american muslim culture

I didn't see this as clearly before blogging, but these days, I'm more exicited about the idea of participating in, and in small ways contributing to, an American Muslim culture. Part of the reason why I didn't see it as clearly before is that the term "American Islam" (in my mind) tends to suggest compromising and selling out for reasons of convenience; altering Islamic principles to accomodate to life of America. And if I were talking about changing Ramadan to December or changing jummah to Sunday morning that would be the case. But I'm not.

What I have in mind by "American Muslim culture" is just the natural product of Muslims, living in America, getting together, letting their creative juices flow and expressing themselves. Not just becoming doctors, lawyers and engineers (which are perfectly good occupations) but also becoming writers, performance poets, calligraphers, photographers, musicians or even comedians (also good occupations).
Not just maintaining and repeating the cultural forms from "back home" but coming together with Muslims here and creating and inventing new ones.

Before Planet Grenada, in the back of my mind, I knew there were isolated Muslims or small groups of Muslims, out there doing these things, but it wasn't till now, with the process of reading and writing about them, that it really sunk in how much has already been done. (This is especially true in jazz and hip-hop where many Muslims have gotten a high degree of mainstream recognition for their skills).

Right now, Muslim culture in the United States is still in its early early stages, but with more networking and organizational/institutional support it could grow into something amazingly beautiful. Muslim hip-hop forums, Muslim writers groups, Muslim poetry open mikes, artist collectives, etc. It is encouraging to see these connections being made and I can't wait to see what the future will hold.