The Muslim Community in Los Angeles
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The Muslim community in Los Angeles constitutes a distinctive group within the larger population, a group shaped around its religious beliefs and ethnic background. Given the volatility of relations in the Middle East, the Muslim community is often faced with the need to respond to different events, and a network of groups, organizations, and spokespersons has developed for this purpose. The Muslim community in Los Angeles has established itself as an important part of the larger community, though at the same time it is not as visible a community as some. The Muslim community does not have a central business district the way the Korean, Japanese, or Chinese communities have or even a cultural center the way the Jewish community has with the Fairfax district. In this sense, the Muslim community has remained more invisible, perhaps from a concern about any backlash that might develop because of actions taken by Middle Eastern countries which would reflect detrimentally on Arab-Americans. Arab-Americans already fight against stereotypes of what Arabs are like in any setting, and part of the social and political effort of Muslims in the United States is to counter such stereotypes and to promote the reality of the diversity within the Muslim community.Arab-Americans fight against the stereotypes offered in the media and elsewhere concerning the nature of the Arab in the Middle East and in the United States. This becomes a particular concern
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es, including particular attention given to Iranian communities in Los Angeles. The first theme is the great difficulty of living a Muslim life in American society. This is first because of the widespread use in American society of foods and drinks that are anathema to Muslims. There are also a number of social mores that conflict with the basic tenets of Muslim values regarding sexual modesty and family authority. Another issue is that the organization of industrial and post-industrial society creates problems in performing such basic obligations as daily prayers or the fasting during Ramadan. Muslims also have to contend with considerable prejudice shown by Americans toward their religion and their religious practices. Muslims in America thus face difficulty in maintaining religious authenticity, and complicating this issue is the variety of answers among Muslims themselves as to what constitutes Islamic piety. There are basic disputes between the Sunni and the Shii Muslims, but there are also more troubling concerns for believers because they are differences among people who assume that they are one community. The Sunnis, for instance, are deeply divided in terms of generations, between second- and third-generation Musl
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Los Angeles, Muslim Americans, Middle East, Shii Muslims, II Arab, Michigan El-Badry, Muslims America, American Muslims, Southern California, Angeles Muslim, los angeles, muslim community, angeles times, middle east, los angeles times, el-badry 1994, community los angeles, muslim leaders, muslim community los, southern california, community los, public affairs, muslim public affairs, islamic center, public affairs council,
Approximate Word count = 3311
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)
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