AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM AND AMERICAN MUSLIMS

Abstract

To examine their attitudes regarding American exceptionalism, it is helpful to cluster American Muslims into two general groups: African American Muslims and immigrant Muslims (including the integrated children of the immigrant Muslims). The legacy of racism prompts many African American leaders to see exceptionalism as excluding African Americans. Members of the immigrant Muslim community tend to either embrace or reject American exceptionalism, depending on whether they focus on the immigrant experience in American society (which has generally been very positive) or on US foreign policy (about which most Muslims are very critical). Some American Muslims have begun developing a public philosophy of “American Muslim Exceptionalism”: an idea that American Muslims are special and called to leadership among Muslims worldwide.