Growing up Muslim

re: ansari

{don`t sell your kid short. Make sure they do both, and more. }

...why?...i know lots of kids who have never touched the quran or any religious text and are on their way to harvard and goldman sachs.....and they vote, pay taxes, and volunteer at various places...without ever having stepped foot in a church, mosque, or temple....

Mantolives #39: ``Yeah... maybe thats because they are allowed to think and talk about it. Eastern kids are just told to shut up.``

I suppose everyone speaks from personal experience. Perhaps you were not allowed to discuss anything. But you need to keep in mind that there are other Pakistani families that do allow their children to discuss anything and everything. Most of the Pakistanis (and Indians) I hang around with in North America are far better adjusted to their surroundings than most of the Americans I have as friends.

You will probably realize this as you grow older, and see more people, and start meeting couples as a married adult. Their Pakistani (and Indian) kids seem to have a far more balanced view of sex than their American counterparts. They know where to draw the line. Again I am talking about the people I am exposed to, not necessarily the ones you are exposed to.

Most Americans I have come across, as friends, as co-workers, as employees, etc. have a lot of problems with sex. This includes teenaged pregnancies, affairs, diseases etc. The wives of our (me and my wife`s) Pakistani friends seem far happier with their husbands, on the average, than those of my American friends (some of whom regularly waltz into our house to bore us with sob stories of their husbands` affairs - I am thinking of charging them psychiatrist`s fees).

Following are some statistics about USA:

• 49% of pregnancies among American women are unintended; 1/2 of these are terminated by abortion.

• In 2000, 1.31 million abortions took place, down from an estimated 1.36 million in 1996. From 1973 through 2000, more than 39 million legal abortions occurred.

• Each year, 2 out of every 100 women aged 15-44 have an abortion; 48% of them have had at least one previous abortion and 61% have had a previous birth.

(http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html)

Obviously someone didn`t do a good job of talking to these folks about sex. Did they? I cannot tell you how many North American close friends I have whose marraiges have broken up due to sexual exploits of their husbands/wives. And how many North American parents I know, who are worried sick that their daughter is going to come in one day and tell them she is pregnant.

Infact excessive and uncontrolled sexual freedom and alcoholism are really the two (and maybe the only two) faults I see in the Western society.

In contrast, all (and I really mean all) the Pakistani and Indian friends I have here have very stable marraiges. The husband may have watched an odd porn movie here or there, but he is not cheating on his wife. Their kids do have some cultural confusions, but on sex, they seem to have a clear concept. I don`t know of a single one of them, who has a child who got pregnant out of marraige.

Personally, I would use these Pakistani and Indian families as my role-models for my children`s values.

Of course, there are immigrants who fit into the model described in this article. And the article is accurate for them. But there is a huge amount that do not fit into this profile. None of my South Asian friends fit this profile. Nor do their kids (other than some cultural confusions - which they seem to be handling quite well, I must say). Do you fit into this model? Does the author fit into this model? I assume you two aren`t the only ones.

It all depends on what kind of crowd one hangs around with. No one forces one to hang around with anyone. Maybe you are hanging around with the crowd that doesn`t talk to its kids much. I would suggest you change crowds.

One should not get overly impressed by Eastern or Western values and systems. You seem to be overly impressed by Western systems, to the point of denouncing everything that does not fit into the Western model. I think one should take the best from both, and immigrants have that luxury. I have found Western public, govt., legal etc. values to be superior to Eastern ones (by Eastern here, I mean South Asian). However, I have found that Westerners have created far too many unnecessary problems within their personal lives, due to sex and alcohol. They, themselves acknowledge the fact, that excessive sexual freedom has caused so many problems in their society. So anyone trying to ape them, in this area, is going to lose out.

But you can go ahead and give it a try. Somewhere along the line, you will find out that while the grass is greener on this side of the fence, every patch of it isn`t as green as you think it maybe.

I am far more impressed with educated Eastern families, in the area of providing sexual values to their kids. And there are quite a few such families. I can introduce you to some, if you want.

I think Romair`s comments, like his comments on any issue, take the cake...

`Western kids are far more confused about sex than their eastern counterparts`

Yeah... maybe thats because they are allowed to think and talk about it. Eastern kids are just told to shut up.

