J. GORDON MELTON , SERIES EDITOR ISLAMIC FAITH IN AMERICA Faith in America Cop yright © 2003 James A. Beverley Foreword copyright © 2003 J. Gordon… [626195]

faith inamericaISLAMIC
JAMES A. B EVERLEY
J. GORDON MELTON , SERIES EDITOR

ISLAMIC FAITH IN AMERICA
Faith in America
Cop
yright © 2003 James A. Beverley
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CONTENTS
Foreword by J. Gordon Melton 4
INTRODUCTION Muslim Beliefs and Practices 7
CHAPTER 1Islam Comes to America 19
CHAPTER 2Key Events in American Islam 33
CHAPTER 3Islamic Cultur ein America 43
CHAPTER 4Muslims in American Society 55
CHAPTER 5Muslims and Amer ican P olitics 69
CHAPTER 6Impor tant Muslims in America 83
CHAPTER 7Islam and America: T oday and T omorrow 97
Glossary 104
Time Line 106
Resources 107
Index 108

AMERICA BEGINS A NEW MILLENNIUM AS ONE OF THE MOST RELIGIOUSLY
diverse nations of all time. Nowhere else in the world do so many people—offered a
choice free from government influence—identify with such a wide range of religiousand spiritual communities. Nowhere else has the human search for meaning beenso varied. In America today , there are communities and centers for worship repre-senting all of the world’s religions.
The American landscape is dotted with churches, temples, synagogues, and
mosques. Zen Buddhist zendos sit next to Pentecostal tabernacles. Hasidic Jews walk
the streets with Hindu s wamis .Most amazing of all, r elatively little conflict has oc-
curred among religions in America. This fact, combined with a high level of tolerance
of each other’s beliefs and practices, has let America produce people of goodwill readyto try to resolve any tensions that might emerge.
The Faith in America series celebrates America’s diverse religious heritage.
People of faith and ideals who longed for a better world have created a unique society
where freedom of religious expression is a keynote of culture. The freedom that Amer-ica offers to people of faith means that not only have ancient religions found a homehere, but that newer ways of expressing spirituality have also taken root. From hugechurc hes in large cities to small spiritual communities in towns and villages, faith in
America has never been stronger . The paths that different religions have taken through
American history is just one of the stories readers will find in this series.
Like an ything people cr eate, r eligion is far from perfect. However , its contribu-
tion to the culture and its ability to help people are impressive, and these accomplish-
ments will be found in all the books in the series. Meanwhile, awareness and toleranceof the different paths our neighbors take to the spiritual life has become an increas-
ingly impor tant part of citizenship in America.
Today , more than ever , America as a whole puts its faith in freedom—the free-
dom to believe.FOREWORD
 Islamic Faith in America

 Forew0rdThroughout the 20th century, Islam has often been presented to Americans in its
worst light. Militant Black Muslims demanded a separate black nation. The United
States bombed Libya after that country’s president, Moammar Gadhafi, was impli –
cated in a bombing in which two Americans lost their lives. In 2001, self-professed Mus-lims flew airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Meanwhile, throughout that same time period, Muslims from all parts of the
world found their way to the United States, quietly built worship centers, and even morequietly entered into American life and business on all levels. As the new century be-
gins, Islam has taken its place in America beside the two other Abrahamic faiths—
Judaism and Christianity.
Muslims first came to America as slaves from West Africa, often distinguished
from their peers by their education and relative unwillingness to accept the situation
into which they had been thrust. As Islam reappeared in the 20th century ,African
Americans continued to find it especially attractive. In a society that discriminated
against them, African Americans heard the call to universal brotherhood and saw in
Islam a new identity that could facilitate their rise from poverty and victimhood.
However, Islam is by no means a religion of one community. Not only is it di-
verse—with paths such as Sunni, Sufi, Shi’ite, and Ismaili—but it brings together Arabsand Indonesians, Pakistanis and Nigerians, Albanians, and recent converts from mid-dle America. Islamic Faith in America highlights what is possibly the least well known
of the major religious communities in America. T
he story includes Islam's rise and
its allegiance to the One God (Allah), introduces its major beliefs and practices (fromthe fast of Ramadan to the pilgrimage to Mecca), and explores the life of its varied com-
munity, a community that is now more than ever a part of America.
—J. Gordon Melton, Series EditorIslamic Faith in America

Muslim Beliefs and
PracticesINTRODUCTION
ISLAM IS THE SECOND LARGEST RELIGION IN THE WORLD, WITH
more than 1 billion followers, called Muslims, worldwide, and about 6 million
Muslims in the United Sta tes. Virtually every Muslim believes and practices
in a similar way , although, as we will see, there is a wide variety of subgroups
of Islam. However , there is a core belief system to Islam that is the best way
to begin to understand this important w orld faith.
Allah
Allah is the Arabic w ord f or God. For vir tually ev ery Muslim, from Manhat-
tan to Malaysia, Islam is about Allah—about God. Muslims believe that Allah
is the one true God; in fact, one of the key phrases in Muslim prayers is,“There is no god but Allah.” For Muslims, Allah is the one and only God, theeternal Creator , the Judge, the God who wants all humans to believe in him.
Like Judaism and Christianity , Islam follows the faith story told in the
Bible—the story that begins with the creation of the world and traces Abra-
ham, Moses, and the Jewish people through history . Muslims believe Islam
began when God made Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Muslims, they
believe, have been around since the first day God made the world. Islam teach-es that Jesus was a Muslim and that Abraham was a Muslim, and Noah, too,

PRECEDING PAGE
Aholy site
This is a detail of the outside
of the Dome of the Rock inJerusalem, where theprophet Muhammad is saidto have ascended into
heaven. The geometric
patterns are a characteristicofIslamic ar
t, and have
influenced artists and
architects worldwide.when he b uilt his famous Ark, was a Muslim. Although the religion
only began to be practiced as Islam after the prophet Muhammad came
along (see below), Muslims believe that their faith and their god are
eternal. Indeed, since Muslims believe that Allah is eternal and thatHe is the creator of the universe, they find it surprising that many peo-ple think Islam began only with the prophet Muhammad in the seventhcentury .
The Prophet Muhammad
Muslims believe that Allah sent the prophet Muhammad as the finaland greatest prophet from God to humans. One of the most important
ways to understand Islam is to realize how much Muslims love and re-
spect Muhammad. While Muslims honor Abraham, Moses, Jesus, andother Biblical figur es,Muhammad is given first place in their religion
after Allah. When they say his name, they try to always add, “Peace BeUpon Him,” abbreviated as PBUH in English-language Muslim books.
Many Muslims try to base e verything they do on the example of
Muhammad. One famous Muslim teacher cut his toenails a certain way
because that was the way Muhammad did it. Muhammad is the most
popular first name in the world because Muslims love naming their
male children after their prophet.
Muhammad was bor n about 570
C.E.in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He
was orphaned at an early age and raised by his grandfather and uncle.He grew up in a trading family and, as a young boy , went on caravan
trips through Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East. During
these trading trips Muhammad met both Christians and J ews and hear d
reports about the one God of Abraham. This monotheistic religious
viewwas contrary to the wa ymost Arabs worshiped a tthe time , fol-
lowing many gods.
Muhammad was married when he was about 20. His wife, Khadi-
jah, was older than he, and they had a good marriage. In fact, Muslimsbelieve that she was the first person to accept Muhammad as a prophet.Islam teaches that in 610, when Muhammad was 40, Allah sent the angel
Gabriel to call Muhammad to be the messenger of God. At first Muham-mad was not sure what to believe or do, but his wife and other family
members and friends supported him. Other Arabs were not very sup-
portive of Muhammad, however . His fellow Meccans ignored Muham-mad’ smessa geto worship one God, and after several years Muham-THELANGUAGE OF
ISLAM
Islam was developed in what
is today Saudi Arabia. Thelanguage of this land is
Arabic, and many of the
terms used in describingIslam throughout this book
are in that language.
 Islamic Faith in America

mad was forced to leave Mecca. He went north with a group of follow-
ers and settled in Medina. This flight from Mecca is called Hijrah; it
occurred in 622, the year from which Muslims now date their calendar .
For 20 years Muhammad and his followers were at war with his
enemies in Mecca. However , in 630, just two years before he died,
Muhammad got the upper hand and re-entered Mecca in triumph. He de-stroyed the hundreds of idols in the main shrine of Mecca, which is
called the Kabah. (Muslims believe that the prophet Abraham built the
shrine with the help of his son Ishmael; see the box on page 67.) Mecca
remains the holiest place in the Islamic world. No matter where theyare in the world, Muslims kneel and face Mecca when they pray .
The Qur’an
The Muslim hol ybook is the Qur’an, which many Muslim children
memorize in its entirety . Written in Arabic, even Muslims who do notspeak that language will sometimes memorize it in Arabic. The vast
majority of Muslims belie vethatthe Qur’an is the final and perfect
word of God. Most Muslims never doubt the authority of the Qur’an, al-
though Muslims have always debated the precise meaning of its teach-
ings. Many use the teachings in the Qur’an to guide every decision in
their lives.
Reading the Qur’an
Many Muslims learn Arabic
so that they can read the
Qur’an in its originallanguage.
 Muslim Beliefs and Practices

 Islamic Faith in AmericaThe first chapter of the Qur’an is called Al-Fatiha, or The Opening.
It says:
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the
W
orlds;
Most Gracious, Most Merciful;Master of the Day of Judgment.You do we worship, and Your aid do we seek.Show us the straight way.The way of those on whom You have bestowed Your
Grace, those whose portion is not wrath, and who
do not go astray.Al-Fatiha,
The First Cha pterThe Qur’an contains 7,000 verses organized into 114 chapters.
The most famous is the first chapter , because it is recited by Muslims
every day in their prayers.
Throughout the Qur’an, many topics are covered over and over
again in different ways. But basically , the Muslim holy book seeks to
tell readers about eight major things:
1. The reality and nature of Allah
2. The role of the prophet Muhammad3. The importance of the Qur’an
4. The work of the Jewish prophets
5. The supernatural ministry of Jesus
6. The picture of true believers7. The danger of unbelief
8. The reality of an afterlife in heaven or hell

The Five Pillars of Islam
Islam is a religion of practice as well as belief. There are five key prac-
tices, also called pillars, known to all Muslims, that are the basis ofIslam. The first pillar is shahada ,confession. T
his is not confession in
the sense of saying what one did wrong, but in the sense of declaring
what one believes. If you want to be a Muslim, all you have to do is sin-cerely confess, “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his
prophet.” Once someone makes that statement sincerely , he or she is a
Muslim and part of the world of Islam.
Prayer , salah ,is the second pillar of
Islam. Any book about Islam
is sure to include photographs of Muslims bowing in prayer . You mayhave seen photographs of a man alone spreading out a carpet to kneel
on as he faces Mecca. Or maybe you have seen a picture of thousands of
men lined up in row after row , all kneeling in prayer to Allah. Islamteaches that all Muslims are to pray five times a day , at designated times,
during the period from sunrise to sunset.
The third pillar of Islam is charity . Muslims call this zakat .Ev
ery
faithful follower of Allah is supposed to contribute 2.5 percent of their
total w orth ann uallyto meet the needs of the world. In America Mus-
lims can gi vedona tions at their local mosque or Islamic worship center ,
or they can give to national and international relief agencies. Many
American Muslims, for instance, give generously to help Palestinians
who have been hurt financially and physically in the conflict with Israel.
When the prophet was alive, he told Muslims to set aside one
month eac hyear to devote to fasting. This fourth pillar is known as
sawm .T he fasting takes place during the month of Ramadan, the ninth
month of the Islamic calendar .All Muslims ar esupposed to a bstain
from food, wa ter,and sexual activity during the daylight hours. This
is to be a time of spiritual renewal. At the end of Ramadan, a majorfestival, called Eid-ul-Fitr , marks the completion of the fast.
One of the most well-known facts about Islam involves the fifth
pillar :making a pilgrimage to Mecca. This is known as the Hajj .It is
the aim of
every faithful Muslim to go to Mecca at least once in his or
her life .Every year millions of pilgrims mak ethe trip to Islam’ sholiest
city . Muslim men and women join together along the holy routes to the
city, wearing simple white robes and following the traditions of cir-
cling the hol yshrine and remembering key events in the lives of Abra-
ham and Muhammad.
 Muslim Beliefs and PracticesQUR’AN, KORAN ?
The Muslim book of holy
scripture is referred to as
either the Koran or the
Qur’an. Although both titlesare still in use, the term
Qur’an has become moredominant and will be the one
used in this book.

Different Muslims
In general, Islam has promoted great unity among its followers. The
prophet Muhammad talked frequently about the importance of one
united community , called ummah in Arabic. American Muslim lead-
ers ar
e working hard to keep Muslims together in this nation. Through
the centuries Muslims have retained a high degree of commitment to
one another despite differences in language, nationality , custom, and
social sta tus.
This does not mean tha tall Muslims ar ethe same ,however . In the
century after the death of the prophet, Muslims experienced a deep di-
vision which continues to this day . There was a vicious fight over whowas the proper leader after Muhammad. In the end Muslims were di-
vided between the majority , known as Sunnis, and the minority , known
as Shi’ites.
Both the Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims pay close attention to Muslim
lawand Islamic doctrine . This emphasis on external things led some
Muslims to seek a more mystical version of Islam. Over centuries these
Muslims have formed what has come to be known as the Sufi vision of
 Islamic Faith in AmericaSince the tragic events of September 11, 2001, in the
United States, the Muslim concept of jihad (oftentranslated as “holy war”) has become a part of manypeople’s understanding of Islam. There are basically
three contemporary interpretations of this term, which
is found in the Qur’an. One view is that jihad is a
physical struggle (warfare) to defend and upholdIslam. A second view is that jihad never referred to
physical war, and instead means spiritual struggle. In
this view, any military action on the part of Muslims
is not really part of true Islam. Third, there is the view
that jihad means both military and spiritual struggle.
Throughout Islamic history it is obvious that
jihad has been used in all three ways. Many famousMuslim rulers and lawyers have argued that it is some-times necessary to engage in battle to defend Islam.It can be argued that people who say jihad is onlyabout one’s personal spiritual activity are ignoring
important aspects of Muslim history.
This does not mean, however, that Muslim his-
tory or faith justifies jihad as an excuse for hating the
non-Muslim world, or for the actions of people such
as the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden—even though
bin Laden has claimed that jihad justified his actions.
In fact, Bernard Lewis, one of America’s great schol-
ars on Islam, has said that there is nothing in the en-tire history of Islam that would justify what happenedon September 11.What Is Jihad?

Islam. One of their most famous leaders is Rumi (1207–1273), a Sufi mys-
tic who is still widely read today . Rumi made dance and music part ofworship, something not typical in Muslim mosques. Although Sufism
has often been treated with suspicion among non-Sufi Muslims, Amer-ica has become home to quite a number of Sufi groups.
Basic Muslim Beliefs
Most Muslims share a set of basic beliefs. A Muslim in Mecca 1,200
years ago or a Muslim in Spain 800 years ago would both believe much
of what today’s Muslims believe. These Muslims would be sure to tellyou that Allah is supreme and that everything falls under his plan.
Allah decides who will enter paradise, although humans must obey his
laws.
Your Muslim friends in Spain or Saudi Arabia would tell you that
humans are created good, though with a tendency to be selfish. Theywould encourage you to follow Islam, the one true religion. And they
 Muslim Beliefs and PracticesTheShi’ites believe that Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muham –
mad, was the first legitimate ruler after Muhammad died in 632.
Sunni Muslims believe that Ali’s rule only began in 656, after the
rule of three other Muslims. After Ali’s death in 661, the Sunni ma-jority followed Muawiya (d. 680), the first ruler in the Umayyad dy-
nasty, and then his son Yazid (d. 683). The Shi’ites followed Ali’s son
Hasan (d. 669) and then his other son, Husayn (d. 680). Hostilitiesbetween the two Muslim groups reached their height with the as-
sassination of Husayn at the hands of Yazid’s army in 680 at Kar –
bala, in what is now Iraq. The martyrdom of Husayn is marked every
year by Shi’ite Muslims.
Relations between the two parts of Islam can still be treach-
erous. In 1979, religious leaders took control of the government in pre-dominantly Shi’ite Iran. In the 1980s, they engaged in a major war
with Iraq, which is controlled by Sunnis, leading to a decade-long
conflict that cost millions of lives.The Beginnings of Division

Kneeling in prayer
Muslims remove their shoes
when they enter a mosque.
These men are kneeling onaprayer rug. Muslims
always face Mecca, the cit
y
where Muhammad wasborn, when they pray.would assur
e you that someday Allah will restore the world to perfection
through a powerful human leader known as the madhi.
Muslims also w
ould be shocked if you said that Muslims do not
care about Jesus. Any Muslim would quickly tell you that Jesus was a
prophet like Muhammad, that he was born of the Virgin Mary , that heperformed many miracles, and is now in heaven. The Muslims wouldalso tell you that they do not believe that Jesus died on the cross. They
cannot imagine that Allah would allow a great Muslim prophet like
Jesus to be subjected to such a defeat. Instead, they believe that some-
one else was killed on the cross and that Jesus was taken into heaven di-rectly by God.
The Laws of Allah
Islam is a religion of trust in Allah and His prophet Muhammad, a re-
ligion of a book—the Qur’an, and a religion of prayer and giving. It isalso a religion of law . Within a century of the prophet’s death, Islamic
leaders used the Qur’an and the example of the prophet (known as sun –
 Islamic Faith in America

nah) to form a code of laws that expressed the will of Allah regarding
every area of life. The stories about Muhammad are reported in the ha-dith, which are the written accounts of the prophet’s words and deeds.
Since the ninth and 10th centuries, Muslim scholars have con-
tinued to expand on those earliest law codes. New situations have de-
manded new rulings. As Islam expanded throughout the world, the lawhad to be adapted to new cultural and social settings. This continues
to the present day . For example, Muslims who serve in the United States
armed forces were recently told by Muslim leaders that it was not
against Allah’s law for them to fight in the war against terrorism inAfghanistan.
American Muslims who want to receive guidance on Muslim law
often contact the Fiqh (pr onounced feek) Council of Nor
th America.
Fiqh in Arabic means “understanding” and is used to refer to the pr op-
er knowledge and interpretation of Islamic law . Founded in 1986, theFiqh Council is composed of experts in Islamic law from both Canada
and the United States who offer le gal opinions on every area of life. For
example, the Council condemns the use of lottery winnings to build a
mosque since Islam forbids gambling. Dancing is forbidden except with
one’s spouse. The Council has also ruled that a Muslim can use a cred-
it card as long as there is no intention to incur interest charges. All
these ar eopinions of the Council. Muslims ,like people of all faiths,
are presented with choices and use guidance like this to help them
choose how to live their lives.
Non-Muslims ma ysometimes find Islamic la w a bit puzzling,
since it deals with very specific issues . For example, Muslim judges are
asked to rule on what type and color of clothing people may wear whilepraying. Muslim judges mak edecisions on e verything from w hether
you can give up fasting if you are sick to what to do if you forget a sen-tence in your daily prayers.
What makes Islamic law so complicated is not only that it deals
with all the details of social and individual life, but also that it variesfrom age to age, from country to country , and even from family to fam-
ily . This can be seen in the various dress codes that Muslim women fol-low . In Saudi Arabia women are required to cover almost their wholebodies, yet even within this requirement, not all Saudi women dressalike. And in the United States, many Muslim women do not even wearahead cov ering.
 Muslim Beliefs and PracticesWHYCAN’TMUSLIMS
PAY OR EARNINTEREST ?
Islamic law forbids interest on
loans because there are passages in the Qur’an thatforbid its practice. In Islam’searliest days, Muslim judgesruled against the practice ofmaking money from loans. Islamic bankers figure other
ways to lend to Muslims
without charging interest.

The Spread of Islam
Islam has always been a missionary religion. Muhammad and his ear-
liest followers spread the message of Allah to Mecca and then to Med-ina. After the death of the Prophet, the next group of Muslim leaders
took the message of Islam far and wide. The spread of Islam is one ofthe most amazing stories in history . Within 100 years of Muhammad’sdeath, the teachings of the Qur’an were known as far north as the Black
Sea, as far west as Spain, as far south as mid-Africa, and as far east as
what is now Afghanistan.
This is a testimony to the relative power of the Islamic warriors
ofthe time and the unity among them, but also a sign of how serious
Muslims were about teaching what they believed to be the one true mes-
sage from Allah. They were so certain of the importance of their mis-
sion that they divided the world into two categories: the world of Islamand the world of unbelief. While this approach did not endear Muslims
to people of other r eligions ,it did express how committed they were to
their beliefs.
When Muslims gained control over non-Muslim territories, Islam
became the official religion of the conquered r egion. Throughout Mus-
lim history ther ehas basicall ybeen no separation of church and state,
as we have in America.
Even though many Muslims believe their governments should
obey the shariah, or la
w of God, this has been understood in different
ways. Many Muslims resent a nation run by members of the clergy , be-
cause they believe they make poor government leaders. And in manycountries, such as Egypt and Indonesia, where the majority of people
areMuslim, the gov ernment does not enf orce shariah.
Some Americans fear tha tther eareMuslim terr
orists who would
force their religion on everybody . However , the Qur’an teaches that no one
is supposed to be coerced or pressured to become a Muslim against their
will. Muhammad sometimes showed great respect to Jews and Chris-
tians .Accor ding to one historical account, he allowed a group of Chris-
tians to pray in the mosque in Medina when they were visiting him.
During the Middle Ag es, Ca tholic Crusaders w ereoften amaz ed
by the learning and artistry of the Muslims they encountered. For manycenturies ,Muslims had suc h astrong vision of doing their best for
Allah in e very area of life that Islam became a rich source of learning
and culture. Much of what we know about Greek philosophy was pre-WHY1TO9AND NOT
ITOIX?
What we call the Arabic num-
ber system was developed by
Hindus in India about 600
C.E.Musa al-Khwarizmi
(c.780–c.850), a famous Arab
mathematician, wrote a text-book in the ninth century
using the Indian number sys-
tem. Khwarizmi’s work influ-enced Western mathemati-
cians, including Pope
Sylvester II, and the Arabicnumbering system becamedominant in Europe by the
14th century . The familiar
numbers from 1 to 9 took the
place of Roman numerals
such as I, V ,and X.
 Islamic Faith in America

served through the middle ages by Muslim scholars. Some of the most
important findings in mathematics, architecture, and medicine came asaresult of the influence of Islamic culture.
ADiverse World of Faith
Islam continues to spread around the world. It is a majority religion in
many areas of the Middle East, of course, but also in Indonesia, Pak-
istan, and African countries such as Morocco, Libya, and the Sudan.
The world of Islam is now the entire world; one can find mosques and
Islamic communities in most European countries, all over North Amer-ica, and throughout Asia. It is also emerging in Latin America.
The diverse cultures that Islam has contacted over the centuries
have led to a wide diversity among the followers of Allah. The divisions
noted on pa ge13 have expanded, and today Muslim people, although
following similar codes, are nearly as diverse as the cultures they livein. The level of diversity and difference among Muslims from differ-
ent parts of the w orld is an important aspect of the faith to keep in
mind when looking at Islam’s growth in America.
 Muslim Beliefs and PracticesFOLKISLAM
All of Islam has been influ-
enced by the folk customs ofspecific countries and ethnic
traditions. Even though most
Muslims follow the sameGod, the same scripture, andthe same Prophet, Muslimsoften practice unique tradi-tions based on their geo-graphical or tribal back-ground. For example,Muslims in Africa are often influenced by views thatcome from tribal witchcraft.In Pakistan there are many
Muslims who believe that suf-
fering can be spread throughwhat is called “the evil eye”—
astare from a person who is
possessed by a bad spirit.

Islam Comes
toAmerica1
ISLAM HAS A LONG HISTORY IN AMERICA. THERE IS A STRONG
possibility that Muslims visited and perhaps even lived in the Americas some
500 years bef oreChristopher Columbus arrived off the shores of South Amer-
ica in 1492. For example, one Muslim leader , Abubakari II, sent a large con-
tingent of 200 ships westward from Spain toward the Americas in 1311. It is
quite easy to imagine tha t at least some of the ships r eached the Atlantic
coast.
It is known for sure that African Muslims were part of the crew of Span-
ish fleets that journey ed here in the 15th and 16th centuries. One b lack Mus-
lim named Estevanico (c.1503–1539) was the first non-Indian to reach present-
day Arizona and New Mexico. It has been suggested that he planted the first
crop of wheat in America in 1539.
Columbus himself likely studied maps of the earth and the stars that
were made by Muslim cartographers and astronomers, and had Muslims on
his ships, too, because of the lingering presence of Islam in Spain followingalong period of Muslim rule. In recent years evidence has been found of a
continuous Muslim presence among peoples living in the Florida Keys. But thelarger part of Islamic history in America begins in chains.

