Browsing by Author "Alnassar, Abdullah"
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Item Conversion to Islam and Impact on Racial Identity(2021) Alnassar, Abdullah; Kurtz, LesterBlack men have converted to Islam in the United States faster than any other minority group throughout multiple generations. This dissertation utilizes a qualitative methodology to investigate this phenomenon and its subsequent impact on Black racial identity. Through nineteen in-depth interviews with Black male Muslim converts, this study uncovered six relevant themes relating to motivations for conversion and subsequent impact on racial identity. Historical, spiritual and cultural motivations were shown to create a matrix of overlapping necessities that served as motivating factors toward conversion. Liberatory themes involving conscious and subconscious racial realignment emerged as post-conversion themes regarding racial identity.Item Islam and the African American Experience(2013-12-03) Alnassar, Abdullah; Alnassar, Abdullah; Kurtz, Lester R.The conversion of African-American men to Islam , has been taking place for many generations. But why are African-Americans, now experiencing a more assimilated position within American society with the second-term presidency of President Barack Obama, choosing Islam, increasingly marginalized in American culture? This thesis not only explores the motivation for this conversion, but also how it affects the converts’ identity and how they place themselves within the broader American landscape. Interviews with African-American men demonstrate a mixture of spiritual fulfillment, historical acknowledgement of Islam and a renewed sense of personal, as well as, group identity within the United States.