The Defining Duʿā’ A Study of Contested Meanings 26 in Immigrant Muslim Schools in the New York City Area

Abstract

Using ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with students and teachers in two Sunni Muslim high schools in the New York City area, the author examines how Muslim Americans understand and practice prayer, specifically salah, or ritualized daily prayer, and du’a, or invocation. The author contrasts du’a and salah, showing how salah is understood as a central and largely unchangeable element of Muslim daily life, while du’a is much more mutable, becoming increasingly less formalized, including the comfort many respondents feel making du’a in English. The author postulates certain explanations for this difference, including the importance of the physical processes within salah and the influence of the American religious landscape, which often encourages more individualistic and less formalistic spirituality. As a result of the American tendency towards spiritual democracy and immediacy, key elements of Muslim spiritualty are changing for young American Muslims.