The Face Behind The Veil.

The Face Behind The Veil

Donna Gehrke-White

Citadel Press/Kensington Publishing

850 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022

0806527218 $22.95 kensingtonbooks.com

The Face Behind The Veil: The Extraordinary Lives Of Muslim Women In America is an illuminating and riveting string of more than fifty miniature portraits of Muslim women in America that reveals a many-faceted view of individual Muslim women, or Muslimah. There are perhaps 6 million Muslims in America; the figure is indefinite because the U. S. census does not ask Americans their religious preference. American Muslimah are extremely diverse in origins, hailing from at least seventy-seven different countries. Converts or 'reverts' also come from every ethnic group in America. Perhaps one reason Americans are unaware of the Muslimah in their midst is because they prefer not to draw attention to themselves, due to religious intolerance. There are many different groups and subgroups of the Muslimah in addition to stereotyped downtrodden, traditionally veiled women who are refugees, or facing problems of domestic violence and child custody battles. Some of the new types of Muslimah are categorized as follows: The New Traditionalists wear the veil or hijah, but also include career women as well as full time mothers. The Blenders are Muslimah who wear no head covering and so may not look "Muslim." They are often immigrants, second generation Americans, and career women, but they consider themselves spiritually Muslim. The Converts come from a mix of racial and ethnic groups and sometimes call themselves 'reverts,' because they believe everyone was originally Muslim; thus it is reversion, not conversion to the Muslim faith. Converts sometimes wear traditional women's attire, even adding gloves and long gowns to the veil. The Persecuted Muslimah are women who come to America to escape violence and repression. Coming from countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and India, these Muslimah may be seeking asylum and immunity to sometimes fatal outcomes at the hands of male relatives or husbands. Finally there are the Changers, Muslimah who seek to improve the status of women in Muslim through public declarations, running for public office, and starting nonprofit humanitarian groups to help abused, poor Muslimah. Some of these champion equal rights for women within the mosque. In The Face Behind The Veil, the reader will meet individual Muslimah from each of these groups and more, thanks to tireless interviews collected and deftly edited by Donna Gehrke-White,career journalist and feature writer for the Miami Herald. There are Cherokee heritage mothers, suburban moms, career moms, literate and intellectual women, and desperately poor women who are in fear of their very lives. There are determined Muslimah, canny women who intend to take a stand to improve their future and the future of their daughters. There are many women of widely varied backgrounds who are attracted by the principles of Muslimism. The Face Behind The Veil is an effort to demystify and identify these courageous, ordinary Muslimah to the rest of their fellow Americans. Expect a surprising amount of eye-opening evidence of religious oppression in the land of the free. The Face Behind The Veil may help to correct prejudice and bigotry where it is unconscious, or even perhaps deliberate. It is a profoundly moving book.