From Puerto Rico to Palestine, with Solidarity

“We’ve been here before,” Margarita says as she holds a sign with bold, red and green letters exclaiming, Basta ya genocido! Variously translated as “enough is enough” or “stop already,” basta ya is a Spanish exclamation of exasperation. And Margarita is exasperated. “What I mean is [that] we’ve done this before,” she explains, “when they [the Israeli military] evicted families in Sheikh Jarrah in 2021, when Israel invaded Gaza in 2014, after Hurricane María, when they [the U.S. Navy] bombed Vieques, during the Second Intifada, I was out here, protesting. Enough is enough!”

Wearing a loose, floral, floor-length dress, brown jacket, and burgundy head covering, Margarita joined thousands of other Puerto Ricans in November 2023 demonstrating in Brooklyn and Manhattan on behalf of Palestinians, demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. At the march, Puerto Rican flags flew next to Palestinian ones alongside signs reading Puerto Rico con Palestina or “Puerto Ricans for Palestine.” Other protestors paired keffiyehs, headdresses that have become associated with Palestinians, with black-and-white banners representing Puerto Rican resistance to U.S. colonialism.

As a Puerto Rican convert to Islam, Margarita feels compelled to take to the streets. But even before she became Muslim, Margarita possessed a sense of solidarity with people in Gaza and the West Bank. “We share a history of oppression, of being under empire’s foot, of being a people without a nation,” she says, “so I’ll continue to show up until Palestine and Puerto Rico are free.”

Puerto Rican demonstrations for justice in Palestine, and Palestinian solidarity with Puerto Ricans, is nothing new. Forged in their common colonial condition, Puerto Ricans and Palestinians have long spoken up — and out — for each other’s fight against imperialism and for independence.

But for Puerto Rican Muslims in the archipelago and diaspora, that solidarity takes on additional, resonant meaning. For some, their faith imbues their solidarity with divine purpose. For others, it is solidarity that leads them to faith in the first place.

AmeRícan Muslims: The Everyday Lives of Puerto Rican Muslims

On a muggy late-May afternoon, I met up with “Lebron” at Noches de Colombia, a restaurant serving pan-Latin American fare just off Bergenline Ave. in Union City, New Jersey. As the restaurant’s windows dripped with humidity, we discussed his recent comments on “The Deen Show” — a popular YouTube program hosted by Eddie Redzovic.

Responding to disparaging comments toward Muslims tweeted by then Miss Puerto Rico, Destiny Velez, Lebron said Ms. Velez would be welcomed by the Muslim community, but she needed to show more “Boricua pride” and needed a “history lesson.” 

“If she is a true Puerto Rican, true to the Puerto Rican pride, and proud of her culture, proud of where she came from, then I would ask her to go back and read about how Puerto Rican came about being the country that it is now after being colonized. We see that our people weren’t really a people of Christian faith and Christian belief,” he said. 

Screen shot from The Deen Show.

Pushing back on those who frame Puerto Rico as a “Christian nation,” Lebron went to talk about Muslim contributions to mathematics, science, education, technology, and navigation. He harkened back to Andalusian Spain and Caribbean history, claiming his family had Taíno, African, and Andalusian roots. 

Looking at the camera, he challenged Miss Puerto Rico to “see how our people are connected to Islam, especially in our Boricua culture.” 

You are cordially invited to an online lecture and discussion of, “AmeRícan Muslims: The Everyday Lives of Puerto Rican Muslims” on 5 November 2020, made possible by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung and the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, Freie Universität Berlin. 

The online event is on 5 November, starting with a streaming of the lecture at 4:00 pm (Berlin, GMT +2). The live discussion will take place at 4:45 pm followed by an open Q&A with participants. The discussants will be Prof. Dr. Kai Kresse (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient) and Dr. Harold Morales (Morgan State University). 

If you’d prefer to watch the lecture ahead of time, watch it above (or at this link) and join us for the live discussion on Thursday, 5 November.

My goal with the lecture is to showcase the lives of Puerto Rican Muslims like Lebron, addressing questions of identity, ethnicity, and religion in the context of diversity and difference. 

Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Puerto Rico, the U.S., and online, I provide a nuanced view of how Islam takes shape in Puerto Rican Muslims’ everyday lives as “quadruple minorities”:  being Puerto Rican in the Muslim community, Muslim in the Puerto Rican community, and both Puerto Rican and Muslim in the U.S. context. 

I focus on how Puerto Rican Muslims “permanently live with the unfamiliar” (Appiah 2006) in four interrelated ways: 1) alongside other Puerto Ricans and their conception and construction of “authentic” Puerto Rican culture, 2) in relationship, and networked, with other Muslims around the globe, 3) as Puerto Ricans in colonial relationship with the U.S., and 4) as Muslims in the context of American empire. 

Essentially, for Puerto Rican Muslims, there are few established communities that they can go to without having to suppress part of their identity, adapt their representation, or resist some form of marginalization. 

Although I do not want to frame their situation in binaries and oppositions, Puerto Rican’s lives contain multiple boundaries they live across, at, and in between. 

I argue that their experience and perspective offers insights in three ways:

1. it enriches our understanding of Islam and Muslim communities in the Americas;

2. adds more texture to our understanding of Latinx Muslims in the U.S. and American Muslim communities in general;

3. and it further invites scholars to consider what can be learned by a critical focus on the supposed “margins” of the study of global Islam. 

In particular, I make the case that Puerto Rican Muslims’ cosmopolitan lives help us better grasp how Muslims in the late-modern world develop and implement strategies to negotiate diversity and difference both among Muslims and between Muslims and non-Muslims. 

Book Review: Far From Mecca

Brenda Flanagan’s 2009 novel Allah in the Islands tells the story of the lives, dreams, and social tensions of the residents of Rosehill, a community on the fictional “Santabella Island.” The novel centers around the protagonist Beatrice Salandy and her decision whether or not to leave Santabella, a lush and tropical Caribbean island only thinly veiled as real-life Trinidad. Weaving its way through the novel is Beatrice’s relationship with an “Afro-Santabellan” Muslim community that is critical of island politics and outspoken on behalf of the poor.

Through first-hand narratives from Abdul—one of the members of the community and right-hand man to its leader, Haji—readers learn that the “Afro-Santabellan” Muslim community is planning a coup against the Santabellan government. This, in turn, is a thinly veiled reference to the real-life 1990 Jamaat al-Muslimeen coup. A key theme that runs throughout the book, and in contemporary Trinidad, is how the non-Muslim residents of Santabella view “Afro-Santabellan” Muslims. Situated between the island’s Black and Indian communities, Flanagan writes how island residents react with a mixture of awe and opprobrium to their Muslim neighbors.

While it may seem strange to start a review of one book with a discussion of another, I would not have been aware of Flanagan’s work if it were not for Aliyah Khan. Khan’s adept analysis of Flanagan’s Allah in the Islands serves as one of the primary means by which she argues that the 1990 coup is the seminal event for the Caribbean’s perception of Islam and Muslims. Combining this analysis with an interview with “Haji”—the real-life “celebrity terrorist” Imam Yasin Abu Bakr—and an exploration of popular calypso music about the coup, Khan shows how events in Trinidad in the 1990s “changed national perceptions of Muslims” (192) throughout the Anglophone Caribbean, long before 9/11.

