American Muslims: The New Generation

Twenty-five-year-old Asma Hasan describes herself as "a Muslim feminist cowgirl." (she was raised in Puebo, Colorado.) Convinced that Muslim Americans are the "victims of mistaken identity" Hasan breaks through the stereotypes and generalizations to talk about the religion and the believers she knows from the inside.While the book provides a lot of basic information about Islam in America, the major emphasis is on the sheer normalcy of American Muslims. Like other Americans, they are very keen on family values, religious freedom, and the opportunities the U.S. has always afforded new immigrants.Moreover, says Hasan, American Islam as it grows and evolves, will offer a model to Islam in the rest of the world: a purer Islam, one more conscious of the difference between the essence of Islam and its accomodations to various cultures over time.