Profile of Aminah McCloud, American Muslim Activist

January 17, 2004

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/17/arts/17AMIN.html?ex=1075438800&en=caa4dee3f452442f&ei=5070

On January 17, 2004 The New York Times published a profile on Aminah McCloud, the American Muslim activist. The article notes, "Ms. McCloud, a professor of Islamic studies at De Paul University here who helped establish an archive for American Muslims there 10 years ago, has been gaining national prominence since 9/11 for talking about Islam in America...Yet even more than her news media appearances, Ms. McCloud is known for being an energetic activist among American Muslims. She is a fixture at any number of community meetings and a board member of the American Muslim Council and of the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. She is also proud of the legal work she has done as a consultant for cases of capital murder, divorce and wrongful death in which Islam is an issue. Many Islamic scholars have been called upon by community groups and the news media to explain or even defend Islam, and Ms. McCloud's double role as activist and academic raises old questions about how to mix scholarship and social struggle. Scholars in disciplines like women's studies and black studies have argued about such dual allegiances and about whether it is possible to avoid scholarship that has what Henry Louis Gates Jr. once referred to as a 'thumb on the scale.'"

See also: Islam, Civic, Women