Feature article on growing up Muslim in Maine, profiling Portland-area Muslims.

Janet Blevins

Source

Portland Monthly

Date

12-1-2003

Pages

50-57

Abstract

Feature article on growing up Muslim in Maine, profiling Portland-area Muslims. Dawud Ummah, 47, says that a common misunderstanding is that Islam arrived in Maine with the most recent wave of immigrants. Ummah serves as an "imam," a leader, teacher and advisor, for the small community of Portland Muslims descended from African slaves. As early as 1915, Turkish and Albanian immigrants are said to have created one of the first mosques in the United States, Pepperell Counting House in Biddeford. Habib Sayed is a 23-year-old Muslim from Afghanistan who lives in Portland and works at Idexx. Sayed, whose family moved to Portland from Afghanistan in 1992, said he was already adjusted to American society by the time he graduated from Portland High School. Somalian-born Awralla Hashi-Aldus, 33, serves as language facilitator at Portland High School. She worries about how the next generation will keep the language and culture alive.

Subjects

Ummah, Dawud, Muslims, Hashi-Aldus, Awralla, Sayed, Habib

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