Interesting article, Saima. You`ve made some very valid points that need to be thought about. I don`t agree with all your comments (for example, halal meat to me is less a dispensable conservative tradition and more a religious requirement) but the general attitude of Asian parents is disappointing. But that`s only, as you say, because parenting traditions back home aren`t too great either. Transplanting people into a foreign culture doesn`t necessarily rid them of what`s native to them. They will continue to practise the same ignorant culture unless they are willing to change themselves and that can only come about through understanding both themselves and their own identities and the circumstances of the culture they`ve moved into. I don`t think anything ever really prepares them for this, certainly no immigration booklet.

``Most of these second generation children have over time become very self-conscious, with constant frowns, and don’t make eye contact with any degree of confidence. Though adept with the local Canadian culture, they are very uncomfortable with adults from the home culture. The boys look at the floor if one speaks to them. And the girls are under-confident, barely talking to their Dad or anybody else. I used to wonder why second generation immigrant children don’t greet one or smile if one meets them. Now, I think I have a small glimpse of what they go through. At home one child is forced to speak in Urdu—if I ever talk to him in English he becomes completely confused because adults only speak to him in Urdu. The child only meets people from Pakistan, apart from school.``

You`re right. It`s the children that invariably get snarled in their parents` private conflict. And that`s only because the parent can`t distinguish between his own various identities. He doesn`t know if he is Muslim or Pakistani or liberal or conservative. All he knows is that he`s brown and he`s in trouble because all the confused rules of Pakistani society (I`m speaking only of Pakistan because that`s all I know) he used to assume as normal have been removed from his life and what`s replaced them resembles vice incarnate. It`s a borderline personality condition where the old culture is equated with Good and the new one with Bad.

I have no easy answer to this. Except that the answer to this problem lies in adults examining, and learning, what is actually important to them, what they believe in. Because this close-mindedness is a problem children are going to have everywhere, not just abroad. Children in Pakistan go through the same unhappiness with their parents as they come into their teenage years, and I believe the girls have it worse than the boys. So what it`s really about is knowing who you are and understanding why. It`s also about being compassionate with the youngster. At their age, Life is large and they just can`t get enough of it. The idea is not to restrict their experiences but to help them grow up into responsible, moral human beings.

Looking forward to more from you on the same theme.

---

Scout: don`t sell your kid short. Make sure they do both, and more.

re:_digit

thanks for the comments--

You criticize my article for being `all over the place`--Yet you seem to have understood it well enough to critique it. Some people find more than two variables scary--but social phenomena can rarely be described using two or three variables.

No I wasnt pointing out extreme behaviour--just regular stuff that communities do to protect their original values. That inspite of some degree of dissonance and criticism of their original culture, they enforce what they `know` or were taught in childhood rather than any other strategy (note rather than). Nowhere have I said that ALL people do this. I have generalized from close observation of 10 families and not so close observation of a 100 other such families. Even though my closest observations were of Muslim families--it is obvious that there is little cross community interaction--to me that means we bring the same anti-hindu, anti-sikh attitudes and teach them to our children too. Albeit not so successfully--it seems from your reply at least.

The struggle of immigrants to establish what u call equilibrium was immortalized by my description of it--not trivialized. It is hard. Do you really think the migration was for economic reasons only? wasnt it because the parents wanted to give more freedom to travel, better education and other benefits of belonging to the winning western culture? The right english accent carries a lot of value in the world.

I am happy though that you seem to agree with the subtext--stop the denial, stop expecting the impossible from our children and collaborate with other similar communities to build a stronger network and greater political clout to address our problems.

One of the problems in my view is the way communities ghettoize into their own little community just like they do back in India and Pakistan. The examples in my article, articulate the need, the process, and the probable outcome of such a decision.

I know at least 2 women from a Hindu background were told by the parents--marry anybody but if u ever talk about considering a muslim, we will die. These arent extreme people, these are educated, hardworking people with strong fears and suspicion of another community. One girl never dared, the other waits with the muslim boyfriend for some change in the parents` attitudes.

This article was all over the place, and I had great difficulty in relating the body (mostly a compendium of the author`s pet peeves on alleged Muslim practices/habits/attitudes, with real world examples to boot) to the conclusion (an exhortation for greater collaboration among different religio-cultural groups towards common goals).



I can`t relate to any of the examples the author narrates, being a Canadian born to Pakistani/Muslim immigrants myself. Perhaps she was pointing out extreme behaviour, but then I question the use of such examples to support general arguments.



For me, the effect of the concluding message is dampened by these nescient and trivializing observations of how these emigrants - of whom I know many, too - try to establish equilibrium between their traditions/mores and a new, strange, and sometimes hostile environment.



