As an avid reader of your publication, I find it difficult to believe that you made no mention of Detroit's Muslim community. Omitting such an important community seems a bit short-sighted. After all, we have one of the largest Middle Eastern populations outside of the Arab World.

Will
Detroit, Michigan

Personally, I don't even understand how one could even think this is an accurate classification of American Muslims. You label people who observe the commandment to have a beard as literalist salafis. I wear a beard, and yet I strongly, strongly condemn salafis and their utter misunderstanding of Islam. On the other end of the spectrum you present people who in no way observe the sharia within their personal life or in their religious practices. One can easily be "mystic" and "literalist" if you will--Islam as it has been classicaly understood has always emphasized tassawuf and sharia. One can also be "black" and "mystical." These categorizations mean nothing and do not even begin to convey the complexities of American Muslims.

just "modernist", "salafis", and "mystics"??? Before the dooms day there will be 72 categories of muslims, only one will be the RIGHT............the one that follows Allah, Mohammad and Quran..

I am appalled at the behavior of the "salafis" at the Omaha mosque - shouting down a speaker, advocating segregation between people of faith and issuing fatwas for the murder of those who do not share their world view.

I am equally appalled at the "silent majority" of Muslims who do not challenge and condemn this behavior. If there is indeed an ongoing battle for Islam's soul, it will not be won by the quiet or the quiescent.

What will it take to recognize the Salafi movement for the clear and present danger that it is?

I find myself a bit bored by all these pins and angels dancing on them.

I find nothing wrong or dangerous about anyone's thinking about the universe and meaning.

What I find dangerous is rioting mobs of people who aren't independent thinkers, but puppets of the same old power-brokers.

Does anyone actually believe that the crazed aspect of Islam is anything but the Saudi's doing, with their intolerant fundamentalism?

They've spent billions of dollars spreading hard-core (yes, as in porn) beliefs, hoping to save their positions of power when the oil runs out, by becoming the center of donations when it does.

In Israel, we have nutcase Orthodox telling people what to think during their religious moments, and don't even get me started on the American Dominionist Christian fundies or Hindutva!

Religious thought should be personal, not taught from phony "Books from God". All the problems that result in religion poisoning human sociology spring from ORGANIZED RELIGION.

'Nuff said!

Sir,

I appreciate your article and your take on the issue. I was a bit trouble that the way orthodox practice was sugarcoated "literalist".

I kindly ask why would you intentionally avoided the term "orhtodox" .

Thanks,
Grafinia

owns 60% of the mosques.

nuff said.

I know Jesus told His followers to "love you neighbor as yourself". It was time to check out how I am doing with my Muslim neighbor and make the corrections in my treatment of others and actions towards Muslims. I needed the practical experience of visiting a mosque during Ramadan and the follow up reading. And yes, it has changed my views.
my blog post http://canyonwalkerconnections.com/?p=1305

please check out http://www.islamicsolutions.com/islam-a-quick-introduction/

After reading your report on the state of Mosques in America, and after reading your final exhortation to remember the founding fathers’ call to “reinforce the traditions of religious pluralism” on American soil, I say, “sorry sir, but the onus is not on us, the onus is on Islam”.

You talk about the different strands of Islam dominating the interpretation of the Koran preached in the different American mosques, but you also talk about how interpreters of the “literalist” version of Islam often intimidate many American Muslims against their efforts to modernize, so that their religious practices may cope with the reality of the American environment where they now live.

Your aim is to look for reconciliation between the “Religions of the Book” and for reconciliation between Islam and the western world, but you’re in a way showing us how such reconciliation is made very difficult by the followers of the literalist version of Islam, which, according to your report, emanates mainly from Saudi Arabia, the country where most of the 9/11 hijackers hailed from.

Recently, America and the western world have shown the Islamic world that we’re willing to accommodate their religion up to a certain point, meaning, as long as their religious practices don’t break the law, or the spirit of the law, of the western countries where they may now live.

