The annual congregations of the Islamic Society of North America and the Islamic Circle of North America, two umbrella organisations, attract tens of thousands of people, mostly young.

These are people who pray, or at least try to, five times a day, read the Holy Quran and observe other religious obligations.

As a journalist, I often attended their meetings, particularly after 9/11, when I was working for the mainstream US media and was assigned to cover their activities.

In the very first such meeting that I attended, I noticed that Islam had a new dress code in America: scarves over short shirts and tight jeans. That's for women.

The men were a little more American. The trousers were tighter, some slipping down the waist, and the shirts funkier.

But their clothes and their American manners did not prevent those US Muslims from meeting their religious obligations. When called to prayers, they hurried along to a huge hall and prostrate before God, turning their heads toward Makkah.

This was the scene at Chicago's McCormick Center where an estimated 35,000 Muslims gathered over the Labour Day weekend for the annual ISNA congregation in 2003. I attended at least half a dozen such meetings after that and did not notice any change in the dress code or in their eagerness to say the prayers.

I also noticed that the scarves, and the prayers, did not prevent these American-Muslim girls from mingling with their male peers. They were like typical American teenagers, fun-loving, frank, stubborn, and sometimes, loud-mouthed.

Also read: Islam in America: When two women decided to pray with men

Throughout the four-day event, there was an obvious tension between them and the older Muslims worried at the American manners of their progeny.

Half of the estimated 35,000 participants were between 15 and 30. Many came from other cities and stayed at nearby hotels. Some partied all night, though without alcohol.

The older participants complained that the youngsters had turned an Islamic convention into a dating game. The youngsters said they were not dating but saw nothing wrong in meeting "and even in finding someone interesting as a prospective partner," as one of them, Yasmin Shah of Ohio, said.

Her mother agreed. "What's wrong if they find someone interesting and marry? After all, they have to marry someone and we cannot have a typical arranged marriage as they do back home," said Rabia Shah.