P R E CEDING PAGE
Portrait of a free man
This portrait of former slave
Yarrow Mamout was paintedbyAmerican ar
tist James
Alexander Simpson in 1 820.Muslims and the Slave Trade
Although Muslims now come to America in freedom, there was a time
when Muslims were brought to this country against their will. Thesewere followers of Islam along the west coast of Africa who were cap-
tured as slaves. They were brought to America with other African slavesunder deplorable conditions, and led a life of unbearable burden underwhite slave owners in the New World. It is estimated that 10 to 15 percent
of all African slaves were Muslims.
Muslim slaves were traded just like other slaves at the auctions
in the American South. There was no regard for keeping families of
slaves together , and all slaves were forced to submit to the physical,
emotional, and even the sexual demands of their owners. Muslims were
discouraged from following their own religion, and were often forced
to become Christians, learning the doctrines of the particular denom-ination of their owner .
Although only 10 sla ves are listed in the first census of
Jamestown in 1625, and only 23 slaves were auctioned at a sale in thetown square in 1638, by 1830 there were more than 2 million black slavesin the country . The Union victory in 1865 liberated almost 4 million
slaves,some of them gaining the freedom to follow Islam—the religion
of their African ancestors.
There is very little historical material available to study Ameri-
ca’s Muslim slaves, but a few individual slaves became well-known. Oneis a man named Yarrow Mamout. He was brought to this country about1720 and spent years as a slave in Maryland. He was freed in 1796. Somehistorians think he was more than 100 years old when he was rescued
from the life of a slave.
Mamout was known as a faithful Muslim because he refused to
eatpork or drink alcohol—both of which are forbidden by Islamic law .
Charles Wilson Peale (1741–1827), a famous artist, made two paintings of
Mamout. One is owned by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, while
the other is a tGeorg etown University . Mamout later owned his own home
in Georgetown and had saved enough money to buy stock in the Colum-
bia Bank. Go vernment documents of the day list him on the tax r olls.
The First Wave of Muslim Immigrants
The first g roup of Muslims who came to the United States of their own
free will arrived in the country in the late 1870s. With the decay of theWORDS OF FREEDOM
Yarrow Mamout requested
that his former owner note
his release officially. The document that details
Mamout’s release from slav-
ery is dated August 22, 1796,and reads, in part:
IUpton Beall of Mont-
gomery County and State ofMaryland do manumit and setfree negro Yorro from this day
forward to act for himself as a
free man in all things, givenmy hand and seal this 22nd
ofAugust, anno domini seven-
teen hundred and ninet ysix.
 Islamic Faith in America

Ottoman Empire (which had once covered much of southeastern Eu-
rope, the Middle East, and North Africa), volatile conditions in the Mid-
dle East made immigration to both the United States and Canada very
appealing. Thousands of Arabs, many of them Muslim, arrived from
Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
These Muslims were searching for the American dream and were
glad to escape from go vernment persecution or financial hardship in their
nativelands. Because many of the Muslim immigrants had little educa-
tion or skill in English, they often had to take low-paying factory jobs.
Some Muslims r etur ned to their home countries , but man y families sta yed
to build strong Muslim communities across America. Surpassingly , thestates in the heartland became some of the strongest centers of Muslim life.
Some of the earliest Muslim communities were started in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, in Ross, North Dakota, and in Michigan City , Indiana.The mosque in Cedar Rapids is called “the Mother Mosque of America”
and remains to this day an important cultural center for America’ sMuslim community . Albanian Muslims started a mosque in Maine in1915 and another one in Connecticut in 1919. Polish Muslim immigrantsfounded a mosque in Brooklyn in 1926 and African Americans startedamosque in Philadelphia four years la ter .The grand mother mosque
The ”Mother Mosque” in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was
completed in 1
934 and re-
mains an important symbol
of Islam in America.
 Islam Comes to America

Bythis time Detroit had become one of the main destinations for
Muslim immigrants. This was due almost entirely to the opportunity to
find work in the factories of the Ford Motor Company . Ford factories of-
fered $5 per day , a good wage in those days. When Henry Ford (1863–1947)moved his plant just south of Detroit, the Muslim workers moved withhim, and the first Muslim town developed in the city of Dearborn. To thisday Dearborn remains one of the hubs of American Muslim life.
The first wave of immigration ended in 1924 when Congress
passed the Asian Exclusion Act and the Johnson Reed ImmigrationAct. Both laws were intended to limit the number of people from Asiaand other areas who could legally enter the United States. They set quo-
tas, or limits, that were so low as to make it almost impossible for new
immig rants from these areas to come to America.
These anti-immig ration measures had a considerable negative
impact on American Muslim life since many single Muslim men foundis difficult to find Muslim women in the United States to marry . In tra-
ditional Muslim f amilies , women did not w orkoutside the home ,nor
would they travel to the United States alone. Muslim men in America
had to depend on their families back home to arrange their marriages,
and this was difficult given the distance between the families and the
men. Many of the men married outside of their faith, and this led to
some difficulties in the Muslim communities as dif ferent cultures and
religions clashed at home and in the community .
ASecond Wave of Immigration
After W orld War II (1939–1945) a new group of immigrants came to the
United States. A large number were young Muslim students from Arab
states and southern Asia. They w ere usually fr om wealthier f amilies,
had better education, and spoke good English. They came to America foruniversity study or to learn specialized trades. Although some returned
to their homelands, many of them chose to stay in America to escape thestrife in countries such as Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Albania, andthe Soviet Union.
These new immigrants, like all immigrant groups, faced prejudice
and discrimination, but life in America also offered much opportunity .In fact, America is the first country in the world to become home to so
many diverse peoples who all identify themselves as Muslim. Ameri-ca’sherita geofreligious freedom created the necessary atmosphereMosque: Amosque is the
center of worship for a
Muslim community
, compara-
ble to a church for a Christiancommunity or a synagoguefor a Jewish community. Mostmosques are designed withtowers called minarets. Traditionally, prayer leadersclimbed to the top of these
towers and sang out prayers
which called people to
worship services.
 Islamic Faith in America

forMuslims of different types and backgrounds to learn to co-exist. At
the same time, during the 1950s and 1960s, Muslims began to create or-
ganizations to serve their national interests, such as the Islamic Society
of North America, the Federation of Islamic Organizations, and theMuslim Students Organization. They began to become a more stablepart of American society , and to relate in more positive ways to non-Muslim America.
 Islam Comes to AmericaThe first African-American Islamic movement is root-
ed in the work of Timothy Drew (1886–1929), whofounded the Moorish Science Temple in New Jerseyin 1913. A native of North Carolina, Drew spoke pow-erfully to his fellow African Americans about reshap-ing their identity as the true children of Allah.
Although his movement has never been re –
garded as a true par tof Islam by most Muslims, Drew
Ali, as he came to call himself, taught a whole gen-
eration of African Americans a new work ethic and
sense of confidence in a land that had done muchto crush their spirits. Drew Ali drew much of his in-
spiration from Marcus Garvey (1887–1940). Garvey
was a radical black leader who said that African Americans should either return to Africa or set up aseparate state of their own in North America. He at-tracted a lot of people to his way of thinking by em-powering black people to have a stronger sense of
self-reliance and identity.
Drew Ali taught that African Americans are re-
ally Moors, or Muslims, and that Islam (or at leastDrew Ali’s version of Islam) is the religion of the blackman. Ali had his own sacred scripture called The Holy
Koran. (This 63-page book is not to be confused with
the traditional Qur’an.) Drew Ali also had his ownunique theories about creation and the destiny ofblack people—views quite alien to orthodox Islam.
Here is an official statement about Noble Drew
Ali from the archives of the Moorish Science Temple:
1. The last Prophet in these days is Noble
Drew Ali, who was prepared divinely in due
time by Allah to redeem men from their sin-ful ways; and to warn them of the great wrath
which is sure to come upon the ear
th.
2. John the Baptist was the forerunner of
Jesus in those days, to warn and stir up thenation and prepare them to receive the di-
vine creed which was to be taught by Jesus.
3. In these modern days there came a fore-
runner ,who was divinely prepared by the
great God-Allah and his name is Marcus Gar-
vey, who did teach and warn the nations of
the earth to prepare to meet the comingProphet; who was to bring the true and di-
vine Creed of Islam, and his name is NobleDrew Ali.
After Drew Ali’s death, his small group of fol-
lowers split up into two major factions. T
he impact
of the Moorish Science Temple on American relig ious
life has been minimal. Timothy Drew

Islam From American Soil
The majority of converts to Islam in the United States have been African
Americans. Many blacks feel Muslim traditions reflect their African
ancestry . Some African Americans also remember that Christianity
was forced upon black slaves, and for them, Islam is closely tied to thestruggle for civil rights and ethnic identity . And prominent African-Americans have been evangelists for Islam on their native soil.
The Nation of Islam
Most orthodox Muslims in America have had a strained relationshipwith the Nation of Islam, a radical movement that has had a major im-pact on African Americans and on the nation as whole. This movement
was founded by Wallace D. Fard, a Detroit man whose exact birth date
remains in dispute and who disappeared in 1934. Fard taught thatAfrican Americans were originally Muslims who had lost their true
identity under Christian oppression. He founded the Nation of Islam
to restore the “lost and found nation.” After Fard’s disappearance in
1934, leadership was taken up by Elijah Poole Muhammad (1887–1975).
Elijah Muhammad, raised a Baptist, met F ardin 1930 and be gan
to followhis teachings. He soon became Fard’s chief minister of Islam
for the Detroit Temple. When Fard died, Elijah Muhammad moved to
Chicago and set up the Nation of Islam’s headquarters there. It was
Elijah Muhammad who first advanced the idea that Wallace Fard wasan incarnation of Allah, and that Elijah himself was the Messenger ofGod. Elijah Muhammad also taught tha thumans were all originally
black and Muslim, and that God created white people as basically a
race of devils—e ven white people who were Muslims. Fard had been
sent by Allah to destroy the evil white race, Elijah Muhammad said.
Since the 1930s, the Nation of Islam has had a rocky relationship
with mainline American society and with orthodox Islam, despite the
power of its reach and the fame of its leaders, including Elijah Muham-
mad’s son Wallace (b. 1933), Malcolm X (1925–1965), and Louis Farrakhan
(b. 1933). From the 1940s through the mid-1960s, many black people found
it was difficult to imagine muc h chang ein the United Sta tes.Many
Black Muslims were attracted to the Nation of Islam because it con-
demned racism a gainst African Americans and emphasized black pride
and self-suf ficiency .
Although both Wallace, who now calls himself Warith Deen
 Islamic Faith in America

Muhammad, and Malcolm X, who was assassinated in 1965, distanced
themselv es from the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, the 25,000-mem-
ber Nation of Islam remains a very controversial movement under Far-
rakhan’s leadership.
Therearesome signs tha t Farrakhan is moving the Nation of
Islam closer to or thodox Islam, but his critics remain very suspicious
of him and his movement. Many American Jewish leaders, as well asothers concerned with racism, ha vebeen enra ged by Farrakhan ’s state-
ments about Jews and the Holocaust. Further , he is often the explicittarg et of orthodox Muslims who want to repudiate Farrakhan’s claim
that his movement is truly Islamic.
A Turning P oint
Perhaps the most significant turning point in the development of mod-
ern American Muslim identity came when Wallace Muhammad ledmany of the Nation of Islam’s followers to Islamic orthodoxy .
In 1975, shortly after the death of his father , Wallace, who was
then leader of the Nation of Islam, shocked his followers by Leader of a Nation
Elijah Muhammad helpedestablish the Nation of Islam,
claiming that all humanswere originally black andMuslim. Mainstream Muslims do not consider the
Nation of Islam’s ideas to be
an accurate por
trayal of
Islam.
 Islam Comes to America

abandoning some of the key ideas his father had advanced. Wallace
Muhammad renounced racist language and denounced the teaching
that whites were just “blue-eyed devils” spun out of a lab experiment by
amad scientist called Yacub. The new Nation of Islam leader called on
his congregations to join the wider Muslim community and go to amosque of their choice, not giving any attention to the color of the Mus-lims in attendance. (Another important leader in the Nation of Islam
movement was Malcolm X, a powerful speaker and civil rights leader
who also would split with Elijah Muhammad. There is more about his
life, death, and impact in chapter 2.)
About the same time that many members of the Nation of Islam
were moving into the more mainstream American Muslim world, theUnited States was becoming home to a wider number of Muslim groupswho would test the boundaries of traditional Islam in America.
World History Meets American Islam
American Muslims ar edramaticall yaffected b y events around the
world. The tight connections between Muslims in this country and Mus-
 Islamic Faith in AmericaMembers of the Sufi order of mystic Islam had originally come to Amer –
ica in 1910 under the leadership of Pir Hazrat Inayat Khan (1881–1927),
but their numbers were always extremely small. However, in the 1960s
and ’70s, Sufi groups took advantage of a more open U.S. immigra-tion policy and began establishing orders in the United States. Some
of the more famous Sufi movements are the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
Fellowship (Philadelphia), the Naqshbandi Sufi Order (Mountain View,California), and the Mevlana Foundation (based in Istanbul, Turkey), the
Sufi group connected to Rumi, one of the most famous Sufi mystics. His-torically, there have always been tensions between Sufism, the mystical
branch of Islam, and both the traditionalist Sunni majority and the
Shi’ite movements in Islam. Both Sunnis and Shi’ite Muslims haveoften regarded Sufis as heretics (people who believe something other
than the widely accepted parts of a faith). Sufis have even been per-
secuted and killed by both groups for their beliefs.Sufi Muslims in America

lims in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Indonesia, and even Europe mean
that world events have real repercussions here in America. The politicsof the Middle East often pitches the United States against Muslim coun-
tries in that region, and although the majority of Muslims in the Unit-ed States are not Arab-American, they feel a close solidarity with theArab nations. In addition, the vast majority of Muslims in the UnitedStates have direct connections, through family and friends, with many
other countries of the world. What has happened and is happening in
those countries directly affects the lives of American Muslims.
American Muslim history and identity have also been shaped by
the events in world history that are part of the story of Islam. To a pow-erful degree, the current identity of Muslims in the United States has
been formed by events in history that at first glance may seem to have lit-tle significance to most Americans .However , because Muslims world-
wide consider themselves to be part of a single religious community ,these world events had—and continue to have—an impact on America’s
Muslim community and its r elationships with the rest of America.
The W
ahhabi Movement Emerges in Saudi Arabia. This radicall y
conservative movement has shaped militant Islamic movements in
other parts of the Middle East and throughout the Muslim world ever
since it emerged in 1803. It o wes its name and identity to the r evolu-
tionary figur eMuhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), whose views
became dominant in Saudi Arabia in the first decade of the 19th cen-
tury . Wahhabism became the ruling Islamic ideology of Saudi Arabia inthe 1930s. Al-Wahhab promoted a very strict following of Islamic law
in every part of life, including the running of nations.
Very conservative American Muslim leaders often look to Saudi
Arabia and its Wahhabi ideology as a standard for pure Islam. Thus,some Muslim mosques in the United States would be influenced by the
more strict versions of Islam that stem from this 18th-century move-
ment and the leaders who have drawn inspiration from it.
European Colonialism in the Islamic World. Over the course of the
la
te 19th and early 20th centuries, European colonial powers essentially
took over most of the Arabian Peninsula. The loss of the Islamic empire
to colonial powers that included Britain and France led to a deep distrustof the West that continues to this day . In 1917, the British governmentissued the Balfour Dec lara tion, stating that it would lend support to
 Islam Comes to America

Amosque grows in
Brooklyn
These men, immigrants from
P
akistan, pray in a Brooklyn
mosque. Pakistanis areamong the largest ethnicgroup of Muslims in the
United States.the r etur nofJ ews to Palestine, the land that, in 1948, became Israel.
The Arabs felt this land was theirs, and did not welcome the idea of a
non-Muslim community in the Middle East—the cradle of Islam.
Also ,in 1923 Turkish leader Mustaf a Kemal (1881–1938) s wept
aside centuries of traditional Islamic rule in that nation and adopted
Western-style reforms in politics, education, and the judiciary . Shariah ,
or courts that practiced and “enf orced” the law ofGod, w ere re
placed
by secular courts, and the government even banned the wearing of tra-
ditional Islamic dr ess.
The Creation of Pakistan. Pakistan holds a special place in the Mus-
lim mind because of
its signal that Muslims can gain independence
from non-Muslim majorities . Pakistan, a nation of more than 307,000
square miles and about 156 million people, was created in 1947 when
the British split their Indian colon yinto tw onations: India and Pak-
istan. Today , more Muslims in America have direct family ties to Pak-
istan than to any other area of the world.
 Islamic Faith in America

The Founding of Israel. After the Nazi Holocaust of World War II,
there was a rise in empathy worldwide for the plight of the Jewish peo-
ple. The United Nations expressed its wish for the creation of a home-
land for the Jews in Palestine, and the state of Israel was formally de-
clared on May 14, 1948.
Many Americans cannot understand the widespread Muslim con-
tempt for the state of Israel. This hatred has to do with rising tensions
between Jews and Arab Muslims as successive waves of Jews moved
into Palestine from 1880 through to the 1940s. Arab Muslims who lived inthe region contend that they were forced from their land and that their
nation was stolen from them in 1948. The current strife between Pales-
tinians and Israelis is rooted directly in the longstanding conflict over thesettlement of what both peoples regard as their homeland.
The Creation of the Palestine Liber ation Org anization. At a J une
1964 summit meeting of
the Arab League, a group of leaders from Is-
lamic countries in the Middle East, the Palestine Liberation Organi-zation (PLO) was founded. The PLO was formed to provide a frame-work for the struggle to establish a Palestinian state. In 1968 YasserArafat (b.1929) became the leader .
For many years the PLO refused to recognize Israel as a state,
and included in its political pla tform a determina tion to eliminate Israel.
Eventually , many PLO leaders realized that Israel is a reality that can-not be wished away , and the PLO acknowledged Israel’s right to existas a sovereign state in 1988. For its part, Israel recognized the PLO in1993, as par tofthe Oslo Accor ds,and a greed to work toward estab-
lishing an independent Palestinian state.
In 2002, this political realism led many Arab countries to suggest
thatthe PLO ne gotia te for statehood, offering a wider Arab openness
to Israel in return. However , these overtures were dealt a severe blow bythe continuing violence between Israel and Palestinians. Now rooted
as much in nationalism as in religion, this conflict continues to have
an enormous effect on both the Jewish and Muslim populations in theUnited States and w orldwide.
Wars in the Middle East. In 1967 and 1973, Israel fought short wars
with Eg
ypt and Syria. The effects of these wars are still being felt, be-
cause Israel captured the Sinai Desert, the Golan Heights on the
 Islam Comes to AmericaTHEOSLOACCORDS
In 1993, representatives from
Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)met in Oslo, Norway, andagreed to a set of plans thatwould eventually lead, theyhoped, to peace betweentheir people. The idea was to slowly create an area of landthat would become a P ales-
tinian independent state.Each side would give upsomething it wanted, but the
goal was a peaceful compro-
mise. However, the plan ulti-
mately has not worked out.

border with Syria, and the land known as the Gaza Strip, north of the
Suez Canal, during these conflicts. In 1978, Egyptian prime minister
Anwar Sadat (1918–1981) and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin
(1913–1992) negotiated a peace treaty between their two nations that in-
cluded the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian sovereignty .
Islamic Revolution in Iran. In 1978, a revolution broke out in Iran,
led b
y the Islamic clergy . Their aim was to overthrow Iran’s oppressive
monarchy and establish an Islamic state. Hundreds of demonstrators
were killed in violent clashes with the police. The turmoil continued
into the following year , when an Islamic republic was founded. Amidthe conflict, the American embassy was captured and Americans wereheld hostage for more than 400 days. The revolution had toppled theruling Shah of Iran, who had been heavily supported by American
funds and expertise to rule his country . The Islamic revolutionariesthus blamed America for some of the difficulties in their country .
The Soviet Union In vades Afghanistan. In 1979, the Soviet Union
(USSR) in vaded the predominantl
y Islamic nation of Afghanistan. While
the USSR had an estimated 100,000 troops and superior weapons, the
Afghan fighters, aided by countries that included China and the Unit-
ed States, managed to flee to the hills and keep up a guerrilla war for
almost a decade. The Soviets pulled out in 1988, but the long struggle
took a devastating toll on Afghanistan. Half the population were forced
to leave the country . More than one million Afghans died in the warand five million became refugees. The chaos, poverty , and instability
that resulted from the conflict helped set the stage for a takeover in 1996
by the Taliban, an ultra-orthodox Islamic movement, until American-
led attacks forced them out of the country in 2002.
The Gulf War. In 1991, Iraq invaded neighboring Kuwait, desiring that
small country’s vast oil r
esources and access to the Persian Gulf. The
Kuwaiti government was forced to flee, and appealed to the interna-
tional community for help. A coalition of forces from the United States,
Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and other nations attacked the
Iraqi army in an action called Operation Desert Storm. After twomonths of fighting, the Iraqis were forced out of Kuwait. However , the
conflict with Iraq has not ended, as the United States and other nationsclaim that Iraq is still producing biological and other weapons forbid-
 Islamic Faith in America

den by United Nations treaties and resolutions. At present, this con-
flict is mainly expressed through economic and diplomatic actions.
The Bosnian Conflict. After the collapse of the Communist regime
inY
ugoslavia in 1990 and its subsequent break-up, Serbia emerged as a
powerful, militant nation in the region. As a result, Bosnian Muslims be-
came the objects of systematic expulsion and murder , called “ethniccleansing,” from 1992 through 1995. The United States was drawn into
the conflict, but many Muslims believed that the American governmenttook far too long to oppose the military terror inflicted on Bosnians byformer Serbian president Slobodan Milosovic.
Camp David Fails. In July 2000, near the end of President Bill Clin-
ton’
s term in office, he attempted to craft a peace settlement between
Israel and the P alestinians .Meeting a tthe Presidential retreat in Camp
David, he sought to bring Israel and the Palestinians closer togetherthrough compromise and real efforts at peace. But in the end, PLO Chief
Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak w ere unab le to reach a
deal. Both leaders returned to the Middle East, with the only certainty
being that of increased tension and violence.
American Islam R eflects the W orld
Today , the result of these many events, and dozens of others, can be
seen in the diversity of Islam as it is practiced in the United States.Muslims from every part of the world are here, with cultural historiesand approaches to their faith that are as different, in some cases, as
night and day .
Just as in America there are many types of Christianity and sev-
eral forms of Judaism, so, too, there are different ways that Islam ispracticed in the United States (from Sunni and Shi’ite to various forms
of Sufism). One would not judge the entire Christian world by the ac-
tions of a few Methodists, for instance; in the same way , it is importantto consider that the Islamic world is also a place of diverse interestsand beliefs ,although all shar e a faith in Allah and his la ws.We will ex-
plore aspects of that diversity in the chapters ahead.
 Islam Comes to America

Key Events in
Amer ican Islam2
THE STORY OF ISLAM IN AMERICA SPANS MORE THAN TWO CENTURIES
and involves the lives of several million Muslims who have made the United
States their home. One way of capturing this story is by looking at some key
events that have shaped the identity of Muslims in America.
The World’s Parliament of Religions
For the first 100 years of the nation’s history , America was home to basically
two major world religions: Christianity and Judaism. In the later part of the
19th century ,immig rants came to the United States who w ere followers of
Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and other religions. In 1893, the first World’sParliament of Religions was held in Chicago, in connection with the Chicago
World’s Fair . Islam was represented at the Parliament by New York nativeAlexander Russell Webb (1846–1916).
Webb was born in New York. After a career in journalism, he moved to
Manila, the Philippines, in 1887, and converted to Islam. Webb returned to the
United States intent on helping Americans understand his newfound religion.
On May 12, 1893, the first issue of The Muslim World magazine appeared, with
W
ebb as the editor . Later that year , Webb gave two speeches at the World’s Par-
liament of R eligions .His were the only presentations on Islam.

