Islam: An American Religion

Using arguments that borrow from the themes and forms of European disputes, Islam: An American Religion demonstrates how, paradoxically, Islam as built in the United States has become an American religion in a double sense—first through the strategies of recognition adopted by Muslims and second through the formatting of Islam as a faith.

In Islam: An American Religion, Nadia Marzouki investigates how Islam has developed a major stake in American politics. Focusing on the period from 2008 to 2013, she revisits the uproar over the construction of mosques, legal disputes around the prohibition of Islamic law and foreign law, and the overseas promotion of religious freedom. She argues that public controversies over Islam in the United States primarily reflects the American public’s profound divisions and ambivalence toward the meaning and legitimacy of liberal secular democracy.