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Heir to the Crescent Moon
Title
Heir to the Crescent Moon / Sufiya Abdur-Rahman.
ISBN
9781609387839
9781609387822
Publication
Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, [2021]
Manufacture
Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2021
Copyright Notice Date
©[2021]
Physical Description
1 online resource (269 pages).
Local Notes
Access is available to the Yale community.
Notes
"Winner of the Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction."
Description based on print version record.
Access and use
Access restricted by licensing agreement.
Summary
"From age five, Sufiya Abdur-Rahman, the daughter of two Black Power-era converts to Islam, feels drawn to the faith even as her father, a devoted Muslim, introduces her to and, at the same time, distances her from it. He and her mother abandoned their Harlem mosque before she was born and divorced when she was twelve. Forced apart from her father--her portal into Islam--she yearns to reconnect with the religion and, through it, him. In Heir to the Crescent Moon, Abdur-Rahman's longing to comprehend her father's complicated relationship with Islam leads her first to recount her own history with it. Later, as she seeks to discover what both pulled her father to and pushed him from the mosque and her mother, Abdur-Rahman delves into the past. She journeys from the Christian righteousness of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.'s 1950s Harlem, through the Malcolm X-inspired college activism of the late 1960s, to the unfulfilled potential of the early-'70s' black American Muslim movement. When a painful reminder of the reason for her father's inconsistent ties to his former mosque appears to threaten his life, Abdur-Rahman's search nearly ends. She's forced to come to terms with her Muslim identity, and learns how events from generations past can reverberate through the present. Told, at times, with lighthearted humor or heartbreaking candor, Abdur-Rahman's story of adolescent Arabic lessons, fasting, and Muslim mosque, funeral, and eid services speaks to the challenges of bridging generational and cultural divides and what it takes to maintain family amidst personal and societal upheaval. Writing with quiet beauty but intellectual force about identity, community, violence, hope, despair, and faith, Abdur-Rahman weaves a vital tale about a family: black, Muslim, and distinctly American"-- Provided by publisher.
Variant and related titles
Project MUSE complete collection 2021.
Format
Books / Online
Language
English
Added to Catalog
July 17, 2023
Contents
Prologue: My father
The opening
My sister's keeper
Mercy (Ali vs. Liston)
Black Muslim ways
Allah's viceroy
Seasons change
Found in translation
Snapping
The distance between us
Made whole
Breathe again
Surrender at the cinema
The all American
The awakening (mood blue)
Black revolutionary
Malcolm X resurrects
Becoming Muslim
The A, B, Cs
Facing destiny
My father said so
Long-distance mentality
Club for believers
Thanksgiving
America, the beautiful
Muslim, or not?
Her own way
Better Muslim than I
Making waves
Islamic sensibility
What's in a name?
The stars align
Meant to be
No turning back
Dumb
The spirit of Allah
My burden
Darkness on the horizon
We wouldn't be here
The search for truth
Being Black and Muslim
Revelation
My fault
All that was left
Wishing him well
History holds power
Epilogue: My son.
Subjects
Genre/Form
Biographies.
Also listed under
Project Muse. distributor
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