American Muslims include:

• The network of mothers in a Boston suburb who seek to preserve Islamic values by teaching their children at home;
• Entrepreneurs in Minneapolis who are financing their businesses without paying the interest prohibited by Islamic doctrine;
• Student leaders of Islamic groups at an Ivy League college who meet regularly with leaders of other campus religious organizations;
• The Los Angeles developer of the most-trafficked Islamic Web site in the world.

In terms of doctrine and practice, ethnic origins, and ways of adapting to the more general culture of America, it is difficult to overstate the sheer variety of the Muslim experience in the United States. And American Muslims themselves make up only one segment in the complex mosaic of American religious life today.

The United States, of course, is a country of many religions. The first words of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution say: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Beneath this legalistic language is a profound statement of two fundamental American principles:

• First, that the state does not establish, or endorse, or favor a particular form of religion;
• Second, that all citizens are free to practice the religion they choose.

This tradition of religious freedom runs deep in America. Many of this nation's early settlers were religious communities fleeing persecution in Europe; they were seeking a place where they could practice their own religion far from the state-sanctioned religions of their native countries.

Modern-day Muslims, then, like other religious groups, are one of many bright strands that form the intricate quilt of American religious and civic life. This Web site is an attempt to capture in photographs, words, and statistics something of the extraordinary range and richness of ordinary Muslim life in this country.

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