Program 10: The Immigrant Experience

     There are between two and four million Muslims in North America. Roughly half are Afro-Americans; a small number are white Americans who have converted, usually through marriage. The remainder are immigrants from Asia, Africa and the Arab world. (Although the first immigrant Muslims came to North America almost a century ago, the presence of significant Muslim communities in North America is a recent phenomenon).

     For these Muslims, North American society represents a constant challenge to their Islamic values and way of life. But by no means all immigrant Muslims share the same hopes and fears or feel these pressures equally. The response differs according to the ethnic origin of the Muslim and the degree of his or her individual success within this society.

     Most Muslims want to preserve their Islamic identity and see it passed on to the next generation. What are their chances of maintaining those values? What compromises must they make with American society? And at what cost?

People interviewed in this program: Aziz Abraham, Ramsey Hassan, Sam Hassan, Rabie Ahmed, Tariq Qurayshi, Daud Assad, Abdul Aziz Sachadena, Salahadin Malik, Akbar Muhammad, Alixa Naff, Somi Malik, Bora Pervane, Rafil Dhafir, Salwa Malik, Alae-Eldin Sayed, Shakir Zaganjori, Abdul Hamid, Shiraz Ismail