ABSTRACT
Muslim identity in the United States has been influenced by the American environment in general and by individual and corporate experiences of immigrants in various American localities during the last hundred years; it is also conditioned by the distinctive self-perceptions that immigrants bring with them to the United States. This identity is clarified and molded daily by the treatment Muslims receive in their places of residence and employment,2 in the school,3 and by the courts.4 It is altered and negotiated repeatedly as a result of the discrimination they experience as they deal with the images projected about them by the host society in literature,5 the movies,6 and the media.7 And, in a very dramatic way, it has been shaped during the last four decades by the vagaries of American foreign policy in the Middle East and America’s relations with Muslim countries throughout the world. And, in a very dramatic way, it has been shaped during the last four decades by the vagaries of American foreign policy in the Middle East and America’s relations with Muslim countries throughout the world.8
