Browsing by Author "Ferguson, Jauhara I"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemEmbargo
    Race, Religion, Marriage, and the Making of Black American Muslims
    (2025-04-25) Ferguson, Jauhara I; Howard Ecklund, Elaine
    Black Americans have the highest rate of religious belief and participation in the United States; yet studies on marriage overlook the impact of religion on the marriage choices of Black Americans. Likewise, extant literature on religion and marriage focuses primarily on Christian communities, ignoring the connections between religion and marriage for Muslims, a significant religious minority among Black Americans. To fill these gaps, I interview 44 never-married Black Muslims living in Houston or Atlanta. I ask: How do religion and race shape marriage processes among Black Muslims? And to what extent do Muslim marriage processes shape Black Muslim identity? I outline the multiple ways that Black Muslims seek out marriage and consider how race, gender, and immigrant status intersect with religion to shape Muslim marriage processes. Although Black Muslims draw on Islamic frameworks to give meaning to marriage, they actively negotiate these frameworks to decide how to navigate romantic relationships as practicing Muslims in the United States. Given the sociohistorical legacies of anti-Black racism in the United States, Black Muslims identify significant challenges to marriage within Black communities and look to Islam as a potential tool to address these broader community concerns. While Islam frames their perceptions of marriage, Black Muslims frequently encounter racialized barriers to marriage within the multiethnic Muslim American community. I consider how Black Muslims navigate these racialized barriers, and I argue that through this process, marriage becomes a site of both religious and racial identity formation. I examine how gender shapes experiences with racialized barriers to marriage in the Muslim American community and illustrate how such experiences can push Black women to reinterpret Islamic frameworks of marriage. Additionally, I analyze the marriage processes of immigrant-origin Black Muslims and show the extent to which family-origin and ethnicity shape marriage opportunities and choice. My findings show how U.S. Black Muslims use Muslim marriage to highlight their place as Muslims in American society, while simultaneously articulating their unique position as Black people. I illustrate how the formation of Black Muslim identity compels Black Muslims to see themselves as distinctive in both Muslim American community and in American national contexts.