Sumbul Ali-Karamali: The Muslim-Woman-Lawyer-Scholar Next Door
By Asma Hasan, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 10/8/2008
American Muslim Sumbul Ali-Karamali, a corporate lawyer and Islamic law expert, tackles the thorny questions and basics of Islam in The Muslim Next Door: The Qur'an, the Media, and That Veil Thing (White Cloud Press). The September release of the Bay Area resident's first book has already gone back to press.
RBL: Did you feel a need to answer the most pressing and controversial questions about Islam?
Ali-Karamali: The way I chose my topics was really around the questions that I have been asked all my life about Islam. Even though, fundamentally, The Muslim Next Door is an introduction to Islam, I didn't want to take the traditional, abstract approach or the traditional, historical approach. Instead, I wanted to cover the topics that were not covered enough that people were confused about.
RBL: How did your legal training, especially your Master of Laws (LLM) degree in Islamic law, enable you to analyze controversial areas?
Ali-Karamali: The LLM gave me an academic outsider's view...The LLM allowed me to take the approach...here's what Islam says, here's what everyone agrees on, here's where people disagree, here's where people are outside the parameters of where you can disagree, and here's what I think...The LLM really allowed me to focus on: what does Islam say?
RBL: Are Americans learning what they need to know about Islam? Or do misconceptions and hostility seem to be spreading quicker?
Ali-Karamali: I am troubled that the percentage of Americans who think of Islam negatively has increased since 9/11. I think the problem is that in the media there are so many Islamic terms...that are mentioned and never explained...I think there's been a real hunger for my book because it gives a foundation before discussing the meaty, complicated issues.
RBL: How are your neighbors and others reacting to The Muslim Next Door?
Ali-Karamali: We had a block party this weekend, and I was sold out of books! [Another reader] wrote to me and said, "I always knew that there was a lot more that I needed to know, but I didn't know where to get it [until your book]."
