Islam in Iowa

“At a farm outside Kalona, Iowa, two Egyptian Muslim professionals from Iowa City stood facing an old Amish farmer and his son. The farmer, in plain clothes, didn’t know what to make of the Egyptian men at first but he knew there was money involved. The Muslim men wanted a goat, slaughtered halal, for their families. There was no goat that day but the men bought eggs and promised to return. As they drove away, gravel skittering behind them, the old Amish farmer stroked his beard and murmured about how much the world had changed.”

This is one of a couple stories about people crossing borders: of religion, of culture, of nationality and of identity. They take place in Iowa, a state of often overlooked diversity and home to the oldest established Muslim population in the United States.

A study published last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and conducted by a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that nearly half of Americans have a negative view of Islam, a percentage that has doubled in the six years since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

But at the same time that public opinion of Islam among Americans has dramatically turned negative, a renewed interest in the study of Islam and the Muslim world has taken root — and not just in academia, where Islamic studies programs are booming. Muslims in the United States that had long ago assimilated into this country’s secular culture are renewing their faith, taking up regular prayer, and reconnecting with their Mosque community.

Still Islam itself continues to be seen as a threat in this country.