Threading My Prayer Rug
One Woman's Journey from Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim
Published on 14. June 2016
352 pages
978-1-62872-666-4 (ISBN)
Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WRITING. ONE OF BOOKLIST'S TOP TEN RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY BOOKS. ONE OF BOOKLIST'S TOP TEN DIVERSE NONFICTION BOOKS. Honorable Mention in the San Francisco Book Festival Awards, Spiritual Category
A 2019 United Methodist Women Reading Program Selection
This enthralling story of the making of an American is a timely meditation on being Muslim in America today. Threading My Prayer Rug is a richly textured reflection. It is also the luminous story of many journeys: from Pakistan to the United States in an arranged marriage that becomes a love match lasting forty-five years; from secular Muslim in an Islamic society to devout Muslim in a society ignorant of Islam, and from liberal to conservative to American Muslim; from bride to mother; and from an immigrant intending to stay two years to an American citizen, business executive, grandmother, and tireless advocate for interfaith understanding.
Beginning with a sweetly funny, moving account of her arranged marriage, the author undercuts stereotypes and offers the refreshing view of an American life through Muslim eyes. Sabeeha was doing interfaith work for Imam Feisal A. Rauf, the driving force behind the Muslim community center near Ground Zero, when the backlash began. She recounts what that experience revealed about American society and in a new preface discusses Islam in America in the time of Trump.
A 2019 United Methodist Women Reading Program Selection
This enthralling story of the making of an American is a timely meditation on being Muslim in America today. Threading My Prayer Rug is a richly textured reflection. It is also the luminous story of many journeys: from Pakistan to the United States in an arranged marriage that becomes a love match lasting forty-five years; from secular Muslim in an Islamic society to devout Muslim in a society ignorant of Islam, and from liberal to conservative to American Muslim; from bride to mother; and from an immigrant intending to stay two years to an American citizen, business executive, grandmother, and tireless advocate for interfaith understanding.
Beginning with a sweetly funny, moving account of her arranged marriage, the author undercuts stereotypes and offers the refreshing view of an American life through Muslim eyes. Sabeeha was doing interfaith work for Imam Feisal A. Rauf, the driving force behind the Muslim community center near Ground Zero, when the backlash began. She recounts what that experience revealed about American society and in a new preface discusses Islam in America in the time of Trump.
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Person
Sabeeha Rehman is an author, blogger, and speaker on the American Muslim experience. Her memoir Threading My Prayer Rug: One Woman's Journey from Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim, was shortlisted for the 2018 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, named one of Booklist's Top Ten Religious and Spirituality Books of 2016 and Top Ten Diverse Nonfiction Books of 2017, awarded honorable mention in the 2017 San Francisco Book Festival Awards, Spiritual Category, and chosen as a 2019 United Methodist Women's Reading Program Selection. Excerpts from her memoir were featured in the Wall Street Journal, Salon.com, and Tiferet. Since the publication of her memoir, she has given more than 250 talks in nearly a hundred cities, at houses of worship, academic institutions, libraries, and community organizations, including the Chautauqua Institution, where her lectures have been sold out. Sabeeha has given talks on the art of memoir writing at academic institutions including Hunter College, New York. She is an op-ed contributor to the Houses of Worship column of the Wall Street Journal and New York Daily News. She lives with her husband in New York City.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Prologue: Not a Mosque, and Not at Ground Zero
- Part One: An Arranged Marriage in Pakistan
- 1. It's Arranged
- 2. I Never Said, "I Do": The Marriage Contract
- 3. A Silver Watch: My Splendid Pakistani Wedding
- 4. Marital Advice
- Part Two: A Pakistani Muslim in New York
- 5. A Pakistani Bride in New York: "I Wouldn't Do That If I Were You
- 6. Where Are You From?
- 7. A Muslim Girl in New York: A Holiday Muslim
- 8. Pakistani Pregnancy, American Delivery: A Baptism of Sorts, Plus a Circumcision
- 9. Ramadan without Ramadan: Why I Stopped Fasting
- 10. The Christmas-ization of Eid
- 11. A Muslim among Orthodox Jews
- 12. The Americanization of Yours Truly
- Part Three: Creating a Muslim Space
- 13. Where Do I Begin?
- 14. Building a Muslim Community
- 15. A Muslim Sunday School and a Mosque
- Part Four: Rediscovering Islam: Religion or Culture?
- 16. Born-Again Muslim
- 17. Lower Your Gaze
- 18. Pakistani Islam or a Hybrid?
- 19. Moon Sighting
- 20. Tradition versus Women's Rights
- 21. My Brand of Islam
- 22. Abraham's Sacrifice
- 23. Grounded in Roots
- Part Five: An American Muslim in New York
- 24. An Arranged Marriage for My Sons?
- 25. The Shia-Sunni Schism
- 26. Don't Ghetto-ize Islam
- 27. Flashpoints
- 28. And Then Nothing Was the Same: September 11, 2001
- 29. Extremism and Islamophobia: Viewed from the Eyes of a Muslim
- 30. Upgrading Islam into the Twenty-First Century
- 31. An American Muslim in Pakistan
- 32. An American Muslim in New York
- Acknowledgments
- Glossary
- Photo Insert
