Rowman.com: 9781442214125 - Islam and America: Building a Future without Prejudice

Subject Areas

Area Studies

Communication

Comparative Politics and International Relations

Criminal Justice

Criminology

Education

Environmental Studies

International Customers

Special Sales

Textbooks

Desk Copy Request

Special Exam Copy Request

Journals

Author Resources

Publicity / Convention Schedule

Rights & Permissions

Affiliated Companies

	Sundance

	Newbridge

	National Book Network

	NBN Fusion

	NBN International

	Government

Islam and America Building a Future without Prejudice

978-1-4422-1412-5 • Hardback
December 2011 • $40.00 • (£24.95)

Add to Cart

978-1-4422-1414-9 • eBook
December 2011 • $34.99 • (£21.95)

Pages: 190

Size: 6 x 9

By Anouar Majid

Religion | Islam / General

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Description

Author(s)

TOC

Reviews

Islam and America argues that the current animosity between the U.S. and Muslim world should be understood through the often-overlooked history between the two. Tracing the genealogy of this conflicted relationship from the Pilgrims to the present, author Anouar Majid weaves personal stories with historical narratives to offer a critical view of both cultures and to suggest a path towards future peace.

The book shows how America’s current conflict with Islam is rooted in a long and complicated history of prejudice and missed opportunities, as well as a history of benevolence and fruitful exchange on both sides. While historically Americans have generally regarded Islam as a despotic religion that needed to be overcome, the military and educational establishments that Americans built through their attempts at converting Muslims became sources of national pride in the Middle East. And while Muslims have often distrusted Americans, they, too, have made significant contributions to American culture.

Majid contends that knowing this history of both conflict and collaboration can help promote the mutual goodwill and appreciation that will be necessary to tackle the challenges facing Islam and America. Majid makes a provocative argument against faith-inspired prejudices and offers suggestions for the future.

Majid, a scholar at the University of New England, pursues the noble goal of tearing down animosity between Islam and America in this...important work. Through a mix of history, personal reflections on being a Muslim in America, and musings about politics, Majid argues that a future of good will and understanding is possible and offers suggestions for achieving it. Though short, the book contains a wealth of fascinating historical information that bolsters his larger political aims, such as the phenomenon of American-funded colleges in the Middle East....Majid’s message is critical in today’s political climate, and this work is a worthwhile contribution to an ongoing dialogue.

— Publishers Weekly

Majid, born in Morocco, raised a Muslim, educated in the U.S., and now an American, offers a personal view of the tensions between the U.S. and Islam and the foundation for moving forward. He begins, and ends, with the revolutionary idea that embodies the U.S.: the promise of liberty, free inquiry, new ideas, and a democratic spirit and the hope it engenders. In between, he argues that both sides have used sacred scriptures and unexamined religious beliefs to justify social injustice, misguided foreign-policy choices, and acts of aggression. Although both sides need to rethink their relationship to their respective traditions, reevaluate their own assumptions, and reexamine their place in the world today, the U.S. needs, in particular, to return to its revolutionary roots—roots planted in the soil of reason, not divine providence. The path forward will require speaking the truth. Forthright and fair, Majid’s analysis will not satisfy everyone. But that’s exactly the point. “Conversations humanize us; unyielding certitudes turn us into warring tribes and killing machines.”

— Booklist

Most books on Islam these days stress the negative, but Majid builds a highly personal and well documented blueprint for proudly being American and Muslim at the same time. Beneath the media-hyped 'clash of civilizations' there is far too much 'trash talking' and not near enough reasoned exploration of the principles that should unite the best values of both the United States and the Islamic World. As the current 'Arab Spring' demonstrates, the future belongs to those who challenge the status quo rather than pandering to past prejudice and perpetuating the injustice that tarnishes all sides. What make this book stand out from the rest are both Majid's self reflection as a Muslim from Morocco and his passion for retelling the principles that at one time made the American experiment the envy of the world. As Majid persuasively argues, Americans and Muslims do not straddle a rigid cultural divide but can build on shared values if everyone recognizes that past prejudice is the enemy of future progress.

— Daniel Martin Varisco, Hofstra University; author of Islam Obscured: The Rhetoric of Anthropological Representation

Anouar Majid's Islam and America is a bold and courageous book, putting a millennium of history, theology, and culture into context and challenging assumptions on all sides. Islam and America should be read by all who are perplexed at the catastrophic relations between the United States and the Muslim world, between Israel and her neighbors—who might come away with renewed faith that we still have it in our power to begin the world anew.

— Robert J. Allison, Suffolk University; author of The Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World, 1776-1815

Possessed of a profound knowledge of several societies, Anouar Majid is that very rare writer in our noisily polemical culture—someone who offers true wisdom and understanding.

— Pankaj Mishra, author of Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tibet and beyond

Praise for We are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades Against Muslims and Other Minorities:

"Majid draws much-needed comparisons between events leading to atrocities like the Spanish Inquisition and present attitudes and trends, including growing disdain for Muslims in Europe and Hispanics in the U.S. ... With this intriguing historical analysis, Majid sounds a clear warning against the West's latest slide toward cultural scapegoating."

— Publishers Weekly

Praise for We are All Moors: Ending Centuries of Crusades Against Muslims and Other Minorities:

"An alternative history of European xenophobia that will stimulate and provoke readers across the political spectrum. This work will generate criticism and conversation; it will be taken up by intellectual reading clubs as well as graduate seminars and should be made available to all academic audiences as well as informed readers."

— Library Journal

Praise for A Call for Heresy: Why Dissent is Vital to Islam:

"Majid argues that the practice of discussion and dissent, which he broadly dubs ‘heresy,’ has died in Islamic cultures and America, resulting in a dangerous stagnation of thought in both groups—a trait the two groups have in common despite their opposition to each other. He says that Muslims, and some Americans, are incapable of engaging in critical self-examination, afraid to suspend their beliefs even briefly for analysis."

— Publishers Weekly

Praise for A Call for Heresy: Why Dissent is Vital to Islam:

"A towering Islamic intellectual."

— Cornel West

Praise for A Call for Heresy: Why Dissent is Vital to Islam:

"Once upon a time, heretics were burned at the stake. You’re about to meet a man who would put a microphone in their hand and have all of us listen to them. Heresy, says Anouar Majid, just might save us from an apocalyptic future. ... A Call for Heresy: I hope a lot of people read it."

— Bill Moyers

Also of Interest

Jews and Muslims in the Arab World

Islamic Extremism

Jihad and Genocide

Islam on the Street

The New Encyclopedia of Islam

Other Imprints

Muslim Minorities in the West

Dissent and Philosophy in the Middle Ages

Muslim Europe or Euro-Islam

Between Integration and Secession

Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism

Islam in China

	Facebook
	Twitter
	eNewsLetter
	Blog