So, a Man Breaks Into a Mosque...

ED: This is BackStory. I’m Ed Ayers.

BRIAN: I’m Brian Balogh.

PETER: And I’m Peter Onuf. We’re talking today about the many currents of Islam across American history. We had a comment on our website from a listener named Rob in Birmingham, Alabama. He’s a convert to Islam and was kind enough to join us on the phone to tell us about his recent experience on a different radio show.

ROB (ON PHONE): I’d been asked to represent a Muslim perspective on a current event. And one of the things that struck me is after I went off the air, there was actually more than one caller who called and said, is he really American?

PETER: Yeah?

BRIAN: Who plays third base for the Yankees, Rob.

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PETER: We don’t know that, do we?

BRIAN: No, I have no idea.

PETER: Well, Rob, maybe you could do share with us how you and the community that you worship with and the people you identify with as fellow Muslims have dealt with this perception, identification of the extreme with the mainstream. What do you say to each other?

ROB (ON PHONE): Well, first of all, we have gotten used to doing a lot of outreach. We’ve become more involved in interfaith and in inviting people in. Frankly, the community was largely immigrant and had pretty much kept to itself. And then 9/11 compelled a change, and we began to tell each other, we need to let people know what we’re really like. Because they’re just getting a lot of misinformation.

You know, it’s really extraordinary, the kinds of things you hear on talk radio or on other sources that are on the internet, that people say the Quran says this, and Muslims are all commanded to do that. And by the time that’s happened, we’ve lost the opportunity to influence people’s views who consume that. But we can invite them to meet us one-on-one, and that seems to be the most effective way.

PETER: So you’re actually– I’d risk the proposition, then, that because you’ve been forced, after 9/11, to have more of a public profile in your local community, in fact, that may have helped accelerate the assimilation of Muslim immigrants?

ROB (ON PHONE): That’s a very good point. I do want to point out that maybe a third of a typical metropolitan Muslim community is African American.

PETER: Right.

ROB (ON PHONE): In some places, more than that. But then there’s the large immigrant– or people who are second- or third-generation in this country. From my experience, the typical narrative would be a young male who comes to the US, frequently for the educational opportunities. And when they come here, they’re not necessarily very devout. But as they settle and raise a family– and often, they marry someone from another nationality, or they marry an American who may or may not have converted. And as they establish a family, they become more interested in the religion.

BRIAN: Well, I also think that in the case you’re talking about, many of these people had been in the majority, religion-wise. They took it for granted. And all of a sudden, they find themselves in a very distinct minority. And as you pointed out, they are often discriminated against. It does force you to reconsider that part of your identity, if you feel it’s under duress.

ROB (ON PHONE): Exactly.

ED: Rob, you point to the fact that there’s a great ethnic multiplicity within the Muslim community. I think that’s a unique thing. I mean, when Jews came here, they came from specific parts of the world. And when Catholics, they came in two waves– bot both times, from first Ireland, and then Southern Europe. How explicit is this acknowledgement of the different trajectories that people follow into the Muslim American community? How do you all negotiate that?

ROB (ON PHONE): Are you talking about differences in culture?

ED: And African American and immigrant, but also from South Asia and Middle Eastern. It strikes me that there’s a unique configuration among Muslims.

PETER: Well, you might even say a very American configuration.

ED: Right.

ROB (ON PHONE): Well, there’s an ideal in Islam that all Muslims belong to one community, and there’s no– no one takes priority because of their ethnic background. In America, you see congregations where that vision seems to be closer to the reality. And I’ve never really thought of it this way, but I think perhaps Muslims who are observant and who come to the mosque regularly are perhaps those to respond best to that. And those who would rather worship just with their own ethnic group may not turn out as often.

PETER: Oh, that’s interesting.

ROB (ON PHONE): But we do take pride in– you could say, you know, Friday at midday is the most integrated hour in American religion.

BRIAN: Thanks for talking to us today on radio, Rob.

ROB (ON PHONE): Thank you.

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