THREADING MY PRAYER RUG

This enthralling story of the making of an American is also a timely meditation on religion and culture.

Beginning with a sweetly funny, moving account of an arranged marriage in Pakistan that would become a love match lasting forty years, Threading My Prayer Rug is the story of many journeys: from Pakistan to America, from which her husband-to-be returned to wed and collect her while he completed his medical residency; from masters candidate to young bride and mother; from secular Muslim in an Islamic society to devout Muslim in a society ignorant of Islam; from liberal to conservative to American Muslim; and finally from Pakistani immigrant intending to stay for only a couple of years to an American of Pakistani origins, a successful businesswoman, grandmother, community leader who helped found a mosque, advocate for interfaith understanding, and cofounder of the New York chapter of a national organization. Threading My Prayer Rug is a richly textured reflection on what it is to be a Muslim in America today. It is also the revealing, always hopeful story of an immigrant's daily struggles, balancing assimilation with preserving heritage, overcoming religious barriers from within and distortions of Islam from without, and confronting issues of children growing up Muslim—while they lobby for a Christmas tree. Sabeeha Rehman was doing interfaith work for Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the driving force behind the Muslim community center at Ground Zero, when the backlash began, and she also offers an insider's account of that experience and what it showed about us. Sabeeha Rehman came to the United States in 1971. When her sons were school age, she earned her masters in healthcare administration and began a career as a hospital administrator. After her grandson was diagnosed with autism, in 2008 she cofounded the New York Metro chapter of the National Autism Association and was its president. She has spent several decades working for interfaith dialogue and was director of interfaith programs at the American Society for Muslim Advancement and COO of the Cordoba Initiative. She lives with her husband in New York City.