Islam Our Choice Portraits of Modern American Muslim Women by Debra L. Dirks & Stephanie Parlove, eds. (USA: amana publications, 2003. 298 pages.)

Abstract

This book is a delightful read. The somewhat unoriginal title (compilations
of conversion accounts under the title Islam Our Choice have been around
for several decades, including stories that date back to the mid-twentieth
century) belies the original and unique stories told within. However, these
words might be rather startling for many non-Muslims, and thus pique
their curiosity enough to pick up the book and inquire further.
Islam Our Choice, aimed primarily at non-Muslim Americans, tells
the stories of fellow Americans who have chosen to follow a different path
but who are still Americans. The authors express the hope that “each non-
Muslim American reader will probably be able to relate to and identify
with the pre-Muslim background of at least one of the authors” (p. 2). The
inclusion of family photos and illustrations adds to the book’s visual
appeal and shows the contributors as ordinary Americans who are at home
with their new identity as Muslims.
Although the contributors cover a wide range of geographical locations,
levels of education, and career paths, their ethnic and religious backgrounds
cover a narrower range. Most of the respondents were former Christians of
varying denominations, and most are white; one African-American woman
also contributed her story. It is now well known that there are Jewish,
Latinos/Latinas, and Native American converts, and, hopefully, their stories
will be told in the near future in order to present a fuller picture of how Islam
is reaching all sections of American society.
The book opens with a brief overview of Islamic faith and practice, Islam
in America, and a comparison between the position of women in modern
America and in Islam. This sets the scene, as it were, for readers who may be
unfamiliar with the Muslim world and with Muslim communities in the West.
Written according to the introduction’s general outline, each chapter
relates the story of an American woman who has come to Islam. All contributors
offer insight into their childhood worlds, whether they were cozy
and relatively uneventful, or dogged by poverty and such family troubles
as alcoholism. Debra L. Dirks introduces the Mennonite culture from
which her family comes, and Khadijah R. Beruni sheds light on the two
worlds of her childhood in an extended African-American family: living ...