My own observations:



Yes, there is difficulty in bridging the gap between two cultures. No, we don`t all instinctively want to ghettoize. Yes, we`re taught by rote the Quran and Namaz, and have traditional mores. No, most of our parents didn`t abdicate their responsibility in taking an active role in our moral upbringing and leave it at that. Yes, it`s a bit awkward around old world folk, but it`s nothing most of us can`t handle. Yes, we are comfortable with our worldview, and no it`s nothing as dreadfully simple as a slave mentality behind it. Yes, we migrated to the ``promised land``, but truth be known it was not to escape anything but anticipated economic hardship. Yes, our parents were contemptuous of other migrants, however their children are for the most part not so bigoted.



It goes without say that those of us embedded within the religious culture she criticizes have a complete different perspective on the experience of growing up as second generation children. Especially in comparison to those who observe from the outside, with idealized notions of what it SHOULD be like to grow up as a second gener.



This aside, I must agree with the notion that we should take a proactive and head-on approach to adress whatever diffiiculties we face...avoiding problems do not make them go away. Obviously, though, we can`t seem to agree on what these problems are. Actually, we can`t stand how each other thinks. Not a good sign if we`re to work together.

hamid you wrote:..``maybe he should have just let them have a happy normal american childhood ................``


your posts are always funny but you resort to ridicule when you dont have any real answers/critiques...does this normal american childhood include the happy kids like those in columbine high school or those who have to be searched in schools for guns or go through metal detectors..or those who sue their own parents..or those who get pregnant whilst still in their early teens..or those who are in gangs..or those who go wolfing (?)..or those who are all doing drugs...etc. etc.

american doctors and psychologists will tell you that nowadays a `normal` american childhood isn`t very normal anymore...this is a society which despite amazing progress in the materialistic sciences and technology is breaking apart at the seems when it comes to human relations and especially its lost generation x...

it is this generation that is hedonistic, angry, violent amoral, directionless, selfish, and frankly out of control and lost...these poor children NEED help and it is these 2nd generation American Muslims who can be the beacons of light to save these children from themselves...

.................. most immigrants are thrilled to be in america and can`t wait to get rid of the nonsense of third world ``cultural values``, religious superstitions and bad hair-do`s .......... they want their children to walk and talk like americans so that they can have sex without guilt, eat hambugers and one day run for the governor of california .......... women from kerala are all too happy to get rid of those silly plaits and let loose their curly hair and don mismatched skirts and blouses from walmart so that they can fit in with mary lou and margaret ann.............they are happy to chit chat in pidgin english, even as they instinctively wag their heads from side to side and pretend to be from kansas ................. like those who landed at ellis island before them, most new immigrants are happy to be here and few look back with nostalgia at the primitive cultures and outhouses that they left behind ..............except for the cantankerous muslims ............

.......... the muslim immigrant is not a happy camper - he hates being amongst the unbelievers and resents their heathen ways and decadent customs...........he worries about his akhirat as he watches his teenaged daughter scamper around in tight jeans with her mid-riff peeking ...... he caught her with a copy of ``seventeen`` that had britney spears on the cover and christina aguillera inside - astagfirullah!.............what did she learn from those moon-faced islamic nuns at sunday school ........what happened to the weekly koran lessons and forced prayers ................. where did he go wrong?............ he is morose, angry, resentful, confused, crabby, cranky, depressed, dolorous, dour, melancholy, sulky, sullen and surly................he can`t stand the fact that his wife wears pants, drives to the grocery store and makes eyes at the good looking bag boy............he can`t stand the way his son wears his baseball cap backwards and drives around with the stereo cranked up ............and he wants to be a cartoonist - not an engineer or doctor or suicide bomber - a cartoonist, of all things !............is he gay?..............

.......... no sir, the muslim immigrant is not happy .......... he is confused and tries to find the answer in incessant prayer and endless readings of the koran ......... he invites other confused friends over for samosas and tafseer so that they can pore over the secrets hidden in the book and find an answer to what they should do with their kids .......... alhamdolillah, one of his dughters had a dream and started wearing the hijab and joined the msa to harangue jewish students on campus ............she also put on forty pounds and has no prospects of being married except to a mullah who likes rubenesque sisters ............but jazakallah, she is on the right path ............. but the older one, the smart one - he should have packed her off to the madrassah in karachi when she was nine .......... now she is talking about opening a clinic for unwed mothers in harlem and getting al gore to run for president ............what happened ? .........where did he go wrong? ..........maybe his kids were bored to death at those dinners that he dragged them to for for twenty years .......... maybe they didn`t hear a word of those endless lectures on how ``we`` are different from ``them`` ..........maybe he should have just let them have a happy normal american childhood .................

