In her piece in The New York Times, Andrea Elliott masterfully writes and organizes this long-form piece about an imam who faces the challenges of tailoring his Muslim teachings to the people of a modern mosque in Brooklyn. One way that Elliott chose to organize this piece is by comparing and juxtaposing Sheik Reda Shata’s Muslim way of thinking with the westernized issues that are presented to him on a daily basis. This allows us to gain insight into the challenges that Shata faces on a daily basis as an imam. For example, Elliott cites that one of the challenges that Shata faced in America was whether or not to grant a Muslim woman a divorce from her husband. Divorce is usually prohibited in the Muslim religion, however, he granted the woman a divorce to balance his traditional teaching to his new western way of life. Also, as mentioned in class, Elliott uses chronology to organize her piece, sometimes flashing back to his early upbringing in Egypt, and then coming back to the present day in order to show how his past and present are intertwined.

Elliott uses jumps in time to narrate her story, and weaves the past and present together with Muslim beliefs and customs. I think that this was a great approach because it engages the reader and keeps the article from being a boring story about the duties of an imam. The interesting chronology that Elliott chose is also very affective in that it gives life to the story. An example of one of these time skips is in the section entitled “An Invitation to Islam.” In this section, Elliott explains how Mr. Shata became an imam and how the appointment process works and also mentions how Shata’s family was granted visas to come to the US. Instead of going right into the narrative of Shata landing at JFK in the next section, though, she talks about the mosque and all of the services it provides. It is only after the mention of immigrants in “A Mosque, a Magnet,” that Elliott returns to Shata’s arrival in New York in “Skip 911. Call the Imam.” She also does a nice job of mixing in descriptive and visual details with hard facts about mosques in the city and the number of worshipers who pray at the mosque every Friday. All of the different voices and conflicts included really give the story color and they make clear how much Shata does for his community.

Andrea Elliott uses the timeline of Sheik Reda Shata’s life alongside a timeline of events including immigration patterns, changes in the East and 9/11.

Elliott’s descriptions of Shata and his neighborhood contrast with her descriptions of where he came from: the industrious N.Y. versus “the Egyptian farming village where he was born.” This contrast in the beginning is important because it sets up the greater conflict of the colliding worlds for Shata. Not only does he have to adjust to his new environment, but also to new people and new problems.

The different cultures carve Shata’s faith and his approach to helping others. Elliott writes about how some more traditional Muslims may be offended by his “liberal” ways and some “liberal” Muslims may disagree with his conservative roots.

The greater conflict of the story is about Muslims living in the western world while trying to live out their faith righteously. Instead of interviewing many Muslims struggling, or not, with this issue, Elliott centralizes on Shata, the imam. The imam is the mentor for Muslims in the East and the West.

Elliott weaves in Shata’s prior schooling and experiences in mosques along with quotes from a Muslim psychiatrist, congregants and a Muslim activist. She also adds in statistics about the number of Muslims moving to the Bay Ridge area and the United States.

Throughout the piece, Elliott consistently brings up examples of how daily American life interrupts a Muslim life from what food to serve at your business to seeing non-Muslim women in clothing that reveal skin and hair.

This story is an example of a profile with a conflict arc.

In A Muslim Leader in Brooklyn, Reconciling 2 Worlds, the author Andrea Elliott, does a fantastic job of organizing the story and having it flow seamlessly.  I found it to be great, that in the beginning, Elliott brings the readers in the world of Imam Sheik Reda. With this kind of opening, one can immediately get an early sense of what the story is about.

I benefited from reading and understanding the life of imams in addition to learning more of what the Islamic faith is about and how it operates in Islamic countries, such as Egypt, and in non-Islamic countries, such as the U.S. That contrast in the story, is another effective organizational tool, Elliot did a great job of applying.

I appreciated that Elliot was able to intertwine Imam Sheik’s experiences in America as an imam with the traditional expectations of Islam.  She articulated a substantial report on the work and importance of imams in the community and the their impact on the community.

Throughout the story, the very detailed events in Imam Sheik’s life such as, fixing the problems of those that come to him and acting as liaison between the Islam faith and American life, gave the story a unique organization that proved key from beginning to end. Also very detailed inside look of how a mosque is operated  and its physical set-up.  That tactic provides an eye-opening glimpse for those who have never visited and/or completed understood what a mosque is like on the inside.

I appreciate the way Andrea Elliot organized her article, “A Muslim Leader in Brooklyn, Reconciling 2 Worlds.” She drew the reader in by including a personal account of Sheik Reda Shata. This made me curious to learn more about him and to understand what the larger picture of the story was: is his story common? How do others compare? Elliot continued her article by providing an overview of Muslims in America. I think she strategically placed the nutgraph in this subsequent section as she discussed just how many Muslims live in the United States.  After introducing the various degrees this population’s lifestyle, she referred back to Shata and how he compares. In addition to Shata’s personal story and how it fits into the larger picture, I also appreciate how Elliot frequently jumped back in history, discussing how Shata got to the United States and progressed from there. When discussing mosques, Elliot used a similar method of introducing an overview of the mosques, followed by Shata’s relation to them. She also used dialogue to further build Shata’s character. Rather than simply describing Shata’s thoughts, she said, “’ “Islam is supposed to make a person’s life easier, not harder,” Mr. Shata explained.’” Her choice to end her article with a quote was effective, considering the powerful nature of what Shata said: ‘”Here you don’t know what will solve a problem,” he said. “It’s about looking for a key.”’