Growing up an American Muslim

Well written, I know how hard it is to stay focused on your identity and how hard it can be to keep explaining and apologising to the rest of the western world for being a muslim...the religion of Saddam Hussain and most terrorist

factions..and at the same time being proud of who you are.

I have two growing children and I struggle hard to instill in them a love of their identity..without warping their minds into thinking that everyone else is ``bad and wrong``.

I don`t want them to think everything so called muslims do is right, yet I want them to believe Islam is right.I don`t want them to not fit in or

to have to live a dual lifestyle, one at home and one at school.... yet the balance seems to be just out of my reach....am I missing something?

Ferozk

Well if you are interested in knowing about who all participate on the web, let me introduce myself as being Canadian. Since others have already pointed out that there are areas where only Spanish is spoken. I would like to add there are shopping areas in North America where only chinese is spoken and all the signs are in chinese (and no there are no laws saying that the shop signs should be in chinese).

fozia

I hope that you are able to write an article or maybe establish a website for the most frequently asked questions about Islam in school. This would be a great help to students and parents alike (as parents would be able to advise their children what to answer).

P.S. Does anybody know why women are not allowed to go to the graveyard (Jordan context).

Re; Rishi:
``hispanics are the ones who can really be blamed for their refusal to identify with the mainstream American context``

If I was a Spanish speaking American who grew up in a ranch in Texas much like her ancestors( who lived on the land here before the English speaking man proclaimed it to be a part of his country), or in Peurto Rico for that matter,I would`ve found your comments pretty offensive.

Re: all

Feroze makes a valid point when he talks about ``the melting pot``. (atleast in my opinion). However it must be noted that the melting pot theory worked well as long as the underlying structure depended on racial and religious similarities . Thus a German American or an Irish American or an English American can proudly proclaim their national origins but remain unswayed by the happenings in their countries of origin and could even go to war with their countries of origin. This happens primarily because of the melting pot concept. Religion aids this aspect too. It is interesting to note that the melting pot theory fails when applied to people of non WASP or non-WASC origins. Thus hispanics, Jews and Asians tend to move away from the melting pot. However, From what i have seen, second generation Jews, Chinese and other non-muslims (buddhists, Hindus, Shintos) assimilate to a greater extent into the melting pot than the muslims since their religious tenets are not strong enough to prevent such an inter-racial, inter-religious mixture. Interestingly though, black converts to islam also do not face such a cultural or other barrier with this melting pot issue. It is predominantly the Asian (East, South and West) muslims and hispanics who face this issue. And of these the hispanics are the ones who can really be blamed for their refusal to identify with the mainstream American context . Quite a few American friends of mine have grumbled about the Hispanics refusal to learn English. (one of them a second generation Italian American questioned the principle of the Hispanics in comparison with himself --- given the fact that he does not know an iota of his original mother tongue)

Any comments ?

Rishi

Melting pot? US? Where? English only? Sure, in schools maybe... aqui en Los Angeles hablamos espanol!

Feroze:

Please elaborate on this idea of yours about the mosaic and its crumblings.

Personally, I disagree with the melting pot idea simply because my friend, it ain`t workin` south of the border either. Since you are taking examples off of real life situations and history, why don`t you pull your examples closer to the contemporary situations and look at the contemporary examples of the ``melting pot.`` The melting hot fact is that it just does not work.

Umair and the Chowk Muscleman:

Please note this self-confessed 1/4th Parsi-Pakistani-Canadian-American is disturbing the hornet`s nest again. (underlined again). The storm that will brew heneceforth shall be the sole responsibilty of the aforementioned individual!

Feroze:

I could not quite put a finger on your derivative eloquence-----mis-spellings aside. Now I know.
It must have emanated from the fine schooling you received in the Great White Yonder.

Coupla years ago, visiting one of the Shifa Clinic doctor near Harvardistan I stopped for directions. Lo behold! They only spoke Spanish. This was in the North East. I am told there are scores of Spanish only locales in the south and the west. So much for the melting pot theory. More on this later when the single malt fades away.

Fozia:

Don`t be un-nerved with this sheep in wolf`s clothing. He is quite harmless during daylight hours.

Zehra:

Like I was saying......

regards

Re: Zehra

You are scaring me! My suggestion is stick with polisci and then some day, we will rule the world (insert sounds of hollow laughter here)!

Re: Fozia post # 3

You from Canada eh? Nice knowing that, eh! Not only do I have to deal with that Canuck called Temporal, but now I got to put up with you too, eh? Maybe, the three of us can sing ``O` Canada``, eh?

As for myself, having lived in the Great White North, I am more partial towards the American idea of fondue than a Canadian mosaic. All through high school, in Ottawa, we learned about the Canadian mosaic. The reason that I like the American melting pot is because it blurs all nationalistic cultural identies. The former Jugoslavia is turning into a real mosaic too and the problem with any mosaic is that, after a while, the damn thing crumbles and makes a mess every where.

My biggest problem with the Canadian mosaic is that, in order to preserve distinct cultural traits, it creates a simmering problem. Just look at the Quebecois in Quebec and their zeal for language rights and independence referandums. Even though English is an offical language of Canada, along side with French, they still pass laws that restrict English from appearing and any shop in Quebec with english signs is hounded by the language police. This Canadian mosaic is creating internal problems in Canada, because under this idea, Quebec has been given too much rights and that is alienating the western provinces in the Canadian confederation.

