Invisible Muslim, The: Journeys Through Whiteness and Islam

- Blurb -

Who are Western Muslims? Are they nameless taxi drivers and shopkeepers, or celebrity bakers and athletes? Yemeni poor or Saudi rich? Marginalised or privileged? Are hijabi women ultra-made-up and bejewelled, or suffocatingly swathed and oppressed? The nymphomaniacs of Orientalist fantasies, or the sexually repressed puritans of tabloids?An Anglo-American born to Sufi converts, Medina Tenour Whiteman stands at the margins of whiteness and Islam. In The Invisible Muslim, she highlights the alienation that comes with feeling inwardly disconnected from majority-white cultures, while not outwardly appearing Muslim. Pushing the boundaries of thinking about Muslim identity, Whiteman explores what it can mean the world over; examines the pernicious effects of white Muslim privilege; and contemplates how multiple identities and backgrounds shape our relationships and sense of self.Whether in lands of religious diversity or cultural insularity, from Andalusia, Bosnia and Turkey to Zanzibar, India and Iran, Whiteman's travels unearth experiences familiar to both Western Muslims and anyone of mixed heritage: a perennial search for belonging; the difficulties of balancing conflicting social norms in friendship, love and the everyday; and the joys and crises of inhabiting more than one identity.