This
"how to" manual on learning and practicing Islam in America
helps to fill a long unmet need. Its very existence bodes well for the
future of Islam in America and, in sha'Allah, for the future moral
leadership of America in the world.
The
future of Islam in America will depend on how well American-born
Muslims, African-American, Euro-American (including Hispanics), and
Native American, can develop leadership within the overall Muslim
community or Umma. If the Umma is finally maturing
into a positive and creative force in America, capable of bringing out
the best of America's traditionalist past, the primary reason is the
heroic effort of a few muhajirin and ansar, like
Sisters Muzaffar Halim from Pakistan and Betty
Bowman, who are the two authors of this book, The Sun is
Rising in the West.
Sister
Muzaffar has an intense mission to support the struggling new Muslim
in America and has prepared the first half of the book to acquaint the
new Muslims in America with others embarked on this demanding new
life so they know they are not alone and can share their joy in Islam.
Sister Betty Bowman in the second half provides invaluable short
expositions of the basics of Islam. These range from how to perform
the obligatory formal prayer, and the role of prayer in the paradigm
of Islamic law, key points in the history of Islam, a sixty-page
glossary of terms, which may be the most useful part of the book for
some new Muslims, and selected bibliographies on the Qur'an, sirah
or life of the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh), and Islam generally.
Dr.
Robert Dickson Crane, President
The Center for Public Policy Research
Santa Fe, New Mexico - July 4, 1998
