Writer recalls being only Arab kid in U.S. town(05/23/13:20)
……………………By Andrea Shalal-EsaWASHINGTON (Reuters)
- Growing up Muslim in the Midwest during the 1970s was an often terrifying experience for Mohja Kahf. Vandalism, verbal attacks and even rifle threats happened so often they became routine."It felt like I was being worn down daily by these kinds of things," said Kahf, a Syrian-American poet and scholar who lived in Indiana until she was a teenager.Once, she recalled, a farmer at a roadside stand aimed his gun at her family when they stopped to buy some fruit. Her father told Kahf and her siblings to crouch down in the back of the car as he tried to pull away, except to their horror, the car wouldn't start."We had to get out and run," she told Reuters.That incident and many others left an indelible mark on Kahf. Now they've found their way into a semi-autobiographical novel, "The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf," along with the joy and comfort of growing up in a close-knit, conservative religious community.It is a coming-of-age story about a young Syrian-American woman who struggles to carve out a unique identity after growing up among a diverse group of Muslims in an often antagonistic, Christian and very white Indiana town.Released last fall, the book has already gone into a third printing, possibly benefiting from higher interest in Arab- and Muslim-Americans since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, another umbrella group, about a quarter of America's six to seven million Muslims are Arab, a third are South Asian, and a third African-American. Others are European immigrants or Caucasian converts.Indiana has 280,000 Muslims out of a total population of about 6.3 million."We were the only Arab kids in town, the only Muslim kids," Kahf said, remembering that each day she'd wave as she passed the house of a former teacher, but the woman never waved back."We never registered with her as people. We were peripheral," said Kahf.Kahf began the novel as a loose collection of stories for her own children about her years in Plainfield, Indiana, home to the Islamic Society of North America, a Muslim umbrella group.MAINSTREAM MUSLIM NOVELKahf's book is not the first-ever Muslim-American novel, but it is among the first to reach a mainstream audience, said Heather Hoyt, who teaches literature at Arizona State University."The way in which she illustrates the diversity of Muslim-American identity is one of her greatest contributions," said Hoyt, noting that Kahf challenges readers' stereotypes about Muslims, as well as Muslim stereotypes of Americans.For instance, the main character's devout Muslim mother winds up bonding with her equally devout Mormon neighbour, overcoming her own stereotypes about Americans.The Muslims in the book include immigrants from Arab and Asian countries, as well as U.S.-born black Muslims, many of whom have felt left out of post-9/11 discussions about Islam.Barbara Austin, a Catholic nun and prioress of St. Joseph Monastery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, said the main character's quest for a personal and religious identity reminded her of her own spiritual journey."There was a personal identification with someone growing up in a stricter religious backgound ... but then coming back and walking that path for herself," she told Reuters.Austin recently joined a Catholic-Muslim discussion group, and said she hoped books like Kahf's could help promote a greater understanding of Islam in the United States.Kahf has also published a book of poems entitled "E-mails from Scheherazad" and a scholarly review of the way Muslim women are represented in Western texts."TALK TERRORISTIC TO ME, BABY"In addition, she writes racy short stories and non-fiction essays for a column entitled "Sex and the Ummah" for a p rogressive Islamic website, www.muslimwakeup.com. Ummah is an Arabic word that refers to the "community of believers."Her stories include lines such as "Talk terroristic to me, baby," and "Do we get d*** in heaven? Men get p****. Do we get d***?"The stories offend some conservative Muslims, but they have been warmly received by website readers and college students."She touches on a lot of things that you might say are taboo," says Diana Abu-Jaber, another Arab-American writer and professor. "She has a kind of irony that really speaks to Western readers. She doesn't back down from stuff."In one poem, Kahf answers questions about the head scarf she often wears: "No, I'm not bald under the scarf ... Yes, I speak English/ Yes, I carry explosives/ They're called words/ And if you don't get up/ Off your assumptions/ They're going to blow you away."Kahf is enjoying the momentary limelight, but says the book should not be seen as representing all U.S. Muslims."When we have tons of Muslim novels, then it'll just be one among many, but now it's being sort of pushed or paraded as 'the' Muslim book," she says.

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