The cover of the book.

CHICAGO, May 12, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A new book by famed American writer Donna Gehrke-White has turned the spotlight on the "extraordinary" lives of Muslim women in the United States as many of their success stories often go unreported.

Gehrke-White has found out many colorful "faces" behind the "veil," who proved to be the most achieving and most educated women in the United States, translating the teachings of Islam into concrete steps thanks to the freedom they enjoy, Reuters reported Thursday, May 11.

"Part of what we found is that the United States is one of the best places in the world for women to practice Islam because they do have freedom, because of our ideas about women having careers and a voice in houses of worship," the writer told Reuters in an interview on her recently released book "The Face Behind the Veil."

"Muslim women here have much more to say in how the religion is practiced," she added.

In her book, the writer greatly admires the keenness of Muslim women on distinguishing themselves in their fields of education and how the illiterate were willing to sacrifice themselves to see that their children get the education denied to them.

"But even these women who were denied the right to read or write in their countries are now eagerly attending classes in the United States for the first time," she writes, noting that they credit the Qur'an's emphasis on education for their desire to learn.

She cited the story of Batool Shamil, an Iraqi female refugee, who was taking pains to give her kids the education she had always dreamt of.

"My dream is for my kids to go to college," Shamil told her.

The writer also referred to another example of a Muslim woman who worked her way through med school and now directs the laboratories of two Florida hospitals.

She passed her career drive on to her daughters: One just graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing; the other is an investigator for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office.

The writer estimates there are three million Muslim women in the United States.

She said more than 229,000 Muslim women have settled in the United States in the last decade, adding that once they settled in the country, they have sought to better themselves and become part of the American fabric.

While there is no scientific count of Muslims in the US, six to seven million is the most commonly cited figure.

Most Achieving

The writer also found Muslim women among the most achieving in the country with thousands of doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors and social workers.

"I found Muslim women achieving from coast to coast. They are leading worldwide humanitarian groups in Washington, presiding over juvenile court in Baltimore, delivering babies in Los Angeles, teaching in Miami and helping the homeless in Las Vegas," she writes.

There is Zarinah in Arizona who is now a law student with boundless enthusiasm.

"Muslim women were once teachers, scholars, leaders on the battleground and naval commanders," she tells the author.

"I feel our generation and the next generation will be reclaiming that history."

Gehrke-White also highlights in her book the key social role played by Muslim women in clearing stereotypes and fighting un-Islamic traditions.

"The other thing is that women are Americanising the mosques, bringing in Brownie (scout) troops, self-help programs," Gehrke-White, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the Miami Herald newspapers, told Reuters.

She also cites in her book an effort by a group of women to send delegations to Bosnia to help stop honor killings.

The writer also mentioned the case of a South Asian woman who were abused and beaten by her husband, who divorced and left her in Florida all by herself.

"A group of Muslim families have rushed to help the woman and later helped her return to her country of birth," she writes.

The writer further said that Islam has been flourishing in the United States despite the tide of anti-Muslim feeling that swept after Sept. 11.

"Islam is flourishing with new mosques opening every year," Gehrke-White writes.

A May 2004 report released by the US Senate Office Of Research concluded that the Arab Americans and the Muslim community have taken the brunt of the Patriot Act and other federal powers applied in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.