The Muslims of America

identity. Also considering challenges facing Muslims in the United States, Sulayman Nyang posits four specific needs: to maintain an Islamic identity, to defend Islamic institutions, to build Islamic economic structures, and to find ways to participate in American political life. Although clear differences exist among Muslims, he says, rituals and values hold them together. Nyang also distinguishes between what he calls the assimilationist and the simulationist Muslim, the first setting Islamic identity over against identity as an American and the second finding ways to reconcile both affiliations.

It is clear that these studies are the beginning of what must be an even more farreaching effort. Much work remains to be done on such topics as Islamic society in relation to American social and diplomatic history, the ways in which a new community is formed by individuals from a variety of national and social backgrounds, the role(s) of the mosque, the development of Islamic leadership, attempts to create an Islamic economic system, the establishment of Islamic businesses to meet specific Islamic needs as well as ethnic preferences, the integration of black Americans into an Islamic system, and the integration of Muslims into the American black culture.

The present volume is the first of what must be ongoing efforts to organize and present the research of a wide range of scholars dedicated to an examination of Islam in the American context.

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