But your report plainly shows that there are very active and influential members of the American Muslim community who even consider the idea of democracy as an evil thing. It’s OK to have antidemocratic ideas in countries like the US and the EU, where freedom of though and freedom of speech are part of the law of the land, but when those antidemocratic instigators also incite the masses to go kill Christians and other Americans, and do so speaking from pulpits based on American soil, that’s another question.

And that’s another question particularly because America, more than any other nation in the world, knows firsthand how deadly such instigators can be.

As we all know, Saudi Arabian society is perhaps the most strict society in the world when it comes to the interpretation of the Koran, rivaled perhaps only by Iran, even as the former has a majority Sunni and the latter has a majority Shia.

And if we look at the totalitarian regimes reigning in those countries, it’s not difficult to tie the knot between Islam and politics. Obviously, Islam is a political tool for Saudi and Iranian leaders, although it is the other way around as well, politics is a religious tool for some of them too. Is it any wonder that so many people think of Islam as a political ideology?

Saudi Arabia is very extreme in its interpretation of Islamic tenets. And this I say knowing firsthand that not all Saudis are of the extreme ideological kind. Some of the brightest students I had while teaching in Riyadh, for example, attest to that. Young Saudis that, while deeply proud of their religion and of their King and country, were also very open minded when it came to plurality of though and plurality of faiths.

But many people in the west already share that open mindedness with those students and such mental predisposition was clearly on display just a couple of days ago when millions of people, including some heads of state and high-placed functionaries, raised their voice in condemnation of the intended Koran burning day in Florida.

We obviously need to find common grounds on the issue of Islam and whether it copes with western ways of living or not, but the onus is not on the western world. The west is not perfect in any sense, but it is not the west that has been sending Jihadists of any kind to blow themselves up in the east or to blow themselves up on their own native soil; it is the other way around. It is some deranged sects and organizations within the Muslim world that have been sending Jihadists to blow themselves up in the west and in their own native soil.

So, to your exhortation for Americans to follow the call of our founding fathers and to “reinforce the traditions of religious pluralism” on American soil, I say, “sorry sir, we are willing to accommodate our Muslim Brethren’s religion, but the onus on whether that is possible is not on us, the onus is on Islam”.

Salaroche

Thank you for giving this infidel and atheist a glimpse inside not just mosques but mindsets. Islam, like other faiths, appears to be conflicted internally, the cause for disharmony within the community between those who adhere to and promote parochialism, ie the Salafi with their unbending literalism and the NOI, who have reinterpreted and politicized Islam to address the specific needs of its congregants. On the margins are the mystical expressionists of the Sufi tradition while democratic NYC experiments with esoterica that would perplex many Muslims and in a Wahhabi induce apoplexy.The lack of ecumenical camaraderie is further exacerbated by national origin, those diverse ethnic Muslims who practice regional brands of Islam. There was, interestingly, no mention of Sunni vs Shia sectarian divisions or animosities. Islam is many things to many different people and like all human belief systems is in flux. Traditionalists, always self-righteous, like the party of JUST SAY NO, the GOP. wrestle with other forms of moderate Islam vying for domination. And superiority, This article provided information but too little, I fear I lack the requisite knowledge to deliver any but the most ignorant of opinions. I'd like for you to enlarge upon your cross-country research to enrich our understanding of Islam which despite the recent furor remains essentially obscure.

Thank you for giving this infidel and atheist a glimpse inside not just mosques but mindsets. Islam, like other faiths, appears to be conflicted internally, the cause for disharmony within the community between those who adhere to and promote parochialism, ie the Salafi with their unbending literalism and the NOI, who have reinterpreted and politicized Islam to address the specific needs of its congregants. On the margins are the mystical expressionists of the Sufi tradition while democratic NYC experiments with esoterica that would perplex many Muslims and in a Wahhabi induce apoplexy.The lack of ecumenical camaraderie is further exacerbated by national origin, those diverse ethnic Muslims who practice regional brands of Islam. There was, interestingly, no mention of Sunni vs Shia sectarian divisions or animosities. Islam is many things to many different people and like all human belief systems is in flux. Traditionalists, always self-righteous, like the party of JUST SAY NO, the GOP. wrestle with other forms of moderate Islam vying for domination. And superiority, This article provided information but too little, I fear I lack the requisite knowledge to deliver any but the most ignorant of opinions. I'd like for you to enlarge upon your cross-country research to enrich our understanding of Islam which despite the recent furor remains essentially obscure.