PRECEDING PAGE
Aplace in the capital
The home of the Islamic
Center in W
ashington, D.C.,
is a monument to centuries
of classic Muslim
architecture.Tomar k the 100-year anniversary of that first Parliament, Chica-
go hosted another Parliament in 1993. The American Muslim commu-
nity was well represented as 7,000 religious leaders from all over Amer-
ica and around the world gathered at the famous Palmer House hotelin downtown Chicago. More than 200 sessions were offered concerningIslam. The 1993 Parliament made clear that American Muslims hadreached a new level of involvement in American society . Clashing opin-
ions of various speakers also illustrated the tensions between tradi-
tional Islam and the Nation of Islam.
The Mother Mosque
Religions of the world often adopt a geographical location as sacred
space or give a particular building a special status. The Vatican repre-sents this for Roman Catholics. The Ganges River is sacred to Hindus,
the Golden Temple in Amritsar is a holy place for the worldwide Sikhcommunity , and Mecca is the holiest of cities for the Muslim community .
For American Muslims the mosque in Cedar Ra pids ,Iowa, holds a v ery
special place because it is often identified as America’s first mosque.
It is therefore called “the Mother Mosque of America.”
The mosque was completed in 1934 and is listed in the National
Historic Register , a listing of special places protected by law from being
alter ed or destr oyed. For awhile, the Muslim community shrank in the
area, and the mosque building was used as the Cedar Rapids town hall,
and then as a Pentecostal Church. However , in 1990 the Islamic Council
of Io wa, realizing its impor tance , reclaimed it and it now serves as a
mar ker to the commitment of asmall minority religion to be faithful to
themselves in a new homeland.
The Islamic Center
American Muslims can boast of a place that reflects the beauty and
power of Islam in America: the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C. Itwas officially opened to the public on June 28, 1957. For American Mus-lims the Center symbolizes the success of their community in estab-
lishing a national institution that Muslims and others can visit to learnmore about Islam when they are in the nation’s capital .
The Center’s library has works in Arabic and collections on Is-
lamic history , art, and Islam’s relationship to other world religions. TheCenter has material on Islam in 34 dif ferent languages and provides
 Islamic Faith in AmericaA M USLIM PRAYER IN
CONGRESS
In 1991, for the first time in
American history, the openingprayer at a session of the
House of Representatives was
offered by a Muslim. Thehonor fell to Imam Siraj
Wahhaj. A year later ImamWarith Deen Muhammad became the first Muslim to
give the invocation in the
Senate of the United States.

video and audio resources on Islam. The Islamic Center is also a mon-
ument to Islamic expertise in ar chitectur e,and serves as a reminder
to Muslims of the many famous works of architecture that dominate
the Islamic world.
The Muslim Students Associa tion
One of the most influential movements in American Islamic history
was started by a group of Muslim students at the University of Illinoisin 1963. When they formed the Muslim Students Association (MSA), it
was larg elycomposed of Muslim students from other countries w ho
werefeeling the strangeness of living in a different culture and were
(usually for the first time in their lives) coping with being members of
aminority r eligion.
Since then, MSA has drawn more American Muslims and, over
time ,has been more concerned with the issues that face American Mus-
lims living in the secular academic world. MSA groups offer a way forMuslim students to be with one another . They help students handlepeer pressure from the non-Muslim student body , for example, con-
cerning drinking alcohol (which is forbidden in Islam), or the tradi-tional head scarf worn by many Muslim women. MSA also provideseducational outreach to the non-Muslim student body , through semi-nars and special lectures. Many MSA chapters sponsor an Islam Aware-ness W eek.Religions of the world
As this photo shows, there
was great interest in the
1
893 World’s Parliament of
Religions in Chicago. The
event introduced Americans
to many Eastern religions,
including Islam, Hinduism,
and Buddhism.
 Key Events in American Islam

Civil rights, religious
principles
Malcolm X converted to the
Nation of Islam while inprison, but later embraced a
more mainstream view of
Islam. He never changed his
belief that the struggle for
civil rights required concer t-
ed, sometimes even violent,
action.
The Life and Death of Malcolm X
Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little, is one of the most famous Muslims
in American history . He converted to the Black Muslim faith while serv-
ing time in prison for burglary . He became a minister in Elijah Muham-mad’s Nation of Islam and became known as one of the most dynamicand articulate representatives of the Nation of Islam.
Things changed dramatically for Malcolm X when he discovered
that Elijah Muhammad was being unfaithful to his wife. Malcolm r e-
fused to k eep silent on the ma tter , and for these and other reasons, he
had a falling out with the leader and with the Nation of Islam in general.In 1964 he founded the Muslim Mosque Foundation.
Apilgrimage to Mecca had transformed the way he viewed Islam.
He came to see himself as par tof the larger Muslim community , and
rejected the Nation of Islam’s assertion that all whites were “devils.” Hepublic lysepara ted himself from their tradition and their organization.
His transformation was inspiring to many people, black and white, and
his role in the civil rights mo vement increased in the year following
his pilg rimag e.
The tensions between Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam re-
 Islamic Faith in America

mained, however , even after Malcolm X split from the group. There were
warnings that he was targeted for death, and on February 21, 1965, hewas shot at close range. His funeral, on February 27, was attended by
1,500 people.
The death of Malcolm X has usually been blamed on the grow-
ing contempt for Malcolm in The Nation of Islam. In fact, three Nationof Islam members were found guilty of his murder at a 1966 trial and
sentenced to life in prison. In spite of this, conspiracy theories still cir-
culate that the FBI or other forces were behind Malcolm’s death.
The Islamic Society of North America
One very powerful indication of the maturing process in American
Muslim life was the founding of the Islamic Society of North Ameri-ca (ISN A) in 1981. This is the most powerful organization among Amer-
ican Muslims. In fact, almost 50 percent of all the mosques in the Unit-ed States have an affiliation with the ISNA, which is based in Plainfield,
Indiana.
The ISNA seeks to unify Muslims across America and serve as
abridge to Muslims around the world. Further , ISNA rallies Muslim
support for various causes, including the plight of Palestinian refugees,
and also serves as a lobbying group on behalf of American Muslims
and the federal gov ernment.
Any Muslim in America aged 18 or older who is serious about
 Key Events in American IslamMuslims during the Middle Ages made many contri-butions to the progress of science, including discov-
eries in astronomy ,mathematics, physics, and navi-
gation. Many Muslim scholars have lamented the
decline of Islamic intellectual life since what is calledthe Golden Age of Islam, around 800–1300. In the
20th century, Muslims have sought to address thisdecline through a renewal of scientific pursuits.
In 1969 the Association of Muslim Scientistsand Engineers (AMSE) was organized to help unify
the attempts of American Muslims to re-establish
the fine tradition of Islamic science. The ASME Website (www.amse.net) draws particular attention to
the achievements of Muslim science in the Gold-en Age. AMSE is now based in Virginia and sponsors
an annual conference where Muslim scientists can
share ideas on topics ranging from aerodynamicsto robotics to chemical eng ineering.Muslim Scientists and Engineers

living an Islamic life can become a member of the organization.
The ISNA also provides social services, educational programs,
marriage counseling, and training in financial planning, and even acts
as a matchmaker for Muslims. The ISNA also offers an annual confer-ence on working in America’s prisons and another one on reaching outto America’s growing Hispanic community .
First Attack on the World Trade Center
The first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center was on February 26,1993. Just after noon an explosion ripped through the parking garagein the basement of one of the twin towers. American media outlets im-
mediately drew the nation’s attention to the horrific scenes in lower
Manha ttan. Investigators would later discover that a bomb had been
placed in the bac kofa van, which was then left in the underground
garage.
The explosion killed six people and injured more than 10,000. An-
other 50,000 people w ere evacua ted. At the epicenter of the explosion,
sewage and water lines had been ruptured and more than 2 million gal-lons of water and sewage mixed in with the debris caused by the col-
lapse of five levels of the parking garage.
More than 300 police officers took part in the search for evidence,
man yofthem sifting through the tons of rubble. All of the suspects
who stood trial and were convicted were Muslim extremists. Once
again, the American Muslim community had to face allegations that
Islam is a religion tha tadvocates violence .The same accusations sur-
faced o ver the next few years as American soldiers were targeted in
Somalia and Lebanon, American embassies were attacked in Kenya
and Tanzania, and Islamic militants targeted an American na val ship
docked in Yemen.
The Oklahoma City Bombing
On April 19, 1995, just after 9 a.m., a powerful bomb destroyed most ofthe Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City . One hun-
dred sixty-eight people, including many children, died as a result of thebombing.
Although Timothy McVeigh was eventually convicted and put to
death for the mass murder , American Muslims felt the sting of initialspecula tion tha tthe bombing was a Muslim ter rorist plot. McVeigh
 Islamic Faith in AmericaSTEVEN EMERSON ’S
JIHAD IN AMERICA
The bombing of the World
Trade Center in 1993 sound-ed alarm in American society.
With that in mind, investiga-
tive journalist Steven Emerson, who had already
done some stories about
Islamic extremists and terror-ism, approached Public
Television with an idea for a
documentary called Jihad in
America .It was shown on
P
BS in November 1994, and
became an instant source ofcontroversy.
Emerson’s work won
critical acclaim in somemedia, but American Muslimswere outraged by what they
regarded as a simplistic anddistor ted picture of American
Islam. Many American Muslimgroups launched public rela-
tion campaigns criticizing hiswork. Emerson says he has
received threats on his life asaresult of the PBS documen-
tary. He has continued tostudy the link between Islam-
ic extremists and terrorism
and has testified before Amer-
ican government agencies.

was not a Muslim. He was a loner type who had long-esta blished re-
sentments against the American government.
September 11, 2001
For years to come ,Americans are going to ask one another , “Where
were you when you heard about the World Trade Center?” On that day ,
four airplanes w erehijac ked. The pilots w erekilled, and the hijackers
flew two of the planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center .Another plane was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon in Wash-ington, D.C., and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania when passengerstried to regain control of the plane from the hijackers.
It soon became clear that Islamic extremists were responsible
for the attack. It also became clear that for generations to come their
actions will shape the lives of the millions of American Muslims whodo not support terrorism. As soon as reports surfaced of connectionswith Osama bin Laden, an Islamic extremist and the leader of a largeinterna tional ter rorist organization called al-Qaeda, the American
 Key Events in American IslamIn 1995, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan called for black peo-
ple to stage a march in Washington D.C. The Million Man March was
organized to bring African-American men together in a peaceful demon-stration. The goal was to challenge negative stereotypes about African
Americans. Farrakhan wanted to stress an image of a strong and healthy
black America. He did all this not so much as a religious figure, but as
apolitical leader .The March was not limited to Nation of Islam mem-
bers and their ceremonies were not part of the events of the day.
Stevie Wonder led a chorus of African-American men, while
other celebrities, such as singer Isaac Hayes and poet Maya Angleou,came out to support the March. The crowd gathered on the Mall inWashington and extended at one point more than 20 blocks past the
Washing ton Monument. While not motivated strictly by Islam’s teach –
ings, the event did bring the Nation of Islam once again into the
public eye.The Million Man March

Condemning terrorism
On September 14, 2001, a
mosque in P
aterson, New
Jersey, raised a sign protest-
ing the actions of the terror-
ists who attacked America
on September 11. The American Muslim communi-
tyjoined with the rest of the
world in condemning the
attacks.
 Islamic Faith in America
Muslim community became a target for threats and discrimination.
The events of September 11 have had a direct or indirect impact
on every American. The effects on Muslims in America are still being
felt and will take many years to fully understand, as we will examine inmore detail in chapter 5.
The Complex American Muslim Reality
As American Muslims survey their own history in America, they face
acomplex reality: the impact of slavery , the emergence of unusual
forms of Islam in America, the power of traditional Islam, and the ide-ological pressures created by the world events.
Unlik elife in predominantly Muslim countries such as Indonesia,

Pakistan, or Algeria, American Muslim life takes place as part of the
mosaic of man ycultur es that make up the United States. Along with
that comes the pressure of being Muslim in a nation that is predomi-
nantly Christian in religious emphasis and secular in so many other
ways. T he history of Muslim life in America illustrates a power to sur-
vive and even thrive.
 Key Events in American IslamPresident George W. Bush spoke to the nation on September 20,
2001, following the events of September 11. In his address he spoke
directly to the fears of American Muslims and told a broken nation tostand with all Muslims of good faith. He said, in part:
Ialso want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the
world. W
e respect your faith. It’s practiced freely by many millions of
Americans, and by millions more in countries that America counts as
friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commitevil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. The terror-ists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam it-self. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is notour many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists,
and every government that supports them.The President Speaks

Islamic Culture
in America3
SINCE ISLAM DID NOT ORIGINATE IN THE UNITED STATES, THE RISE
of Islamic culture in America is first of all a story of immigration. As Islam
was brought to the shores of North America, mosques appeared on the land-
scape, from California to New England. The Qur’an became another of the
holy books read on the subways or in the living rooms of America. Mecca be-
came a new w ordin the American v ocabulary .
Any por trait of American Muslim culture is difficult to draw , simply
because there is no such thing as a single Islamic culture. As Muslims came
to America, their version of Islam was linked with their own na tive culture.
They brought a Lebanese version of Islamic culture, a Turkish one, a Pales-tinian one , aPakistani one, an Indonesian one, a Sudanese one, a British one,
and so on. Muslims from each country brought to America their religiousculture mixed in with their social and political cultures.
The children of Muslim immigrants faced a different task than their
parents. They had to forge an identity as natives of the United States, yet were
still influenced by the roots of their parents in another land. These children
would feel the tug of three realities: popular American culture, their own Is-
lamic upbringing, and the social and cultural influences brought to Ameri-ca by their par ents.

PRECEDING PAGE
California mosque
The King Fahd Mosque inCulver Cit
y, California, has a
traditional minaret (tower).
Mosques are now found in
nearly every major American
city.The story of American Muslim culture is the story of the shape
Islam has taken as Muslim immigrants and their descendants forge an
identity as American Muslims in the context of powerful cultural forces
in the United States. Can American Muslims become part of Hollywood?Is there an American Muslim art form? Who are the American Muslimpoets? Is there an American Muslim feminist movement? Should Amer-ican Muslims go out on dates? Can American Muslims dance?
Today’s generation of young Muslims have the opportunity to
either remain with traditional Islamic culture or to break new ground.When a young Muslim girl in Chicago decides what clothes to wear , shemust choose among the opinions of the highest Sunni cleric in Mecca
on proper Islamic dress, the customs and rules of her parents, and the
cool fashion trends on MTV . And when a Muslim teenager in Philadel-phia goes out on a da te,he ma ybe more strongly influenced by the rul-
ing on sexual matters of a Muslim judge in 954 in Turkey or by the opin-ions he reads in popular magazines.
Asma Gull Hasan addresses these difficult choices in her book
American Muslims: The New Generation .T
his book is proof that you
can sometimes tell a book by its cover . Asma is pictured with her Mus-
lim sister Aliya, and neither wears a headscarf. In her book, Hasan says
she feels no need to adopt the Islamic practice of covering her hair . She
also questions traditional Islamic cultural norms about dating, women’s
roles, music, and patterns of worship in the mosque.
Hasan says, “I believe American Islam is a purer form of Islam
than practiced in some Islamic countries because of the absence of cul-
tural amplifica tions .Ifanything, American culture has influenced
American Muslims to be better Muslims.”
American Islam and the W orld of Art
Perhaps the most prominent Islamic contribution to American art is
the mosque—the famous symbol of Islamic culture that has dominated
the Islamic world since the days of Muhammad. This has to do bothwith the appearance of mosques from coast to coast and the emergence
of American art that is expressed in classic Islamic art form. Whenone thinks of Islam one thinks immediately of the mosque in Mecca,
which attracts millions of pilgrims every year . The Muslim mosque
near the Red Fort in New Delhi, India, built in 1644, is a wonder to be-hold. The same is true of the grand mosque in the old part of Damascus,WHAT’ST H E BIGDEAL
ABOUT DANCING ?
Muslim law prohibits bodily
contact and erotic stimulationbetween couples unless they
are married and are in a pri-
vate place. Thus, most ortho-doxMuslims do not dance or
encourage events that includedancing. Orthodox Muslimmales and females are not
even supposed to shake
hands with one another.
 Islamic Faith in America

Syria, built in 708. Many of the mosques in Turkey are astonishing in
their design and grandeur .
America is also home to many mosques. Most American Mus-
lims have sought to re-create the architecture of the traditional mosque,
with its towering minarets and domed roofs. The King Fadh Mosqueof Culver City , California, built in 1998, retains the look of a mosqueyou would see in Saudi Arabia. The same is true of the mosque in King-
man, Arizona, completed in 1990, and the Dar-Ul-Islah mosque in Tea-
neck, New Jersey , finished in 1986.
However , American Muslims are also free to depart from many
traditional Islamic norms in mosque design. The Masjid As-Salammosque in Edmond, Oklahoma, built in 1992, looks more like a church
than a typical mosque. The Islamic Center in Albuquerque, New
 Islamic Culture in AmericaDr. Fazlur Rahman Khan transformed modern Amer-
ican architecture by developing building techniques
that made it possible to build skyscrapers taller andcheaper than ever before. Among his most famous
designs are the 100-story John Hancock Center and
the 1 10-story Sears Tower (the tallest building in the
world for more than 20 years), both in Chicago. His
design for the Sears Tower was structurally efficient
and economical: At 1,454 feet, it provided more spaceand rose higher than the Empire State Building, yet
cost much less per unit area.
During his professional career at Skidmore,
Owings and Merrill, a top architectural firm in Chica –
go, he worked on more than 40 projects and cameup with one innovation after another in tall build-
ing design. He is most well known for a tubular de-sign that made efficient and economical buildingspossible in all kinds of shapes. Today’s textbooks on
skyscraper design describe structural types that wereall developed by Khan.
Kahn was born April 3, 1 929, in Dacca, India
(which is now Dhaka, Bangladesh). He came to theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1952
on a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue graduate stud-
ies in structural engineering. There he earned two
M.S. degrees in theoretical and applied mechanics
and civil engineering‚ and, in 1955, a Ph.D. in struc-
tural engineering.
His famous words—“The technical man must
not be lost in his own technology. Life is art, drama,music‚ and, most importantly, people.”—are inscribedon a plaque in the lobby of the Onterie Center in
Chicago, the last building Kahn designed.
Khan died of a heart attack on March 27, 1982,
in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, while working on a build-ing. He was only 52. In 1998 the city of Chicagonamed the intersection of Jackson and Franklin Streets
(at the foot of the Sears Tower) “Fazlur R. Khan Way.”The Man Who Transformed the Skyscraper

Mexico, designed by Bart Prince, bears no resemblance to either a typ-
ical mosque or church. It looks more like a modern art museum.
Muslims have also brought to America other art forms of Islamic
culture. This includes Arabic calligraphy , which illustrates the Islam-
ic focus on letters and words in art rather than the human body . In tra-ditional Islam, artists have often been forbidden to paint humans be-cause of strict prohibitions against idolatry . Traditional Islamic arts,
such as pottery and carpet-making, have therefore focused on floral
patterns and abstract geometric shapes.
The Voice of Separateness
American Islamic life has also given rise to a culture of separateness.
Several factors in the history of American Muslims have contributed to
this.First, Muslim immigrants to the United States have experienced the
pain of leaving their native land. Second, many American Muslimswho came to the United States from abroad have had to flee their homes
because of civil war or persecution. T hird, Muslims born in America
have often expressed their sense of being outside American mass cul-
ture. This has been especially true of African-American Muslims, who
have found themselves a long way from Wall Street or the White House.
Out of these various forms of alienation comes an identification
among American Muslims with artists who express the longing for
home, the agony of exile, and the pain of injustice. American Muslims
who trace their roots to Lebanon are drawn to Marcel Khalife, a world
famous Lebanese musician who has ca ptur ed the a gonyof that country
in his songs. They are also drawn to Etel Adnan, a Lebanese poet who
has both a Muslim and Christian background.
The reality of Muslim alienation in America is pr obablybest ex –
pressed by the presence of Muslim rap artists in the American music
scene .One of the most famous Muslim rappers is Q-Tip, one of the orig-
inals in the rap group A Tribe Called Quest. The group started in 1989in New York and gathered fame and infamy in the early 1990s with someshocking lyrics.
Amore mature and sophisticated style and substance emerged
in the mid-90s, expressed in the group’s albums Beats, Rhymes and Life ,
r
ecorded in 1996, and The Love Movement ,the g roup’s last album be-
fore their breakup in 1998. Some credited the group’s deeper lyrics to
the con version of Q-Tip to Islam. Q-Tip was bor nJonathan Davis onPERSIAN CARPETS
The most famous carpets in
the world come from Persia,
which we now know as Iran.
In fact, the Persian carpet isone of the most well known
Islamic art forms. Because
these carpets are very fragile,the oldest ones to survive
date back only to the 16th
century. The Los AngelesCounty Museum of Art con-tains one of the mostrenowned of Persian carpets:
the Ardabil, named after the
city in Persia where the carpet
was made in 15 39–1540.
Today, many American
Muslim entrepreneurs have
successful businesses impor t-
ing beautiful carpets from
around the world, and de-signing and manufacturing
carpets in the United States
that reflect traditional Islamic
designs.
 Islamic Faith in America

November 20, 1970, in New York. His Muslim name is Kamaal Fareed. He
has used concert v enues to highlight the plight of persecuted Muslims
in Kashmir in northern India.
Native Deen is one Muslim rap group that identifies closely with
traditional Islam. Three Muslim brothers comprise the group. Joshua
Salaam is the leader and he works with Naeem Muhammad and Abdul-
Malik. Their web site (www .nativedeen.com) makes their Islamic per-
spective clear . They will not perform at “clubs, bars, discos, or any place
where basic Islamic rules are not being followed.” They also write, “ Al-
though Na tiveDeen members sync hroniz etheir movements when they
perfor m, they do not dance during any of their performances.”
Native Deen has worked closely with MYNA Raps, a loosely af-
filia ted group of young Muslim musicians who want to r each Ameri-
can Muslims with songs that teach about Islam in familiar musical for-
mats. The profit from MYNA Raps goes to the general work of Muslim
Youth of North America (MYNA). MYNA Rap artists try not to offendtraditional Muslim sensibilities by using a wide range of musical in-struments. They do say , however , that they will not restrict their lyrics
to simply saying good things about Muslims in America. “Our maingoal is not to please the people but to please Allah.”
The lyrics of Islam—The Light Turns On, written by Abdul-Malik
Ahmad, fr
om the MYNA album The Straight Track, make their Islam-
ic focus c lear:Muslim rap
The rappers of Native Deen
identify closely with
traditional Islam.
 Islamic Culture in AmericaIDOLATRY :Worshiping a
physical object as if it were
agod.