It is about time some one put those damn Quebecois frogs in their places and remind them that Marquis de Montcalm lost the Battle of Abrahams and Montreal and Quebec to the English. What is the flag of Quebec? It is the fleur de lily; the symbol of the Bourbon monarchy of France! The morons in Quebec are still thristing for revanche against le anglis and their offical state motto is j` souviens - I remember. They still remember their defeat at the hands of Wolffe in 1759! The British should have forced these damn frogs to learn english at gun point!

I like the bastardization of the American melting pot, because no cares or knows what is their past history.

Folks, you ain`t speaking inglish, you ain`t welcome in these parts! I got ma gun and I kill yawr ass `cause yaw don`t speak no American yaw damn fur-in-ners! Git yawr ass back `cause I ain`t learnin` oar speakin` no new damn tonque oar mending ma ways!

Zehra:

Welcome! Wish your first submission to Chowk had been an original one. Perhaps, next time.

Knee jerk reaction are not confined to these Excited States only. I remember the first few hours after the Oklahoma blast, the media was going haywire over middle eastern connections-- they even unearthed some conference in the deep south that was addressed by some Arab a few days earlier. In Pakistan, recently, the bomb blast near Lahore that failed to cure the excesses of Badmaash Shareef was immediately blamed on the MQM. Later, it transpierd it was the work of Green Shirts. In neigbouring India, even before the first investigator has stepped out of his house, the officials blame ISI. And life goes on..........

regards

Zehra,

This article has brought back some old memories for me. The most prominent one being of when I was 14 years old, and in my grade 9 Social Studies class.

We were studying modern Arab history as part of the Middle East chapter in our textbook. The basics of Islam were also covered in this section.

One day before the start of class, I was chatting with my teacher and let him know that I was in fact a Muslim. The teacher became really excited at this and asked if I`d be willing to answer a few questions about Islam in class.

I thought ``Sure why not? I can answer a couple of questions.`` and agreed to so. Little did I know what I was getting to...

The class starts, and my teacher announces ``Class, as you all know we are studying the Middle East section, and Islam is the major religon there. Fozia just told me that she is a Muslim. Now We all know very little about Islam, but what better way to learn than to ask someone who follows it?

So I`m opening up the class to let you all ask any questions you may have about Islam to Fozia.``

Well to make a long story short, I spent the entire 60 minute class fielding all questions that came to the minds of 30 kids and 2 teachers. Not only that, I spent a good portion of the next day`s class doing the same thing!

I answered questions on everything ranging from fundamental beliefs of Islam, to ``Do you really kill cows in that weird way?``, oh and ``Do you really starve for a like a whole Month?``. Adam/Eve, Jesus, Christmas and dozens of others items I can`t even remember were all brought up.

Let`s just say overwhelmed feelings of Interrogation would be one way of describing how I felt after all that was over!

I grew up in a very small town in Canada, which had only a few Muslim families and no mosque. So my knowledge was limited to what my mother had taught me and a few ``Children`s books on Islam`` and ``Stories of the Prophets`` I had read.

Needless to say all my meagre Islamic knowledge was being stretched to the max.

I wouldn`t say that it was a bad experience, ``challenging`` maybe, but not bad. If anything it made me realize what little I knew and compelled me to remedy this lack of knowledge from that time onwards.

Since then, there have been many occasions where I`ve been asked to speak on Islam. But now it`s pretty easy. Most people just ask the same questions again and again. :)

Fortunately I`ve never had to deal with people not liking me because I was Muslim. In my experience, I was viewed more like I was the follower of some far-off, exotic religon.

It is indeed a struggle to live as a second generation Muslim in North America. Peer pressures, cultural and religous conflicts are not easy to deal with. However I feel it`s struggle that gives life it`s meaning. As Muslims we believe that we have to ``earn`` our way to Paradise, and as such there isn`t a Muslim anywhere in this world who doesn`t have major challenges in their life to overcome.

Most of the Muslims in North America have the luxury of being much more financially well off than their brethern in other parts of the world. But in place of that we have to deal with a greater struggle from within ourselves and shaping our identities as Muslims in this society.

It`ll take many, many years before a true North American Muslim identity emerges. Most likely it won`t be until our children`s generation or even grandchildren.

It`s a great social engineering exercise that`s occuring here. Maybe someday in the future sociologists and anthropologists will be writing on the development of the North American Muslim personality.

On a side note, I wonder how future generations of Canadian Muslims will differ (if at all) from American Muslims. I know there is one major difference in the governments philosophies concerning immigrants. The U.S likes to think of itself as a ``melting pot`` where all cultures/religons mix together and the end result is ``American``. Now here in Canada, the philosophy is that of a ``mosaic`` where different cultures/religons are encouraged to maintain their unique characteristics yet at the same time join together to form a overall Canadian identity. It`ll be interesting to see if this has any effect on the future outcome...

Regards,

Fozia Zaidi

It must be really difficult growing up in the US or for that matter in any European country while hanging on to a ``controversial`` Islamic heritage.

However, I am always amazed at the mentality behind the Muslims who were born here.

Their basis of relations with the newcomers somehow don`t appear to be different from the reactions that Reformed Jews had to the third wave of Jewish arrivals from the Eastern Europe in the 1880s, which were of shame and abhorance towards the new Jews. This is not a reaction to the article directly but it does shoot off of the article to some extent where I feel that the Muslims who grew up here have a really hard time comming to terms with the fact that the newcomers can be so ``stupid`` and ``unAmerican,`` and then turn around to blast the ``normal`` Americans for discrimination directed towards themselves. This discrimination, they claim, interestingly enough, also comes from them being ``not-so-American.``

Any thoughts, anyone?