Suad Abdul Khabeer

Su'ad Abdul Khabeer (1978) is a scholar, activist, and artist from Brooklyn, NY. ^[1] She is known for her book Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hop in the United States and her work both within and outside of academia exploring the intersections of race, religion, and popular culture in the United States. ^[2]

Biography

Khabeer was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, between the Crown Heights and Flatbush neighborhoods. ^[3] She received a Bachelor of Science at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, a diploma in Arabic and Islamic studies from Abu Nour University in Damascus, and a PhD in Philosophy in Cultural Anthropology from Princeton University. ^[4]

She currently teaches at the University of Michigan as an associate professor of American Culture and Arab and Muslim American Studies. ^[5] She also is a co-founder of Sapelo Square, ^[6] a website that showcases the Black Muslim experience in the United States and offers resources, historical sources and analyses to the public. ^[7]

Khabeer's book, Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hip in the United States, is the product of a 2-year ethnographic study and also draws on autobiographical experience as a Black Muslim growing up in the "Hip Hop era" of the '90s. ^[8] It challenges hegemonic norms of racism in American culture and the dominance of Arab and South-Asian identities within American Muslim communities, showing that Black Muslims exist and defy these norms. ^[9] Alongside her book, Khabeer created a performance ethnography called Sampled: Beats of Muslim Life which is an embodied exploration of the diversity of experiences of Muslims in the United States using poetry, theater and movement. ^[10] Her current work, entitled Umi's Archive, is an exploration of Black Muslim women and the ways their stories have (and haven't) been told through the lens of her mother’s life. ^[11]

Published works

• Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hop in the United States. Author (Book, 2016)
• Sampled: Beats of Muslim Life. Creator (Performance piece, 2016)
• New Muslim Cool. Senior Project Advisor (Documentary, 2009)
• Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak. Featured contributor (Book, 2005)

Recognition

• Khabeer was named one of 25 Influential American Muslims by CNN in 2019 ^[12]
• Received the Soros Equality Fellowship in 2019. ^[13]

See also

• Islam in New York City
• African-American Muslims
• Islam and hip-hop in the United States
• Hip-hop culture

References

1. "Su'ad Abdul Khabeer". Muslims in Brooklyn Website. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
2. John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University (2018-11-19). Left of Black with Su'ad Abdul Khabeer . Retrieved 2025-10-21– via YouTube.
3. "Su'ad Abdul Khabeer". Muslims in Brooklyn Website. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
4. "Su'ad Abdul Khabeer". Muslims in Brooklyn Website. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
5. "Su'ad Abdul Khabeer | U-M LSA American Culture". lsa.umich.edu. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
6. "Su'ad Abdul Khabeer | U-M LSA American Culture". lsa.umich.edu. Retrieved 2025-11-03.
7. "Sapelo Square | Sapelo Square". Sapelo Square | Sapelo Square. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
8. Khabeer, Su'ad Abdul (2016-12-06). Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hop in the United States. New York University Press. doi:10.18574/nyu/9781479829897.001.0001/html. ISBN   978-1-4798-2989-7.
9. Khabeer, Su'ad Abdul (2016-12-06). Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip Hop in the United States. New York University Press. doi:10.18574/nyu/9781479829897.001.0001/html. ISBN   978-1-4798-2989-7.
10. "Sampled: Beats of Muslim Life". Su‘ad Abdul Khabeer. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
11. "Umi's Archive". Su‘ad Abdul Khabeer. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
12. "25 Influential American Muslims". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
13. "2019 Soros Equality Fellows". www.opensocietyfoundations.org. Retrieved 2025-11-09.