This is just one small example of Khan’s masterful interdisciplinary treatment of the subject of Islam and Muslims in the Anglophone Caribbean.

In this regard and many others, Far From Mecca is a commendable monograph that will spark additional research in the burgeoning field of Latin American and Caribbean Islamic studies, building on previous literature on Islam and Muslims in the Anglophone Caribbean in particular. It is also a worthwhile text by which scholars in different fields—religion in the Americas, Caribbean studies, global Islamic studies, postcolonial studies, etc.—might branch beyond their main disciplines and come to learn something fresh, from a slightly different perspective. Such was the case for me as I came across Allah in the Islands in Khan’s work. It is rare for works to be able to speak to so many different fields and to do so cogently and convincingly, but Khan’s book is an exception that is enlightening for readers in multiple disciplines, critical of an array of entrenched scholarly discourses, and useful for various classroom discussions.

Overall, Khan argues that appreciating the continuous Afro- and Indo-Muslim presence and cultural influence in the Caribbean tells a different story about both global Islam and the Caribbean. Following Aisha Khan’s emphasis on Islam of the Americas, rather than Islam in the Americas, Aliyah Khan claims that Muslims are “not different from other Caribbean people in their negotiation of culture and place” and situates Islam and Muslims firmly within the history and society of the Anglophone Caribbean as a whole. At the same time, Khan also seeks to de-center the study of Islam in the Americas outside the USA, looking at the hemisphere’s “formerly colonial whole” and pinpointing events and figures beyond 9/11 and the USA’s respectively well-studied Muslim communities. Khan brings an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, weaving together literary analysis of fiction, autobiography, poetry, non-fiction, and music in Guyana, Trinidad, and Jamaica with interviews, media analysis, and personal connections to key events in the Anglophone Caribbean.

Khan’s work is a timely, incisive, and critical addition to the growing corpus of literature that seeks to bring the lens of Caribbean studies to bear on the study of global Islam and expanding the perspectives and paradigms scholars use to frame Islamic studies and its “literatures.”

Introducing the Latin America & Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter

The study of Islam & Muslim communities in Latin America and the Caribbean is a field on the rise and features an ever-expanding network of scholars.

This newsletter is one way for us to be connected.

The idea behind the Latin America & Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter is simple: to bring together persons interested in the study of Islam and Muslim communities in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the networks that exist across, between, and beyond the Americas. The goal is to increase knowledge and encourage further scholarship on the topic.

The quarterly newsletter will not only communicate information on research opportunities and contribute relevant resources, but also serve as a platform to connect and collaborate.

The Latin America and Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter is secular, academically independent, and non-confessional. Its main aims include gaining recognition for the field, creating a network of scholars with the hope of one day creating a formal membership organization, generating further interest in the topic, and producing data, analysis, and insights on the subject from various fields of research and the public sphere.

The General Editor for the newsletter is Dr. Ken Chitwood and the Editor is Ms. Giulia Brabetz, both of the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures & Societies at Freie Universität Berlin. Contributions will include work from a range of scholars working in various fields. While the newsletter will be predominately in English, specific articles and resources will be provided in Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Arabic, and other languages. 

The first newsletter will be sent mid-October, 2020. 

If you are interested in learning more about the newsletter or have specific questions or concerns, please contact k.chitwood@fu-berlin.de. 

Otherwise, we invite you to subscribe and share this invitation with other potentially interested people in your network. 

What does it mean to be a cosmopolitan? (And no, I'm not talking about the drink or the magazine)

In November 2017 I came across the work of Naeem Mohaiemen at a New York Museum of Modern Art’s PS1 gallery while doing research with the city’s Puerto Rican Muslim population. 

In "Volume Eleven (A Flaw in the Algorithm of Cosmopolitanism),” Mohaiemen explores his uncle Syed Mujtaba Ali’s “flawed cosmopolitanism.” On the one hand, his uncle was a Bengali author who fought against colonial interference in the affairs of India and Pakistan. On the other hand, Ali wrote words of adoration for Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. 

The artist wrestles with the (im)possibility of both being true, but comes to the uncomfortable “conclusion” that in Volume 11, a collection of his renowned uncle’s essays, there is a “flaw in the algorithm of cosmopolitanism” — evidence of the swirling contradictions and inconsistencies of what it means to live as a minority in the late-modern world. 

Cosmopolitanism is often presumed, or proposed, as a moral ideal or political ideology. I think cosmopolitanism is something else.

Through my ethnographic research alongside Puerto Rican Muslims — in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Puerto Rico, and online — I became convinced that cosmopolitanism is more a condition. One which we all share in a modern world that is evermore speeding up and spreading out. Like Mohaiemen’s uncle, we face some choices regarding what to do in this cosmopolitan world, but we cannot opt out.

There is no way to be non-cosmopolitan in the 21st century.

When Islam Is Not a Religion: A Response to Asma Uddin

After wrapping up a Q&A session at a public conference where I presented on the topic of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations to a largely evangelical Christian audience, an older man who was sitting in the back approached me at the podium.

Rather nonchalantly, he asked, “You do know that the Constitution wasn’t written for Muslims, right?”

As we talked, he elaborated on his opinion that the concept of religious freedom does not apply to Islam and Muslims because, he said matter-of-factly, “Islam is not a religion.” At the time, it seemed to me a fringe theory cooked up in the dark corners of the internet or in 6am greasy-spoon breakfast meet-ups.

In short, I could not really believe — given my own biases — that people could actually think that the First Amendment and its promise of religious freedom did not extend to Islam and Muslims in the U.S.

However, far from fringe political theory or radical cultural posturing, this view has found its way into legal briefs, court cases, and political contexts in recent years. In fact, these legal and political perspectives are the fodder for Asma Uddin’s new book When Islam Is Not a Religion: Inside America’s Fight for Religious Freedom.

In this work, Uddin points out that many Americans insist that the religious liberty they so quickly claim for Christianity or Judaism (or other religions beyond the nation’s so-called “Judeo-Christian” heritage) does not extend to Islam and Muslims in the U.S.

The #MosqueMeToo Movement

2018 marked a sweeping year of change and awareness for women across the spectrum, including Muslim women.

Building on the momentum established by the #MeToo movement, the founder of the #MosqueMeToo movement, Mona Eltahawy, has sought to bring similar societal awareness to Muslim women within the Muslim community and empower Muslim women to have a more proactive role in their communities. Despite difficulties, the importance of such a cause is undeniable.

What #MosqueMeToo Is All About

Women have often remained voiceless on issues regarding sexual harassment and assault. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) survey conducted in 2015, 75% of the world’s roughly two billion women 18 years or older have experienced sexual harassment. Furthermore, analysis of the data concludes over 80% of the adult female population in Muslim-majority countries, such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, have been negatively impacted. Granted, these statistics can vary depending on one’s definition as to what constitutes sexual harassment, but these facts still paint a daunting picture of a serious problem in society regarding the basic human right to feel safe. 

