Exploring Identity: A Pakistani Muslim Woman's Journey to Embracing Her American Muslim Faith Through Threading a Prayer Rug

Amazon Customer: I read this book for my Christian book club. Prior to reading the book, I was inwardly aware that I held some fear and bias towards Muslims. I found it difficult to reveal that fact to others, but based on my faith, I knew I needed to address it. Reading this book opened my mind and heart to the life of Sebeeha Rehman and helped me address the issued I've struggled with, especially since 9/11. This book was an entry point in my effort to become educated about Muslims and their faith. The author's sense of humor had me laughing out loud a number of times throughout the book.I would highly encourage anyone to read this book.

United States on Jun 29, 2022

Philip Sailor: I recommend this book highly because it's extremely well written, and because I believe it's important for us to get to know others who come from different cultures and different faith traditions.

Full disclosure: I know the author. I met Sabeeha Rehman at the Chautauqua Institution, a venue she mentions in the book. She is intelligent, articulate, warm, pleasant and thoughtful. The book reflects these qualities.

This is a wonderful story about her evolution from being completely Pakistani to being completely American, and how her faith retained its essence while adjusting to her adopted homeland and its vastly different culture.

It’s a pleasure following her and husband Khalid as they, in fellowship with other American Muslims from a variety of countries, determine which elements of the faith they practiced in the old country were cultural in origin and which were from the Quran.

Other fascinating facets of the book include her arranged marriage, how she and Khalid raised their children, her outreach to other faith communities, her response to 9/11, and how she deals with the hatred of Muslims that grows out of ignorance and prejudice.

United States on Dec 19, 2021

RobinS57: This book is well written and gives an excellent view of life lived between two cultures and how culture and religion change over time/ context and between generations. The author has a gentle sense of humour and an optimistic outlook that is hard to resist!

Canada on Oct 09, 2019

Michael Sayner: I thoroughly enjoyed this book, not just because it was an excellent read, but because it provided me with some realistic well balanced information, which was exactly why I wanted to read it. If you are interested in finding out what The Muslim faith is really about, instead of relying on often biased and inflamatory remarks produced by the media, then you will find this book to be a worthwhile read.

United Kingdom on Aug 30, 2018

Cranky 3950: This was such a touching and informative story. The insights into Bea's childhood in Packistan were fascinating and her adjustments to New York related with humor amidst her trials. All non-Muslims need to remember that tolerance can only be amplified when we are better informed. And this source is fun to read. Thank you Mrs. REHMAN (or should that be Ms.)

Canada on Aug 25, 2018

Alyssa: "I didn't want to make these friends understand; I wanted it to be understood."

I received a copy of this ebook from a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

This book was around 3.5 stars for me.

I enjoyed the content but the style of the writing and format threw me a bit. There's a lot of jumping around in time - we spend time leading up to the author's wedding and things continue chronologically and then she has kids and they grow up and then we jump to her childhood and her parents and into the 2000's then back into the '80's and while the anecdotes and observations shared are interesting having it all flow one direction in time would have been smoother. There's also some repetition of phrases like "Only in America" or "'pocketbook' would come later" that felt less meaningful as the story went on.

This book offers an interesting perspective. Particularly to gain an understanding of Pakistan in the world before the internet and the life adjusting to the US in that same time. I just wish the author would have spent a bit more time reflecting and analyzing in some places, particularly when it came to Mecca and talking about the role of...

United States on Jan 27, 2018

moonrakers: This book is extremely well written and gripped me from the start. I admire the author’s determination and forcefulness of character. She has achieved more and helped more people than most of us do in a lifetime.

United Kingdom on Jan 08, 2018

Amazon Customer: Threading My Prayer Rug was very enlightening as I learned about the Muslum religion. Sabeeha Rehman handled her challenge as a new citizen in New York with determination to make a positive difference for herself, her husband and her family and also others new to the country. I admired how supportive her parents and siblings were. Midway through the book I found some of the information too statistical but I was glad I persevered and read through to the end.

Canada on Nov 14, 2017

Samantha Gibson: I read this for a book challenge; the subject for this week was a book about a different culture, religion or sexual orientation. I wanted to know more about what it is like to be a Muslim women in America. This was a wonderful peek into another culture and I loved the stories around her wedding, moving to America and her religious development. I think the one thing that really stood out was that Sabeeha Rehman is just another American; she loves her family, she wants the best for her children, she is active in her neighborhood/community, she works, uses a computer, watches TV and so an and so on. The differences seem to be no more or no less than anyone else from a different culture and/or religion.

I feel like I learned more about Muslim Women and maybe some of the differences in how the religion is practiced. I think a lot of what I have seen in the media portrays a much more conservative approach and what Ms Rahman lays out is a much more moderate approach. It seems that she really grew into her religion and her experiences and reflections impacted her practice,.

My only issue with the book was that the time line wasn't linear and it would leave me wondering...

United States on Jul 31, 2016

Salmanz: Sabeeha Rehman’s book “Threading My Prayer Rug “ I received my copy and I was curious to know about her journey. As an immigrant we all have an experience of coming to America from somewhere on the globe with our culture and local traditions and then we all are somehow shaped up to become American. That’s the beauty of American culture that it absorbs you and molds you in such a way that you keep your cultural diversity with all American values of liberty justice and equality. It is struggle and it is test of your ability to deal and succeed in your professional life and cultural diversity. I am amazed how Ms Rehman was able to narrate her journey with such an eloquence that the stories have not lost a bit of its flavor. . We immigrants from similar back ground can really relate to it. Beauty of the book is that she was able to narrate her story in such a beautiful way to make it easy for readers to understand describing events in cleverly simple way with engaging and charming style of writing that a person who has no background of that culture can enjoy the story with benefits learning something new . She really was able to redesign and re-thread her rug in to red white...

United States on Jun 11, 2016