Threading my prayer rug : one woman's journey from Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim / Sabeeha Rehman.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2018 WILLIAM SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WRITING. ONE OF BOOKLIST' S TOP TEN RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY BOOKS OF 2016. ONE OF BOOKLIST' S TOP TEN DIVERSE NONFICTION BOOKS OF 2017. Honorable Mention in the 2017 San Francisco Book Festival Awards, Spiritual Category
A 2019 United Methodist Women Reading Program Selection

This enthralling story of the making of an American is also a timely meditation on being Muslim in America today.

Threading My Prayer Rug is a richly textured reflection on what it is to be a Muslim in America today. It is also the luminous story of many journeys: from Pakistan to the United States in an arranged marriage that becomes a love match lasting forty years; from secular Muslim in an Islamic society to devout Muslim in a society ignorant of Islam, and from liberal to conservative to American Muslim; from student to bride and mother; and from an immigrant intending to stay two years to an American citizen, business executive, grandmother, and tireless advocate for interfaith understanding.

Beginning with a sweetly funny, moving account of her arranged marriage, the author undercuts stereotypes and offers the refreshing view of an American life through Muslim eyes. In chapters leavened with humor, hope, and insight, she recounts an immigrant's daily struggles balancing assimilation with preserving heritage, overcoming religious barriers from within and distortions of Islam from without, and confronting issues of raising her children as Muslims--while they lobby for a Christmas tree! Sabeeha Rehman was doing interfaith work for Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the driving force behind the Muslim community center at Ground Zero, when the backlash began. She discusses what that experience revealed about American society.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This candid memoir follows Rehman's journey from the time she had a hurried, arranged marriage in Pakistan through her years exploring a new life with her husband in the United States. From Rehman's first days adjusting to the novelty of electric heating to her faux pas of wearing bridal jewelry in a seedier area of New York, her story is permeated with hilarious personal experiences and asides as she adapts to the country she will soon call home. Rehman lends a strong and compelling voice to moderate Muslims, and her discussion of her faith and the areas she believes need modernization illustrate the different opinions within the Muslim community. The only part of the book that feels off is the prolog, which strikes a note of defensiveness that seems out of character with Rehman's usual confident voice and seems to indicate mistakenly that the work is about her oppression as a Muslim. VERDICT With well-placed humor, Rehman writes an entertaining and honest story of one woman's journey to fuse the cultures of her past and present to create her own experience.-Stacy Shaw, Orange, CA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Rehman's spirited debut memoir illuminates the challenges of living an authentically Muslim life in America. In 1971, her arranged marriage to Khalid, a doctor, took her from her native Pakistan to New York. She humorously relates her confusion on first encountering junk mail, central heating, and bountiful American supermarkets, contrasting her new life with milestones from her early years in England and Pakistan. The Rehmans largely "put religion on hold" until their sons were born, which gave them the impetus to form a Muslim community. They helped start a local Muslim community center, raised funds for a new mosque, fasted for Ramadan, and completed the hajj. As an administrator at an interfaith hospital, Rehman came into contact with multiple religions and participated in cross-cultural feasts and presentations. Throughout, she is keen to draw distinctions between what she sees as essential to Islam and what is cultural and possibly outmoded-particularly rituals that run counter to women's rights. The answer to extremism, she believes, is education and dialogue: "Get to be known and love thy neighbor." With sparkling anecdotes about everything from the "Christmas-ization of Eid" to engineering her son's marriage, Rehman lends a light heart and an open mind to the process of becoming a multicultural "hybrid." (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* The immigrant's dilemma of retaining one's identity while assimilating into American society is always a fascinating story. In this autobiography, readers experience Rehman's transformation from a young woman in Pakistan to a Pakistani American in New York. In the process we see how she navigates American society, retains her identity and passes it on to her children and community, accepts becoming an American, modifies some of her traditions while manufacturing new ones, and enriches her own life and the lives of those around her thus weaving her contribution into the fabric of America, and enriching the American tapestry. The narrative is conversational, as stories blend into one another. The nuances of immigrant life show readers the various shades of assimilation and self-identity all at the same time, and in various degrees, depending on one's values. Rehman's personal journey is her own, but speaks broadly to all immigrant journeys in contemporary America. With so much discussion about Muslim immigrants in the national conversation, it's good to have a story with this unique perspective.--Hassanali, Muhammed Copyright 2016 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A heartfelt memoir plumbs the multilayered experience of being Muslim in America. With a steady infusion of verve and personality, Rehman immerses readers in the traditions of a Middle Eastern culture in which prearranged adolescent marriages (including her own) are not uncommon. In 1971, the author, the accommodating daughter of a lieutenant colonel, arrived in the United States as a 20-year-old Pakistani, planning only to remain in America for two years while her charming, charismatic husband, Khalid, finished his medical residency. Rehman appropriately counters lavish descriptions of gilded pre-wedding rituals and the pageantry of the matrimonial ceremony with discussions of the culture clash as her new life in New York City began. Her tendency to inject plucky, italicized interior asides, however, has the uneven narrative effect of being both whimsical and interruptive. Self-indulgences aside, the author writes candidly about feeling insulted when American women questioned the validity of her predestined marriage or the culture-contradictory ideas of nursing homes for elderly family members. Holidays and childbirth proved more complicated and further loosened Rehman's grip on her religion, and later, she faced the challenge of incorporating Islamic religion into the lives of her Americanized children. Though she stringently resisted her own Americanization, 44 years later, Rehman remains a content citizen with a career in hospital administration, years dedicated to women's equality, and an executive position at an Islamic multifaith organization, which, the author rivetingly details, faced an anti-Islamic backlash for their participation in the construction of a Muslim mosque blocks from the 9/11 site in downtown Manhattan. In her closing remarks, the author reflects on the contemporary shift taking place within her culture, her hopes for continued cultural pluralism in America, and the need for safe community spaces for immigrants "where we can be wholly Muslim and wholly American." Rehman's memoir offers a deeper understanding and appreciation for Muslim lifestyles while imparting a message of unity and international fellowship. A culturally rich and rewarding personal chronicle of ethnic faith and intermingled tradition. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Sabeeha Rehman was born and raised in Pakistan. She came to the United States in 1971 after a hurried arranged marriage to a Pakistani doctor in New York. With a bachelor's degree in Home Economics, she settled into the life of a homemaker. Once both her sons were enrolled full-time in school, she went back to college to get her masters in healthcare administration and began her twenty-five-year career as a hospital executive. Her career spanned hospitals in New York, New Jersey, and Saudi Arabia.

Raising children Muslim in the absence of a Muslim community was a daunting challenge. In the early 1980s, she and her husband began the work of establishing a Muslim community on Staten Island, where they were living at the time. Their efforts culminated in the building of a mosque.