Logo image
  • BookDragon
  • About
  • The Blogger
  • Review Policy
  • Smithsonian APAC
 
43291
post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-43291,single-format-standard,stardust-core-1.1,stardust-child-theme-ver-1.0.0,stardust-theme-ver-3.1,ajax_updown_fade,page_not_loaded,smooth_scroll

BookDragon Blog

08 Jan / How to Be a Muslim: An American Story by Haroon Moghul [in Library Journal]

With raw honesty (the memoir opens with suicide ideation), debilitating angst (the unrelenting hold of mental illness), and humor when least expected (the terrors of securing a prom date), Haroon Moghul’s memoir becomes an illuminating antidote to contemporary Islamophobia.

As the U.S.-born son of immigrant Pakistani parents, Moghul was a sickly child and a social misfit in school, who now is working his dream job “sure-footedly navigating a privileged world of pundits, politicos, policymakers.” He’s also what he refers to as a “professional Muslim” who, despite his recurring discomfort with his own spiritual relationship, has lectured globally about Islam; he doesn’t hesitate to expose himself as both atheist and spokesperson for his religion. In his doubt, questioning, and beseeching, Moghul models a universality in the ultimate relationship between man and maker.

Narrator Kamran R. Khan is a fitting cipher, his well-modulated voice always in control despite the swings between the commonplace and harrowing that happen across Moghul’s story.

Verdict: Audiences previously enlightened by Omar Saif Ghobash’s Letters to a Young Muslim and Amani Al-Khatahtbeh’s Muslim Girl should add this Muslim to their shelves.

Review: “Audio,” Library Journal, January 1, 2018

Readers: Adult

Published: 2017

By Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Nonfiction, Pakistani American, Repost, South Asian American Tags > BookDragon, Civil rights, Family, Friendship, Haroon Moghul, How to Be a Muslim, Kamran R. Khan, Library Journal, Politics, Religious differences
No Comment

Post a Comment
Cancel Reply

Smithsonian Institution
Asian Pacific American Center

Capital Gallery, Suite 7065
600 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20024

202.633.2691 | APAC@si.edu

Additional contact info

Mailing Address
Capital Gallery
Suite 7065, MRC: 516
P.O. Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012

Fax: 202.633.2699

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

SmithsonianAPA brings Asian Pacific American history, art, and culture to you through innovative museum experiences and digital initiatives.

About BookDragon

Welcome to BookDragon, filled with titles for the diverse reader. BookDragon is a new media initiative of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and serves as a forum for those interested in learning more about the Asian Pacific American experience through literature. BookDragon is inhabited by Terry Hong.

Learn More

Contact BookDragon

Please email us at SIBookDragon@gmail.com

Follow BookDragon!
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Looking for Something Else …?

or