PhD

dissertationThis study examines the early Muslim immigrants' challenges of adaptation to and assimilation into the American mainstream society in the Salt Lake Valley in Utah. It finds that some Muslims in the pre-1965 era accepted the melting pot notion of total assimilation as the Americanization process, e.g., Moses Kader's family. Others rejected total assimilation, choosing not to lose their original identity. They lived in isolation as outsiders for decades before they finally returned to their home countries, e.g., Darwish and Ismael Kader. Another consequence of this uncompromising challenge was that Muslim community organization did not form in the Salt Lake Valley area during the early pre-1965 era primarily because of the melting pot assimilationist norm of American mainstream society. The development of Muslim community organizations was delayed until the new era marked by the liberalization of American immigration policy in 1965. The study also found that in the initial years of Muslim community building there was a better coordination and solidarity of internal relationships among Muslims of diverse backgrounds, such as Shia, Sunni, Pakistani and Arab etc., as the size of the community was smaller and weaker when confronting the challenges of the dominant melting pot notion and culture. With time, however, the size of the community grew larger and so did the self-confidence among the groups, so much so that what followed was increased dispute and conflict between Muslim groups. Eventually, the condition of the Society changed: increased membership, increased number of mosque facilities within the community and an increased number of internal conflicts such as sectarianism, factionalism and ethnic groupings. Yet, Muslims in general and those divided groups in the Salt Lake Valley area are adapting well to the new American phenomenon of the multicultural American mainstream