Burqas, Baseball, and Apple Pie

November 11, 2013
In this memoir-cum-manifesto, Idliby, a Muslim American of Palestinian and Kuwaiti origin, writes about her experiences raising Muslim children in America and being a moderate Muslim, particularly in New York City, post-September 11. Idliby is an eloquent and informed spokeswoman for her faith, and voices like hers are needed in today’s charged political climate. In this book she counters extremists on both sides, Muslim and non-Muslim, with calls for peace and rational dialogue. In particular she focuses on her children’s experiences growing up Muslim and America, with mixed success; while some anecdotes of the conflicts they face with fitting in and standing out are powerful illustrations of fear and prejudice at work, others wander into simple parental indulgence, such as her recounting of her young toddler’s sleep habits. Other aspects of the book also veer from the main focus, such as a chapter addressed to her young daughter. Readers well-versed in Islam should look elsewhere for depth and nuance, but for others it will be a light and likeable introduction to issues facing American Muslims today.

December 1, 2013
One woman's personal examination of Muslim and American values. In this follow-up to her comparative study of Muslim, Christian and Jewish identity (The Faith Club, co-authored with Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner, 2006), Idliby hones in on her family's experiences as American Muslims immediately following 9/11. The author and her husband, then longtime Manhattanites and self-described "secular Muslims," suddenly found themselves and their children challenged by "Muslims who speak for us and Americans who reject us." Thus confronted with repeated calls to account for the whole of Islam, and skewed views of a violent Islam at that, Idliby was forced to look within at what Muslim and American values she held dear. The author charts that reflection, as this daughter of a Palestinian father and Kuwaiti mother who had spent her youth shuttling between Virginia and Dubai painfully relates to her own children's post-9/11 sense of being the "other." Hoping for better for her American-born children, Idliby tailors her remarks for a largely Islam-illiterate American audience, debunking a number of widespread misconceptions about Islam. Refusing to have her children's worldviews constricted by "clerics who peddle seventh century absolute orthodoxy as the only true Islam," Idliby strongly advocates for reading the Quran in the cultural context of its time and not as literal doctrine for 21st-century society. For example, the author explains that female head-covering is a social convention and admonishes those donning the niqab (full face covering) for opting to be "buried alive under a black tent" and, thereby, "erased of their identities." In Mecca, Islam's holiest city, Idliby also points out, "face coverings are banned," underscoring one of the memoir's central points--that "Islam is not a nationality, but a faith, as diverse and varied as its many billion adherents." Such diversity of belief, Idliby compellingly argues, aligns well with American individualism and cherished beliefs in equality, diversity and justice. A bold, intimate, welcome examination of reconciling one's faith in America.

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May 1, 2014

This impassioned, accessible book combines memoir with a critical survey of issues facing modern Muslim Americans.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2013
Some Americans see being Muslim and American as self-contradictory, and the 9/11 tragedy only served to reinforce stereotypes. However, Muslim contributions to the U.S. have existed since the first Muslims came--or were brought--here, much before the American Revolution. This book chronicles the issues and incidents that moderate American MuslimsIdliby's family, in particulardeal with on an everyday basis. Sometimes the issue is defending the compatibility of Islam and American culture, sometimes it's correcting flawed stereotypes, but the through-line is always being true American Muslims, proud of both identities. In some ways, this is reminiscent of El Fadl's The Search for Beauty in Islam (2005), though El Fadl approaches Muslim beliefs from an academic perspective, while Idliby, offering a shorter, more easily read book, approaches them from a practical, lived point of view. This is for readers looking for more insight into the lives of contemporary Muslim Americans and for moderate Muslims interested in exploring how one family deals with dual identity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)