However, hash-tag movements and the social synergy that is created by them can strengthen voices so that they are heard. A revolutionary movement, called #MeToo, started in 2007 and was revived in October 2017 on social media outlets, such as Twitter and Facebook, to expose sexual assault incidents and provide a sense of unity for survivors. Inspired by the momentum created by #MeToo on social media, Egyptian-American writer, activist and journalist, Mona Eltahawy, began the #MosqueMeToo movement to give an active voice to women who experienced sexual violence in the Muslim community and have long been silenced in male-dominated cultures. 

A focus of the movement is exposing sexual violence at sacred places, such as during the Hajj. Although Saudi Arabia’s Council recently passed an anti-harassment law that punishes offenders and protects victims’ dignity as insured by Islamic law abuse continues to occur in the Gulf country because of underlying gender inequalities says Eltahawy. Consequently, giving Muslim women a greater voice in their community will allow them as caretakers of children, to empower their daughters and instill parity of women in their sons, to incrementally move the needle with each generation, so that men no longer see women as inferior.

The Hajj is a particular place of tension for Muslim women who report instances of sexual abuse by men during the annual spiritual pilgrimage.

As discussed, sexual violence in the sacred places of the Muslim community, especially during the Hajj, is not an anomaly. The spark that ignited the #MosqueMeToo movement began in February 2018 by Eltahawy when she tweeted her experience during the Hajj after being inspired by a harrowing Facebook post by a Pakistani woman, Sabica Khan, who shared her own incident. Eltahawy wanted to distinguish the #MosqueMeToo movement from #MeToo to ensure it “breaks the race, class, gender and faith lines that make it so hard for marginalized people to be heard.” 

With increased globalization, transportation technology, and the Internet, the world’s interconnectedness is unparalleled—social media platforms are giving women a voice that we may not have arguably heard before. Eltahawy noted that her Twitter thread was liked or retweeted “thousands of times” and shared in a variety of languages, such as Arabic, Spanish, and German. The synergy that has been created from the #MeToo and #ChurchToo (which exposes sexual abuse and harassment in Christian religious sites) movements are highlighting that the experiences felt by women in the Muslim community are not anomalous, but are shared across the religious and culture spectra.

Eltahawy has expressed numerous goals. Above all, she hopes for positive outcomes for the basic treatment of women. Her objectives include: men having conversations with each other and their families about sexualized violence, holy sites giving sermons and launching campaigns reminding Muslims that "Islam demands the respect of women,” insisting authorities and police need to be trained on how to discern and handle assaults, and calling for more female personnel at the holy sites. She fearlessly requested that the Grand Mosque Imam to address the safety of female Muslims during the Hajj. Inspiring her supporters to continue the movement, Eltahawy has exhorted them: “don’t let it die on social media unless it dies in the society.”

The significance of the #MosqueMeToo movement is multifaceted. Supporters seek to use the movement to empower those most vulnerable: Muslim women, who have been taken advantage of primarily by men and religious figures. By establishing a network seeking to challenge the societal norms Muslim women are joining the movement to challenge the accountability of the crimes because they refuse to simply be victimized, especially in sacred places.

The Quran and Other Concerns with #MosqueMeToo

However, the movement has faced its hurdles. Eltahawy’s insinuation that the Quran is irrelevant in addressing how women should pray is a highly inflammatory statement to many Muslims. There seems to be a division in the movement between the emphasis on a literal adherence to the Quran, versus a less rigid interpretational frame. Amina Wadud, an international Quranic scholar and mentor to Eltahawy, emphasizes the importance of reinterpreting the Quran so that the Muslim community can cultivate more liberating, inclusive, equitable laws.

There are also Muslims who feel that this movement will only amplify Islamophobia and substantiate their false arguments that portray Muslim men as evil. Some Muslim women fear that exposing the Muslim community’s “skeleton in the closet” will enable society to further blame Muslims (“#MosqueMeToo”). When women do speak up, both in society and on social media, they are told that they have an overactive imagination, it is their fault, they want to destroy Islam, they are too ugly to be assaulted, etcetera (“#MosqueMeToo”). However, due to the supporters’ determination to include men as a solution to the problem in the movement these inquiries may avoid that slippery slope. Activists are using the #MosqueMeToo movement to promote that sexualized violence is not just a “woman’s issue.” They are expressing this by advocating for candid discussion among men within the community to help break the connotation that it occurs without retribution.

Where to from here for #MosqueMeToo? 

The #MosqueMeToo movement has enabled Muslim women to be heard regarding the sexualized violence that they have endured in both the religious and secular aspects of their lives. Significantly, the movement is endeavoring to end the gagging and shaming of Muslims within the community who have experienced this abuse by encouraging individuals to continue to share their stories, the religious leaders to denounce such acts, and highlight the importance of men taking greater responsibility on this issue. 

For this aspirational movement to have a lasting impact on the Muslim community, it needs to leverage social media and broaden its message to a wider audience to public policy makers and the judicial system—lest the movement operate in a vacuum and run out of oxygen causing it to be short lived and ineffective.

*This is a guest post from MaryAnne O'Neill and was originally written as an essay in an "Introductoin to Islam" course at the University of Florida in Summer 2018. 

Lessons Learned Teaching Intro. to Islam Online

Like drinking water from a firehose.

That was the warning I gave to 75 students who signed up for the University of Florida's first ever online "Introduction to Islam" course (in conjunction with the Department of Religion, the Center for Global Islamic Studies, the Center for Instructional Technology and Training [CITT], and UF Online). 

For those who remained, they soon found out what it was like to learn the basics of Islamic belief and practices through an examination of Islamic history, law, and an array of theological orientations as articulated in the traditions of teachings of various traditions in just six weeks! 

As they reflected at the end of the course, they not only confirmed the intensity of the course but its value in challenging their stereotypes and enabling them to talk to others about the diversity of Islam and Muslim communities across the globe. 

The course also took time to explore Islamic practices in the contemporary period and expose students to reflect on the realities of religious everyday life and religious change through their readings, lectures, discussion boards, essays, and final class project -- an op-ed, commentary, or news analysis piece that they developed over the course of the semester. Not only did the students learn through this process, but I also gained new perspectives and lessons through the online teaching experience. 

As I walked to work this morning I listened to the news and heard three references to the place of Islam and Muslims in various contexts: about whether Islam is a part of Germany amidst their current asylum discussions; the SCOTUS decision on the "Muslim ban" in the U.S.; and the role of Islam in the peace process between Palestine and Israel. The news only impressed upon me the importance of giving students the ability to critically analyze the impacts of Islamic beliefs and values on social and cultural practices, and the formation of institutions, communities, and identities. Furthermore, I hoped to challenge students to grasp the complex relationship between the discursive traditions of a major world religion as well as the ambiguities of some key terms of Muslim religious thinking.

We were aware that this summer course could not amply cover the full extent of Muslim traditions across the ages and around the globe, but the expectation was that students would come away with a fuller appreciation for the richness and variety of Islam while also possessing a foundational understanding of its core concepts and practices.

