She remembers being horrified at some of the ignorance she’s heard on national television. “One of the talking heads one day said Muslims couldn’t be Americans because we pray to Allah. I thought, he doesn’t even know that Allah is the Arabic word for God.”

Just as Dieu is the French word for God and Gott is the German word for God.

It was clear to her and her family that the American media, on the whole, didn’t have a clue about Islam.

They didn’t know the word Islam translates into “peace.”

They didn’t know Islam is one of the world’s three “Abrahamic” faiths that trace their roots back to Abraham – the other two are Christianity and Judaism.

They didn’t know all three religions pray to the same God. (Let me repeat that: Christians, Jews and Muslims all pray to the SAME God.)

They didn’t know Islam recognizes the Virgin Birth.

They didn’t know the same angel, Gabriel, who told a teenage Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus, is the angel who appeared to the Prophet Muhammad over two decades and laid out the basis of Islam.

They didn’t know the Virgin Mary is the most revered woman in the Quran (Islam’s bible).

They didn’t know Jesus and Muhammad are among the 25 prophets mentioned in the Quran.

They didn’t even know Islam is the world’s second largest religion, behind Christianity. That point alone should be a major clue: How would it be possible for some 1.3 billion people – a majority of the people in 57 of the world’s 191 countries, representing many different cultures – to belong to a religion that preached hate rather than love? It makes no sense, because Islam doesn’t preach hate. But you sure wouldn’t know that from some of the idiotic things that have been spread about the religion since 9-11.

There’s a whole bevy of right-wing commentators as ignorant as the one who didn’t know Allah means God. Then there are zealots like Ann Coulter spewing a kind of hatred that is breathtaking. She has said of Muslims: “We should invade their countries, kill all their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”

“You can’t find our religion in the media,” Hamid Hafiz says. “Because it’s either defined by a minority in our faith or the hatemongers.”

His daughter, Yasmine adds, “Ann Coulter is never judged as a Christian, she’s judged as an individual, but every Muslim is seen as representing the whole faith.”

She finds it sad that a beautiful saying often heard in Catholic schools, “For the greater glory of God,” would be considered “sinister” if a Muslim said it.

Imran remembers the day his Brophy teacher asked if anyone wanted to tell the story of Noah and the Arc. “I raised my hand and got up and talked about Noah,” he remembers. Afterward, a Catholic friend asked him, “Dude, how come you know about Noah?” And Imran told him, “He’s one of our prophets, too.” He remembers his friend was surprised and all of a sudden it struck him, “This was a unique opportunity to share my faith with others.”

That’s one of the things their book does. It lays out some basics of Islam that will be helpful to both Muslim teens and anyone interested in understanding the religion. “We are not speaking for Islam, but if we can help dispel the stereotypes and bring a little understanding, that is what we hope,” says Dilara, who is youth director of the Arizona Interfaith Movement.

After reading the book, “You’ll be able to critique what you hear on the news with reality,” Yasmine says. “If you hear, ‘all Muslims are out to get us,’ you’ll know that isn’t true.”

But don’t expect a heavy-handed, preachy book. This clear, often funny book takes teens through the dos and don’ts of the religion. There’s a chapter on “Islam 101” and another on “The 4 D’s – dating, dancing, drinking and drugs.” The book also covers peer pressure, dietary restrictions and the controversy over the headscarf called the hijab.

The book includes comments from Muslim teens around the country, solicited through a survey the authors sponsored. And it comes with glowing reviews. Dr. Paul Eppinger, executive director of the Arizona Interfaith Movement, said of the book, “I wish every major faith had just such a book for teens of their faith. We could then share them and learn to understand and respect each other.”

The book almost didn’t get published. Although the family got an agent, they encountered two problems: mainstream publishers thought the book would only appeal to Muslim teenagers – too small a market – and conservative Muslim publishers didn’t appreciate a moderate view of the religion. But when family members sent copies of the text to respected Muslim writers, they were strongly encouraged to continue. So they found a publishing house in Phoenix and paid for the printing themselves.

As far as they’re concerned, all the work and expense has already paid off in that kind of breakthrough from the hysteria.

As they say in the handbook, “There’s a fine line between ignorance and racism – confrontations are more likely to arise between strangers who mistrust each other’s ‘differences’ than between strangers who are informed and educated.”

The American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook is available at theamth.com.