My duty’s here to teach and see the teaching is this rhyme!
Praying to Allah every day OK!
Reading the Qur’an to hear what Allah has to say. Cause this is the way let us stop and go read it.
Your knowledge starts to grow and show cause see you now know!
Staying on the path of Islam isn’t easy,
Pressure fr om your peers bring tears make you quezy,
But listen up hear ye, Allah is our creator , Let me say that from clay was the way that he made us.
In another song, called Busy Bees, ra pper Abdul-Malik
Ahmad addresses the shame faced by Muslim girls who are mocked for
wearing a headcovering:
What’s with the scarf girl, wrapped up like a mummy.
They all made jokes and they said that you look funny.
You ran into the bathroom and your friends began to scoff ,
 Islamic Faith in AmericaArab Americans who long for a taste of Middle East-
ern culture can explore Al Jadid magazine, based in
Los Angeles. Edited by Elie Chalala, the magazine chron-
icles the way Arab poets, film ar
tists, novelists, and
playwrights capture the beauty and pain of the Arab
world. It draws attention to the famous artists of theArab world, including Umm Kalthum, the famous Egypt-
ian singer, born in 1908, who dazzled
the Arab world with her voice.
In the Fall 2001 issue of Al
Jadid ,Chalala drew par
ticular atten-
tion to the work of Lebanese novel-
ist Hanan al-Shaykh. Chalala citesher strong protest against naive sup-port for Osama bin Laden. “I seeMuslim women in some Arab coun –
tries demonstrating and raising thepicture of bin Laden without realizing
that they are raising their obituarystatements,” al-Shaykh says. “How much I would like
to ask the following: ‘Why would you demonstrate
to defend bin Laden when he would deny you eventhe right to demonstrate, that you would be execut-
ed for just leaving your homes, not to mention thatyou are publicly expressing yourself as women?’”
Al Jadid brings before American Muslims the
best in Arab cinematog
raphy and
documentaries about the Arab
world, including the crisis in Israel
and Palestine. This is an important
service, given traditional Muslim ob-
jections to the Hollywood film world.The magazine recently reviewed Si-mone Bitton’s documentary, The
Bombing ,which explored the tor –
menting background to the 1 997sui-
cide bombing by three P
alestinians
in central Jerusalem.ATaste of Middle Eastern Culture

After that encounter you had planned to take it off ,
But then you thought how much Allah likes how you’re dressin’.
Pleasin’ him was top priority to you no question.
You walk right out of the bathroom with a super-strong conviction.
You realized in this world we Muslims have a mission!
Muslims in Hollywood
Hollywood films have not been particularly kind to Muslims, who are
often portrayed as terrorists, or simply as backward and uneducated.
J.D. Hall, an African American and a Muslim actor and scriptwriter ,says that while African Americans have had a modest measure of suc-
cess as writers and directors in Hollywood, Muslims and Arab Ameri-
cans are far behind. You may have seen Hall in the television comedy
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air .He has also been in Babe: Pig in the City,
Fatal Attr
action, Ghost Dad, and other films. “I’ ve never come across
ascript about Muslims where they aren’t terrorists,” Hall said in a No-
vember 1, 1998, New York Times article (“Hollywood Now Plays Cow-
boys and Ara bs,” byLaurie Goodstein). “Islam as a wa
y of life, and the
people tha tfollow it—I’ve seen documentaries, but never a dramatic
adaptation involving that.”
Naturally , these negative stereotypes are offensive to Muslims. The
problem is that there are not many Muslims working in Hollywood, cre-
ating projects that portray Muslims more accurately . One exception is
Moustapha Akkad, who has produced all seven Halloween horror films.
Akkad was bor
n in Aleppo, Syria, in 1935. He left in 1954 to attend the
University of Calif ornia at Los Angeles, because he wanted to make films.
When he graduated, Akkad started working for legendary di-
rector Sam Peckinpah, and then worked in television. He made two epicfilms: The Messa ge: The Stor yof Islam , whichis a bio graph yof the
prophet Muhammad, and Lion of the Desert , about the F
ascist Italian in-
vasion of Libya in the 1930s and the Libyan resistance. While Akkad
was working on that film in 1977, director John Carpenter approachedhim with a simple idea for a scary movie: Baby-sitter to be killed by theboogie man. Akkad loved it, and used some of the money he had raisedfor Lion of the Desert to produce Halloween.
When Akkad was ask
ed in a March 2002 interview (with Luke
Ford for his online magazine) if he has encountered much discrimi-
nation as a Muslim in Hollywood, he said, “No. I am open about it but I
 Islamic Culture in AmericaTHEALADDIN
CONTROVERSY
When the Walt Disney
animated movie Aladdin
opened in 1993, some Ameri-
can Muslims were upset overcontent that they felt present-
ed a negative image of the
Islamic world. One of thelyrics on the soundtrack was
the target of much criticism:
“Oh, I come from a land,F
rom a faraway place, Where
the caravan camels roam.
Where they cut off your ear if
they don’t like your face. It’s
barbaric, but, hey ,its home.”

have never faced any [discrimination] that I know of. American citi-
zenship is not an ethnic nationality . I practice my religion more freely
here than I could anywhere in the Arab and Muslim world. Here it is
not the rule of the majority but the rule of the Constitution.”
Akkad continued, “When I loc kthe door in the morning and I
leave the house, I am 100 percent American in my thinking and working.This is where I earned my education, my living, and my faith. Look at
it from a practical point of view: I li vehere. My kids live here. My grand-
childr en live here. So I want security for this country , America. It’s a
matter of practicality , not religion.”
Akkad is cur rentl ytrying to mak e afilm about the life of Sal-
adin, the 12th-century Muslim ruler of Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and
Yemen who fought against the Christian Crusaders. Saladin was hailed
by allies and enemies alike for his chivalry and military skills. SeanConnery has already signed on to play the lead role.
“Saladin exactly portrays Islam,” Akkad says. “Right now , Islam
is portrayed as a terrorist religion. Because a few terrorists are Muslims,
the whole religion has that image. If there ever was a religious war full of
terror , it was the Crusades. But you can’t blame Christianity because a
few adventurers did this. That’s my message. Always there are fanatics, butSaladin protected freedom of religion and different holy places.”
 Islamic Faith in America
The lion of Libya
Anthony Quinn starred inMoustapha Akkad’s mo
vie
Lion of the Desert ,which
por
trayed Libyan resistance
to the Italian invasion in the
1930s.

Rumi and the Muslim Dance
The degree to which Islam has a tender core owes much to the famous
Muslim mystic and Sufi leader Rumi (1207–1273). Jalal ad-Din Rumi
was born in what is now Afghanistan. In 1228, he and his family moved
to Konya, the capital of Turkey , and in 1231 Rumi started teaching atthe Islamic schools in the city . His life and views were transformedthrough his encounter on November 20, 1244, with Shams ad-Din, a
wandering holy man (dervish) from Syria.
Rumi devoted the rest of his life in pursuit of the mystical path.
He wrote thousands of verses of poetry and established a group of dis-
ciples who became known as the Mawlawiyah or Mevlevi order , from thehonorific title given to their master Rumi. Although most Muslims pro-
hibit dancing, Rumi was known to dance as he composed his poems. The
followers of Rumi are most famous for their mystical trance-like danceand are known as the Whirling Dervishes, a tribute to the phenomenal
dance that f orms their principal spiritual rite.
 Islamic Culture in AmericaHollywood had a pleasant surprise in 2001 for Mus-
lims who have become accustomed to seeing nega-tive portrayals of Islam. Vertical Limit, an action-packed
movie set on the eastern border of Pakistan, includesvery positive por
trayals of Muslim characters. The
story is about a man’s struggle to save his sister, who
is trapped in a crevice atop K-2, the world’s second
highest mountain.
Near the beginning of the film, moviegoers
are introduced to Temuera Morrison, who plays the
character of Major Rasul. Rasul is portrayed as ex –
tremely charming, with a sharp sense of humor. Hebefriends P eter,played by actor Chris O’Donnell, and
generously provides a military helicopter and nitro-
glycerine to assist in the rescue mission.
Asmall group of volunteer climbers is as-sembled for the rescue. Among them is a Pakistani
named Kareem, played by 35-year-old Sudanese actorAlexander Siddig, who portrayed Dr. Julian Bashir onthe television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .Ka-
reem is characterized as a devout Muslim and expe-rienced climber
. In one scene, Kareem rolls out his
prayer rug and begins to pray . When a fellow climber
makes fun of him, Kareem patiently explains that heprays to Allah because everyone will eventually die
and it is what one does before one dies that reallymatters.
Siddig says he accepted the role because “it
was a rare opportunity to play a Muslim character
that is genuinely good, rather than a stereotypicalterrorist or religious fanatic,” according to Columbia
Pictures, which distributed the movie.V ertical Limit

Rumi has had an enormous influence on American Muslims, and
is the most widel y read Muslim m ystic .His poems speak of apassion f or
purity and vitality .
He wrote in one stanza: “Oh heart, sit with someone who knows
the heart; Go under the tree which has fresh blossoms.” In another
poem, he wrote:
If you could get rid
Of yourself just once,
The secret of secretsWould open to you.The face of the unknown,
Hidden beyond the universe
Would appear on the Mirror of your perception.
Rumi, like all mystics, was able to speak against humanity’s focus on
secondary paths instead of devotion to God as humanity’s only answer .One stanza notes:
Wealth has no permanence: it comes in the morning,
and at night it is scattered to the winds.
Physical beauty too has no importance,
for a rosy face is made pale by the scratch of a single thorn.
 Islamic Faith in AmericaIn1989 the novelist Salman Rushdie (b.1947), a na-
tive of India, was put under a sentence of death by the
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1902–1989), then therevolutionary spiritual leader of Iran. The Ayatollah,
like many Muslims, was angry about Rushdie’s novel
The Satanic Verses ,which was believed to present
the prophet Muhammad and his wives in a very un-
favorable fashion. T
he novel sparked riots among
Muslims in Britain, India, Malaysia, and elsewhere.
Rushdie’s New York publisher, Viking Pen-
guin, received several bomb threats. Rushdie re-mained in hiding in England for almost a decade,under protection from Scotland Yard, until the Iran-ian government stated in 1998 that it was nolonger interested in enforcing its ruling against thenovelist.
The dispute showed the effect that Islamic be-
liefs can have on culture, especially in a more free
society such as that in the West. It pointed out the
occasional differences between what some Islamic
cultures and Western cultures see as permissible.
Ironically ,in the United States, Khomeini’s statements
about the book probably led to it receiving muchmore publicity than it would otherwise have had.The Case of The Satanic V erses

Noble birth also is of small account,
for many become fools of money and horses.
ACulture of Freedom?
American Muslim leaders have often stated that they feel freer in Amer-
ica to practice their Islamic faith than in many Muslim countries. Thishighlights the opportunity that Muslims in America have as they buildan American Muslim culture. How much will American Islam allow
freedom to be a central reality for Muslim artists? Will Muslims be al-
lowed to pursue acting careers? Can a Muslim artist paint the humanbody? Is the Muslim novelist free to express skepticism about key Is-
lamic beliefs and practices?
In 1996, Saadallah Wannous (1941–1997), a famous Syrian play-
wright, gave the keynote speech for the International Day of Theatre—
the first Ara bwriter to be chosen for this honor .He lamented the de –
cline of theatre throughout the world. He also said that “the crisis of
thea ter , regardless of its particularity , is part of a crisis that encom-
passes culture in general. We need not prove that a crisis of culture ex-
ists, and that culture is suffering from almost methodical marginal-ization and siege.” He went on to suggest that culture is one of the most
powerful ways to resist the selfish globalization that stalks humanity .
The new generation of American Muslims have felt empowered
to critique the cultural landscape inherited from their parents and
grandpar ents. They have also had the courage to resist the pressures
in American pop culture that are opposed to core Islamic values. This
genera tion also faces the task of crea ting a richer Islamic cultur ein
America tha tknows ho wto present the faith in the powerful languages
of art. The new American Muslim poets, dramatists, musicians,
painters, and filmmakers have a golden opportunity before them, if
only they have the freedom for such a task.
It will be interesting to see if orthodox Muslim leaders in Amer-
ica will learn from Asma Gull Hasan and her vision of a feminist Islamin American Muslims: The New Generation .W
ill the Muslim rap group
Native Deen be able to resist the pressure to go mainstream if they be-
come really popular among Muslim youth?
 Islamic Culture in America

Muslims in
Amer ican Society4
ONE OF THE BIGGEST AIDS TO UNDERSTANDING ISLAM IN AMERICA IS
to realize the ways in which Muslim identity is shaped by social and family life.
American Muslim social life is shaped b ycenturies of Islamic history , but
there is also a tension between the traditions of Islam and the ways in which
they are (or are not) followed in the United States.
Muslim social life also has an impact on American society . For example ,
aMcDonald’s in Dearborn, Michigan, recently introduced on its menu ham-
burgers that pass the tests set by Muslim dietary law . American judges havedefended the rights of Muslim women to f ollow their own social customs in
what they wear . Companies that have fired Muslim women because they wearaheadco vering have often lost in civil court cases. The impact of various
parts of Muslim social life and customs are felt in many ways in America, byboth Muslims and non-Muslims.
The Importance of the Mosque
The mosque is to Islam what the synagogue is to the Jewish community orwhat the church is to Christian believers. The mosque is the center of Muslim
worship and community life, and is often the place where Muslim boys andgirls receive their first formal education. In fact, Muslims have followed the

P R E CEDI NG P AGE
Ramadan prayers
This prayer service at the Islamic Center of New Y ork
began the holy month of
Ramadan in 200
1. The
mosque is an impor tant
center of Islamic life.example of Christian and Jewish tradition and allowed the mosque to
be the social center as well as the place of worship.
Given the rapid growth of Islam in America in the last four
decades, the mosque is going to have an increasing importance as a
spiritual symbol and as a social reality in the country .
There are more than 1,200 mosques in America. With an average
of 300 Muslims in attendance at every Friday worship service, that
means about 360,000 Muslims go to the mosque every Friday all across
 Islamic Faith in AmericaMany people think that all Muslims are Arabs. Going to most mosques
in America will dispel that idea. Only 7 percent of mosques are madeup of people of one ethnic group. For the most part, the average Amer-ican mosque is home to many different nationalities. There are more
Muslims in the United States from South Asia and from an African-
American background than from the Arab states. A full third of mosqueattendees are from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. An-
other 3 0percent are African American, and 2 5percent are from Arab
backg rounds. America’s Muslim community comes from everywhere.
Average Percentage of
Ethnic Origins Regular Mosque ParticipantsPakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Afghan 33
African American
30
Arab countries 25
Sub-Saharan African 3.4
Eastern European 2.1
White American 1.6
Malaysian, Indonesian, Filipino 1.3
Caribbean 1.2
Turkish 1.1
Iranian 0.7
Hispanic/Latino 0.6
Source: The Mosque in America: A National Portrait ,April 2 6, 2001,
Council on American-Islamic RelationsNot All Arabs

the United States. Mosques in cities like New York, Detroit, and Los
Angeles attract larger crowds each Friday . All together , about 2 millionMuslims in America have associated themselves with the life of the
mosque.
The mosque is becoming more important than ever to Muslims.
Attendance has increased by about 75 percent since the mid-1990s. Itmight be because there are simply more Muslims immigrating to Amer-
ica, but more than 90 percent of American mosques are also attracting
converts to Islam. The growing influence of the mosque can be noted by
one simple fact: More than 80 percent of U.S. mosques have been builtsince 1970.
In keeping with Muslim tradition, males make up a high pro-
portion of attendees—about three-quarters. Among all those who par-
ticipa te in the mosque ,81 percent are high school graduates, and al-
most half are college graduates. Twenty-nine percent are converts toIslam. Almost one quarter have household incomes of less than $20,000
per y ear .
Despite the large population of Muslims in California, only 15
percent of mosques are located in the West and Mountain regions ofthe country . Thirty percent of American mosques are in the East, an-
other 26 percent are in the South, and 29 percent are in the Midwest.
Mosques ar ean important source of community services for
Muslims worldwide. In the United States, 93 percent of mosques pro-vide cash for needy families, 77 percent offer counseling services, 69
percent ha ve a f ood pantry or soup kitchen, 64 percent run collection
driv es for the needy , and 33 percent sponsor voter registration drives.
Family Life
Family life is central to Islam, and Muslims believe in keeping fami-
lies together . Psychologists have proven how devastating the breakup ofafamily is on all involved, particularly children who go through the di-
vorce of their parents. For this reason, the Muslim emphasis on thefamily can serve as a model for American society , even among those
who do not agree with many other ideas of Islam.
Although a passage in the Qur’an allows each Muslim man to
have up to four wives, this practice, known as polygamy , is not widely
practiced among Muslims anywhere—largely because of the emotion-al and financial difficulties connected to pol ygamous life. American
 Muslims in American Society

Muslims do not engage in polygamy , and it is against the law in Amer-
ica to do so.
The American Muslim community has ideals about the proper
marriage. It is expected that both bride and groom have consented to
the wedding—which is not the case in some Muslim countries, wherearranged marriages are common and some marriages may be arrangedwithout the consent of the bride or the groom. In fact, American Mus-
lim women have presented the case to their sisters from other nations
that the earliest Muslim traditions teach that the bride must freely con-
sent to marriage.
Generally , the bride and groom will want the consent of their
parents. Weddings are public with legal witnesses. American Muslimsallow more freedom for the bride and groom to date before marriage.
Howe ver , traditional American Muslim families expect their children
to refrain from sexual activity before their wedding night. Many con-servative Muslim clerics warn against American customs such as a
boyfriend meeting priva tely with his girlfriend to give her an engage-
ment ring.
In many American Muslim homes there are expectations about
gender roles. The husband works outside the home and he is the head
of the family . As such, he is obligated to attend the mosque for prayer
and w orship, w hile his wife is allowed to pray at home. The wife man-
ages the home and often bears the major responsibility for raising the
children.
Although ther eis a verse in the Qur’an tha tseems to gi ve ahus-
band permission to bea this wife ,the dominant teaching in Islam is
that wives are to be treated with patience and love. Muslims often citethe example of the prophet Muhammad: When he was hit b yone of his
wives, he did not respond with physical force.
Islam allows but does not encourage divorce. Some Muslim lead-
ers express alarm at the growing divorce rate among Muslim couples inAmerica, and blame this on the larger cultural patterns in the country .Muslim couples are encouraged to work out their difficulties and keep
the family together .
Couples are also urged to remember their extended family and
take care of their parents, uncles, aunts, and other family members,when they are in need.
 Islamic Faith in America

Muslim Women in America
American Muslim women face a double difficulty . First, they have to
fight the stereotypes that they are prisoners of the veil and are inbondage to their husbands. Beyond this, American Muslim women also
feel a responsibility to see tha tMuslim women in other countries ar enot
being held ca ptiveto conservative Islamic views about women that find
no support in the Qur’an and in early Muslim teachings.
American Islam has been affected by feminism, as well. American
Muslim women feel free to go to any university they choose, assert in-dependence in their marriage, and seek careers outside of the home.
These Muslim women do not believe any of these actions are contrary
to tr ue Islam. Ra ther ,they belie veIslam is compa tible with the best
ideals of feminism.
In fact, man yAmerican Muslim women believe that Islam was
the first religion to grant women real freedom, that the Qur’an teachesTheir own choices
Muslim women in the United
States are b
ound only by
their own faith and their
family traditions in decidingwhat constitutes modest
dress. Some cover their hair
and some do not.
 Muslims in American Society

that males and females are equal (with different roles), and that women
were given freedom in the prophet Mohammed’s household. They also
belie vethey ha ve aright to sexual sa tisfaction in marriage, that modesty
in dress is actuall y a f orm of liberation, and that the separation of male
and female in the mosque contributes to authentic worship.
Western imag es of the Muslim woman have been influenced by
extremes in the greater Muslim world. For example, the West has been
saturated with images of Muslim females whose bodies are totally
shrouded in veils. Female genital mutilation is often associated withIslam, as well, even though it is a social ritual that is rooted in ancienttribal customs in about 30 countries. Where it is practiced, it is often
forced upon girls whose families follow many faiths, including Chris-tianity , animism, and Islam.
Our image of the Muslim woman has also been influenced re-
cently by the way in which they were treated under the Taliban rulersin Afghanistan. Under tha toppressi veregime, a Muslim woman wasBurqa: This special clothing
has received a lot of attention
in recent years. Strict Islamic
communities require women
to wear this garment that
covers all par
ts of their
bodies. Even the face is
obscured by a mesh veil.
 Islamic Faith in AmericaAsma Gull Hasan (b.1975) calls herself “the Muslim
feminist cowgirl.” From the traditional Muslim per-spective, she is a rebel. When you visit her web site
(www.asmahasan.com), an opening flash shows animage of the American flag and then the Muslim cres-cent with a butterfly settling on top. Her photo gallerygives proof to her view that Muslim women do not
have to cover their hair, and she shows herself in one
picture with her snow board in hand and her longhair flowing.
She is the author of American Muslims: The
Next Generation, in which she says it’s time for
mosques in America to allow men and women topray together
. She says in her book that Muslim male
leaders need to rethink their traditions. “I’m tired ofMuslim women having to make concessions, like sit-ting somewhere else besides the position of honor
[which is in the front of the mosque] or wearing hijab
[a special headcovering for women] because men
can’t control themselves,” Hasan writes. “W
e serve
the punishment for a man’s insecurity over not actingon temptation.”
Hasan’s parents are from Pakistan, and she was
born in Chicago and grew up in Colorado. She readilyidentifies herself as both American and Muslim. Shebelieves America provides the best place for Muslim
women to practice their religion with purity becausethey have the freedom to avoid the cultural baggage
that comes with the practice of Islam in other coun-tries. She is excited that for the first time in history Mus-lim women are studying the Qur’an for themselvesand making their own, fresh interpretations. The Muslim Feminist Cowgirl

notallowed any education, could not work outside the home, had very
limited access to doctors, had to be covered in a burqa when outside
the home, and could not travel alone or with a male who was not her
husband or close relative. However , many Muslims around the worldspoke out against this repressive treatment of women, and pointed outthat the Qur’an does not support such restrictions.
American Muslim women have taken the opportunity to help
other Muslims all over the globe. For example, there is the work of
Karamah, an association of Muslim female lawyers who seek to ad-
vance the rights and freedoms of Muslim women worldwide (see page101). The name of the organization comes from the Arabic word for dig-
nity . Karamah is also preparing an ideal Islamic marriage contract for
Muslim women. In October 2000 the organization wrote to the Frenchgovernment arguing for the rights of veiled French Muslim girls to re-
ceive adequate education.
Relief and Charity
Over the last three decades the American Muslim community has be-come less isolated and more outward looking. One of the ways this has
been expressed is the creation of some powerful relief agencies and
charitable organizations that are reaching out to address the suffering
ofthe world, whether among Muslims or others.
The Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) was set up in 1985
as a non-profit organization to provide humanitarian aid. The leadersofIARA first turned their attention to those who w eredying of drought
and famine in Africa. Since those ear lydays, the agency has dealt with
emergencies all over the world, whether as a result of war , famine, or
the tra gedies brought b y floods ,hurricanes ,and earthquakes. IARA
works with 30 other organizations and is officially recognized by theUnited Na tions.
IARA has an ongoing AIDS project in Kenya, working to provide
ameal each day to a group of almost 500 children whose families have
been affected by AIDS and encouraging Muslims to provide funding
for an orphanage for them. Women’s Training Centers have been setup in parts of Africa and Asia, in Bosnia, and in the Middle East to helpwomen to become more self-sufficient. IARA is also working to establishschools in war-torn regions such as Iraq.
The Bene volence Foundation was started in Chicago in 1992 and
 Muslims in American SocietyCREATING SHELTER
Muslim women have realized
the need in America for shel-
ters for abused women, both
Muslim and non-Muslim.Some Muslim social activists
believe that about 1 0percent
of Muslim women are abused
physically, sexually, or emo-
tionally . They also believe that
the numbers are rising
because of fragmentation in
American society.
American Muslims
have two shelters that meetthe specific needs of Muslimwomen. One, located inChicago, is called Apna Ghar,
which is a Hindi phrase thatmeans “our house.” The shel-
ter provides counseling,
operates a hotline for thosein need, and helps with job
placement.

