As a scholar, Shaykh Al-Amin Mazrui attempted to be a bridge between Islam and modernity. He argued that while Christianity became the vanguard of progress when it became more secular and less Christian, Islam was the vanguard of progress when it was more Islamic and less secular. According to Shaykh Al-Amin, progress among Muslims required not the abandonment of Islam but the recovery of the original spirit of Islamic enlightenment. Shaykh Al-Amin's choice of these favored sayings of the Prophet
In 2003, Mazrui was detained and questioned by the Department of Homeland Security after returning to the United States from Africa. Mazrui admitted to officials that he tried to meet with a radical Islamist leader, but was unsuccessful. Officials concluded that no crime had been committed, but his critics pointed to this as evidence of ties to terrorist activity