"Dr. Umar urged us to create a pan-American Islamic culture.

Pan-American signifies two critical tasks, one internal and one external to the American ummah: (1) to "create a culture that speaks to us all: black, white, Hispanic, Arab immigrant, Indian immigrant, Pakistani immigrant" and (2) to "make ourselves known [in America] and ... to make friends [in America]." In other words, "an identity that [both] fits here [in America] and brings us all together." Speaking to a DIP audience consisting of second-generation desis, some Arabs, a few African Americans (of the one hundred women attending, seven were African American), fewer Anglos, and one Latino, Dr. Umar talked about how black, white, and Latino converts often feel forced to give up their ethnic American cultural identity in order to be Muslim. He opposed this, insisting that we make "Islam a home and open doors for the black and the white and the Hispanic and the Native American." [17]

"We are New World Muslims," Dr. Umar told the group. The diversity of the American indicates an array of "treasures and knowledge" that can collectively produce "a creative [Muslim] minority," modeling "justice, equality, and good." If "we bring together the best of what is here [in American society] and the best of what we have [in the American ummah], we can create something beautiful."

-Jamillah Karim, American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Class, and Gender Within the Ummah, p. 140