Is American Islam Exceptional?

To what extent have American Muslims incorporated notions of American exceptionalism into their communal identity, and in turn, developed a distinct notion of American Muslim exceptionalism?

by Abdullah Al-Arian

In a 2005 essay in the Boston Review, the late historian Howard Zinn traced the notion of American exceptionalism from the earliest European settlements in North America to the presidency of George W. Bush. The American invasion and occupation of Iraq, Zinn argued, represented the fulfillment of a longstanding belief that “the United…