In the United States Muslims face a constant challenge to assert their identities as Muslim, but also have a legitimate stake in being “American.” This is due to the widespread racism, prejudice and negative stereotypes of Islam as a backward and violent religion, oppressive of women. Mainstream society suspects an American cannot also be a Muslim.

Research into Muslim women's identity in the United States is still in its infancy, with many studies focusing only on the issue of ḥijāb , rather than on broader questions of identity (Read and Bartkowski 1999, Alvi, Hoodfar, an…