On their final exam, I asked them to write regarding, "one thing you would like to tell someone about Islam and Muslims that you did not know before this course and you think is important for others to know." Overwhelmingly, students highlighted their learning about the diversity of Islam. 

One student wrote:

“I was led to believe that Islam was one monolithic religion and everyone followed it as is, save for the extremists. However, after learning more about the faith and its history over the last few centuries, I realize that Islam can manifest in different ways among various cultures, and that while set apart from other forms of Islam, the same core tenets remain. There are Muslims who visit shrines of saints, who use talismans with Quranic verses on them, and who push for either reform and/or maintaining current tradition as is. It goes to show [that] Muslims worldwide are an international community that cannot be defined in just one, overly general way.”

Another student learned about the various motivations that Muslim women have for choosing to veil in public. They wrote, "I think it is important for others to know this because the stereotypes of an oppressive Islam cause people to dislike Islam and cause them to create a largely negative image of Islam...I think if people knew the reasons that Muslim women chose to veil and how these women felt about it, some of this negativity surrounding Islam would disappear. I think it is important for people to be knowledgeable of ["women in Islam"] because it helps them create their own opinions of Islam based off of more than what they hear in the news."

There was some humor as well as one student quipped, "if you thought the name Muhammad was not popular before, think again!"

Lightness aside, other students discussed how their stereotypes about women in Islam, violence and jihad, and the modernization and Westernization of Islam were flipped on their heads or given new context and meaning. Overwhelmingly, students identified 9/11 as the key prism through which they had previously known Islam and Muslims and also set it aside as the centrifugal moment in contemporary global history. They recognized that the way the world sees Islam and Muslims -- while certainly influenced by historical perspectives and stereotypes -- is largely shaped by 9/11 and the subsequent "War on Terror." Not only that, but students appreciated how the media, government policies, and cultural tropes have seriously warped our understanding of what Islam is and is not and how Muslims live, act, and think across the globe. 

Reflecting on the current cultural and political climate one student said, "we shouldn’t treat Muslims as foreigners or people following an evil, alien culture. They aren’t so different from the average person you might meet on the street." 

These gleanings were also reflected in their final projects. Students shared their opinions and analyses on a variety of topics including the #MosqueMeToo movement, Islam and Muslim communities in Africa, and the parallels and dissimilarities between Zen Buddhist traditions and Sufi mystic beliefs and practices. We took the semester to help students develop their project from idea to thesis, outline to draft, and draft to final copy and were rewarded with fine-tuned arguments, clear perspectives, and in-depth analyses. 

In the coming weeks, I hope to publish a couple of these pieces and to share with you some of the things that students passed on to me. These projects reflect the ongoing need for individuals, teachers, and students in educational institutions and in the public sphere to commit themselves to learning about religion -- Islam or otherwise. These projects also reflect how even in the course of six weeks a student's understanding of the world can not only change but come to be expressed eloquently and shared widely with others. 

Indeed, in a time of increasingly negative rhetoric around the topic of Islam and Muslims, it is heartening to know that education -- whether in-person, experiential, or via online portals -- can help counter stereotypes and reverse negative opinions.

My experience with this course reinforces something I recently read in the article, “Muslims Love Jesus, Too? Corrective Information Alters Prejudices Against Islam.” In this article, researchers in Germany found that "opinions towards Islam were largely negative at baseline but improved significantly after [the] presentation of the correct answers." Furthermore, they wrote that this "suggests that prejudices against Islam are partially fueled by knowledge gaps."

As a lifelong learner and educator, it is my passion to fill knowledge gaps -- those of my own and those of others. It was an honor to work with these students over the last month-and-a-half to fill gaps and enhance their knowledge about Islam and Muslims across the globe. I learned a lot as well and benefitted from their messages, corrections, challenges, questions, and one-on-one conversations about their projects, their struggles, and their inquiries. 

Educators concerned with religious literacy should take heart that their instruction can, and does, work. It can have a positive impact. It can -- in small and large ways -- change the world. 

Systems are unjust, broader forces may be malevolent, and the world may be chaotic; but teaching others, filling knowledge gaps, and engaging in important conversations about Islam and Muslims can play a crucial role in bringing justice, goodness, and kindness to bear in our world. 

At least that's what I learned this summer teaching "Introduction to Islam" online. 

First Ever "Introduction to Islam" Online Course Offered at UF

"Punish a Muslim Day” was supposed to be a thing. 

Letters distributed to homes, lawmakers, and businesses around London back in March encouraged individuals to “take action” against Muslims who have “made your loved ones suffer.” It offered a points-based system advocating for hurling verbal abuse, bombing or burning a mosque, or throwing acid in the face of a Muslim. The date was set for April 3. 

The Washington Post reported, “As April 3 approached, many took to social media to share their thoughts on the hate campaign. Some posts urged British Muslims to take care and look out for one another. Others were determined that the letters would not cause them to change their daily habits.”

Others responded on social media with counter-campaigns such as #PublishAMuslimDay or #LoveAMuslimDay. The counter-campaigns won the day, but the uncomfortable questions still remain: 

• How could such an advertisement not cause more general concern and outrage? 
• What kind of philosophies, postures, and politics lie behind such blatant and brutal hate? 
• Why would someone go to the trouble to print and distribute such a disturbing piece of mail in the first place? 

Islamophobia — the ignorant fear and hatred of Islam and Muslims, often leading to anti-Muslim rhetoric and possibly anti-Muslim actions — is the root cause of such flagrant hate and viscous verbosity. 

By definition, Islamophobia is fueled by ignorance and misunderstanding of Islam and Muslim communities. It’s also fueled by “Orientalism” — the representation of Asia, especially the Middle East, in a stereotyped way that is regarded as embodying a colonialist attitude. These attitudes help fan the flames of anti-Muslim rhetoric, Eurocentrism, and racism in the U.S. and abroad. 

If you know me, a lot of my efforts and work are aimed at combatting Islamophobia and Orientalist imaginings of Islam and Muslim communities. It’s in that spirit that I have helped develop an online “Introduction to Islam” course for the University of Florida. It’s the first of its kind. 

The course provides an overview of basic Islamic beliefs and practices through an examination of Islamic history, law, and an array of theological orientations as articulated in the traditions of teachings of various traditions. The course also examines Islamic practices in the contemporary period and thereby exposes students to reflect on the realities of religious everyday life and religious change. The course aims to give the students the ability to critically analyze the impacts of Islamic beliefs and values on social and cultural practices, and the formation of institutions, communities, and identities. The course also aims to challenge students to grasp the complex relationship between the discursive traditions of a major world religion as well as the ambiguities of some key terms of Muslim religious thinking.

This course will lead students into an exploration of the basic history, contemporary expressions, concepts and phenomena, beliefs and rituals, communities and common experiences of Muslims across the globe. While such a course cannot amply cover the full extent of Muslim traditions across the ages and around the globe the expectation is that students engaged with this course will come away with a fuller appreciation for the richness and variety of Islam while also possessing a foundational understanding of its core concepts and practices.

