Islam In America

Islam is a hidden ingredient in the melting pot of America. Though there are between 2 and 8 million Muslims in the USA, Islam has traditionally had little political clout compared to other minority faiths. Nonetheless it is believed to be the country's fastest-growing religion, with a vibrant culture of theological debate, particularly regarding the role of women preachers.

In Islam in America, Jonathan Curiel traces the story of America's Muslims from the seventeenth-century slave trade to the eighteenth-century immigration wave to the Nation of Islam. Drawing on interviews in communities from industrial Michigan to rural California, Curiel portrays the diversity of practices, cultures and observances that make up Muslim America.

He profiles the leading personalities and institutions representing the community, and explores their relationship to the wider politics of America, particularly after 9/11. Islam in America offers an indispensable guide to the social life of modern Islam and the diversity of contemporary America. Review: 'Islam in America offers a remarkably original and readable narrative of the history of Islam & Muslims in America.

Jonathan Curiel here reveals a side of American Muslim culture that is as old as America itself.' - Jamal Dajani, independent journalist-host, Arab Talk Radio 'So many years after 9/11, the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims in the United States remains as wide as ever. We need a better understanding of Islam now more so than ever, especially after the tragic events in Paris.

Jonathan Curiel is therefore to be commended for giving us this book which is clearly a labor of love intended to close the gap.' - Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and Professor of International Relations, American University, Washington, DC, and formerly High Commissioner for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the United Kingdom and Ireland