The association is a nonprofit organization that works to promote the principles of and knowledge about Sufism, one of the branches of Islam. It is headed by Seyedeh Nahid Angha and Shah Nazar Seyed Ali Kianfar. It is based in Novato, Calif. Send questions through the website.

promotes Islam through a number of educational programs. They focus on curriculum development, engagement in public discourse, creative arts sponsorship, and the publication of works which increase the public understanding of Islam. It is based in Watsonville, Calif. Its directors are Kabir Helminski, Aisha Gray Henry and Jeremy Henzell-Thomas.

Zaid Shakir is an African-American imam who converted to Islam during his service in the Air Force. He has a master’s degree in political science and received classical scholarly training in the Muslim world. He is a writer, speaker, teacher and activist, having founded several Muslim organizations in the eastern U.S. before becoming a resident scholar […]

Karen Leonard is an anthropologist at the University of California, Irvine. Her publications include Muslims in the United States: The State of Research and Immigrant Faiths: Transforming Religious Life in America.

Peter C. Whybrow, director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California in Los Angeles, wrote American Mania: When More Is Not Enough (W.W. Norton & Co., 2005).

This 1998 article in the Turkish-American magazine Anadolu looks at one Muslim woman’s challenges in raising children in North America.

Dawn Kepler is the director of Building Jewish Bridges, an outreach to interfaith families in Berkeley, Calif.

The Self-Realization Fellowship, which has headquarters in Los Angeles, follows the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952) that are based on yoga and on Jesus. The fellowship has temples and meditation centers around the United States.

The painting “Christ the Yogi” hangs at the San Francisco temple of the Vedanta Society of Northern California, where congregants regard Jesus to be a spiritual master who embodied pure love.