The shooting massacre at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and 30 wounded has cast a spotlight on Muslims in America because the suspected gunman, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, a psychiatrist about to be deployed to a war zone, is reportedly a devout Muslim.

How and whether Hasan’s faith played a role in the attack is an evolving story. The Washington Post has good coverage of Hasan’s upbringing in Virginia and the role of religion in his life.

One salient point of interest is that Hasan is a second-generation American, born and raised in the United States, the child of Palestinian immigrants from Jordan. ReligionLink has an August 2009 edition devoted to the great diversity in the Islamic community in America, and the trends and tensions regarding the growing number of Muslims born and raised in the U.S.

Also see a survey from the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, released Sept. 9, 2009, showing that Americans see Muslims as facing more discrimination than other major religious groups.

The survey found that fewer than four in 10 Americans (38 percent) feel Islam does more to encourage violence than other religions, a 7-point decrease from two years earlier. And, according to the survey, “Those people who are most familiar with Muslims and knowledgeable about Islam are least likely to see Islam as encouraging violence, most likely to express favorable views of Muslims and most inclined to see similarities between Islam and their own religion.”

In addition, ReligionLink  has a number of other editions on Islam that provide sources and background for covering every possible aspect of this developing story. They include:

• Muslims and civil rights: A continuing debate — President Barack Obama’s June 4 address to the Muslim world served as a fresh reminder of the tensions between civil rights and national security that have played out in the U.S. and abroad since 9/11. The president’s speech was welcomed by the Muslim community, which remains deeply concerned about attacks against Muslims.
• Islamofascism: Anatomy of an epithet — Islamofascism has emerged into the national conversation with increasing frequency and prominence since the Sept. 11 attacks. Supporters of the term claim they are using it to describe a dangerous form of radicalism. But critics say the word is offensive and ill-considered — a poorly conceived shortcut to describe a mix of Islam and politics.
• Mapping Muslim assimilation: Islam’s growing social infrastructure — Like Jews, Catholics and other immigrant groups before them, Muslims are building a social infrastructure in America that includes houses of worship, schools, health clinics, banks, charities and more. Muslims’ social and religious needs are diverse —  and that diversity is reflected in the network of mosques and related social services centers they are creating.
• Understanding Islam: From Sunnis to Shiites and beyond — Muslims tend to avoid terms like denominations or sects to describe the different streams of tradition. All Muslims are one, they note, and share the same basic beliefs and rituals. But there are different schools of thought within Islam, denoted by historical and legal differences — differences that can lead to serious divisions.
• Covering Islam and politics — Muslims’ engagement with government and politics is becoming more prominent in the United States and abroad on issues ranging from immigration and terrorism to charities and civil rights. This guide lists research centers, organizations and scholars with expertise on the growing role of Muslims’ interactions with government and politics.
• Covering Islam 101: The basics — Fifty-eight percent of Americans say they know little or nothing about Islam’s practices. And what they know is sometimes wrong. Meanwhile, 32 percent of Americans say the media are the biggest influence on their perception of Muslims. This edition of ReligionLink is a journalist’s guide to covering Muslims and Islam in America. It is a complement to a Religion Newswriters Webinar presented on March 11, 2008.
• Islam: A guide to U.S. experts and organizations — This ReligionLink guide includes more than 100 experts who specialize in such areas as civil rights, politics, foreign affairs, art, culture, history, law, family issues and more. It also includes Muslim advocacy organizations, research centers and think tanks.