Self-preservation
Besides the native American response to the Islamic message, there is also the response of the long established and Americanised Muslim immigrants to the American Dream. This group of Muslims from different parts of the Old World has also emerged in recent years to assert its Muslim identity within the framework of Americanism.
One of the earliest efforts at reconciling the Islamic faith and the American Dream was that of the members of the Federation of Islamic Associations. Founded by Arabs from the Levant and the Fertile Crescent, but later joined by other Muslims from elsewhere, this group of Muslims was drawn mainly from immigrants and naturalised Americans who had succeeded or were trying to succeed in America. Like the other immigrants and children of immigrants, they too pursued the American Dream and ‘reinforced the Puritan strain in the American tradition (and)... enhanced the conservative streak which runs all through American culture’. In the special case of the Muslim immigrants, one can argue that their determination not to see the community lose its identity in the American environment led them to throw up barriers. Activities like dancing, gambling, drinking and dating American-style, which serve as vehicles for American encroachment, were banned and discouraged. Yet there were cases when even these efforts at self-preservation proved unsuccessful. This was particularly true among the Arab Muslim immigrants in the Midwest. This effort of the Federation of Islamic Associations to reconcile its members with the American Dream was made possible by the various local Islamic centres and organisations ministering to the needs of the Muslims at the local level. By organising these centres at the national level, some semblance of unity was developed, although I would hasten to add that greater mobilisation of the Muslim community was to take place much later.
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