i skimmed the survey listed below. LOTS …
i skimmed the survey listed below. LOTS of stuff, you got to read. two general points
1) some of the stress felt by muslims seems pretty clearly due to anti-muslim sentiment which is particular & distinctive to muslims. i.e., it can’t just be attributed to the fact that a large % of muslims are racial minorities (some of the questions seem pretty keyed in to this reality).
2) some of stress and anomie seems to be a byproduct of the demographics of muslims. i.e., in many social & demographic ways african american muslims are far more like african american christians than asian muslims (who are mostly south asian i’m sure). some of the questions also suggest to me that there is something more than the conventional level of anomie in the african american community at work, but rather a trend which emerges from the fact that large numbers of muslims who
a) convert to islam and so move themselves out of prior social networks
b) but are not fully integrated into a muslim social network
i think this is most well illustrated by the demo of “asian muslims,” who are probably the least likely to be converts, and so have a natural communal framework which is historically robust. in contrast, many of the black and white muslims are converts with weaker historical ties, and don’t have as many people to rely on.
Tariq Nelson 3:49 pm on March 2, 2009 Permalink |
This is part of the reason I think that one can’t look at things in terms of a “Muslim Community” but Muslim Communities. The numbers would make a lot more sense when seen through that prism.