As an academic study of the Islamic Tradition and the civilization(s) that it evolved this course is not one of Islamic theology per se (a religiously committed intellectual discipline). Instead, this is an academic investigation of this great religion, which will use an intellectually rigorous and critical lens that draws on history, sociology, anthropology and critical hermeneutics in our study. For those looking for a theology course that sets out to show that one religious tradition is superior to the others or has “the truth," this is not the class that you want. Also for those wanting to demonize the tradition, you too will find yourself challenged and confronted. This course aims to present a critical, but balanced, picture of Islam and Muslims across time and in the world today. 

If you are interested in taking this course as a UF student or want to learn more, take a look at the course syllabus or click HERE to find more information about registering for the course. 

Why the stories of Latinx Muslims matter

There is the mother who converted when she saw her son transition from a life of drugs and crime to one of prayer and faithful religious practice. Then there's the story of the guy who met the woman of his dreams, moved to Kenya to pursue her, and converted in order to become her husband. Or there is the Marine who took the shahadah while stationed in Japan. There are former Pentecostals and Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses and agnostics, atheists and Mormons; they've all converted to Islam. They are from Puerto Rico and Mexico, Argentina and Ecuador, San Franciso and San Salvador, New York, Newark, Miami, and Houston. 

They are Latinx Muslims, one of the fastest growing religious communities in the U.S. 

When I started learning from Latinx Muslims back in 2012 I was able to cobble together a few articles from scholars such as SpearIt, Patrick Bowen, and Hisham Aidi, read a single monograph (Hjamil A. Martínez-Vásquez's Latina/o Y Musulmán: The Construction of Latina/o Identity among Latina/o Muslims in the United States), peruse blogs, and talk to leading Latina/o Muslims like Juan Galvan, Daniel Abdullah Hernandez, Mujahid Fletcher, Isa Parada, and Juan Alvarado to complete my research. The result was my master's thesis Islam en Español: The narratives, demographics, conversion causeways, & conditions for community cohesion among Latina/o Muslims in the U.S. 

At the end of my thesis, I wrote there was still a pertinent need to expand research in this area and in the quest for quality, comprehensive, newswriting and coverage, that students and commentators should provide more nuanced information about this important religious community. Over the last several years I have seen an increasing amount of new research, publications, and writing on the subject. It's an exciting time to be in the field. 

Just this year, five major publications have come out -- or are on their way -- that will help scholars and a wider public better understand the why, what, when, where, and how of Latinx conversion to Islam and how Latinx Muslims are shaping the American religious scene and impacting the broader Muslim world. Below I provide a brief overview, review, and comment on each of them before concluding with some ideas for the future, and some suggestions for how these might spur further research and consideration of Latinx Muslims in the U.S. and beyond:

1. Latino Muslims: Our Journeys to Islam by Juan Galvan

I start with this text because it is both highly valuable and for me, it is highly personal. Since I first met Isa Parada at a masjid in Houston, TX and began learning from my Latinx Muslim teachers and friends I have remained humbly fascinated with Latinx Muslim journeys through the uncertainties of being "quadruple minorities" -- Latinx in the Muslim community, Muslim in the Latinx community, Latinx in the U.S., and Muslim in the U.S. 

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This text, which I turned to in its draft form as a website and blog during my master's research, not only presents general comments on the place of Latinx Muslims in the American Muslim story, but it also does the simple, but significant, service of presenting scores of stories from Latinx Muslims themselves. Readers listen to men and women from across the Americas who identify as Latina, Latino, Latinx, Hispanic, or Spanish-speaking tell their stories of reversion (or 'conversion,' Latinx Muslims refer to their conversions as 'reversions,' both because they believe in fitra -- that human beings are born with an innate inclination toward tawhid [the oneness of God] and draw on their Andalusian roots to speak to the very Arab and Muslim basis of much of Latinx culture, language, and history). 

Readers will enjoy how Galvan frames these narratives with his own historical, theological, and cultural commentary, but will be most impressed by the sheer diversity of stories and experiences of those who converted in prison or on their front porch, to those who reverted in Australia and Bolivia, and those who found Islam on Facebook, through Latinx specific organizations, their future spouses, in dreams, or even while smoking weed and drinking a 22oz. of Heineken. Not only does this text do well to let the stories stand for themselves and permit Latinx Muslims' voices to be heard above all else, but it also provides a wealth of primary data for researchers and interested students looking to learn more. 

2. American Prisons: A Critical Primer on Culture and Conversion to Islam by SpearIt

On this point of conversions of prison, SpearIt presents an overview of prison culture in the U.S. with a specific focus on the role of Islam and Muslims within the system. The main point of this anthology is that "problems in prison are not isolated from society, and [prisons] are not neatly cornered off from society, but rather, are partners in toxic relationships with the communities to which ex-prisoners return."

Against, and alongside, what he posits as a poisonous prison system he showcases the spiritual journeys of many Muslims who convert while incarcerated. Significantly, he includes an exploration and analysis of Latinx Muslims -- their conversions, their communities, and their central importance in telling the story of Islam in the U.S. 

3. 40 Sayings of Prophet Muhammad by Daniel Abdullah Hernandez

One of the more significant voices in my research has been "Imam Danny." He is a scholar, an inter-religious leader, and a friend. His tireless efforts at understanding, communicating, and sharing Islamic theology are well appreciated by many Muslims -- Latinx and otherwise. 

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His most recent project is a labor of love that also opens up a window into the influence of Latinx Muslims in the process of Islamic theology in the U.S. and abroad. Not only have Latinx Muslims been producing works, and translating works into, Spanish over the last 40 years, they have also been creating new works in English. Imam Hernandez's efforts at translating and collecting 42 hadith, reports of the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and other early Muslims, on the five pillars of Islamic practice (confessing the faith, prayer, charity, fasting, and the hajj pilgrimage) are quick, practical, references for intentional Muslims. More than that, they are another prime example of indigenous knowledge production and leadership among Latinx Muslims who are making an impact on their religion in the U.S. and abroad. It is evidence that Latinx Muslims are not only being shaped by the global umma (Muslim community) but also shaping it with their words and deeds. 

4. "Latino Muslims in the United States Reversion, Politics, and Islamidad," Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion by Gaston Espinosa, Juan Galvan, and Harold Morales

This journal article lauds itself as the first large-scale survey research on the demographics of the Latinx Muslim community and the question of why Latina/os converted to Islam. There has been important research conducted in this area, but as they note it has largely been limited to smaller numbers in particular cities and without any consistent methodology. As they wrote, "This study seeks to help fill this gap in the literature by analyzing the survey results of 560 Latino Muslims across the U.S."

What they provide is the most comprehensive picture of the general make-up and sociological contours of the Latinx Muslim community in the U.S. They also make a critical interlude by discussing the idea of "Islamidad" -- a distinct Latinx Muslim identity that resists complete assimilation to Arab cultural norms even as it reimagines and expands what it means to be Latinx and Muslim.

