The Muslims of America.

• Author: Walbridge, Linda S.

The Muslims of America addresses a wide variety of issues that are important to those concerned with the development of Islam in America. It is a book that scholars of this topic will use repeatedly as a reference.

The reader will find estimates of the number of Muslims living in the United States and descriptions of organizations that they have founded. This information is followed by analyses of how Muslims are perceived and how they perceive themselves. There are then three biographical articles of acclaimed Muslim academics in American universities. The following section is entitled "Islamic Activity in America" and includes an article about political attitudes and activities, one on missionary work, and an article about the rights of Muslim prisoners and another about education for Muslims. Two articles about Muslim women and a section on how Muslims fit into the American political landscape conclude the work.

It is unfortunate that the articles are loosely connected and that their quality is as uneven as the subject matter is diverse. Many would have benefited from substantial editing both for content and for grammatical and spelling problems. For example, Gutbi Ahmed (whose name is spelled in the book at one time with a "G" and another with a "Q") speaks of the mosque in "High Park," rather than Highland Park, Michigan, and states that Islam came to America before Columbus, as if this were a generally accepted fact. He also states that the mosque in Ross, North Dakota, was the first mosque in the U.S. although this is debatable, as some, including Alixa Naff, believe that the mosque in Highland Park had this distinction.

One is left bewildered by statements such as that found in Steve Johnson's article on political activity, in which he says, "Salafis ... have recruited as converts editors, leaders, and students of Arabic and Islam in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Thus, the Salafis have had so many converts that they have begun to hold more conference lectures in English and are publishing one of their newsletters exclusively in English that was formerly only in Arabic". Why Saudis need their newsletters translated into English is never explained. Beverly McCloud, in her article on African-American Muslim women, uses the seemingly inappropriate term "self-hypnosis" as though it were obvious to the reader what it meant, thereby detracting from her fascinating data.

Nimat Hafez Barazangi devotes three pages to descriptions of the various...