Why "Muslim American" and not "American Muslim"?

A name may not seem terribly significant, especially when referring to others. If you're a man, you may refer to women as "girls," "chicks," "broads," "gals," or "ladies." On the other hand, a woman is more likely to refer to herself as a "woman," rather than with some other label. This is because the other labels have meanings at many different levels. Is there a difference in meaning between "African American" and "American African?" There clearly is. Labels such as "American X" (fill in your favorite group "X," e.g. Jew, Asian, Gay, Italian, etc.) is that the second term often seems to assign the group an identity that implies other than American. Consider "American Hispanic," as opposed to "Hispanic American." The former signifies a Hispanic person who happens to have American citizenship, whereas the latter means an American of Hispanic origin. The former marginalizes, even if unintentionally; the latter is inclusive. So, there is also a difference in meaning between "American Muslim" and "Muslim American."

Muslims in America are, for the most part, an immigrant community coming largely from the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and the Middle East. This is changing rapidly, however, for two reasons. First, many Muslim immigrants have already raised a generation of children who were born in America. These children, many of whom are now adults, have been immersed in American culture and values their entire lives. They have been schooled in America, they participate in sports and cultural events, and they speak English fluently. They are, in every sense of the word, Americans. Most have no desire to reside in their parents' home countries, and those who visit them often feel alien to those cultures. They are also perceived as alien by those "back home," often due to weaker linguistic skills and inadequate familiarity with social customs. They are typically viewed as having less-than-pure ethnicity by the immigrant community in America and, as a result, they are often considered as lesser Muslims by the Muslim community as a whole.

Second, there is a sizeable population of Americans who have converted to Islam. Like the first group, they are Americans and they are Muslims. Many who have converted to Islam often experience the attitude that they too are lesser Muslims within the community, mostly because of their inability to speak any of the major languages like Arabic, Pashtun, Urdu, or Turkish and their total lack of familiarity with immigrant cultures. And, while it is interesting and enriching to sample different foods and customs from around the world, it is equally frustrating to be treated as children who must be taught every minute detail of "proper" eating, drinking, sitting, speaking, dressing, grooming, and worship according to someone else's cultural norms. Along those same lines, it is difficult to be told what to think about global politics, American culture, and American people. After all, our families are American people, and it is extremely unpleasant to digest daily doses of inaccurate stereotypes about them. One case in point is a speech given in a midwestern mosque in which the visiting "scholar" from "back home" informed the audience that 70% of American women are prostitutes. This is fairly exemplary of ignorant attitudes towards America and Americans, in general.

Just as perplexing is the constant bombardment of images and statements by so-called experts on Muslims, whether they are speaking of those residing inside or outside of America. The fact is that Muslim don't hate Jews and Christians. Muslims don't despise America for its freedom and ideals. Muslims don't want to return to a 7th century society. This is particularly true for Muslims living in America, no matter where they were born. It is especially true for Muslim Americans who, after all, only know life in America. Such ignorant attitudes that represent "common knowledge" about the Islamic faith and Muslim people serves to alienate the very people Americans claim they wish to bring over to the "good side." It also serves to foster an "us" versus "them" mentality that further divides people, rather than unite them for the common good. More than anyone, Muslim Americans sit between two sides of a spitting contest, belonging to both and embraced by neither.

Muslim Americans find themselves doubly marginalized by the Muslim community and the American public. Neither are "real" Muslims, nor are they "real" Americans. Labeling them as "American Muslims," meaning Muslims that just happen to have American citizenship is one way this marginalization is perpetuated. This is why the term "Muslim American" helps to build a more definitive identity that reduces alienation and includes them in mainstream America. This is a group of people who are culturally American and religiously Muslim, which presents no conflict since America is a pluralistic society comprised of peoples, religions, and ideologies from all over the world. The term "Muslim American," then, promotes an identity that affirms both religion and nationality in a way that empowers the exercise of religious and national rights and responsibilities with clarity, purpose, and conviction.