Person:
Riaz, Freeha

Profile Picture

Email Address

AA Acceptance Date

Birth Date

Research Projects

Organizational Units

Job Title

Last Name

Riaz

First Name

Freeha

Name

Riaz, Freeha

Filters

20171

Settings

Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.023799d6-427e-447f-84b2-67722b0beeae

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Publication
    From Erasure to Emergence: African-American Muslim Women and the Changing Face of the American Mosque
    (2017-04-27) Riaz, Freeha; Frederick, Marla; Ostrowski, Don
    This thesis aims to consider one aspect of religiosity of African-American Muslim women—who now constitute the majority of the converts of the fastest growing religion of America—and the praxis of their faith vis-à-vis their engagement within the mosque and its affiliated communites. The primary intent of this ethnography is to understand the “essence” or conscious effort from the perspective of African-American Muslim women of their experiences of engaging within the mosque and its affiliated communities. Secondarily, this study attempts to tease out how and why the mosque, instead of another locus, become an important performative space for African-American women. The distillation of the narratives of my informants, reveals to me, that Islam for the women is a liberatory “worldview” within which they find agency. Stepping into the new worldview of Islam compels them to negotiate an identity that validates their gender in the context of their religious framework. These permutations range from issues of gender segregation, to hijab, to polygyny—all gendered issues that must be negotiated by the indigenous Muslimas. As I have found, for the women, their approach to their Islam and its praxis finds its genesis in notions of equity. Furthermore, the praxis of their faith seeks to validate the women with an identity that is “authentically” Islamic and American. This in turn affords the women agency to read their Islam in the manner they deemed most fit—an endeavor which they continuously strive to perfect. The mosque for the women serves as a conduit through which the women not only empower themselves, via mastering their faith, but also forge bonds within the sisterhood of the ummah—a community of believers. As the women tell me, the mosque and those who practice the faith play a profound role in facilitating their transformation. The mosque is not merely a venue for the praxis of their individualized Islam—rather it is a living model which contributes immensely to their Islamic worldview. The mosque serves as a point of convergence where a Muslima can convene a framework which merges her newfound deen and its actuation into a permutation that has a profound effect on how she encounters the worldview of Islam.