#usamosque

Q&A SERIES: Part 2 of 3 in STUDENT QUESTIONS ABOUT WHY/IF WE NEED MOSQUES IN THE USA

(See Q&A posts explained HERE)

Early American mosques come in many forms, some less recognizable than the mosques in Cedar Rapids and Ross.  The First African Baptist Church at Raccoon Bluff on Sapelo Island, coastal Georgia, was established in 1866.   You can read more about Sapelo Island in this blog’s posts from June 10, 2015 to June 13, 2015 (starting HERE).  Based on islander Cornelia Bailey’s accounts of its early use we can conceptualize classic American church as a form of an early American mosque as well.  Bailey, a descendent of an early American Muslim named Bilali, writes in her book  God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man: A Saltwater Geechee Talks About Life on Sapelo Island, Georgia that,

“When freedom came, Bilali’s children and grandchildren formed the First African Baptist Church.  Some of them would have been Muslim still and some likely were Christians by then, and they wanted to go to church together.  So they patched things up, and they used Muslim traditions in a Christian church” (p. 158).  

The First Arfrican Baptist Church at Raccoon Bluff, Sapelo Island, GA.  Photographed June, 2015.

Early American mosques were places where Americans of diverse backgrounds came together to pray, and to share in each other’s lives.

As you can see in the questions put forward in Part 1, there are many misconceptions about the role of mosques in the USA.  In discussion with attendees of American mosques, many of our informants point out that these misconceptions spring from a few “studies” that perpetuate misinformation.  The article “Debunking the “80 Percent of Mosques in America” Myth” produced by Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative supports this claim, detailing how the claimed “studies” about radicalism in US mosques are biased, anecdotal, and/or unreliable.  The study group concludes, “The assumptions, biases, and methodological flaws that characterize these “studies” indicate that journalists and audiences should not take these “statistics” and “studies” (and the arguments they bolster) at face value.”

Visiting one mosque in the American South I spoke with a woman, who I will call “Fatima”, who was working to address these misconceptions in her local community.  Fatima pointed out that mosques in the USA do the opposite of what many people think.  She said that by educating youth about Islam and their responsibilities to their communities, mosque communities promote responsible American citizenship and make youth more critical about using violence, decreasing rather than increasing the likelihood of radicalism.  Fatima told me that “jihadists” are usually not well educated about Islam, pointing out that the books bought by two jihadist in the UK were “Islam for Dummies” and “The Koran for Dummies”, suggesting they had little education about religion.  

This idea is discussed in the article, “What the Jihadists Who Bought ‘Islam For Dummies’ on Amazon Tell Us About Radicalisation”, where the author notes that, “In 2008, a classified briefing note on radicalisation [...] revealed that, “far from being religious zealots, a large number of those involved in terrorism do not practise their faith regularly. Many lack religious literacy and could . . . be regarded as religious novices.” The analysts concluded that “a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation”, the newspaper said.  For more evidence, read the books of the forensic psychiatrist and former CIA officer Marc Sageman; the political scientist Robert Pape; the international relations scholar Rik Coolsaet; the Islamism expert Olivier Roy; the anthropologist Scott Atran. They have all studied the lives and backgrounds of hundreds of gun-toting, bomb-throwing jihadists and they all agree that Islam isn’t to blame for the behaviour of such men (and, yes, they usually are men)”.  Mosques, as many of our informants have pointed out, are important parts of fostering a well established and informed religious identity.

Q&A SERIES: Part 1 of 3 in STUDENT QUESTIONS ABOUT WHY/IF WE NEED MOSQUES IN THE USA

(See Q&A posts explained HERE)

In class a number of students have asked me about why we need mosques in the USA, whether they should be closed, as some public figures have called for, and how we can understand the role of mosques in the USA.  How do those we have spoken with during the course of this project receive these questions? American mosque attendees who answer these questions are often saddened by what they perceive as a betrayal of fundamental American values—that of the freedom of religion and freedom of expression.

One imam (religious leader of a mosque) that I spoke with pointed out that many people who ask why we need mosques in the United States are operating under the false assumption that mosques are new institutions in the USA, and only a product of the current political landscape.  In fact, as discussed throughout these blog posts, mosques are not at all new to the United States; early Muslim Americans built mosques as religious and cultural community centers.  Mosque history is American history.  

For example, Syrian-Lebanese immigrants who settled in the region as participants in the US Homestead Act established the early 19th century mosque in Ross, North Dakota in 1929. Their story illustrates many aspects of American growth and cultural change; the mosque itself fell into disrepair, but was rebuilt in 2005 by descendants of the earlier settlers who viewed it as a significant cultural site.  You can read an excerpt of a 1939 interview with one of these early settlers, Mike Abdullah, at the “Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys” website.

 Another Midwestern mosque, the “Mother Mosque” in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been featured in past blog posts here (see for example the photographs we’ve posted HERE).   The Mother Mosque was completed on February 15, 1934, and served as both a cultural and religious center for the Muslim community of Cedar Rapids in 1971.  It was restored in 1990, and now is used as Muslim cultural center.   

Mosque community members outside the Mother Mosque in 1934.  Reproduced from displays at the Mother Mosque, photographed with permission, 2011.

In interviews a community member associated with this mosque told us an interesting story about one of his early 20th century ancestors, a young immigrant in Iowa. The story illustrates the diversity of American Midwestern history.  This young man came from Lebanon in the 1920s, joining several family members who already lived in Iowa.  For the sake of the story we can call him “Sam”.  When Sam arrived in Cedar Rapids his brothers recommended that he hire himself out to rural farmers for a year, so that he could learn English and earn some money.  The idea was that he would then come back with the financial resources and language necessary to start his own business in town.  This sounded like a great idea to Sam, so he hired himself out to an American farming family.  He was away for a year, living with the family, learning their language, and saving his money.  He returned to Cedar Rapids the next year, triumphant and sure that he would put his money and language skills to good use.  When Sam greeted his brothers in Cedar Rapids, however, everyone was confused—they couldn’t understand him!  He had spent the year learning German as his new American language.  The Cedar Rapids mosque community has demonstrated how a mosque can provide an important meeting place for new Americans as they integrate into American society and become productive American citizens.