I Speak for Myself American Women on Being Muslim By Eds. Maria M. Ebrahimji and Zahra T. Suratwala (Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press, 2011, pbk. 236 pages.)

Abstract

The anthology, I Speak for Myself, is the first in a series of books that allow
Muslims to write about themselves. This volume is about American
women describing their experiences of being a Muslima ‒ with one from a
man, and further volumes in the series will focus on the American Muslim
male perspective and voices from the Arab Spring. Like most anthologies,
the submissions are uneven, and with forty essays, there are more than a
few poor essays. The editors indicate that they wanted the authors to write
essays that reflected their comfortable relationship to country and faith, but
otherwise they left the theme open.
Although the editors seem to have hoped for a diverse outpouring of
essays, and there is a great deal of diversity, there are certain common
themes. Most notably were a series of essays by women who only talked
about the hijab, as though that was their identity. These essays were fairly
similar to one another, which may be the result of the short length of these
pieces. There is value in keeping the contributions brief, as stories move
along and ideas develop quickly, but is a problem when several people
write on the same issue.
Despite this general criticism, this book is a natural fit for any course
on Islam in America, gender and religion, or even as an introduction to
Islam course. There are some absolutely delightful and fascinating essays
in this collection. The strongest ones dealt with the implicit nature of being
Muslim and American. Rather than discussing either or both identifications,
authors simply talked about their lives. Following are several examples
of these types of essays ...