Finding Mecca in America How Islam is Becoming an American Religion By Mucahit Bilici (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2012. 257 pages.)

Abstract

The notion that Islam is “Becoming an American Religion” may be unnerving
to those who see America’s roots in its Christian, and more recently
Judeo-Christian, heritage. Yet, given the rate of growth and development of
American Muslim institutions and social networks, it may be more apt to
speak of Islam as part of an American multireligious heritage. In Finding
Mecca in America: How Islam is Becoming an American Religion, Muchit
Bilici explores the rapid increase of American Muslim educational, cultural,
religious, and civic institutions, as well as how September 11, the so-called
war on terror, and most recently media coverage of the Arab Spring have given
American Muslims a unique visibility in the American public sphere.
Bilici demonstrates how multifarious individuals and coalitions have
banded together to counter negative public sentiments toward Islam and Muslims,
to advocate for legal protections against discrimination, and to help fashion
a cultural and religious niche for the community’s faith, practices, and
presence. Even as public narratives about Muslims tend to emphasize “elements
of chaos, instability, and danger,” sympathetic representations of American
Muslims as “next-door neighbors” or “decent Americans struggling for
their civil rights and in need of empathy, understanding and respect” are becoming
more prevalent in major media venues from National Public Radio
to the New York Times (p. 3). In turn, Muslims are demonstrating their collective
abilities to define authentically American identities through social and
political activism, forms of strategic public outreach, even ethnic comedy ...