What events and figures have shaped the development of Islam in the United States?
Three things strike me as fundamentally important:
1) the funding by Saudi Arabia since 1973 of about 90 billion dollars to build mosques in the US.
2)The appeal of radical (including Al-Qaeda) islamic groups to the disenchanged to strike at anything Western), and to do it with terror methods. The Marine Barracks in Lebanon in 1984, various airline and ship hijackings, bombings, are examples.
3) The striking of The World Trade center twice, with the second attempt successful (9/11).
4) The suspicion of most Americans of Islamic motivations in any venture that there is something sinsiter in the background.
5) The perception amongs Judeo-Christians that our way of life is threatened by Islam. After all, they do kill our missionaries....
I think those events and attitudes probably shaped strongly the development of Islam and attitudes toward Islam in the US.