Toys for Eid
This toy distribution in Alba-nia for the Muslim holy dayof Eid is run by Islamic Relief
W
orldwide. Islamic Relief
puts extra emphasis on as-
sisting orphans in some of
the world's poorest coun-
tries, as well as rebuilding
infrastructure and emer-gency aid, and provides aidto more than 30 countries
worldwide.
has 14 offices in 13 countries. They work in crisis situations without
r
egard to the ethnic, national, or political affiliations of those in need.
Currentl y , workers are engaged in providing fresh water wells for the
displaced peoples in Afghanistan and are trying to maintain an or-phanage for 200 children. In Bosnia they are helping to establish dental
educa tion and in China the w orkers of the Benevolence Foundation
are b uilding water cisterns for poor Muslim communities.
Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) has branches in many parts of
the w orld. Its American operation is based in Burbank, Calif ornia.
Their motto is “Working around the clock, around the world to alleviate
the suffering of the world’s poorest people.”
IRW has an award-winning web site (www .islamic-relief.com)
that outlines its work, explaining relief projects with earthquake vic-tims in Afghanistan, Palestinians who live in squalor in refugee camps,
victims of the ongoing war in Chechnya, and others. Vivid photos onthe site show women in Chechnya waiting days for food relief, men
chopping up railway ties to use for firewood, and a girl waiting to go to
the bathroom in an outdoor latrine where the waste spills out into anearby ditch.
 Islamic Faith in America

Religious Liberty for All
The rights and liberties that most Americans enjoy are often gained
because others who have been victims of persecution and discrimina-tion have asserted their right to more freedom and a wider under-standing of the rights of all Americans. Many Muslims have helped to
improve the liberty of all because they have taken a stand against bias,discrimination, prejudice, and bigotry . This kind of discrimination hasoften occurred following major terrorist attacks, even if there was no
proof that an attack was related to extremist Islamic movements.
Religious persecution has been experienced by American Mus-
lims in man yways. Sometimes their sacred buildings or sacred sym-
bols have been attacked. In December 1997 a swastika (a Nazi symbol
of intolerance) was spray-painted on a star and crescent display at the
White House. On a more individual level, Muslim women have beenfired because employers did not like their head-covering and Muslimshavebeen subject to verbal abuse because of their perceived identifi-
cation with militant Islam.
In Portland, Maine, Muslims expressed concern that the state’s so-
cial protection a gencies do not consider the religious bac kground of
Muslim c hildr en who may need foster care. One Muslim child was taken
 Muslims in American SocietyAs the American Muslim community has expanded,it has had to explore the implications of Islam in thebusiness world and find ways to provide goods and
services to other Muslims. For example, faithful Mus –
lims follow a rigorous schedule of prayer that is timed
according to the changing hours of sunrise and sun-
set. In a town or city where Islam is the predominantreligion, there would be mosques everywhere and a
muzzein, or prayer leader, would stand in a tower of
each mosque and use a song or chant to call every-one to prayer at the appropriate times, five times perday.But in the United States not every Muslim lives or
works near a mosque. To address that issue, Muslimbusinesses have developed high-tech digital watch-es that keep track of the changing daily prayer times.
There are also strict Muslim rules against earn-
ing interest on a loan, and this has made it difficult forMuslims to star tnew businesses. Muslim financial
institutions like the North American Islamic Trust pro-
vide Muslims with ways of gaining access to capitalwithout breaking the rules. As well, Muslim leaders in
business have taken executive positions in importantAmerican companies—such as M. Farooq Kathwari,
the president and CEO of furniture maker Ethan Allen(see page 88)—and helped them thrive in the g row-
ing global economy. Islam and Finances

away from his parents because of violence in the home. The Muslim
community understood the need for this, but they were disappointed
that the child was not placed in the care of another Muslim family .
When the mosque of a group of Muslims in the Boston area was
destroyed by arson, they decided to avoid legal moves even when the
property they had intended for the new mosque was purchased by an-other group at the last moment. Under the leadership of Imam Talal
Eid, they waited patiently for a new location. When land became avail-
able in the nearby town of Sharon, Eid and his community reached out
to the people of the town, half of whom were Jewish. The response wasoverwhelmingly positive and the Jewish and Christian leaders of
Sharon welcomed the new Muslim group with open arms.
American Muslims have also been joined by fellow citizens who
arealar med tha tsome civil liberties have been threatened since Sep-
tember 11th. Editoralists in The New York Times, The Washington Post ,
and other ne
wspapers have criticized the Bush administration for being
too ea ger to curb certain key freedoms and rights that seemed un-
questionable before the attacks on America.
Education
Most Muslim parents want their children’s education to have a spiri-tual f ounda tion. It is therefore not surprising that 60 percent of Amer-
ica’s large mosques have full-time school programs and more than 70
percent of all American mosques have weekend schools. About 80,000
Muslim c hildr en and teens are being taught about the basics of Islam
every weekend in their local mosque. Many of them also learn Arabic
in order to understand the Qur’an in the original language.
Most mosques ar eled spirituall y by an imam, a Muslim man w ho
has been trained in the study of the Qur’an, Muslim law , and the life
and behavior of the prophet Muhammad. The imam serves in many ofthe same capacities as a Roman Catholic priest, a Protestant minister ,or a Jewish rabbi. He gives spiritual advice, encourages righteous be-havior , helps people make moral decisions, and comforts families in
times of stress and sorrow . Given all this, the imam is also one of theprime educators in American Muslim life.
American Muslim youth have tremendous opportunities in uni-
versity education. They can choose to travel to the famous Muslim uni-versities ,suchas Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt—one of the oldest educational
 Islamic Faith in AmericaSTAR AND CRESCENT
The star and crescent serves
in some ways for Islam like
the Star of David for Judaism
or the yin-yang symbol forBuddhism and other Asian
religions. When Muslim rulers
conquered Constantinople(now Istanbul) in Turkey in
1453, they adopted the cres-
cent and star symbols of theconquered city as their own.Given the power and breadthof Ottoman (Turkish) rule,
their adoption of the star and
crescent made this the mostfamous symbol of Islam. Mus-
lim countries such as Algeriaand Pakistan have a crescentand star on their national flag.
However ,some Muslims ob-
ject to the crescent and starsymbols because they wereused in pre-Islamic Turkey as
symbols for pagan worship.

institutions in the world—or , of course, take advantage of the same op-
portunities offered to other American students at home or abroad.
In the United States and Canada the Muslim Students Associa-
tion (MSA, see page 35) works hard to help Muslim students keep their
faith while studying at secular universities. MSA was founded in 1963after 75 Muslim students from 10 different organizations got together totalk about a common organization. In 1981 the MSA gave birth to the
Islamic Society of North America (ISNA, see page 37), now one of the
most powerful Muslim groups in America.
One of the most influential Muslim schools in America is the
Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences, founded in 1996 in Lees-burg, Virginia, about 30 miles north of Washington, D.C. The school of-
fers two master’s degrees: one in Islamic Studies, and the other in Re-
ligious Practice . The U.S. Department of Defense recognizes the school
for its training of Muslim chaplains for the U.S. armed forces.
Islam in American Prisons
Watching the HBO series Ozor seeing Denzel Washington’s portrayal of
Malcolm X in the Spik
e Lee film give a glimpse of the impact Islam is
having in American prisons, especially since World War II. MalcolmLittle, a petty criminal from Boston, was arrested on burglary charges
in 1946. His life was transf ormed in prison when he came under the in-
fluence of the teaching of the Nation of Islam. Considering “Little” to
be a slave name, he changed his name to Malcolm X. Although Malcolm
Xlater re pudia ted aspects of his Nation of Islam beliefs (see page 36),
he remained a Muslim and the ethics he learned from his conversion
guided his entire life. His story illustrates the power of the Islamic pres-
ence inside prison walls.
There are more than 1 million people in prison in the United
States. American Muslims have worked hard to reach out to this large
community , and have been especially influential with African-Americanprisoners, who make up almost one-quarter of the prison population.Muslims in America want prison to be more than just a place of pun-
ishment—especially given the failure of the prison system to keep crim-inals from returning to a life of crime.
Many prisoners have turned to Islam as a source of community ,
identity , and hope in the midst of the bleakness and solitude of prison
life.Wha t appeals to man yprisoners is the moral and ritual boundaries
 Muslims in American Society

provided by Islam, which give them a new framework for daily living.
The Muslim prisoner knows that Allah does not approve of taking il-legal drugs or drinking any alcohol. Islam provides guidance for fol-
lowing a path of peace, not violence, a path of prayer , not abuse, a pathof respect, not rebellion.
Wardens in America’s prisons have tried to adapt to the needs of
prisoners who embrace Islam. For example, prisons are now more flex-
ible in giving time for daily prayers, or allowing prisoners to wear Is-
lamic clothing, and they follow the rules of Islam on proper food (called
halal ). Muslim prisoners are allowed to meet together to celebrate their
hol
y days and rules are relaxed on work obligations during the fast of
Ramadan.
In Ohio ,Warden Christine Money has created Horizon Interfaith,
aprogram where members of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim commu-
nities provide spiritual direction for inmates. Money believes that these
programs will aid in stemming the tide of repeat offenders in her prison.
These ,and other ,programs are so successful that inmates are asking
for more scholars and leaders to come and teach them about faith.
Many American Islamic organizations have decided to focus a
large part of their work on educating inmates about Islam. The Institute
of Islamic Information and Education, formed in 1985, has been an-
swering thousands of letters from inmates all over the United States,
and has been providing books and pamphlets on Islam to those who
ask. The Islamic Assembly of North America plans to donate packages
ofbooks to 1,000 prisons in the next fe w years ,and had sent out almost
one-quar ter of them by mid-2002.
Muslim prisoners who have been released from prison present
the g reater American Muslim community with their most difficult c hal-
lenge. These ex-convicts remain stigmatized in many mosques in Amer-
ica. They find the Muslim community inside the prison walls muchmore accepting than their own faith community in the towns and citiesof the United States.
Toward Greater Social Stability
Some leading Muslim thinkers have challenged the American Muslimcommunity to think more positively about itself. Tariq Ramadan, a
Swiss Muslim, addressed the Islamic Society of North America in 2000and sug gested tha tMuslims can create greater social stability by defin-FOOD AND ISLAM
Many American Muslims
follow dietary laws similar tothe kosher rules in the Jewishfaith. In Islam, food that ispermissible is called halal ,
which means “allowed” or“permitted” in Arabic. Prohib-
ited foods are called haram ,
which means “forbidden” in
Arabic. For instance, Muslims
are forbidden to eat pork
products and are not allowed
to drink alcohol.
 Islamic Faith in America

ing Islam in relation to its own fundamental moral and spiritual val-
ues and not just in reaction to the West. He said Muslims all too oftentalk about what Islam is not or they paint a picture of Islam that is too
idealistic. He also suggested Muslims are often too emotionally engagedand that a more concrete and intellectual approach will aid in thestrengthening of Muslim society .
At the same conference, Yusuf Islam (formerly the singer and
songwriter Cat Stevens) suggested that American Muslims will cap-
ture what is at the heart of Islam when they work to achieve real unity
in their faith and their life. He talked about his disappointment when hewas on the pilgrimage to Mecca and Muslims struggled against one an-
other in their urge to touch the sacred Kabah stone. There was unity ,
butit was broken by the rush of the crowd, and later isolation as Mus-
lims r etur ned to their respective groups.
This struggle for unity will become especially important as Mus-
lims face the emergence of a younger generation who are torn between
the Islam of traditional Muslim states and the Islam of fered bylife in the
United States of America. This can create a clash between parents and
children, between grandparents and their grandchildren. What will
older Muslims think, for example, of Muslim feminists who do not be-
lieve in typical Muslim dress codes?
Tensions ar ecreated in the greater Islamic world when different
marriage and divorce traditions collide in the Muslim home. A Mus-lim man may be from a different country than his wife, with different
laws and traditions concerning di vorce and remarriage. American Mus-
lims do not al ways marry within Islam, either , and the community has
not yet formed a cohesive response to intermarriage.
The unity of American Muslims will also be tested o ver w hich
Muslim groups are included in the circle of the faithful. Will Ameri-
can Muslims resist the typical polarization between Sunni and Shi’itegroups? Even more significantly , will the Muslim community be ableto break down the barriers created by race, ethnic origin, and wealth?The answers to these questions will help shape the American Islamic
community in the future.
 Muslims in American SocietySACRED STONE
The Kabah in Mecca is the holi-
est shrine in Islam. Muslimsbelieve that it is the first build-ing of creation, later rebuilt byAbraham and his son Ishmael.The Kabah stands about 50feet high and is about 3 6feet
by 30 feet at its base. One wallof the Kabah contains a special“Black Stone,” which is often
kissed during Islamic pilgrim-
age rituals.

Muslims and
Amer ican Politics5
THE HISTORY OF MUSLIM LIFE IN AMERICA TRACES THE MOVEMENT
of a people out of political and social obscurity . American Muslims have be-
come mor ewilling to tak e charge of their own political destiny , and more em-
powered to believe that they have the right as Americans to assert their own
views on political issues that affect them and their fellow citizens.
Lear ning to Influence the National Government
American Muslims began to flex their political muscle on the national stagefor the first time in the 1992 election campaigns. They had hospitality suites
at both the Democratic and Republican national conventions. Four years laterMuslims ran for virtually every political office, although there were no Mus-lim candidates for either president or vice president.
In the 1996 presidential election, more than 70 percent of Muslims who
were eligible to vote did so. This is quite amazing, when contrasted with the
national average of just over 49 percent. In the 2000 campaign Muslims real-ized that they represented a significant voting bloc for both presidential can-
didates. Dr . Agha Saeed (b.1948), a political science professor at the Universi-
ty of California and one of the most powerful voices in American Muslimpolitical life, spoke a bout this at the annual convention of the Islamic

PRECEDING PAGE
Solidarity
President George W. Bushstands with Islamic leadersduring a visit to the Islamic
Center of Washington on
September 1
7, 2001. Bush
was critical of rising anti-
Muslim sentiment in the
wake of the terrorist attackson the World Trade Center
and the P entagon.So ciety of North America in early September 2000. He told his fellow
Muslims quite bluntly , “If you don’t vote you don’t have any weight inAmerica.”
Omar Ahmad, with the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
urged Muslims to vote with a united vision. “Many Muslims think we
can’t make a difference. We are participants in the political systemwhether we like it or not—we are taxpayers. Let politicians know where
you want your money used. Voting is not an option, it’s an Islamic oblig-
ation,” he said (in an article titled “Muslim-American Activism,” in
the Oct./Nov . 2000 issue of Washington Report on Middle East Affairs ).
“Muslims must v
ote in one unit, agenda-specific, as one bloc, or we will
cancel each other out. To make a difference we must be united and votetogether . The Muslim interest should be above all personal interests;
otherwise it is selfish and destr uctive.”
In early 2002, American Muslim groups addressed their com-
munities with notices about the key elections that will take place dur-
ing the y ear. They pr ovided information about the dates of various state
elections and gave their recommendations for the candidates that they
believe will best support the freedom and values of Muslims in the Unit-
ed States.
In 1997, leaders of four of the most powerful Muslim political ac-
tion g roups formed the American Muslim Political Coordination Coun-
cil (AMPCC). Before the presidential election in 2002, the AMPCC de-
cided to endorse George W . Bush for president. As a result, Muslims in
Florida gav eBush their overwhelming support. If Al Gore had gained
as man yMuslim votes in Florida as Bill Clinton did in 1996, Gore would
have won the Florida vote and probably the presidency of the United
States.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, formed in 1994, keeps
a close watch on Washington politics and the civil liberties of Muslims.
Their web site (www .cair-net.org) contains analysis of policy state-ments issued by president George W . Bush and also information on thecurrent class action lawsuit against America Online (AOL) for its
alleged failure to protect Muslims from verbal abuse in AOL chat rooms.
Dealing with the Crisis in P alestine
The events of September 11, 2001, have brought to the fore other polit-ical issues tha thavelong been important to American Muslims. Many
 Islamic Faith in America

ofthese ha ve now enter ed the broader American scene in a very po wer-
ful way . Of first importance is the Palestinian situation. Although this
crisis dates back to the last part of the 19th century , world news has onlybeen preoccupied with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent years.
The modern tensions between Arabs (including Christian Arabs)
and Jews go back to the time when Jewish immigrants began arriving
in the Arab-dominated Holy Land in the 1880s. The hostilities increasedas further waves of immigrants arrived from Europe. The Balfour De-claration of 1917 (see page 28) gave British blessing to the establish-ment of permanent Jewish settlements.
There ha vebeen five wars between the Arab nations of the International concerns
Muslim groups sometimes
lead demonstrations expressing solidarit ywith
P
alestinians. This one was
held on the Mall in
Washington, D.C., on April
20, 2002.
 Muslims and American Politics

Middle East and Israel since Israel was founded in 1948, essentially
fought over whether Israel would exist as a state in the region and whatterritory it would control. These wars have formed the background to
the most recent hostilities between the Palestinians and Israel.
The turmoil continued with the start of the first Intifada (up-
rising) in 1987, and the second one in 2000 after there was as impasseat talks sponsored by President Bill Clinton and held at Camp David
between Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
At one point in the talks, it seemed as if a deal was at hand that would
have assured a Palestinian state and helped dramatically ease tensionin the Middle East. But it did not work out in the end.
There now seem to be three main views on the Palestinian
crisis:
1. The Jewish people have no right to a state. Israel is a racist na-
tion that must be destroyed. This is the view of radical militant
groups like Hamas.
2. The Palestinians are a terrorist people equivalent to those who
destroyed the World Trade Center . Israel should do everything
in its power , including military force, to resist Palestinian ag-
gression and stop the terrorist attacks, even if it means erecting
awall between Jews and Palestinians.
3. Israelis and Palestinians must learn to co-exist. Israel should
withdraw from the territories it captured in 1967 and 1973 in theWest Bank and Gaza and grant Palestinians statehood. Pales-
tinians need to r ecognize Israel’s right to exist and stop the sui-
cide bombings and military campaigns against Israeli citizens.
In the last 15 years, there has been a growing consensus for a Pales-
tinian state throughout the West, and among moderate Jews. “With or
without Islamic fundamentalism, with or without Arab terrorism, thereis no justification whatsoever for the lasting occupation and suppres-sion of the Palestinian people by Israel,” Amos Oz, the famous Israeli
novelist, wrote in a September 14, 2001, New York Times editorial.
He contin
ued, “We have no right to deny Palestinians their nat-
ural right to self-determination. Two huge oceans could not shelterAmerica from terrorism; the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza byIsrael has not made Israel secure—on the contrary ,it makes our self-A CHILDREN ’SWAR?
Intifada (the Arabic word for
"uprising") refers to an up-rising that took place amongPalestinian young people inDecember 1987. Seeing theIsraeli army as an occupyingforce, they began a streetcampaign of rock-throwingand other means to harassand attack Israeli soldiers. A
second Intifada started in the
fall of 2000, and was still
going on in 2002.
 Islamic Faith in America

defense much harder and more complicated. The sooner this occupa-
tion ends, the better it will be for Palestinians and Israelis alike.”
In American Muslim organizations and in Muslim Internet chat
rooms, Muslims continue to argue vehemently for a Palestinian state
and to point out the shortcomings of Israel in its treatment of the Pales-tinians. Much of the Muslim political energy in the United States is de-voted to appealing to the U.S. government to be more critical of Israel
and to calling attention to the plight of the Palestinian people.
Other International Issues
American Muslims have also exercised their political will on other in-
ternational matters. There is deep concern about the way the Russian
government treats Muslim minorities. American Muslim organiza-
tions have expr essed outrage at the attacks on innocent Muslim popu-
lations in the war-torn arena of Chechnya. Also, the Chinese govern-ment has been targeted for its harsh treatment of its minority Muslim
communities.
American Muslims have also expressed outrage when other
groups have been attacked. For example, when Pakistani Christianswere killed during Sunday morning worship in October 2001, the Amer-
ican Muslim Alliance (AMA) voiced their sympathy . Their press re-
lease said, “ AMA c hair man Dr . Agha Saeed said that the killing of the
 Muslims and American PoliticsSome American Muslims have joined with American
Jews to work toward peaceful co-existence and to
try to step back from the hateful rhetoric and polar-ized positions of the majority of American Muslim
and Jewish communities. The Jewish magazine Tikkun
has been a leading Jewish force arguing for the es-
tablishment of a Palestinian state.
T
he Open Tent Middle East Coalition is based
in Los Angeles and brings together Americans of var-ious religions, including Muslims and Jews, who areworking for more peaceful solutions in the Palestin-
ian crisis.
Open Tent is co-directed by Jordan Elgrably, a
Jewish writer and artist, and Munir Shaikh, a Muslimhistorian. Among its many projects, Open Tent helps
to sponsor the Levantine Center in Los Angeles, acultural and artistic center that seeks to show that all
Middle East peoples can learn to get along.Common Ground Betw een
Muslims and J ews

 Islamic Faith in Americainnocent Christians was a heinous crime. He urged Pakistan’s presi-
dent, General Pervez Musharraf, to bring the perpetrators to justiceand provide safety and security to all the citizens and particularly to
the minorities.”
American Muslims have done much to aid victims of ethnic
cleansing in Bosnia. The Islamic Medical Association of North Amer-ica provided medical aid to Muslims during the worst years of the Bos-
nian conflict and the Bosnian Relief Fund (in Elk Grove, Illinois) di-
rected humanitarian aid to Bosnia. Care International, based in Boston,
has also come to the rescue of Bosnia’s Muslim community with aidand supplies.
Dealing with September 11
On September 11, 2001, along with joining in the personal and pub lic
sadness and fear felt by all Americans, American Muslims faced per-haps their darkest hour . Ever since the media reported that the terror-
ists w ereall Islamic extr emists ,the Muslim community her ehas f aced
intense scrutiny about the attacks on the United States.
Abdulaziz Sachedina, a Muslim professor of Islamic studies at
the University of Virginia, says he does not remember ever praying so
hard that Muslims would be spared the blame for “such madness that
was unleashed upon Ne w Yorkand Washington. I felt the pain and, per-
haps for the first time in my entire life, I felt embarrassed at the thought
that it could very well be my fellow Muslims who had committed this
horrendous act of terrorism,” he wrote in his essay Where Was God On
September 11? (which a ppears on the w
eb site Islamic Studies, at
www .arches.uga.edu/~godlas). “How could these terrorists invoke God’s
mer cifulness and compassion when they had, through their evil act,
put to shame the entire history of this great religion and its culture oftolera tion?” Sachedina continued. “Had Islam failed to teach them about
the sacredness of human life? Hadn’t this God, whom they call the Mer-ciful, the Compassionate Allah, given them the gift of the Revelationthat regarded killing of one person ‘as though he had killed all of hu-
mankind’?”
Three Reactions to September 11
The Library of Congress in Washington has already amassed thousandsof artic les about September 11 in a special collection. Many books have

been published about the events of that day , and what led up to them.
The events of September 11, and their aftermath, raise many complexquestions about politics, terrorism, and the proper interpretation of
Islam. Since that day , three broad reactions have formed in America toIslam, and how it should be understood in relation to September 11.
Reaction One: Islam Is a Religion of Peace. On the day of the at-
tac
k and immediately after , many American Muslim leaders and their
counter parts around the world said that Islam has nothing to do with the
Show of support
While some mosques in theUnited States were vandal-
ized and some citizens were
attacked, other reactions tothe September 1
1 attacks
included gestures of supportand understanding, such asthese flowers left at a Seat-tle-area mosque that hadbeen the target of vandals.
 Muslims and American Politics

death and destruction of the attacks. Their views were summed up by
the President of the United States in a September 17, 2001, speech atthe Islamic Center in Washington, D.C, when he said, “Islam is peace.”
President Bush believed it was important to send an immediate signalto the world that he would not interpret Islam through the lens of Sep-tember 11th.
Yusuf Islam (formerly the singer and songwriter Cat Stevens),
avery influential British Muslim, wrote in the October 26, 2001, issue of
The Independent, a London ne
wspaper , “Today , I am aghast at the hor-
ror of recent events and feel it a duty to speak out. Not only did terror-ists hijack planes and destroy life; they also hijacked the beautiful re-
ligion of Islam….”
At a special worship service at Yankee Stadium in New York,
Imam Izak-El Pasha told his fello wAmericans ,“Do not allow the igno-
rance of people to have you attack your good neighbors. We are Mus-
lims, but we are Americans. We Muslims, Americans, stand today with
aheavy weight on our shoulders tha tthose who would dar edo such
dastardly acts claim our faith. They are no believers in God at all.”
Reaction Two: The Dark Side of Islam. In the early weeks after Sep-
tember 11, ther
e was a public emphasis on a peaceful image of Islam.
Then, another perspecti vestar ted to emerge on television and in other
media. This time scholars and politicians were speaking about a dark
side of Islam, and there was a growing sense of alarm about the powerand spread of militant Islam.
The famous novelist Salman Rushdie argued this perspective in
an essay titled “Yes, This is About Islam” that appeared in the Novem-ber 2, 2001, issue of The New York Times .He wr
ote, “If this isn’t about
Islam, why the worldwide Muslim demonstrations in support of Osama
bin Laden and Al Qaeda? Why did those 10,000 men armed with swords
and axes mass on the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier , answering some
mullah’s call to jihad? Why are the war’s first British casualties threeMuslim men who died fighting on the Taliban side?”
Others ha ve also written about the shadowy side of modern
Islam. For example, Thomas Friedman, author of From Beirut to
Jerusalem, pointed out tha tbin Laden was a very popular figur
e in
man yMuslim countries of the world, including Afghanistan, Pakistan,
and parts of Saudi Arabia. In April 2002 Friedman won a Pulitzer Prize
 Islamic Faith in AmericaMullah: An important
teacher or leader in Islam.
Often the term is used for aperson who holds politicaland governmental power as
well as religious authority.

for his columns on terrorism in The Ne w York Times .
R
ushdie, Friedman, and others who have pointed out the dark
side of Islam do not mean to suggest that Islam equals September 11.
They know that millions of Muslims abhor what happened on that dayand believe that the terrorists betrayed the peaceful essence of Islam-ic faith. However , these writers also know that there are many Mus-lims for whom September 11 was a cause for celebration. In some cities
of the world, Muslims danced for joy .
Reaction Three: Islam Is a Religion of Terror. There is also the
vie
w that the events of September 11 capture the heart of Islam, that
Islam is an evil religion, and that Americans need to be very suspicious
of the presence of Islam on the soil of the United States.
Of course, it is not difficult to see how much bin Laden hates
America. In February 1998 he issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, that
said, “The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and
military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in anycountry in which it is possible to do it.” Bin Laden told ABC News pro-
ducer Rahimullah Yousafsai in the winter of 2000 that he would kill his
own children if it were necessary to hit American targets.
But does Osama bin Laden represent Islam? Or does he repre-
sent something else that is present in some people e verywhere, re-
gardless of their faith?
Since September 11 some American Christian leaders have issued
extreme statements about Islam. Franklin Graham, the son of famousevangelist Billy Graham, called Islam “a very evil and wicked religion”
on a No vember 16, 2001, broadcast of NBC Nightl yNews. T he y oung
er
Graham also said, “I don’t believe this is a wonderful, peaceful religion.
It wasn’t Methodists flying into those buildings, it wasn’t Lutherans. It
was an attack on this country by people of the Islamic faith.”
Robert A. Morey , a popular evangelical author , has often target-
ed Islam as a deadly religion. Author of The Islamic Invasion ,Mor ey
has attacked Islam in his heated debates with Muslim leaders. He hascharg ed tha tthe prophet Muhammad was a racist, a murderer , an ir-
rational zealot, and a sex-crazed pedophile. After September 11, Morey
announced a crusade against Islam, and invited all Christians to sign a
pledg eto “join in a Holy Crusade to fight against Islam and its false
god, false prophet, and false book.”
 Muslims and American Politics