5. Latino and Muslim in America: Race, Religion, and the Making of a New Minority by Harold Morales

This book, which comes out in April, is a highly anticipated and pioneering monograph that,  "examines how so-called 'minority groups' are made, fragmented, and struggle for recognition in the U.S.A." To do so, it focuses on the story of, "Latino Muslims [who] celebrate their intersecting identities both in their daily lives and in their mediated representations online."

While I have yet to get my hands on this book, the publisher's description gives us an overview:

“In this book, Harold Morales follows the lives of several Latino Muslim leaders from the 1970’s to the present, and their efforts to organize and unify nationally in order to solidify the new identity group’s place within the public sphere. Based on four years of ethnography, media analysis and historical research, Morales demonstrates how the phenomenon of Latinos converting to Islam emerges from distinctive immigration patterns and laws, urban spaces, and new media technologies that have increasingly brought Latinos and Muslims in to contact with one another. He explains this growing community as part of the mass exodus out of the Catholic Church, the digitization of religion, and the growth of Islam. Latino and Muslim in America explores the racialization of religion, the framing of religious conversion experiences, the dissemination of post-colonial histories, and the development of Latino Muslim networks, to show that the categories of race, religion, and media are becoming inextricably entwined.”

As is evident from the above, research from, and on, Latinx Muslims is on the rise. The above provides valuable fodder and necessary provocation for further research and understanding by broader Muslim, American, and Latinx populations. Reflection, writing, and research is getting  deeper and wider and that’s a good thing.

Of course, to be more cognizant, and fine-tuned, in researching Latinx Muslims, researchers have to ask the right questions in a community that is still growing, emerging, and solidifying itself. Future research must be deeper and broader still, more thoroughly theoretical in its approach, and perhaps focused on some of the following suggested areas for further research: 

• more understanding of, and from, Latinx Muslim women who provide a rich, unique, and gendered place and perspective within a community where they are the majority; 

• investigations of specific Latinx influence on Islamic doctrine and Muslim practice in the U.S. and abroad; 

• further exploration of the accents and considerable transnational lives of Latinx Muslims. I am aiming to provide more on this in my own dissertation research with Puerto Rican Muslims and in my forthcoming book from Hurst Publishers and Oxford University Press on Islam and Muslim communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Certainly, there is more left to discover about the nuances of this community’s narrative and how they fit into the global Muslim picture. Yet, the above works help provide a firm, and comprehensive, foundation for this further research.

Just 100 years ago the Latinx Muslim community in the U.S. scantly existed, if it was present at all. Today, Latinx Muslims have the opportunity to shape Islam and Muslim communities in the U.S., in Latin America, and across the globe with their particular accent on its theology, practice, and expansion and via the various media of global communication and contact between multiple cultures and communities. The above works showcase how this is already happening and why it matters. 

Public lecture shines light on little known Muslim populations

From Panther Now, a publication from Florida International University: 

Muslims have had a significant impact on Latin culture, politics, and society, with 3,000 Spanish words having historical connections to Arabic, such as the words “pantalones” (pants) and “arroz” (rice). Their influence, however, has been unnoticed because of the lack of conversation around the topic, according to a professor. 

Ken Chitwood is a [religion scholar] at the University of Florida. For the past six years he’s been studying Islam in the Americas and other subjects. But like many people, there was a time he was unaware of Islam’s influence in the west, he said. 

Chitwood was writing a weekly report during a mosque visit when he met a man dressed in a tunic who told him of how he converted to Islam in New York, he said. It was then that Chitwood decided to research conversion stories, and after researching 135 conversion stories, he soon noticed a pattern: they had connections to Latin America. 

He knew there was a large amount of research done to show Islam’s ties to Latin America, but people weren’t paying attention to it. When he taught a course on the subject years later at the University of Florida, students found it difficult to research. There were plenty of documents and statistics, but it was hard to piece together an “overall narrative.”

Through the event “Islam in Latin America,” which [was] held at [Florida International] University on Tuesday, Nov. 7, Chitwood [spoke] about Islam’s heavy presence in both Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as Islam and Muslim communities’ influence in the past and present. 

On Eid 2017, a Peek into the Lives of Puerto Rico's Muslims

For Juan, Ramadan is a balancing act. On the one hand is his religious faith and practice. On the other is his land, his culture, his home – Puerto Rico.

Although he weaves these two elements of his identity together in many ways, during Ramadan the borderline between them becomes palpable. For the 3,500 to 5,000 Puerto Rican Muslims like Juan, the holy month of fasting brings to the surface the tensions they feel in their daily life as minorities – Muslims among their Puerto Rican family and Puerto Ricans in the Muslim community. 

So, who are the Puerto Rican Muslims and what are their struggles?

The Study of Islam in Latin America & the Caribbean

There are Muslims in Latin America? 

This is the question I often get confronted with when I tell people what I study.

Yes, I study Islam and Muslim communities in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Latinx U.S. Yes, that is a valid field of study. Yes, it has a history you would be surprised about. Yes, the numbers are not as large as other places in the world, but they are higher than you think. Yes, the influence of Muslims in the American hemisphere is lengthy and significant. Let me tell you more...

In this essay, published by Springer's International Journal of Latin American Religions I offer a brief review of the field of Islamic studies in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Americas focusing on its main themes and suggesting some areas for further consideration and research.

The essay not only introduces readers to the topic itself, but outlines its main themes and suggests some ways that  scholars could inject their energy and efforts to advance this unfolding field of study. These theoretical considerations suggest that more work could be done in expanding the field in its engagement with prevalent theories in the field of global Islamic studies and those that treat the Americas as a geography of dynamic hemispheric engagement and encounter.

Essentially, the paper argues that there is still a necessity to explore the tensions, interactions, frictions, and collaborations across and at the boundaries between the global umma (community) and the American assabiya (local social solidarities), between the global and the local, and between immigrant communities and the growing number of regional converts.

Finally, I also make some suggestions about some practical considerations that may prove beneficial to the field’s advancement. 

Hola, Allah: Welcome to the Country’s Only Latino Mosque

You step into a place like Centro Islámico, and you don’t feel marginalized. You’re able to be Latino and Muslim at the same time. Your identity is whole.

These are some of the words I shared with Houstonia magazine writer Adam Doster. Having lived in Houston for four years, studied alongside Latinx Muslims in my time there, and continuing as a scholar interested in how Muslim communities in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Latinx U.S. thrive, adapt, and grow I was honored to contribute to Adam's story. 

For more on how these Latinx Muslims have made Houston their home and to read some of my commentary, click the link below.

Somalis as Samaritans: Reflections on Christian-Muslim Relations in Kenya

A few years ago I had the opportunity to travel to Kenya and interact with the local evangelical Lutheran community. During my time there, and in subsequent interviews and conversations, I talked to them about Somalis, al-Shabaab, and their perspective on Christian-Muslim relations. 

Recently, I published an article entitled, "Somalis as Samaritans: A Glimpse into Christian–Muslim Relations in Eastern Africa from the Perspective of Evangelical Kenyan Christians," with the journal Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. 

