Muslims in the United States

Abstract

Karen Leonard’s book, Muslims in the United States: The State ofResearch, seeks to provide “a useful research tool for exploring” the largebody of social science research that exists on Islam and Muslims in theUnited States (p. ix). As a “non-Muslim secular scholar” and anthropologist(p. xi), she reviews research that examines the lives of all those whoself-identify as Muslim, including those generally excluded from such discussions,such as Ahmedis, Five Percenters, and homosexuals. The varietyof topics explored in this review promises to draw a broad readership.Topics as diverse as immigration and racialization, international conflictsand intra-Muslim tensions, “un-mosqued” Muslims and extremist ideologuesare all covered. Therefore, those interested in sociology, history, religion,and, more specifically, individuals researching Islam and Muslimswill benefit from reading Muslims in the United States.The book is divided into three sections. In part 1, “Historical Overviewof Muslims in the United States,” Leonard briefly introduces Islam’s basictenets and proceeds to discuss the historical and political realities thataffected the growth of African-American, Arab, and South Asian Muslimpopulations in this country. She identifies three sets of issues that have historically arisen in research and theory building on Muslims in the UnitedStates: legitimacy as it relates to African-American Muslim movements,the problem of religious authority in the smaller national-origin and sectariancommunities, and the lack of research on the lives of “un-mosqued,”“invisible,” or secular Muslims ...