The American Muslim Response
Since September 11, the American Muslim community has been work-
ing hard politically and socially to advance the case President Bushmade in saying that Islam is a religion of peace. The broader Ameri-
can community has generally reacted in good faith to American Mus-lim claims that true Islam has nothing to do with the carnage caused byextremist fanatics.
On September 11, American Muslim groups spoke clearly and
forcefully about the tragedy . “The American Muslim Council (AMC)strongly condemns this morning’s attacks on the World Trade Centerand the Pentagon and expresses deep sorrow for Americans that wereinjured and killed,” said one press release. “ AMC sends out its condo-
lence to all victims of this cowardly terrorist attack. There is no cause
that justifies this type of an immoral and inhumane act that has af-fected so many innocent American lives. AMC supports all efforts of
the in vestig ation in order to track down the people responsible for this
tragic act of terrorism.”
The American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC)
also issued a statement, w hichsaid, “ American Muslims utter lycon-
demn w hat are apparently vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism
against innocent civilians. We join with all Americans in calling forthe swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators. No politi-
cal cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts.”
In the American Muslim community outrage was widespread.
On November 2, 2001, Naomi Shihab Nye, an Arab-American poet,penned an open letter addressed “To Any Would-Be Terrorists.” She
wrote ,“I am sorry I ha veto call you that, but I don’t know how else to get
your attention. I hate tha tword. Do you know how hard some of us have
worked to get rid of that word, to deny its instant connection to the
Middle East? And now look,” she wrote.
“Look what extra work we have,” Nye continued. “Not only did
your colleagues kill thousands of innocent, international people in
those buildings and scar their families forever , they wounded a huge
community of people in the Middle East, in the United Sta tes, and all
over the world. If that’s what they wanted to do, please know the mission
was a ter rible success ,and you can stop now .” (Her letter was widely
dissemina ted on the Internet and in the media, and you can read it at
www .arches.uga.edu/~godlas/shihabnye.html.)
 Islamic Faith in America

On September 17, 2001, President Bush met with Muslim leaders
at a mosque in Washington, D.C. Afterwards, standing with Muslim
leaders ,he addressed the American people .“The face of terrorism is
not the true faith of Islam,” Bush said. “That’s not what Islam is allabout. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace, they rep-
resent evil and war . When we think of Islam, we think of a faith thatbrings comfort to a billion people around the world.
“ America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and
Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country . The
Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military ,entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads, and they need to be treat-ed with respect. In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans musttreat each other with r espect.”
 Muslims and American PoliticsIn spite of President Bush’s appeal for tolerance, American Muslims
faced accusations that Islam is basically a terrorist religion. These
negative views led some Americans to lash out at the Muslim com-munity with verbal and even physical abuse. The Council on Amer-
ican-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other American Muslim groups
have monitored these attacks.
CAIR documented more than 1,700 attacks on American Mus-
lims from September 11 through early February 2002. These ranged
from 289 acts of physical assault and property damage to 166 re-ported incidents of discrimination in the workplace.
There were also cases of people who appeared to be Mus-
lim being singled out for extensive searches at airports, reports of
hate mail, bomb threats, reports of public harassment, and allegations
of intimidation from federal agencies. Most seriously ,there were
death threats and 11 deaths attributed to vigilantism against Amer-
ican Muslims.
On a personal level, on a community level, and on a political
level, the events of September 11 will continue to have a major ef-fect on Islam in America for many years to come.Targets of Discrimination

Two Views
One has to look beyond the numbers to get a sense of the depth and
anxiety of the American Muslim community . Newspapers across thecountry reported attacks on Muslims or people who appeared to be of
Middle Eastern origin. An angry crowd marching on a Muslim mosquein Bridgeport, Illinois, was turned away by the police. A Molotov cock-tail (a small homemade bomb) was tossed at an Arab-American com-
munity center in Chicago. In Huntington, New York, a drunk driver
tried to run down a Pakistani woman in a mall parking lot. The manthen threatened to kill her for “destroying my country .”
ABC News reported that just hours after the attacks on Septem-
ber 11th, “the Islamic Institute of New York received a telephone call
threatening the school’s 450 students. Said manager Azam Meshkat,
‘The gentleman was very angry and he started threatening the chil-dren. He said he was going to paint the streets with our children’s
blood.’” The school closed, but continued to receive threats.
The ABC News report also mentioned that “On Wednesday [Sep-
tember 12], a Lebanese-American man was verbally abused while he
desperately searc hed for survivors from the arts center he had run on
the 92nd floor of the World Trade Center’s north tower . As he waited
outside one of the emergency centers, a well-dressed young couple
yelled insults at him, said the man, Moukhtar Kocache. ‘They told me,
You should go back to your country , you **** Arabs. We should bomb. . .you,’ he said.”
On the other hand is the story of Bill Aossey , who is one of the
members of the Muslim community in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (see page
34). He comes from a Syrian-Lebanese f amil y who settled in Iowa in
1888. Since those da ys,the Muslims of Cedar Rapids have enjoyed a
peaceful relationship with their fellow Americans. Aossey , who runs a
food export business, was worried after the bombing of the World TradeCenter and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, that things would
chang e. However , he remained optimistic. He said in a November 11,
2001 article in USA Weekend (“Count Our Blessings,” by Dennis Mc-
Caffer ty), “In the best of times ,people ar eprejudiced; in the worst of
times
, you have to expect more hostility . But I have a hard time imag-
ining it. After all, this is Iowa, and w e’re Iowans.”
His optimism pr oved to be accurate. Taha Tawil, the imam
(teacher or leader) of the mosque in Cedar Rapids, expressed his grate-
 Islamic Faith in America

fulness to the citizens of the Midwest for their support of the mosque
and its people in the difficult days after September 11. “We found flow-ers on the steps to the mosque, and there were candles and letters of
love and support,” Tawil told an ABC News reporter on November 19,2001. “We are lucky and fortunate to be in the Midwest because of the na-ture of the people, who are hardworking people, honest people. That isthe general picture we have and that is what really makes Muslims stay
in Iowa.”
As these examples demonstrate—and as we have seen in previ-
ous chapters—there are many different ways of looking at Islam and
at the communities in America that practice the faith. Whether a par-
ticular Muslim in the United States was an Arab American, African
American, Asian American, or European American, he or she sharedin the pain and difficulty the nation and the world experienced on Sep-
tember 11, 2001. He or she also shares in the rich history of this im-portant world religion and will be part of its growth in America in the
years to come.
 Muslims and American Politics

Important Muslims
In America6
Ismail al F aruqi (1921–1986)
Ismail al Faruqi was a highly respected scholar , and was known around the
world as an expert on Islam and its relationship to the religions of the world.
Al Faruqi was Palestinian, born in Jaffa in Palestine, and educated at theAmerican University in Beirut, Harvard, and Indiana University . For yearshe taught at Temple University in Philadelphia.
He wrote several important books, including a work on Christian ethics
and the Historical Atlas of the Religions of the W orld .He and his wife ,Lois ,
known as “Momma and P apa” to their Muslim students ,co-wr
ote The Cul –
tural Atlas of
Islam .
In 1980 he f
ounded the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
in Washington D.C. IIIT is a research and cultural organization that tries to en-
coura geIslamic scholarship worldwide. Al Faruqi believed emphasizing a
liberal arts education apart from religion was harmful, especially to young
people. He felt all learning should be ca ptur ed under the umbrella of Islam—
that is, all subjects, not just religion, should be presented to Muslim students
in accordance with the teachings of Islam.
In May of1986 both the professor and his wife were murdered in their
home, a tragedy that sparked alarm and heartache in the American Muslim

PRECEDING PAGE
The greatest
Boxer Muhammad Ali has
been an eloquent and
popular spokesman for
Islam in America.community . The police ruled that the murder was the result of a bungled
burglary . However , suspicion still lingers among the Muslim commu-
nity that their deaths were not because of a simple burglary , but were
ahate crime.
Malcolm X (1925–1965)
Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, this future civil rights ad-
vocate had a difficult childhood. His father , a Baptist preacher , was run
over by a streetcar . His mother was declared legally insane and was
committed to mental health hospitals for more than 26 years. Malcolmhimself drifted in and out of multiple foster homes, schools, detention
centers, and jobs in various cities throughout America.
After several arrests, in 1946 Big Red (his street name) was con-
victed in Massachusetts of grand larceny and breaking and entering
and sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison. There, he was introduced
to the teachings of the Nation of Islam. A voracious reader and self-
moti vated student, Malcolm was paroled in 1952, was tutored person –
ally by Elijah Muhammad, and was appointed minister at a series of
Nation of Islam temples in major U.S. cities throughout the late 1950s
and early 1960s. Like all Nation of Islam members, he rejected his last
name as a slave name and took an X to signify the loss of his original
African name. Malcolm Little became Malcolm X.
With his excellent communications skills, Malcolm X rose in
prominence as a Nation of Islam spokesman. He spoke out on behalfof ci vil rights and African-American pride throughout the 1960s, using
awide variety of forums including speeches, radio interviews, news-
paper columns, and books.
Although the popular American celebration of Malcolm X has
underplayed his radical ideas, Malcolm X held strong opinions about
the justification of violence as part of any legitimate struggle. In aspeech he gave in 1963, he said, “There is nothing in our book, the Qur’an,that teaches us to suffer peacefully . Our religion teaches us to be intel-ligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law , respect everyone; but if
someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery . That’s a goodreligion.”
His commitment to the moral values of Islam cost him his rela-
tionship with the Nation of Islam and its famous leader , Elijah Muham-mad. Malcolm, as noted in c hapter 2, felt betra yed by Elijah’s failure to
 Islamic Faith in America

honor his marriage vows. These and other conflicts led to Malcolm’s
departure from the Nation of Islam.
Following his estrangement from the Nation of Islam, Malcolm
founded the Muslim Mosque Incorporated (MMI) in 1963 as an inde-
pendent organization to promote African-American unity . In the springof 1964, he made the pilgrimage to Mecca that is required of all Mus-lims who are physically and financially able to do so (see page 11), and
itdramatically changed his view of what it means to be faithful to Islam.
That year he also changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. And in
June he caused further hostility with the Nation of Islam by claimingat a public rally in New York that Elijah Muhammad was the father of
six illegitimate children.
Through 1964 he traveled widely in Africa, the Middle East, and
Europe .He stopped a tOxford University in England for a debate, where
he said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in
pursuit of justice is no virtue.” He was the embodiment of that view ,
even as he continued to r ecei vedeath threats from former colleagues
in the Nation of Islam.
On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was shot at a rally in New York,
and died shortly after . Martin Luther King, Jr . sent a telegram to Mal-
colm’s wife, Betty Shabazz, that said, “While we did not always see eye
to eye on methods to solve the race problem, I always had a deep affec-
tion for Malcolm and felt that he had a great ability to put his finger on
the existence and the root of the problem. He was an eloquent
spok esman for his point of viewand no one can honestl ydoubt tha t
Malcolm had a gr eatconcern for the problems we face as a race.”
Seyyed Nasr (b.1933)
Born in Tehran, Iran, into a prominent family , Nasr’s father was a physi-
cian to the Iranian royal family , as was his grandfather . Additionally ,one of his ancestors was Mulla Seyyed Muhammad Taqi Poshtmash-had, an important Islamic leader whose mausoleum is still visited by pil-grims to this day .
Nasr’s family moved to New Jersey when he was 12. Eventually ,
he earned several science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Harvard University , including a Ph.D. in the history ofscience.
Nasr r etur ned to Iran in 1959 and taught philosophy and the
 Important Muslims in AmericaA JAZZMASTER
Art Blakey (1919–1990), the
great American drummer andjazz musician, converted to
Islam and changed his name
to Abdullah Ibn Buhaina. Hiscontribution to jazz from
1954 to 1990 as leader of the
Jazz Messengers establishedthe Hard Bop sound, greatlyinfluencing later generationsof musicians and enter tain-
ers. Wynton Marsalis, TerenceBlanchard, Freddy Hubbard,
Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrettare among the talented musi-cians who played in the Jazz
Messengers and learned from
the master.

history of science at Tehran University , where he significantly influ-
enced the training of numerous Muslim doctoral candidates. Especiallyimportant was his emphasis on the idea that Muslims should study na-
ture and science from an Islamic perspective.
After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Nasr relocated his family
to the United States and began a long career at Georgetown Universityin Washington, D.C. He is regularly acknowledged as one of the three
most influential Muslim scholars in American history , along with Is-
mail al Faruqi and Fazlur Rahman, who taught at the University of
Chicago.
Nasr has been a major participant in the Center for Muslim-
Christian Understanding at Georgetown. He was chosen to write thechapter on Islam in the classic reference work Our R eligions ,edited b y
Hindu scholar Arvind Sharma. He was also one of the major r
epre-
sentatives of Islam at the Second Parliament of World Religions, held inChicago in 1993.
Imam Warith Deen Muhammad (b.1933)
Warith Deen Muhammad was born Wallace D. Muhammad, the son of
Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. Wallace grew up amid the
racist views of the Nation of Islam, but when his father died, he was
chosen as its new leader and began to transform it into a more main-
stream Islamic community . He eventually changed the name of his or-
ganization to the Muslim American Society . People of all races were
then welcomed into the community and he denounced many ofhis fa-
ther’s teac hings as racial and not r eligious.
In 1980, he changed his name to Warith Deen Muhammad, and
since then has become one of the senior statesmen of the American
Muslim world. He is active in dialogue with other religious leaders and
reaches the American Muslim community through radio and televi-
sion, newspapers and magazines, his organization, and books. In 1992,Muhammad became the first Muslim to deliver an invocation beforethe Senate of the United States.
It is hard to overstate the importance of Muhammad’s decisive
change. Dr . C. Eric Lincoln, one of the leading scholars of AmericanMuslim history , wrote in ALook at W
. Deen Muhammad (published in
1993), “T
he world stood in astonishment when Wallace Deen Mohammed
renounced the political leadership of the Nation of Islam with its plush
 Islamic Faith in AmericaA KEYORGANIZER
Muzammil Siddiqi was born
in India in 1943 and receivedhis education at various
Muslim institutes there and in
Saudi Arabia. After studyingwith some of the top Islamic
scholars, he earned a
Master’s degree in theologyfrom Birmingham University
in England and a Ph.D. from
Harvard.
Currently a resident of
California, Siddiqi has been aprolific educator within theMuslim community and a
major spokesperson for Islam
in America and throughoutthe world. He served as presi-
dent of the Islamic Society of
North America from 1996through 2000. He has joined
with other American Muslimleaders to help the Muslimcommunity express their po-
litical will in effective ways. Inthe Aug./Sept. 2000 issue of
Washington Report on Middle
East Affairs ,Siddiqi wrote,
“T
he key to the maturing and
success of the Muslims lies inkeeping lines of communica-tion open within the commu-
nity and in maintaining a dia-
logue with others outside
that community.”

securities ,and chose the spiritual leadership of the Muslim commu-
nity in the West. His was not merely a gesture of symbolism, but a clear
public commitment to reaching far beyond the world today and to-
mor row,and anchoring the well-being of his followers in the solid rock
of classical Islam.”
Muhammad Ali (b.1942)
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville, Kentucky , the descendant
ofarunaway slave, Ali was raised in poverty , but he eventually battled
to become one of the greatest boxers the world has ever seen. In fact,he frequently proclaimed himself to be “the greatest of all time!” Afterwinning the Olympic gold medal for boxing in the heavyweight divi-
sion in 1960, he turned professional. During his boxing career , Ali de-fended his title nine times before retiring in 1981 with a 56-5 record. Hebecame the only man to ever win the heavyweight crown three times.
Ali’s fame as a pro began when he defeated Sonny Liston in a
stunning upset in 1964. Shor tly after , he formalized his association withSenior statesman
Warith Deen Muhammad’s
sharp departure from his
father’s teachings in the
Nation of Islam shifted anentire movement closer to
mainstream Islam in the
United States.
 Important Muslims in America

the Nation of Islam. Symbolic of that move, he changed his name to
Muhammad Ali. At the time, he said, “Cassius Clay is a slave name. Ididn’t choose it, and I didn’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name—
it means beloved of God—and I insist people use it when speaking tome and of me.”
Ali’s flamboyant boxing style was matched by his outspoken
stances on social issues. During the 1960s, he was a controversial fig-
ure in American culture. For example, in 1967 he declared himself a
conscientious objector and refused to fight in the Vietnam War . As a
result of this action, he was stripped of his world heavyweight cham-pionship and his license to box professionally . The U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in 1971 that it was unconstitutional to penalize Ali’s actions which
were taken because of his religious beliefs. He was allowed to box again.
Despite de veloping Parkinson’s disease (a disease of the nervous
system that causes tremors and weakness) after his boxing career ended,he has made frequent public appearances, often commenting on emerg-
ing issues as an American Muslim. Speaking a t afundraiser f orvic-
tims of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, Ali said, “I’m a
Muslim. I’ve been a Muslim for 20 years. You know me. I’m a boxer . I’ve
been called the greatest. People recognize me for being a boxer and a
man of truth. I wouldn’t be here representing Islam if it were terrorist.
Ithink all people should know the truth, come to recognize the truth.
Islam is peace.”
M. Farooq Kathwari (b.1944)
M. F arooq Kathwari, the chairman and CEO of furniture maker Ethan
Allen Interiors, has drawn on his early experiences in the troubled In-
dian pr ovince of Kashmir to become an acti veadvocate for peace. Kath-
wari grew up in a privileged, politically active family in the city of Sri-nagar . He left Kashmir in 1965 to obtain an MBA at New York University .
After a few years on Wall Street, he began importing handicrafts fromKashmir . In 1980, Kathwari sold his company to Ethan Allen, an earlyclient, and five years later he was promoted to president.
At least 35,000 Kashmiris have died or disappeared since 1989,
when their renewed call for more autonomy , if not independence, fromIndia, sparked a rebellion that Pakistan supports. In 1996 Kathwari
formed the Kashmir Study Group, made up of American politicians,academics ,and f ormer diplomats, to suggest ways to end the civil strife.
 Islamic Faith in AmericaNOBEL WINNER
Born in February 1946 in
Egypt, Ahmed Zewail is one
ofthe most famous Muslim
scientists in the United States.
Hebecame assistant profes-
sor of chemical physics atCalifornia Institute of Technology at the age of 30,
and soon became a full pro-
fessor .At age 5 2he won the
Benjamin Franklin prize for
his scientific work on the
femtosecond, which is one
quadrillionth of a second.
His award ceremony was
attended by about 1,500 sci-
entists, students, and officials,
including former U.S. Presi-dents Jimmy Carter and
Gerald Ford. In 1999, he be-
came the first Arab Muslimand first Egyptian to win the
Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Zewail is currently both an
American and Egyptian citizen
and lives in San Marino, Cali-fornia, with his four children
and his wife, Dema Zewail, apublic health physician. He is
currently studying ultrafast
lasers and the movement ofelectrons as they concern dynamics in chemistry and
biology.

The group’s most recent report, released in early 2000, outlined a flex-
ible approach to sovereignty , giving Kashmiris (a majority of whom
are Muslim) the right to rule themselves within India or Pakistan. Kath-
wari has met with Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf, and Indianofficials close to prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. “He and his pro-ject are highly respected by both sides as well as the U.S. government,”aBush administration official said in an October 22, 2001, article in
BusinessWeek (“Selling Furniture and Tolerance,” by Susan Berfield).
Ka
thwari, who was a student activist in Kashmir , knows how vi-
olence can tear apart families. His eldest son, Irfan, was killed inAfghanistan in 1992. Irfan, a 19-year-old college student born and raised
in America, was drawn there by his desire to fight against the Soviet
occupa tion of that country (see page 30). He died in a mortar attack.
As a businessman, Kathwari has transformed Ethan Allen. At
most stores, sales have tripled since 1985, and the company’s profit mar-gins are the highest of any furniture manufacturer , according to
CEO with heart
As president and CEO of
Ethan Allen, M. F
arooq
Kathwari combines his
business expertise with his
deeply held principles.
 Important Muslims in America

Businessweek. He is as demanding as an y CEO, but colleagues also say
he has a great sense of justice and humility . He often talks about es-
tablishing “a moral precedent” at Ethan Allen. For example, when Corey
Whitely , vice president of retail operations, won the company’s Golden
Kite achievement award in 2000, Kathwari said he should think of itas recognition that he fulfilled his responsibilities with modesty .
After the events of September 11, 2001, the staff at Ethan Allen de-
cided the company should put a public message in The New York Times
and The Washington Post .Ka thwari wrote the message himself, calling
on America’s leaders to continue fostering unity among people of all faiths.
Sheik Muhammad Kabbani (b.1945)
Bornin Lebanon in 1945, Sheik Kabbani was met many visiting Islamic
luminaries in the home of his unc le,an important leader in Lebanon.
As a boy , he traveled the Islamic world with a Sufi master . Kabbani
earned a degree in chemistry from the American University in Beirut,
Lebanon, and completed his medical studies in Louvain, Belgium. He
also studied Islamic law in Damascus, Syria, and was mentored by thefamous Muslim spiritual guide Sheik Nazim Adil (b. 1922), who traceshis lineage back to the prophet Muhammad.
After escaping the civil war in Lebanon in 1991, Kabbani estab-
lished the Naqshbandi-Haggani order in North America, whose mis-
sion is to spread the Sufi teachings of the brotherhood of mankind and
 Islamic Faith in AmericaOne of the most famous American Muslims nowlives out her Islamic faith in Jordan as Her Majesty
Queen Noor .Lisa Halaby was born in Washington,
D.C., in 1951 to a distinguished Arab-American Chris-
tian family. She studied architecture at PrincetonUniversity and in 1976 she traveled in the Arab world
inpreparation for designing an Arab Air University
in Jordan.
She met King Hussein of Jordan and their ro-mance led to marriage on June 15, 1978. Upon her
marriage, she converted to Islam and changed her
name to Noor al-Hussein.
The late King Hussein and his wife have two
sons and two daughters. Among many other chari-
table tasks, Queen Noor is a leader in the Interna-
tional Campaign to Ban Landmines, a director of the
Board of The Hunger Project, and a patron of TheWorld Conservation Union. An American Muslim Queen

the unity of belief in God that is present in all religions and spiritual
paths. He has since founded 23 Islamic spiritual centers in the UnitedStates and Canada, as well as a 200-acre spiritual retreat and training
center in Michigan. He also founded the Islamic Supreme Council ofAmerica.
However , he is most famous for the clarity of his warnings about
Islamic extremist terrorism. In 1999, Sheik Kabbani addressed a public
meeting sponsored by the U.S. State Department at which he said the
American government should be more vigilant about militant Islam
in the United States. He argued that 80 percent of all American mosqueshad been exposed to “extreme or radical theology” that threatened the
security of the United States.
In a January 7, 1999, speech at a forum at the U.S. Department
of State , he said, “The problem of extremism is a big danger , and it
can be solved if the West better understands Islam and builds bridges
with the moderate Muslims, the traditional Muslims. This way , the
Muslim community will eliminate the extremist thr eatfrom within.
What I am seeing, unfortunately , are those that are advising the media,
or advising the government, are not the moderate Muslims. Those
whose opinion the government asks are the extremists themselves.”
His warnings were dismissed by other Muslim leaders, and he
was the target of amajor smear campaign b ysome prominent Muslim
groups in America. However , his prophetic voice has received much
more respect since September 11, 2001.
Omar Ahmad (b.1959)
Omar Ahmad was born in the Al Wahdat Camp for Palestinian refugeesin Amman, J ordan. After finishing high school in Amman, he g raduated
with a degree in computer science from Long Beach State Universityin 1982. While working in Northern California’s Silicon Valley semi-conductor industry , Ahmad became active in a major local mosque,eventually rising to prominence as a teacher and spokesman.
From 1991 to 1994, Ahmad served as the national president of the
Islamic Association for Palestine, the largest grassroots Palestinian or-
ganization in the United States. Having worked within the AmericanMuslim community , Ahmad established the Council on American-Is-lamic Relations, the most powerful Muslim-American anti-defamationorganiza tion in the United Sta tes.
 Important Muslims in America

