Book Review: How To Be A Muslim
by Haroon Moghul
Reviewed by Katherine Cintron
Katherine Cintron is a Deltona High School junior working in volunteer opportunities in communities ranging from art museums and CFCArts to school operations such as SETA, ECO, Howl, and Key Club. Reaching out to competitions and exhibits, she involves herself in ways to better her artistic and educational future to become a professional artist teaching college level students. When not overwhelming herself with school classes, she enjoys reading or watching anything in the genre of sci-fi and studying the branches of science. Drawing every day, writing short stories, and reminiscing her old violin occupies her calming days.
Published 08/13/17
Published 08/13/17
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Haroon Moghul was just like any other Muslim trying to fit in the puzzle of the demanding American society – except his past wasn’t quite ideal. As a youth, Haroon recalled his early childhood memories of illness and adolescence filled with angst. He constantly found himself at obstacles in his path through life. Believing that God always had a small plan of vengeance against him from birth, cursing him with persistent surgeries and hospital visits, Haroon began to question his Islamic religion. Why would God punish him with such strict rules to follow by even stricter parents? Certainly, in return, this led to social anxiety, awkwardness, and being labeled as an outcast until his last years of high school when he discovered Green Day’s “Geek Stink Breath”. Plagued by his traditional religious family, Haroon faced the pressures of living up to his ancestors’ rich history and decided to be an atheist. He didn’t care. He didn’t mind the overbearing thoughts of disappointing everyone he knew. He just wanted to occasionally drink and have a girlfriend. And so he did.
Of course, all upsides have a downside, and eventually he pushed away the responsibilities he knew were peering over his shoulders like sinful vultures. His life began tumbling back down into a bipolar pit of despair. Coping with the Islamophobic pressure of being a second-generation Muslim in America (who could barely call himself that), he studied in multiple professions including psychology and law. Yet he never found a satisfying gratification from any of his efforts. That was when he finally felt something right click in his dejected life. He became the leader of New York University’s Islamic Center and recited the Qur’an to, at first, only a few fellow Muslims, but later to a community of thousands. From that point on, Haroon would touch corners around the globe, speaking on behalf of Muslim-Americans and his revived religion.
On his journey and tours, he encountered marriage, divorce, affairs, and heartbreak. Suicide slowly manifested his dwindling body and mind, as his mental and physical health plummeted at alarming rates. Haroon was a puzzle piece whose edges were too rigid to fit into America’s rounded society.
Never fulfilling a preaching Muslim's shoes, psychologists and therapists did their best to shape his faith and low-self esteem into a man who needed to learn not only to love his daily prayers, but, more importantly, himself. How to Be a Muslim is a book that teaches an American story through pop culture references, Qur’an verses, and a handful of diagnoses from a learning Muslim just striving to be accepted.
Of course, all upsides have a downside, and eventually he pushed away the responsibilities he knew were peering over his shoulders like sinful vultures. His life began tumbling back down into a bipolar pit of despair. Coping with the Islamophobic pressure of being a second-generation Muslim in America (who could barely call himself that), he studied in multiple professions including psychology and law. Yet he never found a satisfying gratification from any of his efforts. That was when he finally felt something right click in his dejected life. He became the leader of New York University’s Islamic Center and recited the Qur’an to, at first, only a few fellow Muslims, but later to a community of thousands. From that point on, Haroon would touch corners around the globe, speaking on behalf of Muslim-Americans and his revived religion.
On his journey and tours, he encountered marriage, divorce, affairs, and heartbreak. Suicide slowly manifested his dwindling body and mind, as his mental and physical health plummeted at alarming rates. Haroon was a puzzle piece whose edges were too rigid to fit into America’s rounded society.
Never fulfilling a preaching Muslim's shoes, psychologists and therapists did their best to shape his faith and low-self esteem into a man who needed to learn not only to love his daily prayers, but, more importantly, himself. How to Be a Muslim is a book that teaches an American story through pop culture references, Qur’an verses, and a handful of diagnoses from a learning Muslim just striving to be accepted.