Here's an excerpt: 

“Long considered – perhaps naïvely – a relative oasis of Christian–Muslim calm, Kenya is seeing increased tension and conflict, mainly exacerbated by al-Shabaab militants, Kenyan military and Christian mobs. Concomitantly, the media and popular sentiment often vilify Somalis. This goes back to government agitprop during the ‘Shifta War’ of the 1960s. Among evangelical Christians, however, attitudes toward Somalis can prove more ambivalent. Drawing on interviews conducted with both Kenyan evangelical Christians and Somali Muslims, this article seeks to examine the theological shift among Kenyan evangelicals wherein they have re-cast Somalis as Samaritans and in doing so have made their primary approach to this conflict one of evangelization, not open hostility. This shift is due to a confluence of factors including community context, economic pragmatism and religious motivations, and the focus on evangelism does not necessarily preclude peace-building. What this article aims to present is a glimpse into the outlook of Kenyan evangelicals toward Somalis, particular Somali Muslims, and discuss these attitudes in the nexus of factors mentioned above. The article will reveal how, by re-casting the Somali ‘villain’ as Samaritan, some Kenyan evangelicals maintain boundaries and foster new identities in East Africa for the sake of a longed-for peace.”

— "Somalis as Samaritans: A Glimpse into Christian–Muslim Relations in Eastern Africa from the Perspective of Evangelical Kenyan Christians," Ken Chitwood Islam And Christian–Muslim Relations Vol. 28, Iss. 1,2017

If you'd like to read the entire article, please click the link below for a free copy. Only the first 50 respondents will be able to download the entire article free of charge. 

Call for Entries: Encyclopedia of Judaism & Islam in Latin America

Springer Major Reference Works is producing a new, and first of its kind, Encyclopaedia of Latin American Religions. This encyclopedia provides an overview of the main religions of Latin America and the Caribbean, both its centralized transnational expressions and its local variants and schisms. This includes both Islam and Judaism in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

We are looking for proposals for entries in the encyclopedia on the topics Judaism and Islam in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Those who wish to submit an entry can either a) propose their own topics or b) choose from the list of already proposed entries below. 

Please contact Ken Chitwood at kchitwood@ufl.edu to submit your ideas, sign-up for a topic, or for further inquiries. The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2017.

Possible Terms Include:

-Al Urubat (Islamic Journal in Brazil)

-Arabism/Arabinization

-Chabad Lubavitch

-Círculo Islámico (CIRD) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

-Conversion to Judaism in Latin America

-Diaspora, Jewish

-Fedração das Associes Muçulmanes do Brazil (FAMBRAS)

-Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Latin American solidarity

-Kabbala

-Maria Moreiria Site

-Pascual Abaj

-Percentage of population (Jewish pop.)

-Shalom Emanuel Muyal (“Santo Rabi”)

-Sheikhs of Latin America and the Caribbean

-Sociedades Benificentes Muçulmanes (Brazil)

-Shi’i Islam

-Prominent Synagogues

-Unión de Mujeres Musulmanes Argentinas (UMMA)

-World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY)

Islam in the Americas at University of Florida

Why does Islam matter in the Americas? When did it arrive here? What values, practices, traditions, & tensions exist within its histories & social dynamics in the West? How can we study Muslim communities in this hemisphere?

In Spring 2017 I will offer a course called, "Islam in the Americas" (REL 4393/LAS 4935) with the UF Religion Department and in association with the UF Center for Latin American Studies. The lecture period will be every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:35-10:25am (coffee is encouraged. Donuts are accepted as bribes...just kidding...kind of). 

This course will place Latin America, the Caribbean, & North America within a broader Islamic framework & locate Muslims of various backgrounds & experiences within the hemisphere from the 1500s to today, from Cape Columbia, Canada to Catamarca, Argentina, & many periods & places in between.

The semester will be divided into four main parts: 1) studying global Islam; 2) theoretical themes in the study of religion in the Americas; 3) the history of Islam in the Americas; and 4) country/region specific cartographies of contemporary American Muslim populations. 

n attempting to locate, and explore, Islam in the Americas students will first have to apprehend a bit of what it is to study "global Islam." In this introductory part of the course we will spend some time discussing what "Islam" is, what its main texts, traditions, and shared vocabulary are, and how studying Islam globally often means studying Muslim communities locally, but being sure to set them within macro-contexts at the regional, hemispheric, or global levels as well. 

Studying Islam in the Americas will also require a theoretical foundation. This second part of our course will cover the heritage and contact of multiple cultures in the Americas -- both across the hemisphere and the Atlantic ocean. In order to do so, we will take a look at the heritage of Europe (specifically al-Andalus), North and West Africa, and other transnational ties via politics, economics, ideologies, technology, and more. 

With these foundational aspects in place we will then dive into the study of the history of Islam in the Americas, the third section of course. Looking back to pre-colonial contact with Europe, we will navigate the "deeper roots" of Islam in the Americas that are largely ignored in historical overviews before delving into the "forbidden" and forced passages of Muslims across the Atlantic as conquistadors, slaves, and monsters in the Western imagination. Once here in the hemisphere we will see how Islam took part in, shaped, and was molded by its American context even as Muslims adapted to, resisted, and surrendered to the broader Euro-American worldview and its attendant lifeways. 

In the final part of the course we will take a closer look at specific countries and regions ranging from North America to Latin America and the Caribbean. Specifically we will consider constituencies in Brazil, Mexico, Suriname, Trinidad, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the U.S., and Canada. 

Over the course of the semester there will be ample opportunity for students to read and respond, discuss and deliberate the topics via various assignments. However, a semester capstone project, which will be worked on, edited, and completed throughout the course of the spring, will be presented via a final paper and presentation. These projects can take up any number of thematic, chronological, demographic, or geographic topics. 

It is my hope that this course will help place Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America within a broader Islamic framework and locate Muslims of various genealogies within the hemisphere over the longue durée. urthermore, this course will aim to focus on local values, practices, traditions, and tensions placing these within larger questions about what kinds of histories, social dynamics, and meaning production make Islam significant, or how its significance is denied, in a part of the world that hasn’t recognized its history here or its contemporary configurations or impact. 

If you have any questions, comments, or want to know more about the texts, assignments, or expectations for the course, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Turning our eyes to Islam in Latin America & the Caribbean

A paradox lies at the heart of the contemporary study of global Islam.

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent “war on terror,” which has recapitulated the Huntingtonian clash of civilizations thesis and its emphasis on the false dichotomy between “Islam” and “the West" there has concomitantly been an increase in the academic attention afforded to the study of Islam. 

Although the number of Islamic studies degrees conferred has more than doubled in the past decade, Islamic studies has also been remained largely confined to the regions of the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, leaving Muslim communities in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas to the wayside. In a word, even with the rise of the study of global Islam, its scope has failed to fully incorporate other geographies and the study of Islam beyond the Middle East is still underrepresented. Thus, there is still a pertinent need to globalize the study of “global Islam.”

For over a thousand years, Islam has been integral to what is known as "Western civilization." Even so, it is too often assumed assumed that Islam is a foreign element and Muslims in the West are doomed to be out of place and in perpetual conflict. The need for accurate, reliable scholarship on this topic is terribly urgent.

