As an undergraduate in Spanish literature at UC San Diego, David Simonowitz spent two years in Spain, where he became familiar with Arabic calligraphy and the architecture of mosques and palaces. Later, at the University of Reims in France, he encountered students from the Arab world. At some point, learning the language he'd seen written on Granada's walls and occasionally heard spoken in Reims "grew from an interest to an urgent need, like a flywheel building up to speed."

UCLA's interdisciplinary program in Islamic Studies has permitted David to explore all these interests-in architecture, Islam, and language. His dissertation, "The Constructed Community: Architecture and Authority in Two Muslim Societies," braids those strands together. David examines how two modern Shi`ite Muslim minorities in Europe and North America, "are attempting to refine communal identities through architecture." Although it uses an architectural focus, the study is "as much concerned with the place of immigrants in the West and the place of minority expressions of Islam within the larger community of Muslims."

His adviser, Professor Irene Bierman, says David brings to his subject "a nuanced understanding of society and practice gained through the study of texts in Arabic and Persian, as well as a familiarity with the ethnographic present." His work relies on "an exceptional ability to analyze texts and to critically perceive material culture."

For his research, David spent time studying Muslim congregations in London, San Francisco, Toronto and other locations, examining how various communities "are faithfully maintaining the principles and spirit of Islam, while contributing to the growth and progress of the West," David says. "They confound our image of Islam."

David examines how two modern Shi`ite Muslim minorities in Europe and North America, "are attempting to refine communal identities through architecture." Although it uses an architectural focus, the study is "as much concerned with the place of immigrants in the West and the place of minority expressions of Islam within the larger community of Muslims."

In his studies of the Muslim world, David has learned much that is at odds with images common in the American media. For example, although its recent history reflects the excesses of fanaticism, foreign interference, and ongoing ethnic rivalry, Afghanistan was historically a crossroads of world trade and a cultural melting pot. Under the dynasty founded by the Muslim conqueror Timur-i Leng (celebrated in Christopher Marlowe's 16th-century play, Tamburlaine), Afghanistan experienced a Renaissance both contemporary with and comparable to the European Renaissance, according to some scholars. "There was a remarkable, almost kaleidoscopic, synthesis of artistic, ethnic and, at times, even religious traditions," David says.

The vitality of the Muslim world is not entirely a matter of past glories. Egypt, for example, has vibrant film, recording, and publishing industries. In Iran, women are actively involved in political life, he says, and Pakistan and Bangladesh have both had female prime ministers. "Far from disappearing," David adds, "the spirit of fostering cultural and civic development that was so important in pre-modern Islamic societies continues to this day." Like other minority communities, many congregations of both immigrant Muslims and African-American Muslims promote this spirit in the U.S., as well.

And if Islam is not always exactly what we think it is, says David, neither is the West necessarily what we believe it to be. He suggests that we may be entering "a period in which we have to rethink our preconceptions about ideal or model societies. We've become rigid in our view of what a modern society should look like." We in the industrial world "have a penchant for turning inward," he says. "It's a luxury we can't afford to allow ourselves."

By ignoring the historical legacies and contemporary contributions of Islam we fail to recognize and encourage the progressive, intellectual potential of approximately one-fifth of the world's population. "If we have the courage to examine the experiences of other peoples-particularly those who seem most alien to us," David says, "we'll expand our own creativity and resilience in social, political, and cultural dimensions." All citizens of the world contribute to the construction of modernity, David says: "We define it together."

David hopes to participate in that collaborative redefinition through work in academia, or perhaps for an international cultural agency such as UNESCO, promoting international understanding. "It can only help us if we learn more about each other and respect each other," David says. "It's an uphill battle and one that's never over, but I don't want to believe it's a losing battle."

Published in Spring 2002, Graduate Quarterly