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From
Mecca to Middle America: An American Woman’s STRUGGLE FOR THE
SOUL OF ISLAM
By Asra Nomani
Published by Harper San Francisco
“[Standing Alone in Mecca] records not only this Muslim-American
single mother’s 2003 pilgrimage to Mecca with her infant son,
but also Nomani’s pioneering struggle at her mosque for equal
treatment of women.
Daring to enter the men’s door at the mosque, Nomani is repeatedly
ostracized, and her father — a founder of the mosque — vilified
by his counterparts. Nomani decries the Wahhabi takeover of
American mosques and demands reform — a call that will resonate
with the average American Muslim. The stories of her preteen
niece and nephew introduce readers to a new generation of Muslims
who are American and equality-minded. Through memorable personal
narrative, Nomani gently instructs readers about modern Islam and
her role as a woman in it.”
Publishers Weekly
Former Wall Street Journal correspondent, devout Muslim, and single
mother Asra Nomani embarks on a dangerous journey from Middle America
to the Middle East with her infant son, Shibli, to join more than
two million fellow Muslims on the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca required
of all Muslims once in their lifetime. Her pilgrimage to Mecca is
revelatory — but it turns out that the real battle is back home,
at the mosque her family helped found more than twenty years ago,
in Morgantown, West Virginia.
PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA
Mecca is Islam’s most sacred city and strictly off limits to
non-Muslims. On a journey perilous enough for any American reporter,
Nomani is determined to make the journey with her infant son, Shibli
-- living proof that she, an unmarried Muslim woman, is guilty of zina,
or "illegal sex." If she is found out, the puritanical Islamic
law of the Wahabbis in Saudi Arabia may mete out terrifying punishment.
But Nomani discovers she is not alone. She is following in the four-thousand-year-old
footsteps of another single mother, Hajar (known in the West as Hagar),
the original pilgrim to Mecca and mother of the Islamic nation.
Each day of her hajj evokes for Nomani the history of a different
Muslim matriarch: Eve, from whom she learns about sin and redemption;
Hajar, the single mother abandoned in the desert who teaches her about
courage; Khadijah, the first benefactor of Islam and trailblazer for
a Muslim woman’s right to self-determination; and Aisha the favorite
wife of the Prophet Muhammad and a model of devotion.
Nomani shows how many of the freedoms enjoyed centuries ago have been
erased by the conservative brand of Islam practiced today, giving
the West a false image of Muslim women as veiled and isolated from
the world.
BACK
TO MORGANTOWN
Inspired by the heroic Muslim women, past and present she encountered
on her pilgrimage, Nomani returns to America to confront the
growing sexism and intolerance in her hometown Morgantown, WV mosque.
Daring to walk through the front door and pray in the main section
of the mosque (both reserved for men), Nomani’s simple act sets
off a firestorm of controversy, protests, and death threats, culminating
in an official move by the mosque to excommunicate her. Nomani’s
protests at her hometown mosque continue today.
Standing Alone in Mecca is a personal chronicle, relating the modern-day
lives of Nomani and contemporary Muslim women to the lives of those
who came before, bringing the evolving face of Islamic women into
focus through the unique lens of the hajj. Interweaving reportage,
political analysis, cultural history, and spiritual travelogue, this
is a modern woman’s jihad, offering for Westerners a never-before-seen
look inside Mecca, the embattled heart of Islam in America, and the
changing role of Muslim women in this country.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
ASRA Q. NOMANI is a journalist, author, and an activist for Muslim
women’s rights. The New York Times notes that “her
Rosa Parks-style activism has won change” in her hometown mosque
in Morgantown, WV. A former Wall Street Journal correspondent,
she has also written for the Washington Post and TIME Magazine
on the role of women in Islam, and covered the war in Afghanistan
for Salon.
Born into a conservative but modern Muslim family in India, Nomani
was raised in the foothills of West Virginia. She and her
son Shibli currently live in Morgantown. She is the
author of TANTRIKA: Traveling the Road of Divine Love (HarperSanFrancisco
Publishers; Available Now) and the forthcoming STANDING ALONE
IN MECCA: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam
(HarperSanFrancisco Publishers; March 2005). Visit the author
online at www.asranomani.com.
This
website: Copyright © 2005 Dream
World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved.
The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily
those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible
for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be
reproduced without written permission from the publisher.
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BETWEEN
BORDERS: ESSAYS ON MEXICANA/CHICANA HISTORY
By
Adelaida R. Del Castillo
Published by Floricanto Press
The most comprehensive and complete original history of U.S. Latinas
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To
order: www.floricantopress.com
El
Libro De Caló: The Dictionary of Chicano Slang
By
Harry Polkinhorn, Alfredo Velasco and Malcolm Lambert
Published by Floricanto Press
The most authoritative dictionary and guide to understanding the dialect
popularly spoken by Chicanos in the Southwest. It includes user's guide,
concordance from the English to Caló and index.
To
order: www.floricantopress.com
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