Thus, this has become the focus of my academic research on Islam in the Americas. I am convinced that understanding currents in global Islam -- peaceful and violent, widespread and vernacular, popular and institutional -- must be understood from a truly global perspective, while at the same time being embedded in local histories, tensions, movement, and exchanges. Exploring American Islam -- from Canada to the Caribbean, from Phoenix, Arizona to Patagonia, Argentina -- is a prime manner in which to do so. 

Recently I published a book chapter and a peer-reviewed journal article to that effect. The first is titled, "Exploring Islam in the Americas from Demographic and Ethnographic Perspectives." This chapter in Brill's Yearbook of International Religious Demography: 2016 discusses some population data concerning Muslims in the Americas and offers pathways for further research based on these statistics. These demographics invite a more thorough study of under-appreciated religious populations that present ample opportunities for research in cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, and specifically apropos to the ethnographic study of religion.

The latter work was recently published in the Waikato Islamic Studies Review Vol. 2, No. 2 out of New Zealand. The aim of this paper is to intermesh prevalent theories about globalization with the study of Islam, both historically and contemporaneously. It is, effectively, an attempt to globalize the study of Islam in the Americas and offer several brief examples of avenues to approach this study in the hope to not only feature existent work in the field, but offer further areas for consideration and future research. It covers Islam in Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Latina/o U.S.A., and in the "digital borderlands" of Latina/o Muslim specific Facebook pages. 

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about American Islam's history, contemporary manifestations, and linkages to global Islamic dynamics. Also, for those of you wondering...I am still in my "comp cave." My exams last from mid-October until mid-December. I look forward to returning to the world of writing, analysis, and news commentary in January 2017! 

Entering my Comp Cave

On BBC's Sherlock the titular character retreats into his "mind palace" -- a repository of memory and crucial bits of information -- in order to solve some of the more challenging mysteries he is facing and cannot seem to overcome through his prowess in the powers of deduction. In Sherlock's "mind palace" there are halls and doors in, and behind, which lay the keys to unlocking the most difficult of enigmas. It's pretty flippin' cool...not to mention handy. 

I tell you this because in late October and November 2016 I will be taking what are known as "comprehensive examinations," "qualifying examinations," or "comps." I will need to construct my own version of a "mind palace" to pass them. 

In the University of Florida Religion graduate program qualifying examinations form a bridge between course work and dissertation research. They are meant to assess the student’s familiarity with the essential works, authors, issues, methods, and theories that have defined their respective fields of study. Further, students must demonstrate their capacity to think “on their feet,” being able to synthesize critically -- and in a limited time span -- the extant literature and take an informed position vis-à-vis it. Each exam is five hours long and under normal circumstances the exams are administered one-per-week over a period of four weeks. 

To say the least, these are kind of a big deal. In the months leading up to the "comps" graduate students are expected to immerse themselves in their readings and be prepared to cite, critique, and call upon these readings as they sit their exams. 

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And so I decided that if Sherlock has a "mind palace" then I should have a "comp cave." Or, perhaps, my very own "comp cathedral." 

Essentially, the aim is to first retreat into my "comp cave" to properly prepare for the exams in the Fall. Thus, as I get into the "thick" of my book/article list I am going to step away from life as usual and instead pursue an intensive season of reading and reflection. This means I will not be blogging, publishing, or speaking from now until after my exams.

Indeed, other than a few commitments to speaking (see my Public Speaking page for more info) and an editorial project for an upcoming encyclopedia on religion in Latin America that I've already committed to, I will not be doing any other public work as a scholar until January 2017. 

Instead, I will read books like Islam is a Foreign Country and The Making of Salafism as I prepare for my exam in the area of "Global Islam;" I will acquaint myself with theories of transnationalism, borderlands, and hybridity in the American hemisphere through works like Juan Soldado: Rapist, Murderer, Martyr, Saint and The Americas: A Hemispheric History; I will come to appreciate the breadth and depth, ruptures and continuities of North American religious history through texts such as Religion and American Culture: A Reader and Heartwood: The First Generation of Theravada Buddhism in America; and finally I will familiarize myself with the historical complexity and stunning contemporary diversity of religion in Latin America by reading works The Devil and the Land of the Holy Cross: Witchcraft, Slavery, and Popular Religion in Colonial Brazil, In Darkness and Secrecy: The Anthropology of Assault Sorcery in Amazonia, and Terror in the Land of the Holy Spirit: Guatemala under General Efrain Rios Montt 1982-1983 and more.

And so,  I enter into my "comp cave" to get these readings done. The hope is that by October I will have transformed my cave into a vaulted and mentally visualized cathedral where I can readily locate a set of theories, memories, and critical reflections on these readings and themes. This will be my "comp cathedral," from whence I will rely on the historically grounded "method of loci" -- also known as memory theater, the art of memory, the memory palace, or, in the world of Sherlock, the mind palace -- to pass my comprehensive exams and enter into the next phase of my doctoral work on religion. 

When I get to the other side, I'll be sure to let you know how it all went. It is also my intention to take what I've learned and to go on reporting and commenting on religion and culture news and happenings via my blogging, op-eds, and analysis pieces for public, popular, and academic publications. In the end, this work will be better because of my time in the "comp cave." And honestly, I'm looking forward to it. 

With that folks, I'm off into my cave. I will see you in January 2017. 

What Have Cassettes to do with Christianity? Instagram with Islam?

Perusing the Facebook group “United in Islam in South Africa” one finds a variety of posts that might catch one’s attention. From agriculturally informed exhortations, to charity, to the posting of events in Tshwane/Pretoria, to quotes of Ibn Taymiyyah and other sources the posts on the page are wide in range, source, and influence—some yielding likes and comments, others sitting silent on the page. 

One particularly popular post called for du’a (non-obligatory prayer) to be made for rain in the Gauteng province including Johannesburg. On several days a woman began by saying “Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem” (“in the name of Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful”) expressing shukr (thanks) and calling for rakaats (units of prayer) in grateful response. The other most popular post on the page shows Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Europe. 

Here, on Facebook, in the digital borderlands, the global and local are meeting as South African Muslims interact with Muslims from across the globe and share media, meditations, and methods of piety online with “likes” and “comments” the affirmations in place of vocal takbirs (informal expressions of faith with the acclamation, “Allahu akbar” or “God is great”). The petitions and posts on the page are predicated by both global concerns and local conditions. As such, this short vignette and case can serve well as a piquing entrée into the digital and electronic media world, which is part of a large religious, social, economic, and political patchwork across Africa.

As intimated by the case above Africa’s religious media scene is rapidly evolving and constantly engaging. The book New Media and Religious Transformations in Africa seeks to cast a critical eye on this area of study and “focus on the diverse religious transformations being generated by the explosion of media technologies—both old and new—across Africa” (p. 5). It is the contention of this review that this text is a helpful primer on the historical and contemporary ways that media—old and new, print and digital—have shaped, are shaped by, and continue to shape religion in Africa.