An Imam In America Summary

The article “An Imam in America: A Muslim Leader in Brooklyn Reconciling Two Worlds” (2006) is one of a collection of award-winning articles written by Andrea Elliott of The New York Times. The author wrote and published this article on March 5, 2006 at the New York Times in New York. Elliott is quite exceptional in her work, as seen by the effective profiling of the daily conflicts of the Imam Mr. Shata. She wrote a series of articles relate to the experiences of Muslims including “To Lead the Faithful in a Faith Under Fire” and “Tending to Muslim Hearts and Islam’s Future”. The aim of the author in writing the article was to show the changing dynamics of two different worlds, whereby one is conservative while the other is dynamic and engaging.

The story starts at the present day Brooklyn where Sheik Reda Shata works. The story then flashes back to the humble beginnings of Shata back in Kafr al Battikh, Egypt. The author effectively captures the juxtaposition that exists between the radically dissimilar lifestyles. Elliott leads the reader through a dramatic voyage that traverses the politically unstable and poor living conditions in Egypt to the exposed modern American culture. Shata became popular when he reached his new mosque located in Bay Ridge; he now had the freedom to preach to his audience with great wisdom, confidence, and authentic charm. His new role as a new Imam was tied with other responsibilities such as being the police, marriage counselor, matchmaker, and the judge of the local Muslim community. Shata’s story takes a turn to reflect the various concerns he had to face in his role as the Imam of the new modern culture. The concerns were more intense compared to the ones he faced in Egypt due to the tempting environment Muslims had to live in. The author then presents the conflict in the story, which revolved around the Imam’s role in “reconciling of two worlds.” The “two worlds” referred are the conventional and conservative laws and culture of Shata’s home, and the unparalleled and conspicuously controversial issues, which faced the Muslim community in the new

The chronological arrangement of the events in the story presents a well-arranged evidence that supports the author’s thesis. The author highlights specific examples from the day to day life of Imam Shata, which supports the author’s argument. Nevertheless, the author fails to cite any sources or any outside authorities and only uses the main character, Imam Shata, to present the balance of the conflict. She achieves such a balance by showing how the Imam reacts in the face of the two different situations. In addition, the author presents examples of situations in which the Imam welcomed the ‘American’ issues with creativity and flexibility. On the other hand, the author also indicates situations in which the Imam strives to adhere to the traditional Islam laws. It is quite difficult to gauge whether the author has interpreted the information since she only focuses on one