alternatehistory.com

I have in mind a TL, but I'm curious to hear some opinions before I devote any time to it. Suppose, during the Second Great Awakening, a Joseph Smith type discovered George Sale's translation of the Quran, perhaps the very copy that Thomas Jefferson had donated to the Library of Congress. Styling it the "Last Testament", he used it as the basis of a new religious movement, "The Church of the Prophet", which took the burned-over district by storm. Though highly Americanized, the Muslims were distinct enough to invite persecution. Soon they were forced to migrate west, arriving eventually at the Great Salt Lake. Here they prospered in isolation, despite occasional scuffles with Christian settlers and the persistent hostility of the federal government. After the Church agreed to abolish "Islamic marriage" and accept secular courts of law, the U.S. government granted statehood to Utah, in which Muslims formed a large majority of the citizenry. Gradually the leadership of the Church brought its idiosyncratic doctrines into line with Sunni orthodoxy, and Salt Lake City became the center of Islam in the western hemisphere. By the 20th century, a large swath of the American west was known as the Muslim Corridor.
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