“Like a Wolf Who Fell upon Sheep”: Arab Diaspora and Religion in America, 1880–1930

Abstract

Historians of migration have extensively studied the economic, social, and political impact of migration and the secular changes amongst diasporic communities, but changes in religious faith, practice and institutions remain opaque. Yet, they form part of the most intimate aspect of the lives transformed in movement and were, in fact, the most active fault line in diasporic communities and at home. However, in relation to religion in the Middle East, historians have hardly paid any attention to movement of people and ideas across and beyond the geographical boundaries of the region. This makes our understanding at best incomplete and, in some instances, incorrect in identifying the sources, dynamics and reasons for change in religious institutions and faith. This article attempts to fill these lacunae by looking at an example of how migration inflected religious institutions and how faith and religion shaped the migratory experience.