In1999, Ahmad also became one of the founding members of the
American Muslims for Jerusalem. Several important Muslim organi-
zations have joined this coalition—including the Islamic Society of
North America and the Islamic Circle of North America—whose aim isto make sure that the Islamic community has access to Jerusalem,which is the second most holy city (after Mecca) in the Muslim world.
Laila Al-Marayati (b.1962)
Raised in Los Angeles, California, Laila Al-Marayati is a practicingphysician and an active advocate for the concerns of Muslim women. “Inthe name of Islam, cultural habits have developed that suppress women,
and this needs to be dealt with head-on,” Al-Marayati said in “The Mus-
lim Mainstream,” an article that appeared in U.S. Ne
ws and World Re-
port on J uly20, 1998 (re ported by Jonah Blank). As president of the
Muslim Women’s League, she was appointed a delegate with then-firstlady Hillary Clinton to the Beijing Conference on the Status of Women
in 1996. The e vent g ather ed leaders from around the world to discuss
many aspects of the status and rights of all women.
Al-Marayati has pointed out that throughout the Muslim world,
women are denied equal rights in marriage and property ownership.
Such discrimination is a betrayal rather than a reflection of the true
spirit of the Islamic faith, she said in the same article. “The challenge
is to let Islam become a tool for elevating women rather than for op-
pressing them.”
In 1999, she was a ppointed by then-Pr esident Bill Clinton to the
U.S. Commission on Inter national Religious Freedom, a 10-member U.S.
commission that investigates violations of religious freedom aroundthe w orld. This commission was cr eated as par tofthe Inter national
Religious Freedom Act passed by the U.S. Congress.
In January 1998, Al-Marayati and her husband organized an Eid
celebration at the White House upon the request of Hillary RodhamClinton. Eid, one of the holiest events in Islam, marks the end of themonth-long fast of Ramadan.
Hakeem Olajuwon (b.1963)
Professional basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon has been compared
with some of the greatest players of all time, such as Wilt Chamber-lain and Bill Russell. Olajuwon was bor nin Lagos, Nigeria, and became
 Islamic Faith in America

acitizen of the United States in 1993. He attributes his core values of
faith and charity and commitment to excellence to his upbringing in a
devout Muslim home in Nig eria.
Olajuwon’s commitment to Islam was tested during the 1995 play-
offs, w hen Houston R ockets fans feared his fasting during Ramadan,
one of the five pillars of Islam (see page 11), would zap his energy for the
high-pr essure games. But Olajuwon proved that his faith would not get
inthe way of championship basketball. Although he did not eat or drink
during daylight hours for most of the playoffs, he was nearly alwaysthe best player on the court.
Against the Utah Jazz in 1995, Olajuwon scored 40 and 33 points
in the final two games of their playoff series. He led the Rockets back
from being down three games to one in the next series against thePhoenix Suns. In the Western Conference finals, Olajuwon dominatedDavid Robinson, the league MVP tha tyear . Finally , in the championship
 Important Muslims in AmericaIn October 2001, Fareed Zakaria (b.1965) was named
editor of Newsweek International, making him re-
sponsible for the content and direction of all of
Newsweek’s overseas editions. It wasn’t really a sur-
prise, because Zakaria has always been an over-achiever
. He was named “one of the 21 most im-
portant people of the 21st Century” by Esquire
magazine in 1999. In 1993, at the age of 28, he be-
came the youngest manag
ing editor of Foreign Af-
fairs,the most widely circulated journal on interna-
tional politics and economics in the world. Before
that, he taught in Harvard University’s Depar
tment
of Government and ran the Project on the ChangingSecurity Environment and American National Inter –
ests. He has a B.A. from Yale and a Ph.D. in politicalscience from Harvard. He writes on international af-
fairs in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,
IntellectualCapital.com, The National Interest, Inter-national Securit
y,and The New Republic ,and has
published two books. And just to show you what awell-rounded guy he is, Zakaria is also the winecolumnist for online magazine Slate.com .
Zakaria g
rew up in a wealthy neighborhood
in Bombay, India. His father, Rafiq Zakaria, was deputyleader of the ruling Congress Party under Prime Min-
ister Indira Gandhi. His mother, Fatma Zakaria, wasthe Sunday editor of The Times of India .But Zakaria
went to Y
ale, fell in love with America, and has since
become an American citizen.
There’s talk that Zakaria may one day find him-
self in the White House advising presidents, in thetradition of foreign-born Secretaries of State Henry
Kissinger (who advised President Richard Nixon) and
Zbigniew Brzezinski (who served under President
Jimmy Carter). Meanwhile, in a September 24,1999,
interview with The New York Times ,(“At 34, W orld-
W
ise and on His Way Up”) Condoleezza Rice, who is
President George W. Bush’s chief foreign policy ad-
viser, calls Zakaria ‘’intelligent about just about everyarea of the world.’’Foreign Affairs Expert

series, Olajuwon and his sizzling Rockets humbled Shaquille O’Neal
and the Orlando Magic, sweeping the series in four games. “[Hakeem’s]got about five moves, then four countermoves.” a stunned O’Neal told
Life magazine in a 1996 article, “ A Different Kind of Superstar ,” writ-
ten b
y Brad Darrach. “That gives him 20 moves.” Ramadan or no,
Olajuwon proved that faith could not only move mountains, it could
raise championship trophies.
 Islamic Faith in America
Man of principle
Hakeem Olajuwon hasfound no problem remaining
true to his faith while being
among the best basketballplayers in the world.

Olajuwon’s faith in Islam has also led him to adopt high stan-
dards in his business dealings .He has dec lared tha tsneakers that bear
his name ar enot to be o verly expensive. He won’t betray his values
when he is a guest on famous talk shows. He is raising his daughter to
be a person of prayer.In the same Lifemagazine ar ticle ,Olajuw on said,
“T
errorism is not Islam. Bombing is not Islam. Racism is not Islam.
The Nation of Islam is not Islam. In true Islam, what these people believe
is called ignorance. Islam is about character—honesty , sincerity , right-eousness. Islam is light. Before, I lived in darkness, in spiritual igno-rance. Now everything is bright with light.”
 Important Muslims in AmericaAnumber of Muslim athletes have made an impact
on various pro sports in America. The following is a se-
lection. In addition, Muslim athletes participate inmany sports at the high school and college levels.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (formerly Lew Alcindor)
helped UCL
A win three NCAA titles. He also led the
Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA title before helping the
Los Angeles Lakers win five championships in the1980s. He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
In 1997, Tariq Abdul-Wahad became the first French
n
ational to play in the NBA. He currently plays guard
for Dallas Mavericks.
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf is a talented guard who has
played with several N
BA teams.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim , aformer college basketballstandout at the University of California, Berkeley
, is
now a power forward with the Atlanta Hawks.
Az-Zahir Hakim is a speedy wide receiver who
helped St. Louis Rams win Super Bowl X
XIV. He now
plays for the Detroit Lions
Hasim Rahman is a former heavyweight boxing
champion.
Ahmad Rashad (then known as Bobby Moore) began
his football career as a star wide receiver ,and later
became a popular broadcaster.
In March 1 997,after former super middleweight world
champion Chris Eubank defeated Camilo Alocon of
Columbia at the Dubai T
ennis Stadium in a light
heavyweight contest, he converted to Islam and tookthe name Hamdan .Muslim Athletes in America

Islam andAmerica:
T odaya n d T o m o r r o w7
NO ONE LIVING 100 YEARS AGO COULD HA VE FORESEEN THAT
Islam would become the second or third largest religion in America in just
one century . Therefore, any predictions about the future of Islam in America
must be done with a great deal of hesitation and humility .
It is much easier to deal with the questions that currently face the Amer-
ican Muslim community as they seek to sha petheir futur e.Islam and Mus –
lims ha ve changed over the centuries, and American Muslims have an op-
portunity to once again recast their identity as they continue to be part of
America’ sdiverse society .Let us look a tsome of the questions Muslims in
America will be dealing with in the years ahead.
Will the Confidence Remain?
Muslims in American have progressed from an enslaved minority to an ig-nored minority to a confident minority . The Muslims who first came to the
Americas as slaves were often leaders of their tribes in Africa, but they wereoverwhelmed by the brutal institution of slavery . The earliest Muslim immi-
grants who came to the United States of their own free will did not feel confi-
dent enough to raise their voices in a strange land, especially since many ofthem came from countries tha tallowed no questioning of government policy .

PRECEDING PAGE
Prayer as protest
Muslims pray on the Mallnear W
ashington, D.C., at a
rally in support of the Pales-tinians. Muslim voices areamong the many raised in
America’s democracy.But since the 1960s the Muslim community has emerg ed as a vi-
brant part of the religious life of the United States. Over the last four
decades the American Muslim community has gained respect as part of
the mainstream of American religious life. However , the events of Sep-tember 11, 2001, dealt a very serious blow to the American Muslim psyche.At a seminar the author of this book attended in April 2002, FawazA.Gerges, a professor at Sarah Lawrence College, said he was scared to be
seen reading an Arabic newspaper in Manhattan after September 11.
American Muslims have made some significant moves since that
tragic day . First, they expressed outrage at the events and sorrow for
the victims. Second, they took advantage of the media focus on Islam,
using every opportunity to emphasize that Osama bin Laden and other
terrorists do not represent Islam. Third, American Muslim leaders stood
with the president as he made a crucial distinction between the peace-
ful teachings of Islam and the evils of terrorism.
Asma Gull Hasan has written with confidence about the new gen-
eration of Muslims .In the section of her book ( American Muslims: T he
Ne
w Generation )w here she talks of Muslim appreciation for Jesus, she
writes, “Good American Muslims are good American citizens….They
are waiting for the time when they are accepted as good citizens and fel-
low Americans by the rest of the country . I think Jesus would have want-
ed that!” She also says she believes that a new “golden age” for Islam is
in the near future and that American Muslims will play a major part.
What About Democracy?
The American Muslim community has thri ved because America is a
democracy . American Muslims are guaranteed freedom of speech and re-
ligion. Democrac yoffers limitless oppor tunities , but also poses man y
questions. American Muslims must eventually figure out how they re-late their understanding of Islam with American democracy . Despite
great empathy for the Islamic community after September 11, manyAmericans have a deep suspicion of how Islam, with its essentially theo-cratic impulse, can be reconciled with the tolerant ideals of America.
This suspicion about Islam and democracy is not shared by Amer-
ican Muslims, however . Many American Muslims have a strong ap-preciation for democracy because they come from countries where they
have tasted the pains of totalitarianism and dictatorship, allegedly inthe name of Allah. The question now for the community is how to ex-Theocracy: Agovernment
run by a relig
ious organiza-
tion or church.
 Islamic Faith in America

press these American ideals within the context of their cultural and
religious backgrounds.
What About Human Rights?
American Muslims today and tomorrow are also addressing the per-
ception that Islam does not give significant weight to human rights. IsIslam fundamentally opposed to human rights by its theocratic nature?
Why is it that many Muslim countries have such deplorable records on
human rights? These are questions that are receiving more significant
attention in the American Muslim community .
Data made available by Freedom House, an organization that
monitors political and civil rights in every country of the world, re-ports that of the 41 countries whose populations are at least 70 percent
Muslim, 26 are consider ed “not free” and 13 are “partly free.” Only two
are “free”—meaning they protect political and civil rights as definedby the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
American Muslims, like all minorities, have done much in this
country to increase human rights in the course of their own struggles.They are also working to help Muslims in other countries achieve a
greater measure of freedom from distorted views of Islam that link the
 Islam and America: Today and Tomorrow
Where do we fit in?
Sayyid Syeed, secretary
general of the Islamic
Societ
y of North America,
opens the Society’s July
2002 regional conference.
The conference discussedthe role of Islam in the wider
contex tof American society,
from prison programs to
working with people of otherfaiths.

customs of specific tribes or nations with religious practice. In her
book, Hasan describes how she comes to realize that her grandfather’sviews about women were shaped more by his Pakistani past than by
his faithful reading of the Qur’an.
To many American Muslims, it seems ironic that the government
of Saudi Arabia welcomed Allied Forces (including female soldiers) ontheir way to liberate Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm (see page 30),
but forbids Saudi women to drive cars. Some Muslim leaders have
protested the abuse of Muslims in Muslim countries. For example, Uni-
versity of Michigan political science professor Muqtedar Khan hascalled on fellow American Muslims to criticize the governments of Saudi
Arabia and Iraq for their mistreatment of minority Muslim groups.
American Muslim feminists ar ealso trying to help oppressed
Muslim women in other parts of the world. And in the United States,
they are challenging traditional teachings about women’s clothing. Ra-
bia’a Kiegler , a leading Muslim feminist, told Robert Marquand of The
Christian Science Monitor thatMuslim men “should stop bothering
w
omen about what they put on their heads—as if that were more im-
portant than what is in their heads” (“Seriously Tinkering with 1,000
Years of Tradition,” February 12, 1996).
What About Jihad?
Sooner or later American Muslims are asked about jihad. Despite the
constant assertion in the United States that jihad simply means spiri-
tual striving, it is undenia ble tha tthe ter mmeans warfare and terror in
man yparts of the Muslim world. American Muslims are struggling to
distance themselves from the militant use of the term, but some Mus-
lim leaders r ealize that this is a difficult task.
Regardless of what critics may say about Steven Emerson’s doc-
umentary American Jihad (see pag e 38), his film shows that there is a
significant number of American Muslims who freely use the term jihadas a military term. Emerson provides convincing evidence that somemajor American Islamic organizations have been far too quick to de-
fend Islamic militants who have used America as a home base, evenwhile planning attacks on America. For example, some very well-known
American Muslim leaders have defended Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman,
the blind Egyptian cleric who has been in the United States since 1990.Sheikh Rahman’s fiery sermons have called for a “holy jihad” against
 Islamic Faith in America

America. He was convicted for his part in plotting criminal acts against
the United States and is now in prison.
American Muslims ar e facing questions about how they relate
the broader militancy of the Islamic world to the teaching and prac-
tice of the prophet Muhammad. Would he celebrate the work of Osamabin Laden? Are the violent jihads of our day in keeping with the idealsof the Qur’an and the military actions of the earliest Muslim leaders?
Out of these issues emerge two radically different perspectives
among modern Muslims. Violent extremists consider their actions to beatrue jihad or “holy war” against infidels and the enemies of Islam.
They belie veit is right to target America, “the great Satan.” Osama bin
Laden believes that the Qur’an supports his campaign, that the prophetwould bless his cause, and that Allah is on his side.
Thankfully , the vast majority of Muslims, especially in America,
believe that nothing in Muhammad’s life or in the Qur’an or Islamic law
justifies terrorism. The moderate Muslim vision has been defended byBernard Lewis, the great Princeton University historian of Islam. Lewisnoted in The Wall Street Journal article, “Jihad vs. Crusade” (September
27, 2001), that throughout history , Muslims ha ve gi
ven jihad both spiri-
tual and military meaning. After noting the many limitations placed on
 Islam and America: Today and TomorrowHere are two examples of how Muslim women in
America are working to change the status and im-
prove the lives of Muslim women in the United Statesand around the world.
Dr. Azizah Al-Hibri is one of the leading Mus-
lim lawyers in America and a law professor at theUniversity of Richmond in Virginia. As founder and
president of Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers forHuman Rights, she represents Muslim women whorisk losing American court cases because they don’tknow about Islamic traditions concerning marriage, di-
vorce, and child custody rights.
Al-Hibri is also working with her associates at
Karamah to develop a model Islamic marriage con-
tract which can be used in the United States and
other parts of the world to defend their rights ac-cording to the highest standards of Islamic law.
The Muslim’s Women’s League (MWL), based
in Los Angeles, provides hotline access numbers forMuslim women in physical or emotional distress.
Their list includes the number for the American Civil
Liberties Union and Lawyers for Human Rights. Theaim of the WML is to “implement the values of Islam
and thereby reclaim the status of women as free,equal, and vital contributors to society.”
Samer Hathout, the founding president of the
Muslim Women’s League, has traveled to Croatia to
investigate the status of Muslim women war refugees.
She has also worked on compiling data on concen-
tration camps, which will be used in the war crimes
tribunal of the International Court, where former Yu-
goslavian leaders are on trial.Help for Muslim Women

military jihad, he writes, “What the classical jurists [judges] of Islam
never remotely considered is the kind of unprovoked, unannouncedmass slaughter of uninvolved civil populations that we saw in New York.
For this there is no precedent and no authority in Islam.”
Will American Islamic Unity Be Strengthened?
The racial divisions that have torn America have also affected Islam,
which is rapidly gaining converts among African Americans. In addi-
tion, Muslims have come to America from all over the world, and they
cannot help but bring their national pride, and national divisions, withthem. However , Islam has done better than most world religions at work-
ing toward worldwide unity . American Muslims have achieved re-
mar kable solidarity among members. In fact, the Muslims of the Unit-
ed States can serv e,today and tomorrow , as a model for the world’s
religions in reaching beyond ethnic, racial, and economic divides toachieve a common understanding.
It is true tha tAmerican Islam has duplicated the tensions tha t
have existed from the start between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslim groups(see page 13). However , there is far less of that tension in the United
States than in most Muslim countries. The same holds true for the or-
thodox Muslim openness to Sufism. This can serve as a model for better
relations among Muslim groups around the world.
Hasan believes unity is one of the most important issues facing
the American Muslim community . She is not arguing for a cripplinguniformity ,since she celebrates the di versity within American Mus-
lims .She is concerned, though, about the division between mainstream
Muslims and the followers of the Nation of Islam. She hopes that Louis
Farrakhan will continue to pursue a moderate course that will lead to
healing for all Americans, black and white, Muslim and non-Muslim.
Will American Muslims Be Self-Critical?
Since September 11, 2001, the American Muslim community is becomingmore open to self-criticism about how the greatest ideals of Islam are
not always reached. Although many Muslims have tried to blame theUnited States and Israel for all the ills of the Muslim world, a rising
number of Muslim intellectuals are calling for a new and radical self-
criticism within Islam. This point has been articulated by KananMakiy a, author of several books about Iraq and the Middle East.A W ILLINGNESS TO
CHALLE NGE
Asma Gull Hasan has been
mentioned several times in
this chapter and elsewhere inthis book. She is proof of a
new generation of Muslims
that are willing to challengetraditional views. Her bookAmerican Muslims: The NewGeneration asks tough
questions about head-cover-ings, gender equality ,dating,
mosque worship patterns—allin a very positive spirit, andwith no apologies for being
an American Muslim. In fact,she writes, “T
eaching Ameri-
cans and the West aboutIslam, creating a better
understanding of it, will be
American Muslims’ contribu-tion and legacy to the world
as they combine the best of
American culture with the
best of Islam.”
 Islamic Faith in America

Makiy awrote in a London Obser verartic le (“Fighting Islam’ s
K
u Klux Klan, October 7, 2001): “ Arabs and Muslims need today to face
up to the fact that their resentment at America has long since become
unmoor ed from an yrational [or , reasonable] underpinnings it might
once ha vehad; lik ethe anti-Semitism of the years [between the two
World Wars], it is today steeped in deeply embedded conspiratorial pat-
terns of thought rooted in pr ofound ignorance of how a society lik e
the United States, much less Israel, functions.
“Muslims and Arabs have to be on the front lines of a new kind
of war , one that is worth waging for their own salvation and in theirown souls. And that, as good out-of-fashion Muslim scholars will tellyou, is the true meaning of jihad ,ameaning tha
t has been hijacked by
terrorists and suicide bombers and all those who applaud or find ex-
cuses for them. To exorcise [or , remove] what they have done in ourname is the [key] challenge of the 21st century for every Arab and Mus-lim in the world today .”Room for everyone
Two schoolgirls from
Brooklyn look out of the
back of their school bus. Themosaic of American life is
rich enough to include b
oth
the flag and the headscarf.
 Islam and America: Today and Tomorrow

Allah the Arabic word for God
Allahu Akbar means “God is the greatest”; used
in Islamic pra
yers
Al-Fatiha the first chapter of the Qur’an
ayatollah highest ranking religious leaders in
Shi’ite branc
h of Islam
burqa head-to-toe g arments wor n by Muslim
women in certain parts of the world
caliph (or khalifah) Muhammad’s successors,
orthe leaders of Islam in g eneral
caravan ag roup of merchants or religious pil-
grims traveling together and sharing supplies and
transportation
cistern atank or container f or storing water
dawah the mission of spreading Islam; evange-
liza
tion
dervish amember of any of several Muslim
groups who have vowed to live a life of poverty and
austerity
Eid celebra tion or feast; a tthe end of Ramadan
amajor festi
val, called Eid-ul-Fitr , marks the com-
pletion of the month of fasting
fatwa opinion or ruling in Islamic law
guerrilla war awar f ought in an irregular man-
ner b ymembers of an independent armed group
rather than a national army
hadith written accounts of the prophet Muham-
mad’
s words and deeds
Hajj the pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five
pillars of
Islam
halal something tha tis lawful or per mitted, as
in halal foodheretics people who believe something other than
the widel
y accepted parts of a faith
hijab from the Ara bic word hajaba, meaning to
hide fr
om view or conceal; it is the modest covering
of a Muslim woman; in different countries there
aredifferent traditions about how much a woman
should cover
Hijrah Muhammad’s trip to Medina in 622 A.D.;
this is the first year of the Islamic calendar
idolatry worshiping a physical object as if it were
agod
imam a spiritual or community leader in Islam,
the person who leads pra yer; in Shi’ite Islam it
r
efers to one of the early special leaders after
Muhammad’s death
infidel aperson w ho does not believe in a partic-
ular r eligion
Intifada the Arab word for “uprising;” specifi-
cally
, a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli pres-
ence in the West Bank and Gaza
jihad to stri ve,to endea vor; to eng agein a just
war to defend Islam
Kabah shrine or house of worship in the great
mosque of
Mecca, which Muslims believe was built
byAbraham
kafir an unbeliever , someone who rejects Allah
and his way
madhi ater m in various divisions of Shi’ite Islam
for either the seventh or 12th ruler , who went into
astate of hiding and is expected back at the end of
time
mausoleum a large, g rand tomb
minaret a tow er on a mosque
monotheistic belief in one god
 Islamic Faith in AmericaGLOSSARY

mosque the center of worship for a Muslim com-
munity , comparable to a church for Christians or a
synagogue for Jews
mufti an expert in Muslim law
mujahideen afighter f or Islam (both literally and
figuratively)
mullah aMuslim w ho is learned in Islamic
theology and sacred lawmuzzein someone who leads the faithful in prayer
pilgrimage ajour
ney undertaken for spiritual
reasons
polygamy the practice of having more than one
wife
prophet ateac her or interpreter of the will of
GodQur’an the Muslim book of holyscriptur
e; some-
times written as Koran
Ramadan the month in Muslim calendar when
r
evelations were first given to Muhammad and the
month when Muslims fast during daylight hourssalah special communion or pra yer five times per
day , one of the five pillars of Islam
sawm fasting during Ramadan, one of the five
pillars of
Islam
secular not concerned with religion
shahadah confession: “There is no God but Allah,
and Muhammad is His pr
ophet”; one of the five
pillars of Islam
shariah the rules or laws of Islam
sheikh (or shaikh) a religious leader or wise per-
son in Islam; also an elderl
y person
sunnah the life and deeds or way of Muhammad
theocrac ya form of go vernment in which a
priestly or der rules according to religious law
ummah the community of believers in Allah
vigilante amember of a self-appointed group to
maintain order according to its own principles
zaka tgiving a per cent of wealth for the needy ,
one of the five pillars of Islam
 Glossary

1870s The first wave of voluntary Muslim immigration to the United States, most-
l
y from Arab nations.
1893 Islam is presented at Chicago’s World’s Parliament of Religions.
1913 Timothy Drew founds the Moorish Science Temple in New Jersey , marking
the first African-American Islamic mo
vement.
1930 Elijah Muhammad meets Wallace D. Fard, founder of the Nation of Islam,and begins to f
ollow his teachings.
1934 The “Mother Mosque of America” is completed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, toserve the large Muslim community there.
1957 The Islamic Center is completed in Washington, D
.C. Its library and study
center are resources for all Americans who wish to learn about Islam.
1963 The Muslim Students Association (MSA) is started by a group of Muslim stu-
dents a
t the University of Illinois, mostly from other countries, who are
feeling the pressures of living in a different culture.
1965 Civil rights leader and former Nation of Islam member Malcolm X is as-
sassina
ted.
1975 Wallace Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, renounces the racistlangua geofhis f ather and calls on his congr
egations to join the wider Mus-
lim community .
1981 Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is f ounded. The ISNA seeks to unify
Muslims across America and serve as a bridge to Muslims around the world.
1991 For the first time, the opening prayer at a session of the House of Repre-senta ti
ves is offered by a Muslim. A year later , a Muslim gives the invocation
in the Sena te.
1994 The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is founded. CAIR keepsac
lose watch on Washington politics and the civil liberties of Muslims.
2000 American Muslims , voting as a bloc k, influence the presidential election
in favor of George W . Bush.
2001 The September 11 terrorism attacks expose American Muslims to preju-dice and violence.
2002 The American Muslim community shows its suppor t for a Palestinian sta te
and a peaceful settlement to contin
ued violence between Israel and the
Palestinians.
 Islamic Faith in AmericaTIMELINE

