| This dissertation examines contemporary American Muslim exegesis of the Qur'an. I argue that local interpretations of the Qur'an are shaping a new Muslim culture of global importance, where English serves as a Muslim tongue and the Qur'an as an American sacred text. The dissertation is organized in four sections, each exploring the rhetoric of a prominent Muslim American intellectual who represents a distinct stream of Muslim discourse. The first two chapters focus on written exegesis and highlight the work of Fazlur Rahman, a Pakistani-American modernist scholar, and Amina Wadud, an African-American Muslim feminist. I analyze how Rahman and Wadud translate the modern notion of gender to resonate with the Qur'an. The next two chapters present oral interpretations advanced by two preachers, Warith Deen Mohammed, the leader of the largest African-American Muslim movement, and Hamza Yusuf, the most recognizable spokesperson to the second generation of immigrant Muslims. Mohammed and Yusuf serve as examples of the discourse of Islam as an American public religion. I address written and oral modes of interpretation as pedagogies of Muslim collective memory and argue that the Qur'an emerges as an American sacred text when it becomes a locally resonant spoken word. |