A practical guide to the issues under discussion.

Excerpt from an e-mail by Karima Burns NH, ND

How NOT to get brainwashed........
Playing Down the Facts

Many times the facts in an issue are downplayed. When Osama bin Laden calls Americans “Satans” and points out the obvious proof of their immorality on films and television shows he downplays the fact that many Americans are actually very religious and moral in character, that American films do not represent the morals of American people and that, in addition, many Americans are dedicated Muslims.

The American government is also famous for downplaying facts. The American government and media branded as terrorists those Iranians that were holding the American hostages in the 1970s. But few Americans either know or remember that the hostages were taken in desperation, as a bargaining tool to get back the billions of dollars that the U.S. helped the Shah to ``REMOVE`` from Iran when he was thrown out by his own countrymen. Moreover, it is not well remembered that the Shah only came to power in the first place due to the covert activities of the CIA chief Allen Dulles, and his brother John Foster Dulles who was Secretary of State. The CIA covertly funded terrorist street gangs in Iran to carry out operations that purposely led to the overthrow in 1953 of the then ruling premier of Iran, Dr. Mussadegh, who was not pro-American.

Although the truth is usually eventually leaked out on all fronts, the rule of first impressions has already left its indelible mark and the truth is usually greatly weakened or discarded by the time it is discovered.

So what is the solution when we, as well as our children are being brainwashed in the schools, through TV and radio and even in our mosques and churches? Experts on cult science and brainwashing suggest that the number one weapon against brainwashing is awareness that it is taking place and the effort to gather ones own information. They suggest:

1. Reduce exposure to news. Watching or reading the news on the weekend is usually enough. One can read headlines during the week if they feel the need.

2. Reduce exposure to television.

3. Don’t believe everything you read or hear. Confirm it with at least three varied, independent and documented sources before you take it as a truth. In this new age of information this is not as hard as it sounds.

4. Don’t pass on e-mail messages until you can document their authenticity. This new forum for brainwashing has become rampant with photo-manipulation, folk-tales and lies. Many are documented at special research sites, but even the proven hoaxes are still circulated on a daily basis doing their damage.

5. Be aware of the techniques being used on you. This simple awareness can often short-circuit many efforts.

6. Don’t think anyone is immune. Brainwashing can even be used in the sermons after the Friday Prayer or by a friend who sends you daily or weekly e-mail updates. The person may not even know they are using brainwashing techniques. In some cases they have been so affected by them themselves that they now naturally employ them as a matter of normal communication.

As Muslims we know that one of the prime users of the brainwashing technique is the shaitan (devil). To combat his ploys we need only to recognize them and pray that we do not fall victim to them ourselves.

---

gill sahib:

thank you for sharing this information. post provides valuable insight to someone of a younger generation. also by and large, my experience of interacting with south asians born and bred here has been very positive. most people i know have very easily reconciled eastern as well as western side of their identity. my own first cousin in toronto -- who has spent total of three months in pakistan -- is a strong proponent of cultural islam besides being a popular club dj. most of his friends have similarly varied tastes and interests.

faisal

Here`s another data point:
A family friend, a muslim woman from bangalore, has a 11-year old daughter from her previous marriage to a muslim man, also from bangalore. She is now married to a nominally catholic man and has 2 kids with him.
The friend has gone thru a lot - it`s a complicated story, involving a drug-addicted husband who was deported after several convictions and she decided to divorce him for the sake of her daughter. For a while she lived in slum-like conditions eventho she was a physician at the time of her first wedding and comes from a fairly well-to-do family. Mother and daughter went thru hardships together more as friends (it seemed to us). The daughter is getting older and the mother is worried. She is trying to make her into more of a muslim, making her go to arabic classes (which the daughter hates) and not allowing her to stay with her friends (all of whom are girls). In a way, the mother is trying to make her daughter into something she (apparently) wishes she could have been. This is a prototype of desi expatriot existence: wanting the child to be better than us. A better professional, a better student, a more moral person or a more religiously observant person.
As to why the same folks would have wanted their children to be more westernized - there isn`t really a contradiction. They are probably trying to strike a balance between two cultures by being deliberately biased towards the part that is lacking in the immediate vicinity. Back home that was western culture and here it`s the desi culture.

