White Muslim: From L.A. to New York...to Jihad?

by Brendan Bernhard

In the wake of 9/11, it's a perverse and puzzling A growing number of young, middle-class, white men from the American suburbs are embracing militant Islam. John Walker Lindh, the young Californian captured in Afghanistan fighting with the Taliban, is only the most extreme example of something that is becoming surprisingly widespread. In a riveting investigation that started as a controversial cover story for L.A. Weekly , award-winning journalist Brendan Bernhard charts the journey of one such young man. "Charles" is a handsome young slacker from the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance who-inspired by the 9/11 tragedy itself-moves to New York City and starts wearing a white thobe tunic, driving a cab, and studying an increasingly militant and intolerant brand of Sunniism. Bernhard walks the streets of New York with the cheerful and forthcoming Charles and joins him in his cab while he observes the infidels. The writer accompanies the young acolyte to prayer meetings at both a packed Upper East Side mosque and a tiny storefront in Queens. He interviews Charles' friends and family and talks to his teachers. But Charles isn't the whole story. Bernhard also attends conversion classes and talks to other equally surprising converts. He depicts a Friday night prayer meeting complete with fire and brimstone sermon and profiles the Imam. He talks to numerous experts-both from the academy and the government-and learns more about the psychological underpinnings of the movement, which is going on in Europe as well. Do we have something to fear from this phenomenon? Bernhard's findings make this far more than a profile of one searching young man. It is a gripping study of a fascinating subculture that is growing daily. Brendan Bernhard is a correspondent for L.A. Weekly . His journalism has won numerous awards, including a PEN Center USA Literary Journalism Award, as well as numerous honors from the Los Angeles Press Club and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.

Genres: Nonfiction

187 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2006

Reviews

[Melville House Publishing · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seemed the height of perversity: In response to the horrific September 11th attacks, one young American decided to convert to Islam.

And when, by chance, reporter Brendan Bernhard came upon him leaning on his cab outside a storefront mosque on New York’s Lower East Side, he was struck by the very sight: Charles was a handsome, blue-eyed Californian from the L.A. suburbs, dressed in an all-white tunic, with a big smile and charming manner... preaching a particularly severe form of Islam.

Intrigued, Bernhard plunged into the story. Were people like Charles, or like John Walker Lindh—the young Californian captured fighting with the Taliban—simply malcontents?

What Bernhard uncovered was more complex, surprising, and worldwide: a huge mosque on New York’s Upper East Side, packed with thousands of people and more waiting to get in; an Australian would-be jihadist shocked to find himself having dinner with “that bloke on the telly,” Osama bin Laden; rising numbers of Hispanic converts; deepening unrest in the suburbs of London and Paris.

Interviewing other converts – a middle-aged Jewish professor, a trendy twenty-something in Tribeca – as well as charismatic imams, security experts, and more, Bernhard’s White Muslim probes this unexpected subculture in a penetrating investigation that asks: Is this something to fear?

[Cristina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. Even while reading, I really wanted to like this book. I enjoyed the vocabulary, his writing style, even how he pieced it all together. The only problem I had was his whole story, that Muslims turn into extremists.

He made all these blanket statements about Muslims and the convert experience and I just wrote a paper on the American convert experience and it was nothing like this. It's different for a lot of people. Not to say there aren't the few places with crazies, but that's every faith. To make it seem like it's inevitable for all Muslims who convert and go to mosques, is not real Islam.

Islam changes with every setting -- town, country, time frame, etc. There is also a difference between the way people practice and what is prescribed. And his whole Islam oppressing women thing? If that was the case, there wouldn't be as many women converts as there are.

I hope Bruce Randall was right when he said "They know when they're being fed a line of B.S. It makes people check things out for themselves, see if all the demonization is really true..." (179). I hope people don't stop with this book, but go and read other books about Islam and the convert's experience.

[Denise Ballentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book opened my eyes to the fascinating and somewhat scary phenomena of the growth in conversions to the Islamic faith since 9-11. Written in journalistic and investigative style, the author has crafted a very informative,interesting, and sometimes, chilling piece. Not inflammatory or incediary in any way, I felt Bernhard did an admirable job of reporting what he saw and learned. Every American should read this book.

[James Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This guy has writing chops to die for. The story of how a kid goes from suburban goth to jihadist is a page turner. In the best parts, it is a fascinating journey into a very complicated terrain. In the worst parts it has a slight paranoid undertone.

[Foxglove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy but simplistic and rather too brief for such a rich subject