SOUL FOOD:

Our attention to Islam has grown exponentially since Sept. 11, 2001. As, it seems, has our fear and loathing of it.

In the current presidential race, the refutations of the accusation that Barack Obama was a Muslim begged a question few managed to frame and even fewer dared ask. Sumbul Ali-Karamali did both.

Ali-Karamali has described herself as an Indian-American, Muslim, female corporate lawyer and author. She was born in the United States and raised in Southern California.

She has a law degree from UC Davis and an L.L.M. in Islamic Law from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

In an essay published last month on The Huffington Post, she asked, “Even if Obama were a Muslim … why would that be so catastrophic?” She contends, “He wouldn’t be any less American or any less intelligent or any less competent.”

I think most voters might concede her points except for the first. A Gallup Poll in 2006 showed half of Americans to be skeptical of the loyalty of U.S. Muslims to the nation. The mail I get still reflects that.

By and large, those I hear from envision life with a Muslim in the White House as life under the thumb of Islamic law. And Islamic law as they see it is “eye-for-an-eye” legalistic, puritanical and misogynous spreading Islam — if not by the sword — by force.

To contest such misconceptions, Ali-Karamali wrote a book. White Cloud Press released “The Muslim Next Door: The Qur’an, the Media and the Veil Thing” last month.

Asma Gull Hasan has written two books in a similar vein: “American Muslims: The New Generation” followed by “Why I Am a Muslim: An American Odyssey.” Hasan was born in Chicago and raised in Pueblo, Colo.

After graduating from Wellesley College and New York University Law School, she now lives in San Francisco. She has written commentary for numerous publications and blogs regularly for Glamocracy at glamour.com.

I spoke with both women a few months ago when I wrote on Muslim women’s rights. Both clearly feel Islam and Muslims are subject to gross misconceptions and stereotypes.

As the title of Ali-Karamali’s book suggests, she faults the media for a lot of this and so does Hasan. A Pew survey last year showed the media to be the biggest influence on 32% of respondents when it came to their views about Muslims.

Nearly half of those who held negative views of Muslims said the media most influenced their opinions.

Personal experience and education were less often cited but cited far more often by those with favorable perceptions of Muslims.

Both Ali-Karamali and Hasan point to the disproportionate coverage given to Islamic extremists compared to stories about American Muslims they consider “mainstream.”

They write of the harping on jihad and hijab and the misconceptions of both. Jihad, which has come to be synonymous with “holy war,” literally means “to strive” or “to struggle.”

Hasan describes it as “a challenge from God to improve oneself constantly.” She talks of her jihad not to overspend on her shoe budget.

Neither Hasan nor Ali-Karamali wears hijab, the scarf or veil that some Muslim women wear. They do not hold to an interpretation of the Qur’an that says it is obligatory.

But neither do they criticize the Muslim women who do. As each author says time and again, Islam here and throughout the world is diverse.

Muslims come from various economic backgrounds and, as Hasan writes, “nearly every ethnicity you can imagine.” Each repeats what I often repeat myself: Not all Arabs are Muslims and not all — not even most — Muslims are Arabs.

The Pew study last year portrayed the Muslim community in the U.S. this way: 38% white, 26% black, 20% Asian, 12% other and 4% Hispanic. They may speak different languages and come from vastly different cultures.

There are more than 50 Islamic countries in the world.

Ali-Karamali faults the media for attributing social, political and economic problems in the Middle East and Africa to Islam rather than to cultural factors.

Yet many Muslims themselves remain unaware of what is a cultural influence on their faith rather than a teaching of the Qur’an.

Who’s to say what is a teaching of the Qur’an is entirely another thing. As Ali-Karamali wrote to me in an e-mail, “The words of the Qur’an are 1,400 years old and have never been altered.”

Because the Qur’an is the word of God, the words cannot be changed. Like contemporary speakers of English trying to read Old English, “modern Arabic speakers cannot read the Qur’an and understand it,” wrote Ali-Karamali, “because it’s so old.

“Meanings of words have changed,” she explained, leaving much argument as to what should be read literally and what should not.

“Islam rejects the ‘orthodox vs. non-orthodox’ theory of religion,” writes Ali-Karamali in her book.

There is no central authority. Ali-Karamali names five major schools of thought — all considered valid — that have produced guidelines of Islam based on their interpretations of the Qur’an and Sunnah, the way the Prophet Muhammad lived his life.

“Islam accommodates differences of Islamic vision!” she writes. Each Muslim, she says, must examine the different viewpoints, choosing the one that his or her conscience finds right.

The visions you get in these books are foremost those of Hasan and Ali-Karamali. They consider themselves “mainstream.”

These are not textbooks. They are peppered with personal anecdotes. And when it comes to a grasp of other faiths, each at times seems to veer off track.

I winced when Ali-Karamali compared calling Islam Mohammedanism (which is objectionable) to calling Christianity St. Paulism. Important as Paul is to Christianity he scarcely holds the central place Mohammed does in Islam.

And I can’t say I know what Hasan had in mind when she wrote that historical accounts of Jesus were recorded and passed down by women.

Though, no doubt, women play prominent rolls in the New Testament records.

That aside, each book is worth reading. Each is, as Ali-Karamali’s website describes her own, “a warm, candid conversation.”

The Pew study last year concluded that, when it comes to having a favorable opinion of Muslims, knowing a Muslim matters. These books are so engaging they are probably next best.

MICHÈLE MARR is a freelance writer from Huntington Beach. She can be reached at [email protected].