Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 254 pages : illustrations; 23 cm

Summary

1. "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"--

Subject

1. Muslim women
2. Muslims, Black
3. Black author
4. Biographies
5. Autobiographies
6. United States
7. Muslim women > United States > Biography
8. Muslims, Black > United States > Biography
9. Abdur-Rahman, Sufiya

Genre/Form

1. Biographies.
2. Autobiographies.

Contents

1. 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 ABCs -- 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.

Call number

1. Sc E 22-1254

Note

1. "The Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction"

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references.

Author

1. Abdur-Rahman, Sufiya, author.

Title

1. Heir to the crescent moon / Sufiya Abdur-Rahman.

Publisher

1. Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, [2021]

Copyright date

1. ©2021

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Creator/contributor characteristics

1. Women
2. Marylanders
3. Periodical editors

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references.

Local subject

1. Black author.

Other form:

1. Online version: Abdur-Rahman, Sufiya. Heir to the crescent moon Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, [2021] 9781609387839 (DLC) 2021008765

LCCN

1. 2021008764

ISBN

1. 9781609387822 paperback
2. 1609387821 paperback

Research call number

1. Sc E 22-1254