viii INTRODUCTION
Three catastrophic events in a little more than an hour. All told, 2,976 inno-
cent lives were taken (Wikipedia, September 11, 2001 attacks).
  WE ARE ALL AMERICANS 
On September 12, 2001, the front page of Paris Le Monde newspaper
declared:   We Are All Americans  (Nous Sommes Tous Am?ricains). Indeed,
the outpouring of international support and sympathy for the stunned United
States seemed universal. In the months following the attacks, countries around
the world offered military and political support for the United States in its
attempts to find and hold accountable those responsible for the attacks. The
United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, New Zealand, Italy, Germany,
and the Northern Alliance all joined the coalition that destroyed the Taliban
infrastructure and Al-Qaeda strongholds in Afghanistan. Still more countries
Indonesia, China, Russia, Pakistan, Jordan, Mauritius, Uganda, and Zimbabwe
among them introduced antiterrorism legislation and froze bank accounts of
suspected Al-Qaeda supporters (Wikipedia, September 11, 2001 attacks).
Immediate reactions from the Muslim world were mixed from reported
cheering in the streets in some major cities to outright condemnation by heads
of states, clerics, and scholars. Within the United States and Canada in particu-
lar, imams of large and small mosques denounced the attacks, saying they
should not have been carried out in the name of Islam: The Qur an prohibits
the taking of innocent life in no uncertain terms.
For Muslims living in the United States students, permanent residents, visi-
tors, and U.S. citizens the French proclamation was certainly more than apt.
But it would take on a different meaning in the months and years to come, as
the attacks and the U.S.-led war on terrorism changed perceptions of Islam
throughout the country.
BEFORE SEPTEMBER 11
Prior to September 11, Islam in the United States had, for the most part,
been a story of success, expansion, and hope. Muslims residing in the United
States entertained a degree of pride in being Americans. They perceived the
United States as a nation of immigrants, and a great majority of them entered
the United States legally, sponsored by family members, on work or student
visas, or as refugees seeking to escape persecution. Many who overstayed their
visas were eventually accommodated by the system.
With the establishment of mosques and various regional and national organi-
zations, the Muslim population and Islam as a religion began to leave its mark
on U.S. society and culture. Large mosques appeared in New York, Chicago,
Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Atlanta, Washington, DC, southern
Florida, and eastern Michigan. Organizations were formed to help facilitate
dawah, or invitation to Islam, through conventions, conferences, publications,
marriage, and other interpersonal relationships. Islam was quickly becoming