5 How “American” Can Salafism Be? - This chapter takes up the topic of extremism and violence, contrasting the lives of two American Salafi shaykhs: the infamous American terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki and AlMaghrib director Waleed Basyouni. Both men’s views of violence are profoundly shaped by the American government’s reaction to 9/11, but the case of Basyouni shows how Salafism became an unthreatening, mainstream part of American Islam.