 1.6 billion followers worldwide, ○ second to Christianity among the world’s biggest religions ● The two faiths are more similar than different: ○ Both are monotheistic (worship only one god) and worship the same God ■ Muslims call their God Allah which many confuse as it being a different God than the one Christians worship ○ Both believe in prophets, an afterlife, and day of judgement ○ Both have a moral code they expect believers to follow ■ Like don’t lie, steal, cheat etc. ● Islam is guided by the teachings of Qur’an, which Muslims believe was revealed to the seventh-century Prophet Muhammad (the “last prophet of Islam”) ○ The Qur’an includes the collected sayings, or hadeeth, and the deeds of Muhammad, which are called Sunnah, our the way of the Prophet ● Governments in Muslims countries often reinforce Islamic practices through their laws ○ Don’t necessarily have separation of the “church and state” as we do here ○ an example of a more islamic government would be Saudi Arabia ● An immigrant does not necessarily go through assimilation ○ Assimilation: the process of taking in and fully understanding information or ideas ○ Immigrants and even their children and future generations hold on to multiple identities ○ Muslim Americans reflect a combined identity, which refers to the way they see the world and themselves that combines their American status, their religion, and their original cultrual backgroud ● Certain rituals referred to as the “pillars of wisdom” are the basis of Islam ○ Muslims refer to this as “the 5 Pillars of Islam” ■ 1. Fasting during Ramadan, which marks the revelation of the Qur’an to the Prophet Muhammad ■ 2. Pray 5 times a day to Allah, facing in the direction of Mecca. Also declaring that there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet ■ 3. Make donations to charity, known as zakat ■ 4. Jummah (which is a holy prayer they do once a week on Fridays, similar to Christains attending services on Sundays) ■ 5. They also undertake the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in their lifetime ● Islamic believers are divided into a variety of faiths and groups, the two main ones being Sunnis and Shiites ○ The large majority of Muslims are Sunni-- those who follow the Sunnah, or the way of the Prophet ○ The Shiites (primarily from Iraq, Iran, and southern Lebanon) are the secondlargest group ○ The two groups differ on who should have been the caliph, or ruler, after the death of the Prophet Muhammad ● Verses in the Qur’an prescribe to Muslims jihad, or struggle against the enemies of Allah (God) ○ Usually, jihad is taken by Muslims in order to refer to their internal struggle for spiritual pureness ○ Today, a very small part of Muslims in the world sees this as a justification to carry out an armed struggle against enemies of Islam. ■ theses views cannot be dismissed by an overarching authority--- there is no hierarcy in Islam ● there is no Muslim pope deliver the one true interpretation, and there is no provision for excommunication ○ this can lead to multiple interpretations of the Quran, which causes many Muslims to have different beliefs about certain things, such as the permitting of music ● There are at least 3 million Muslims in the US ○ 2/3s are US-born citizens ○ There is an overall agreement that the Muslim population in the US is growing rapidly through immigration and conversion ● about 18% of Muslims worldwide think religions other than Islam can lead to eternal life BLACK MUSLIMS ● African Americans who embrace Islam form a significant and important part in the Muslim American community ○ They represent about 5% of all African Americans ■ but they are estimated to account for 90% of all converts to Islam in the US ● The history of Black American Islam beings in the 17th century, ○ this was when some Muslim tribes in Africa were forcibly brought to the American colonies as slaves ○ It is estimated that 10% of African slaves were Muslim ○ Enslaved Muslims in the colonies and other places usually never gave up their faith because they wanted to ‘assimilate’ into the dominant culture ■ maintained their dedication to Islam ● Like other Muslims, generally African Americans who follow Islam aren’t tightly organized into a single religious group ○ most today trace their roots to the teachings of W. Fard Muhammad, ■ he spoke strongly against adultery and alcohol consumption and smoking and dancing ■ was a very controversial member and spoke about topics that sparked many arguments ● Malcolm X became the most powerful, dominant voice of black self-determination in the 60s ○ originally a member of the Nation of Islam ○ he spoke in a manner that was was deemed so brilliant that he is sometimes referred to in a “manner befitting a prophet” ○ Malcolm X is remembered for: ■ his attacks on other Black leaders ■ his drifting away from the Nation of Islam ■ his apparent pivot to support progressive Whites ○ He is especially remembered for taking the position that Blacks must resist violence “by any means necessary” ■ which greatly concerned supporters of nonviolence ● Recently, Minister Louis Farrakhan has been the most dominant spokesperson among the various Muslim groups in the African American community ○ As a leader of the 1995 Million Man March, he encouraged both marchers and African Americans nationwide to register to vote and work for positive change ○ He announced his distaste and complete disgust to abortion, drugs, and homosexuality ■ he endorsed self-help, capitalism and strict punishment ● Black Muslims may feel that the larger Islamic community doesn’t speak to what they feel is the unique oppression faced by people who are Black and Muslim in the US ○ It is very likely that there never will be a single dominating voice of Islam that speaks to all concerns of the African American Muslim community IMMIGRATION TO THE US ● Many Arabs and Muslims immigrated to the United States in the twentieth century ○ Even earlier, Spanish Muslims accompanied explorers and conquistadors to the Americas ○ In the 19th century, there were many world fairs held at Philadelphia, St. Louis and Chicago, where millions of attendees probably had their first interactions with Arabs and Muslims ■ Because there was such a positive response to that, this began to encourage Arabs (mainly from Syria and Lebanon) to immigrate to the United States ■ At about the same time, other Arabs immigrated as a result of encouragement from US-funded missionary programs in the Middle East ● Like Arab immigration, when Muslims were immigrating about thousands of them arrived in the early 20th century ○ when World War 1 happened, the immigration movement started to slow down ● Right after 9/11, there was a decline of about 30% of Arabs and Muslims immigrating to the United States ○ many were fearful about the hate and the suspicion they might receive by the federal government and other Americans because of their culture and religion ○ there was a rise in Muslim hate crimes after 9/11 ○ Arabs and Muslims were under extreme suspicion after 9/11 as well ● There is a strong Arab presence in the Dearborn, Michigan, area ○ This is a unique development in the history of Arab immigration ● By 1919, the first mosque was established, and many service agencies began to cater to the needs of the immigrant community ● The mosques in the metropolitan Detroit area serve, roughly, at least 200,000 Arabs ○ Today, metropolitan Detroit has by far the largest concentration of Arab Americans and Muslims ■ This is probably the largest Arab community outside of the Arab world