Transnational Muslims in American Society

Abstract

In post-9/11 America, the necessity for a comprehensive study of transnationalMuslim communities, as well as their identities and dynamics withinAmerican society, is filled by Aminah Beverly McCloud’s Transnational Muslims in American Society. This comprehensive study examines a crosssectionof Muslim communities in diaspora and exile, from the Palestiniansto the Iranians to the very small community ofMuslim Chinese. The author’sexamination, which loosely relies on notoriously vague immigration records,first-person interviews, and clever anecdotes, is also coupled with a generalhistory and overviewof Islamand the individual communities. The brief historiesof each community and its ethnic, cultural, and Islamic idiosyncrasies,placed at the beginning of each chapter, are particularly helpful. In addition,her nuanced analyses ofwomen’s positions in the contexts of their own communitiesprovides an important depth to the study ...