In the United States, a generation of young Muslims has grown up in the shadow of the September 11, 2001 attacks, among them KPCC intern Yasmin Nouh. Part of the discussion she has been privy to during these years is how Muslims, whose patriotism has been under scrutiny since, should identify themselves: as American Muslims, or as Muslim Americans?
Nouh examines arguments for both ways of self-identifying in this guest post, her second for Multi-American.
Photo by NewMediaNormaRae/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Participants in last year's annual Muslim Day parade in New York, September 26, 2010
Just shy of a decade ago, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks orchestrated by Osama bin Laden opened a chapter in American history that has been fraught with widespread misunderstanding of Islam and Muslims.
Muslims, particularly in the United States and Europe, were asked to condemn extremism and to prove that they were patriotic to their respective countries. Amid the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment, one question became the norm to ask: Are you a Muslim or an American? Which one comes first?
If one chose Muslim first, then he or she was unpatriotic. If one chose American first, then it seemed like one was giving less importance to his or her Muslim identity.
In a recent post on the Muslim Matters website, Muslim convert Iesa Galloway wrote about how he believes that Muslims in the United States should use the phrase “American Muslim” when asked how to identify themselves. His line of reasoning was twofold: First, semantically speaking, American Muslim is correct; to be American is an adjective and to be a Muslim is a noun. Courtesy of English grammar, an adjective comes before a noun, and therefore one is an American Muslim.
Additionally, one’s “American” identity constantly changes and refers to one’s culture and nationalism, therefore it does not have to conflict with religious practice. In other words, he wrote, “accepting that your Muslim identity is ‘first’ is a charade that falls into the traps set by anti-Muslims and Muslim radicals.”
He argued that using the construction “American Muslim” is practical because: 1) what differentiates Muslims in America from Muslims elsewhere is nationality, not the practice of Islam; 2) what differentiates Muslims in America from other Americans is the creed.
The second part of Galloway’s reasoning asserted that the phrase “American Muslim” with no hyphen should be used, “because the hyphen model of identity is primarily used with regards to one’s ethnic or racial lineage. (And) If we racialize our identity, we buy into the hyphenated status as an American and therefore in many ways accept the ‘otherness’ that is pushed on us.”
He argued that this serves those who depict Islam as anti-American or incompatible with Western civilization. Galloway finally asked:
Will using American Muslim over Muslim-American solve all our problems?
No, but it will help. It rejects the foundational attacks that Muslims are not real Americans and that Islam is a threat to America.
An interesting argument ensued in the comments section of the post. Some readers disagreed with Galloway’s argument.
Junaid wrote:
The moment we feel the need that we have to prove to someone that we are as “American” or “Canadian” as they are or that we are citizens, we’ve already lost the debate. The question is invalid, and Muslims should not have to prove our loyalties to anybody. We should dismiss such debates such as this. In my opinion they are more harmful than good, and it draws attention to a matter that should have never been framed from the beginning.
In my opinion, I’m just a “Muslim.” If that stirs up discomfort with some people, they probably lack knowledge as to what being a Muslim means. And so that’s the starting point, explaining Islam and the Muslim identity.
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