African American Islam

Islam is a vital, growing religion in America. However, little is known about the religion except through the biased lens of media reports which brand African American Muslims as "Black Muslims" and portray their communities as places of social protest.AfricanAmerican Islamchallenges these myths by contextualizing the experience and history of African American Islamic life. This is the first book to investigate the diverse African American Islamic community on its own terms, in its own language and through its own synthesis of Islamic history and philosophy. Aminah Beverly McCloud shows that African American Islamic expressions are movements well within the 1,400-year-old Islamic traditions. She also looks at what "becoming Muslim" means and how African American Muslims negotiate space in the religious landscape of America. The book presents an overview of the history of African American Islamic expressions in the 20th century and examines the diverse philosophies and ideologieswhich form the foundation of a culturally distinct Islamic thought.