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Crystal Oswald-Herold:

In his book "American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion," Paul M. Barrett depicts the lives of seven very different Muslims' experiences in the United States. He sheds light onto their daily routines while simultaneously providing a historical overview of American Islam and presenting the reader with a glimpse into the diversity contained within the Muslim faith. Barrett focuses on the post 9/11 experiences of American Muslims and uses polls conducted in 2004 and 2006 as a point of departure. These polls indicated that four in every ten Americans admit to having prejudices against Muslims, and that forty percent of American Muslims report that they have suffered from discrimination since September 11th. In this context, Barrett does not avoid the difficult questions of the links between fundamentalist Islam and terrorism nor does he skirt the prejudices which exist within the American mainstream or the Muslim minority.

Barrett maintains that "[a]s long as there is a realistic fear of terrorism in America, there will be heightened government scrutiny of Muslims" (277) but adopts a nuanced view on the best path forward for both the American majority and the 3-6 million Muslims who call the United States home. In his chapter entitled "The Webmaster," Barrett discusses the botched trial of United States of America v. Sami Omar al-Hussayen in which a graduate student at the University of Idaho was accused of violating the Patriot Act by providing "expert advice" to terrorists through his online posts. Barrett emphasizes the First Amendment snarls which the Act cannot seem to avoid but argues that "in the al-Hussayen case, the main error occurred after the evidence was piled up on the conference room table. That is when prosecutors and investigators failed to realize, or admit, that they hadn't identified either a real threat or a significant crime" (263).

In other chapters, Barrett presents portraits of Osama Siblani, the editor of the Arab American News in Dearborn Michigan; Khaled Abou El Fadil, a scholar, UCLA law professor, and advocate of a progressive strain of Islam; Siraj Wahhaj, a black imam in Brooklyn, New York; Asra Nomani, a feminist working to change the traditional role which women often assume in American Islam; Victor Krambo, a white American convert to Sufism; and Mustafa Saied, a former Muslim Brother who now advocates progressive Islam.

Barrett's intended audience seems to be the American public and the book lends itself to a reader with little previous knowledge about Islam or Muslim Americans. Barrett goes out of his way to explain concepts which may not be self evident to those unfamiliar with Islam. Each interview is also capable of standing on its own, outside of framework of the book, and therefore the work is valuable to those who are looking for a shorter introduction into the daily lives of Muslim Americans.

While the personalities featured in American Islam certainly do not represent the average Muslim American, they do provide many insights into contemporary America and the ways in which Islam is practiced within America's borders. As the Wall Street Journal notes, the book is "a thoughtful exploration that is both comforting and alarming" and it reveals many "profound aspects of Islam that are underappreciated" in the United States.

Crystal Oswald-Herold is an editorial intern at atlantic-community.org. She studies international politics at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and has previously worked at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies in Washington, DC

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