"Tawheed, like many Salafi mosques throughout the country, is hidden and unmarked, located in a nondescript strip mall behind a halal meat store. The Sufi imam who told us of the mosque's location pleaded with us not to reveal his identity, for fear of reprisals by the Salafis."

Uh...they actually have a website and there address that is easily found there:

http://www.masjidattawheed.net/

Any other gross misrepresentations the reader needs to know about? This is sloppy and inexcusable given the sensitive nature of the subject matter.

As a practicing African immigrant Muslim who has prayed for many years in this particular masjid I'm offended by the authors convenient way of ignoring the facts about this masjid and presenting his lies and fabrications as uncontested facts in order to garner more readership for his book-a typical breathless hyping of anything about Islam and America.There is nowhere in the masjid website does it say "Jews and Christians are waging a war upon Islam" and that Muslims who believe in "democracy" are on a "criminal path." The author owes my community an apology for dragging our community reputation through the mud. We maybe Immigrants with little know-how on how to contest distortion through the media, but I'm sure all sensible Americans are one click away from finding out about the distortion of facts. Please visit this website and let me know if you find anything remotely offensive and morally repugnant. The good professor here engaged in an intellectual laziness...If I as an English As a Second language reader can tell a facts form a distortion then I'm sure the highly educated readers of this page will not disappoint me in verifying the source of this writer. We are an African immigrant community striving to integrate in the wider American Society...

I am delighted to see this article. It is important that Americans have a better understanding of the religion on 20% of this world. I am delighted that Muslims are able to worship as they please in our nation. I am reminded of Thomas Jefferson's statement "I am not concerned if my neighbor says there is one god, or twenty gods. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg".

As a Mormon (the only religion in the USA, ever to have had an extermination order issued against it), I am a strong supporter of freedom of thought and religion. I read the Holy Qu'Ran, and I cherish its truths.

George Washington extended the hand of fellowship to Muslims. He also wrote a famous letter to the Truro Synagogue, when he stated, "To bigotry, no sanction".

Americans have a special responsibility, to extend and strengthen our splendid traditions of religious freedom and toleration. In providing freedom to Muslims, we are serving our God, and our nation.

Sincerely,
Charles E. Martin
Alexandria, VA

From tie-dyed hippies to hard-line radicals, they're not all the same -- and they're not what you think. Personally, I don't even understand how one could even think this is an accurate classification of American Muslims. You label people who observe the commandment to have a beard as literalist salafis. I wear a beard, and yet I strongly, strongly condemn salafis and their utter misunderstanding of Islam. "In this environment of heightened intolerance, people focus on symbols, and no symbol is more representative of Islam than the mosque. But most outsiders have no idea what actually goes on inside mosques goodlettsville tn website. Some have let their imaginations -- and their mouths -- run wild in depicting these places of worship as nurseries of homegrown terrorist plots against America, as the recent controversy over the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York revealed. " The west is not perfect in any sense, but it is not the west that has been sending Jihadists of any kind to blow themselves up in the east or to blow themselves up on their own native soil; it is the other way around. It is some deranged sects and organizations within the Muslim world that have been sending Jihadists to blow themselves up in the west and in their own native soil. So, to your exhortation for Americans to follow the call of our founding fathers and to reinforce the traditions of religious pluralism on American soil, I say, sorry sir, we are willing to accommodate our Muslim Brethrens religion, but the onus on whether that is possible is not on us, the onus is on Islam.