Human life is very complex. There are no general rules or set formulas for guiding children into a streamlined mode of life or even for living one’s own life. One has to make necessary corrections along the way in order to create a healthy and stress-free environment in which growing children and adolescents may find their own bearings. Parenting is indeed quite challenging. I wish I could re-live my life and get the chance of parenting my children again. But such a desire also does not ensure that one wouldn’t make mistakes again; one might avoid making the earlier mistakes but might commit new ones.

It should also be remembered that parents, by and large, wish to help their children and do not want to harm them. Adjustment in a new culture does take time. Many of the parents are ill-equipped for quick and ready adjustments in the new culture. It is particularly difficult for many of us who had imbibed nothing but hatred for exoteric cultures and ways-of-life right from our childhood. Life is not easy even for those who believe they have the facility of adapting to new cultures and environments readily; there are pitfalls even for them. Many of us are also at a loss to know where to draw the line or if there is any need indeed for drawing a line. There is a lot for all of us to learn; important thing is that one should have open mind. Some may conclude from the above that I am a pessimist; nothing of the sort. On the other hand, I believe I am quite an optimist.

I can describe my own experience here in raising my own children. I had determined not to force any religious education on any of my children and would suggest to them to acquire it when they were young adults and capable of understanding what they were taught. When they started high school they were fully occupied with their school curricula and there was little chance for them to shoulder the additional burden. So there was no formal religious instruction. They may be accusing me for this drawback but they have not mentioned it to me.

One of my sons, on his own initiative, asked his mother to arrange a teacher for him who could teach him to read the Quran. He used to drive, while he was still at high school, some sixteen/seventeen miles to go to the teacher’s house a couple of times every week for several months and he succeeded in acquiring the proficiency of recognizing the Arabic script and reading the Quran. He also read the English translation of several chapters of Quran. He is a Muslim but not a regular practicing one. Whenever there is an occasion, he rises to it and performs his namaz and other religious rituals. Another son did not show much interest in reading the Quran but he has a desire to do so. Likewise, my youngest and the only daughter has not read Quran in Arabic but she refers to its English translation every now and then. She was associated for quite some time with the MSA and some of its activities at her university. She doesn’t perform her namaz with any regularity but she is passionately Islamic in mind and thought. All of my children had the freedom to do much of their own things but they stayed away from dating and doing drugs, of their own volition.

My daughter quizzed me a couple of times and put me on the spot by enquiring if I really believed in God, any kind of God, with a note of positive suspicion in her voice. In spite of such freedom, they chose to remain within the fold. All of them are looking towards me and my wife for finding suitable spouses although they have made clear that the final decision will be theirs. All of them are not very practicing ones but they are believer Muslims; their faith is not from outside; it springs from their own beings.

However, having said that, I cannot generalize my household experience,

I know a few people who had raised their kids on the straight and narrow and the kids had also positively responded to their parents’ orthodox initiatives. The kids are now young adults/ adults and have liberalized appreciably. In spite of their puritanical upbringing, they have happy and balanced lives.

I can only wish well for the people Saima has mentioned in her article and do hope that those parent(s) will soon find balanced bearings in the new culture which they may be viewing as alien and hostile. The American and Canadian are secular societies in which there is freedom of religion. One doesn’t have to relinquish one’s religion/ culture in order to get assimilated in them. The host society is multicultural although predominantly Christian. These societies are not only tolerant of foreign religions and cultures; they tolerate atheism as well.

Mohammad Gill

Nice article, and the issues are very relevant outside the Pakistani-Muslim diaspora.
The born-again Hindu zeal among some ( and growing) section of Indian immigrants
in the US is equally pathetic - and would be comical if it weren`t so dangerous. Unfortunately, the children are inheriting this typically silly NRI throwback to a
mythical India, where life is a collection of religious rituals and Bollywood movies.

Very different from the country I thought I grew up in.

As I said elsewhere, on another board, the uncles/aunties raised on Wood-words gripe-water have become Gripy old men/women of today. They have as yet not recovered from the trauma of the death of mother-russia both as an economy as well as its atheism. Religion, specially Islam is back there with vengeance & gusto. The recently constructed blue-mosque right next to the kremlin is adding to the glory & grandeur of muslim heritage and a feast to tourist eyes.

