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I begin with the premise that there is an American Islam being created—a version of the faith that aligns with the contemporary United States both organizationally and culturally. This faith formation is connected to the immigration of Muslims to the United States since the 1965 changes in immigration laws, even though Muslims have been in the United States, especially among African Americans, much longer than that. Two sets of social forces are creating this American Islam: the lived religious practices of the second and third generations of these post-1965 families; and the imposed images of Islam and institutional constraints of civil society coming from major social institutions and native-born Americans. The interaction of these “bottom up” and “top down” dynamics can be illuminated by an understanding of “place” in both social and geographical terms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]