First published in 2016

Preface to the paperback edition -- Prologue: Not a mosque, and not at Ground Zero -- Part One. An arranged marriage in Pakistan -- 1. It's arranged -- 2. I never said, "I do" : the marriage contract -- 3. A silver watch : my splendid Pakistani wedding -- 4. Marital advice -- Part Two. A Pakistani Muslim in New York -- 5. A Pakistani bride in New York : "I wouldn't do that if I were you" -- 6. Where are you from? -- 7. A Muslim girl in New York : a holiday Muslim -- 8. Pakistani pregnancy, American delivery : a baptism of sorts, plus a circumcision -- 9. Ramadan without Ramadan : why I stopped fasting -- 10. The Christmas-ization of Eid -- 11. A Muslim among orthodox Jews -- 12. The Americanization of yours truly -- Part Three. Creating a Muslim space -- 13. Where do I begin? -- 14. Building a Muslim community -- 15. A Muslim Sunday School and a mosque -- Part Four. Rediscovering Islam : religion or culture? -- 16. Born-again Muslim -- 17. Lower your gaze -- 18. Pakistani Islam or a hybrid? -- 19. Moon sighting -- 20. Tradition versus women's rights -- 21. My brand of Islam -- 22. Abraham's sacrifice -- 23. Grounded in roots -- Part Five. An American Muslim in New York -- 24. An arranged marriage for my sons? -- 25. The Shia-Sunni schism -- 26. Don't ghetto-ize Islam -- 27. Flashpoints -- 28. And then nothing was the same : September 11, 2001 -- 29. Extremism and Islamophobia : viewed from the eyes of a Muslim -- 30. Upgrading Islam into the twenty-first century -- 31. An American Muslim in Pakistan -- 32. An American Muslim in New York

"This enthralling story of the making of an American is also a timely meditation on religion and culture. Beginning with a sweetly funny, moving account of an arranged marriage in Pakistan that would become a love match lasting forty years, Threading My Prayer Rug is the story of many journeys: from Pakistan to America, from which her husband-to-be returned to wed and collect her while he completed his medical residency; from masters candidate to young bride and mother; from secular Muslim in an Islamic society to devout Muslim in a society ignorant of Islam; from liberal to conservative to American Muslim; and finally from Pakistani immigrant intending to stay for only a couple of years to an American of Pakistani origins, a successful businesswoman, grandmother, community leader who helped found a mosque, advocate for interfaith understanding, and cofounder of the New York chapter of a national organization. Threading My Prayer Rug is a richly textured reflection on what it is to be a Muslim in America today. It is also the revealing, always hopeful story of an immigrant's daily struggles, balancing assimilation with preserving heritage, overcoming religious barriers from within and distortions of Islam from without, and confronting issues of children growing up Muslim-while they lobby for a Christmas tree. Sabeeha Rehman was doing interfaith work for Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the driving force behind the Muslim community center at Ground Zero, when the backlash began, and she also offers an insider's account of that experience and what it showed about us"--