Being Muslim and American in the nation’s heartland
- Tens of thousands of young men, both Christians and Muslims, settled in booming Midwestern towns after fleeing the Ottoman Empire
- Muslim presence across the US Midwest rose exponentially after a 1965 law removed quotas that had blocked arrivals from many parts of the world
- “You can be a Muslim that’s practicing your religion and still coexist with everybody else around you,” says Hassan Igram of Cedar Rapids