Having lost & trounced on the economy, these closet atheists, wannabee atheista, or seem-to-be atheists have found new coinage like humanism liberalism buddhism to appear somewhat harmless and extraordinarily educated . The need for these to talk to muslim children born and raised in the west could teach a few tricks to these old dogs.

A lot of alumni, practising proud flaunters west-critics, from most prestigious universities of the west are the mullas, rhode scholars, corporation execs. ceos, teachers, tenured professors, filthy-rich rags to riches inventors & businessmen, Interbational award-winning scientists etc. etc.

Alas none, but none, from expensive `prestigious` OREO schools of Pakistan.

Interesting article.

I don` think the main confusion amongst second generation desi kids in North America is about sex. I have found Western kids far more confused about sex than their Eastern counterparts. And Western parents have far more issues with their kids, related to sex than their Eastern counterparts. During my college days, my American roommates had far more problems with sex issues than I ever did. I have seen far too many of my American friends have breakups in their marraiges due to sex related issues. Personally, excess of sex in the West is a much bigger problem than the lack of discussion of sex in the East. Both are problems, but, I would rather have the later than the former.

I think the main confusion is about culture. Pakistani parents are not quite sure whether their kids are Pakistanis or Americans. Hence they are called ABCDs (American Born Confused Desis). I have met more than my share to know they are quite confused.

I also don`t think it has much to do with Islam. Once again, it has to do with culture, and the parents` unwilling to accept the Western culture. Pointing towards Islam or Quranic studies is missing the point. Some of the best adjusted individuals I have met are American Muslims as are some of the worst adjusted. They both follow the same religion.

So one would have to say, this article covers only group of immigrants. There are other groups of desi immigrants who have gone to the other extreme, and try to become more Gora than the goras. Then there are others who are very well-adjusted.

I have never had any problem with my religion/culture and North America. If anything I think I have a much better understanding of Islam, and other cultures and religions, after having migrated to North America.

So while I agree with the author that many desis are poorly adjusted, some of the most well-adjusted people I have met also belong to the category of desi immigrants, i.e. people who understand Pakistan and USA, India and Canada etc. They have seen the good and bad of both places, and can make a good judgement call on what to chose from each culture. They thus define a better set of values for their children than someone who has just seen the West or someone who has just seen the East.

This group, however, still has some difficulties defining the cultural boundaries of how they want their kids to grow up. But on the whole, I think this group, on the average, will raise better adjusted kids than they their counterparts in East and West. There is, after all, a reason people like Deepak Chopra are so popular in the West, and have been able to make a killing on, ``Combining East with West.``

Re: Saima, #14

Saima, here it is...

SYNOPSIS

Being a Muslim in a Heterogeneous World

The two aiplanes crashing into the World Trade Center on 9/11 was a defining moment for the World of Islam. It changed not only how the world but the Muslims themselves view the religion of Islam and its followers. That incident has opened up questions as to who we are as Muslims, what our religion is teaching us, and what the future holds for us.

The focus of the this seminar is to explore not only the mundane and spritual, but also the psychological aspect of Islam, and, as Muslims, our role and place in this complex juxtaposition of idealogical and conflicting world. We will explore how we, as Muslims, view ourselves versus how the non-Muslim world views us.

The seminar will be limited to 15 students, those who are on their way to college. A good deal of participation and interaction is expected from the students. There will be required readings from variuos sources provided by the instructor. A double-spaced 10-page essay will be required from each student at the end of the seminar.

About the Instructor: [Godot] came to America in tenth grade of high school. He is a CPA, has a bechelor’s degree in Finance, and a Master’s in International Affairs. He makes his living in technology industry. He takes deep interest in things Islamic.

Selected bibliography [this is from own collection - my own little library]:

The Quran, (translations and interpretations by A. J. Arberry, N. J. Dawood, and Mohammod Marmaduke Pickthall).
The Muqaddimah, by Ibn Khaldun
Islam, by Fazlur Rahman
Discovering Islam, by Akbar S. Ahmed
The Hadj, by Michael Wolfe
Islam in the World, by Malise Ruthven
Muhammad: A Biography of The Prophet, by Karen Armstrong
Approaches to the Oriental Classics, edited by Wm. Theodore de Bary
Orientalism, by Edward W. Said
The Middle East, by Bernard Lewis
Islam and the West, by Bernard Lewis
What Went Wrong, by Bernard Lewis
In the Shadow of The Prophet: The Struggle for the Soul of Islam, by Milton Viorst
The Clash of Civilizations, by Samuel P. Huntington
Taliban, by Ahmed Rashid