INTRODUCTION xi
also explore the dimensions of their population, the status of women, their
organizations, and their communities. Because there is so much conflicting in-
formation about Islam in the United States today, we thought it prudent to start
with a discourse on the fundamentals of Islam. Thus, in chapter one, we
attempt to answer this question: What is Islam as it is perceived and practiced
by its followers? Although the chapter centers on the Five Pillars, we also
include a brief discussion on what we call the   macro dimensions of Islam: 
economy, family, and polity. We hope this chapter answers many questions
about the nature of Islam, the life and character of the Prophet Muhammad,
and the major dimensions of Muslim worship.
In chapter two, we address the history and expansion of the Muslim popula-
tion in the United States. We begin by examining slavery in the United States,
when sixteenth and seventeenth century slave traders captured a number of
Muslims in West Africa and brought them to this country. This makes Islam
one of the oldest religions in the United States. In this chapter, we also show
how to apply demographic techniques to estimate a population not covered by
the census. In our research, we approached many registered and unregistered
Muslim communities, examined the lists of families in those communities, cal-
culated the average number of people in these families, and estimated the
future growth of the communities.
In chapter three, we examine the history and nature of major national Mus-
lim organizations. These national organizations show a tendency toward ethnic
divisions Arab, African American, and South Asian in their membership,
their organizational structures, and their major concerns. The two largest Mus-
lim American organizations are also the only two of multiethnic composition,
the Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada (MSA) and
ISNA. They hold their annual conventions together, and the president of MSA
has a permanent seat in the Shura council, the highest decision-making body
of ISNA. At the 2004 annual convention in Chicago, ISNA attracted 40,000 to
50,000 participants.
Chapter four takes a close look at the Muslim community in the United
States. This is the home of the Muslim family, where Islam is shaped and
reshaped and transmitted to the next generation. This is also where grass roots
Muslim politics is beginning to blossom.
In order to examine a cross-section of the Muslim American community, we
studied thirteen communities in five different locations. On average, we spent
about three months studying communities in Brooklyn, New York; Syracuse,
New York; Chicago and its suburb Villa Park, Illinois; Richardson, Texas; and
the Finger Lakes region of New York State. These communities presented a range
of ethnic diversity, from the small community of indigenous African American
Muslims in Brooklyn to the Villa Park community of primarily Pakistani Muslims
to the highly diverse population in Syracuse, which included African Americans,
Arabs, South Asians, Turks, Iranians, Bosnians, and many others.
Perhaps the most unusual community we studied was a group of inmates at
Auburn State facility in upstate New York. Almost totally African American,