Reading List
Al Faruqi, Dr . Isma’il R., Islam .Beltsville ,Md.:
Amana Pub
lications, 1979.
Anway , Carol L., Daughters of Another Path: Ex-
periences of
American Women Choosing Islam .Lee’ s
Summit, Mo.: Yawna Publications, 1996.
Armstrong, Karen, Islam: A Short History .Ne w
York: Modern Library , 2000.
Belt, Don, ed., The World of Islam .W ashington,
D.C.: National Geographic, 2001.
Beverley , James A., Understanding Islam.
Nashville
, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, 2001.
Findley , Paul, Silent No More: Confronting Ameri-
ca’s F
alse Images of Islam .Beltsville , Md.: Amana
Publications, 2001.Gordon, Ma tthewS., rev . ed., Islam (W orld Religions
Series). Ne
w York: Facts On File, 2001.
Hasan, Asma Gull, American Muslims: The Ne w
Gener
ation. Ne w York: Continuum, 2001.
Muhammad, Amir Nashid Ali, Muslims in Ameri-
ca: Se
ven Centuries of History (1312-2000), 2nd ed.
Beltsville, Md., Amana Pub
lications, 2001.
Robinson, Francis, ed., The Cambridge Illustrated
Histor
y of the Islamic World .Ne w York: Cambridge
University Press, 1999.
Smith, Jane I., Islam in America .Ne w York:
Columbia University Press, 1999.Resources on the Web
Council on American Islamic R elations
www.cair-net.org
News stories and details of political lobbying ef-f
orts on behalf of Muslim Americans.
IslamiCity www.islam.orgAn exchange center for international Islam, in-cluding w
orld news, travel information, religious
affairs, business and finance, and shopping.
Islamic Relief Worldwide
www.islamic-relief .comInformation about Islamic Relief ’s global programs
and ho
w you can help.
Mamalist of Islamic Links
www.jannah.org/mamalistAnd alphabetized and categorized list of more than
1,000 Muslim links on the Inter
net.
Musalman: the Islamic Portal
www.musalman.comAhug
e search engine and list of resources con-centra ting on issues of impor tance to Muslims in
the United States.
Muslim Life in America
usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/muslimlife/Information from the U.S. State Department aboutIslam in America, including a photo g
allery , links
to resources, and the texts of speeches by Presi-
dent Bush and prominent American Muslims.
Muslims in the American Public Square
www.projectmaps.com
The site of Project MAPS is based at the Center for
Muslim-Christian Understanding a
t Georgetown
University .The center was founded in 1993 to foster
dialogue between Islam and Christianity .
 resourcesRESOURCES

Abdul-Jabbar , Kareem, 95
Abdul-Malik, Ahmad, 47, 48Abdul-Rauf, Mahmoud, 95Abdul-Wahad, Tariq, 95Abdur-Rahim, Saheef, 95Abraham, 7, 9, 67Abubakari II, 19abuse, 58, 60, 63–64, 101actors, 49Adam and Eve, 7Adil, Sheik Nazim, 90Adnan, Etel, 46Afghanistan, 15, 30, 56, 62, 76, 89Africa, 17, 19, 24, 56, 61. See also
slavery
African Americans
ethnic identity
, 5, 23, 24, 84
first Islamic movement, 23
Million Man March, 39mosque in Philadelphia, 21percent of mosque partici-
pants, 56
in prison, 65
Ahmad, Omar , 70, 91Akkad, Moustapha, 49–50
Aladdin, 49
Al-Azhar Uni
versity , 65
Albania, 5, 21, 22, 62, 62
Alcindor , Lew , 95alcohol or dr
ugs, 35, 66
Al-Fatiha of the Qur’an, 10Ali, 13Ali, Muhammad, 82–83, 84, 87–88
Ali, Nob
le Drew , 23
Al J adid, 48
Allah
Dr
ew Ali as Prophet from, 23
and Jesus, 14
the laws of, 14–15
in rap music, 48, 49role in Islamic faith, 7–8, 10Wallace Fard as Prophet from,
24
word of. SeeQur’an
al-Qaeda, 39, 76
American Jihad, 38, 100
American Muslim Alliance, 73
American Muslim Council, 78
American Muslim P
olitical
Coordination Council, 70, 78American Muslims: The New
Gener
ation, 44, 53, 98, 100, 102
American Muslims f
or Jerusalem,
92
America Online, 70
Angelou, Maya, 39Aossey , Bill, 80Apna Ghar , 61Arab Americans, 48, 49Arabic language, 8, 9, 64
Ara
bic number system, 16
Arab League, 29Arab nations, 27–28. See also spe-
cific countries
Arafat, Yasser , 31, 72architects
, 45, 46
architecture
Dome of the R ock, 6–7, 8
of Fazlur Rahman Kahn, 45inf
luence of Islamic, 17, 35
of mosques, 21, 43, 44–46
Ar
dabil carpet, 46
Arizona, mosque in Kingman, 45art, 6–7, 8, 44–46
Asian Exclusion Act, 22Associa
tion of Muslim Scientists
and Engineers, 37
astronom y , 19, 37
authors, 48, 52, 72, 83
Balfour Declaration, 28, 71
Bangladesh, 56Barak, Ehud, 31, 72basketball, 92–95
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen F ellowship, 26
Begin, Menachem, 30Benevolence Foundation, 61–62Bible, 7
bin Abd al-Wahhab, Muhammad, 27
bin Laden, Osama, 12, 39, 48, 76,
77, 98, 101
Bitton, Simone, 48“Black Stone,” 67
Blakey , Art, 85
Bombing, The, 48
Bosnia, 31, 61, 62, 74boxing, 95. See also Ali,
Muhammad
burqa, 60. See also women, dress
codeBush, Pr
es. George W ., 41, 68–69,
70, 76, 78, 79
b
usiness, 46, 63, 95. See also Ethan
Allen
calendar
, 9
calligraphy , 46Canada, 30Care International, 74Caribbean, 56Carpenter , John, 49carpets, 46Cat Stevens. See Islam, Yusuf
Caucasians
Na
tion of Islam’s view of, 24,
26, 36
percent of mosque partici-
pants, 56
Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding, 86
Chalala, Elie, 48charity , aid, or outreach, 11, 57,
61–62, 62,65, 73–74, 98–99, 101
Chec
hnya, 62, 73
China, 62, 73
Christian Crusades, 50
Christianity
Bible, 7
Crusade, 50
extremists, 77forced conversion of slaves, 20and genital mutilation, 60
majority in America, 41
tolerance for , 7, 16
civil rights, 24, 26, 36, 48, 64, 79, 84,
85, 92
Clay , Cassius Marcellus. See Ali,
Muhammad
Clinton, Hillary R
odham, 92
Clinton, Pres. Bill, 31, 70, 72, 92clothing
court cases, 55laws concerning, 15, 28. See also
women, dress code
during pilg rimage to Mecca, 11
Columb
us, Christopher , 19
community life
of ex-prisoners, 66role of the mosque, 55–57unity , 12, 27, 66–67, 102
 Islamic Faith in AmericaINDEX
Note: Italic page numbers refer to illustrations.

confession, See shahada
conversion to Islam, 5, 24, 33, 57,
84, 102. See also Islam, Yusuf;
Malcolm X
Council on American-Islamic
R
elations, 70, 79, 91
credit cards, 15Croatia, 101cultural aspects
diversity of Islamic culture, 43,
56, 102, 103
the freedom of America, 52–53li
ving two cultures, 43, 44, 53, 67
preservation of culture, 35, 41,
53, 65
The Satanic Verses, 52
sc
holars, 16–17, 37
separateness, 46, 66toward greater social stability ,
12, 27, 66–67, 102
dancing, 13, 15, 44, 50–51Dar-Ul-Islah mosque, 45Davis, Jonathan. See Q-Tip
dietary la
ws, 20, 55, 66
Din, Sams, ad-, 50divorce, 58, 67
Dome of the Rock, 6–7, 8
Dr
ew , Timothy , 23
education, 64–65
Ismail al Faruqi on, 83preservation of culture in col-
lege, 35, 65, 98
Wester n-style reform, 28
Egypt, 16, 22, 30, 88Eid, 62, 92Eid, Imam Talal, 64
Eid-ul-Fitr , 11
Elgrably , Jordan, 73Emerson, Steven, 38, 100engineering and tec hnology , 37,
88
Estevanico, 19Ethan Allen, 63, 88, 89, 90Eubank, Chris, 95Europe, Muslims from, 56evil eye, 17
family life, 57–58. See also mar-
ria
ge
Fard, Wallace D., 24
Fareed, Kamaal. See Q-Tip
Farrakhan, Louis
, 24, 25, 37, 39,
102
Faruqi, Ismail al-, 83–84
Faruqi, Lois al-, 83
fasting, 11, 15, 66, 93
fatwa, 77Federation of Islamic
Organizations, 23
festivals, 11
Fiqh Council of North America,
15
Florida Keys, 19football, 95Ford, Henry , 22Ford, Luke, 50Ford Motor Company , 22France, 27–28, 61Freedom House, 99Friedman, Thomas, 76, 77
From Beirut to Jerusalem, 76
Ga
briel, 8
Gadhafi, Moammar , 5gambling, 15Garvey , Marcus, 23Gaza Strip, 30, 72gender roles, 58, 60genital mutilation, 60Gerges, Fawaz A., 98God. SeeAllah
Golden Ag
e of Islam, 37
Gore, Al, 70Gradua te School of Islamic and
Social Studies, 65
Graham, Franklin, 77Great Britain
colonialism, 27–28, 29and creation of India and
Pakistan, 29
Gulf War , 30and The Satanic V erses, 52
Gulf
War , 30–31, 100
hadith, 14–15Hajj, 11, 36, 67Hakim, Az-Zahir , 95Halaby , Lisa, 90halal, 20, 55, 66
Hall, J. D., 49
Hamdan, 95
haram, 66
Hasan, 13
Hasan, Asma Gull, 44, 53, 98, 100,
102
Ha
thout, Samer , 101
Hayes, Isaac, 39Hibri, Dr . Azizah Al-, 101Hijrah, 9Hispanic/La tino Americans
Holy K oran, The, 23
holy war , Seejihad
Horizon Interf
aith, 66
human rights, 62, 99–100
Hunger Project, The, 90Husayn, 13Hussein, King, 90Hussein, Noor al-, 90
idolatry , 47
imam, 64, 80immigration
after World War II, 22–23culture of separateness from,
46
effects on Muslim American
culture, 43–44
of Jews to Palestine, 28, 29, 71in the late 1870s, 20–21as slaves in the 1600s, 5, 20, 40,
97
U.S. laws, 22
India, 29, 44, 47, 52, 88, 93Indonesia, 5, 27, 56Institute of Islamic Information
and Education, 66
intermarriage, 22, 67International Campaign to Ban
Landmines, 90
International Court, 101International Day of Theatre, 52
International Institute of Islamic
Thought, 83
Inter national Religious Freedom
Act, 92
Intifada, 72
Iran
Islamic Revolution, 30Nasr Seyyed in, 85
percent of American Muslims
from, 56
takeover by Shi’ite leaders, 13,
86
Iraq
aid to, 61
assassination of Husayn at
Karbala, 13
Gulf War , 30–31, 100
immig rants from, 22
weapons development, 31
Ishmael, 9, 67Islam
basic Muslims beliefs, 13–14effects of European colonial-
ism, 27–28
the five pillars, 11, 93Golden Age, 37militant. Seemilitant Islam
and The Na
tion of Islam, 24–26,
34
as one community , 12, 27, 102perception of, 5, 24, 25, 75–77revolution in Iran, 30
the spread of, 16–17
today and tomorrow , 97–103
 Index

toward greater social stability ,
66–67
Islam, Yusuf, 67, 76
Islam Awareness Week, 35Islamic American Relief Agency ,
61
Islamic Assembly of North
America, 66
Islamic Center , 34–35, 46, 54–55, 70
Islamic Cir
cle of North America,
92
Islamic Institute of New York, 80
Islamic Invasion, The, 77
Islamic Medical Associa
tion of
North America, 74
Islamic Relief Worldwide, 62
Islamic Society of North America,
23, 37–38, 65, 66, 70, 86
Islamic Supreme Council of
America, 91
Israel
conflict with Palestine, 11, 29,
31, 70–73
the founding of, 29
return of the Jews to, 28
wars, 30
Jerusalem, 6–7, 92
J
esus, 7, 10, 14, 23, 98
jihad, 12, 38, 76, 100–102, 103
Jihad in America, 38, 100
J
ohnson Reed Immigration Act, 22
John the Baptist, 23
Jordan, 21, 90, 91
Judaism
dietary laws, 66and the Nation of Islam, 25peaceful co-existence with
Muslims, 73
return of the Jews to Palestine,
28, 29, 71
tolerance f or ,7, 10, 16
Kabah shrine, 9, 67Kab bani, Sheik Muhammad, 90–91
Kahn, Fazlur Rahman, 45Kalthum, Umm, 48Karamah, 61, 101Kashmir , 47, 88, 89Kathwari, Irfan, 89Kathwari, M. Farooq, 63, 88–90, 89
Kemal, Mustafa, 28
Khadijah, 8
Khalife, Mar cel, 46
Khan, Muqtedar , 100
Khan, Pir Hazra
t Inayat, 26
Khomeini, Ayatollah Ruhollah, 52Khwarizmi, Musa al-, 16
Kiegler , Rabia’a, 100King, Martin Luther , Jr ., 85
King Fahd Mosque, 43,44, 45
K
ocache, Moukhtar , 80
Kuwait, 30, 100
laws or legal codes, 14–15, See also
shariah
ar
t, 46
clothing, 15, 28. See also
women, dress code
cour
t system, 28
dancing, 15, 44
dietary , 20, 55, 66finance, 63international, war crime trials,
101
lawsuit against America
Online, 70
and Muslim students, 35, 65United States, 22, 92, 101
Lebanon, 21, 46, 90Levantine Center , 73Lewis, Bernard, 12, 101–102Libya, 5, 49Lincoln, Dr . C. Eric, 86
literature, 52
Little, Malcolm. SeeMalcolm X
ma
gazines, 33, 48
Makiya, Kanan, 102–103Malaysia, 52, 56Malcolm X
change in religious views, 25,
36–37, 84–85
life and death of, 36,36–37, 65,
84–85
and the Na
tion of Islam, 24, 25,
26, 85
Mamout, Yarrow , 18–19, 20
Mara
yati, Laila Al-, 92
marriage, 22, 57–58, 67, 101Masjid As-Salam mosque, 56–57, 61
mathema tics, 16, 17, 37
Mawlawiyah, 50
McDonald’s, 55
McVeigh, Timothy , 38
Mecca
kneeling to, 9, 11, 14
mosque in, 44
Muhammad in, 8–9, 16pilg
rimage to, 11, 36, 67
war in, 9
medicine, 17
Medina, 9, 16
men, gender r oles, 58, 59, 60
Meshkat, Azam, 80Mevlana Foundation, 26
Mevlevi, 50Michigan, 22, 24Middle East. See also specific coun-
tries
aid to the, 61immig
rants from, late 1870s,
20–21
magazine on culture, 48politics, 26, 31wars in the, 30–31, 71–72
militant Islam
Black Muslims. See Nation of
Islam
in the media, 76–77r
elation of American Muslims
to, 100–103
terrorists, 16Wahhabi Movement, 27
Million Man March, 39Milosovic, Slobodon, 31minaret, 21, 43
Money , Christine, 66
Moor
e, Bobby , 95
Moorish Science Temple, 23Morey , Robert A., 77Morrison, Temuera, 51Moses, 7
mosques, 43
as art, 6–7, 44–46
definition, 22
destr
uction, 64, 75, 75
number in U.S., 56r
ole in the community , 55–57
schools in, 64
Mother Mosque, 21,34
mo
vies, 49–50, 51
Muawiy a, 13
Muhammad
ascension into heaven, 8death, 12, 13
on gender roles, 60life of, 8–9, 49on marriage, 58Robert Mor ey on, 77
role in Islamic faith, 8–9, 10
Muhammad, Elijah Poole, 24–26,
25,36, 37, 84, 85
Muhammad, Naeem, 47Muhammad, W
allace Deen, 24–26,
86, 87
mullah, 76Mushar
raf, Gen. Pervez, 74, 89
music, 13, 39, 46–49, 53, 85musicians, 46–49, 85Muslim American Society , 86
Muslim Mosque F ounda tion, 36
Muslim Mosque Incor pora ted, 85
Muslims
average number per service, 56
basic or common beliefs, 13–14,
40–41, 78–79, 95, 101
 Islamic Faith in America

extremist, 30, 38, 39, 60–61, 74,
91,100–102. See also mili-
tant Islam
identity
, 24–26, 27, 97–103
as a minority in America, 41
number in U.S., 56number worldwide, 7orthodox. SeeOrthodox
Muslims
peaceful co-existence with
J
ews, 73
percent of African slaves who
were, 20
reaction to Sept. 11 attacks, 74,
76, 77, 78–79, 90
self-criticism, 102–103
types of people, 56–57
the unity of American, 66–67,
102
voting, 69–70
Muslim Students Organization,
23, 35, 65
Muslim Women’s League, 92, 101
Muslim World, The, 33
Muslim Y
outh of North America,
47
muzz ein, 63
MYNA Raps, 47–49
mysticism, 12, 17, 50–52
Naqshbandi-Haggani order , 90
Naqshbandi Sufi Order , 26Nasr , Seyyed, 85–86
Nation of Islam, 24–25, 34, 36, 65,
84, 85, 102
Native Deen, 47, 47, 53
na
vigation, 37
Nigeria, 5, 92
Noah, 7–8Nobel Prize, 88Noor , Queen, 90Nor th American Islamic Tr ust,
63
Nye, Naomi Shihab, 78
Oklahoma City bombing, 38
Olajuwon, Hakeem, 92–95, 94
O’Neal, Shaquille, 94
Open T
ent Middle East Coalition,
73
Operation Desert Storm, 30–31,
100
Orthodox Muslims
and dancing, 44
and the Nation of Islam, 24,
25–26
openness to Sufiism, 102
Oslo Accords, 29Ottoman Empire, 21Our Religions, 86
Oz, Amos
, 72
Pakistan
Christians killed in, 73
creation, 28–29percent of American Muslims
from, 56
popularity of bin Laden, 76support of Kashmir , 88ties to, 29
Palestine
aid to, 11conflict with Israel, 11, 29, 31,
70–73
immigration of Jews to, 28, 29
Intifadas in, 72
refugees, 37, 62, 91
Palestine Liberation
Organization, 29, 31
Pasha, Imam Izak-El, 76peace, 29, 30, 31, 39, 73, 75–76Peale, Charles Wilson, 20Pentagon. SeeSeptember 11
a
ttacks
perception of Islam, 5, 24, 25, 75–81Philippines, 56
physics, 37
playwrights, 52poets, 39, 51, 78Poland, 12politics, 69–81
democracy and religious free-
dom, 22, 92, 98–99
lobb ying, 37
of the Middle East, 26the Muslim vote, 69–70no se para tion of church and
state, 16
of Palestine, 28, 29Western-style reform, 28
polygamy , 57–58
Pope Sylvester II, 16
Poshtmashhad, Mulla Seyyed
Muhammad Taqi, 85
pottery , 46
prayer , 54–55
in Congress
, 34
daily , 11, 63first chapter of the Qur’an,
10
kneeling to Mecca, 9, 11, 14laws concer
ning, 15
from the minaret, 21
services, 54–55, 56
pra
yer rug, 14,51
Prince, Bar
t, 46
prison, 65–66, 101Prophet. SeeMuhammadQ-Tip
, 46–47
Qur’an
about, 9–10bin Laden on, 101on equality of the sexes, 59–60,
61
Malcolm X on, 85on marriage, 57, 58reading the, 9, 43
in sc
hools, 64
on tolerance, 16
racial persecution or discrimina-
tion
of African Americans, 5, 24“ethnic cleansing,” 31
and the Nation of Islam, 24, 25,
26, 36
Rahman, Fazlur , 86
Rahman, Hasim, 95Rahman, Sheikh Omar , 100–101Ramadan, 11, 54–55, 66, 93
Ramadan, T
ariq, 66–67
Rashad, Ahmad, 95refugees, 37, 62, 91, 101
relief work, 11, 61–62
religious freedom, 22, 88, 92, 98–99
religious persecution or discrimi-
nation
after Oklahoma City bombing,
38
after Sept. 11 attacks, 39, 70,
79–80, 98
after World War II, 22
destr uction of mosques, 64, 75,
75
and ignorance, 103in mo vies, 49
b
y the Nation of Islam, 25–26
in other countries, 62, 73, 100of the Sufis, 26taking a stand against, 63
Western images of Muslim
women, 60
religious tolerance, 16, 26, 64,
80–81, 102
Rice, Condoleezza, 93Rumi, Jalal ad-Din, 12–13, 26, 50–52Rushdie, Salman, 52, 77
Russia, 62, 73. See also Soviet Union
Sachedina, Abdulaziz, 74Sada t, Anwar , 30
Saeed, Dr . Agha, 69–70, 73Salaam, Joshua, 47Saladin, 50
salah, 11
Satanic Verses, The, 52
Saudi Ara
bia, 27, 76, 86, 100
 Index

sawm, 11, 15, 66, 93
science
, 16, 17, 37, 88
September 11 attacks
about, 39–40, 74–81
American Muslims’ reaction
to, 74, 76, 77, 78–79, 90
effects on Muslims, 39, 70,
79–80, 98
George W . Bush on the, 41, 70,
76, 79
and jihad, 12, 76
Muslims in U
.S. military , 15
U.S. war on terrorism, 30
Serbia, 31Shabazz, Betty , 85Shabazz, El-Hajj Malik El-, 85. See
also Malcolm X
shahada, 11
Shaikh, Munir
, 73
shariah, 16, 28
Shar
ma, Arvind, 86
Shaykh, Hanan al-, 48Shi’ite Muslims, 12, 13, 26, 67Siddig, Alexander , 51Siddiqi, Muzammil, 86
slavery
immigra tions of Muslims, 5,
20, 40, 97
and name change, 65, 85
of Yarrow Mamout, 20
social activism, 37, 71, 72, 73–74,
88, 90, 91, 99–100
Soviet Union. See also Russia
immig
rants from, 22
invasion of Afghanistan, 30, 89
Spain, 19sports, 92–95Sudan, 43Sufi Muslims, 12–13, 26, 102sunnah, 14
Sunni Muslims
origin, 12, 13tension with the Sufis, 26, 67,
102
war with Shi’ites, 13Syria, 16, 21, 22, 30, 45, 49T
aliban, 30, 60–61, 76
Taw’il, Taha, 80television, 38, 49, 51, 65terrorism. See also September
11th a
ttacks
attack on World Trade Center ,
1993, 30
Jerusalem in 1997, 48and jihad, 38, 100–102
b
y militant Islam, 16, 100–102
New York Times columns on,
76
Oklahoma City bombing, 38r
eligious ruling of bin Laden,
77
U.S. war on, 30
theater , 52–53theocracy , 98
Tikkun, 73
T
ribe Called Quest, A, 46
tribes, 17, 60, 100
Turkey , 50, 56
ummah, 12, 27, 66–67, 102
United Na
tions, 61, 99
United Sta tes
bombing of Afghanistan, 62
bombing of Libya, 5
Gulf War , 30–31, 100immigration laws, 22immigration to the Midwest, 21introduction of Islam, 19
support of the Shah of Iran, 30war on terrorism, 30
U.S. Congress, 34, 86U.S. military , 15, 65
Vajpayee, Atal Behari, 89
Vertical Limit, 51
V
ietnam War , 88
Wahha bi Movement, 27
Wahhaj, Imam Siraj, 34
Wannous, Saadallah, 52–53war crimes, 101Webb, Alexander Russell, 33websites, 107
Assoc. of Muslim Scientists
and Engineers, 37
chat rooms, 70, 73Council on American-Islamic
Relations, 70
Islamic Relief, 62letter by Naomi Nye, 78Native Deen, 47on Sept. 11th attacks, 74
Where Was God On September 11?,
74
Whir
ling Dervishes, 51
Whitely , Corey , 90
whites. SeeCaucasians
w
omen
dress code, 15, 35, 44, 48–49, 55,
59,60, 63, 100, 103
equal rights, 92, 101
g
ender roles, 58, 59–60
genital mutilation, 60soldiers, 100under the Taliban ruler , 60–61
Women’s Training Centers, 61Wonder , Stevie, 39
World Conservation Union, The,
90
World’s Parliament of Religions,
33–34, 35,86
W
orld Trade Center , 38. See also
September 11th a ttacks
World War II, 22, 29
Yacub, 26
Yazid, 13Yousafsai, Rahimullah, 77
Yugoslavia, 22, 31, 101
Zakaria, Fareed, 93
zakat, 11, 57, 61–62, 62, 65, 73–74,
98–99, 101
Ze
wail, Ahmed, 88
Zewail, Dema, 88
 Islamic Faith in America