Muslim Americans

Muslim Americans are U.S. citizens and residents who adhere to the religion of Islam. They comprise diverse communities that embrace African Americans, converts, and immigrants from every part of the world but mostly from the Middle East and south Asia. Islam is based on the Five Pillars that must be observed by ordinary Muslims regardless of their sect, ethnicity, country, occupation, education, or exegeses of religious scholars.

These pillars include believing in two testimonies—that of the oneness of Allah and that Muhammad is His Prophet, praying five times daily, almsgiving, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and performing the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca. The religious identity of Muslim Americans is viewed as part of a wide arc of global Muslim identity, or community (ummah), encompassing differing ethnic groups from various parts of the world. Despite the fact that the global Muslim community goes beyond the concept of citizenship or national affiliation, Muslim Americans affiliate themselves with the American society or community within which they willingly prefer to live.

As a land of great opportunities, the United States with its multicultural environment attracts Muslims from all around the world. Before the rise of the Atlantic slave trade, Muslims began arriving in the New World at the end of the 16th century when European explorers and colonists crossed the Atlantic in search of new trading routes. The number of Muslims gradually increased over the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

In 1920, Muslim immigrants in Detroit initiated the Detroit Chapter of the Red Crescent and purchased plots for Muslim burials. They also founded a mosque in the Highland Park area of metropolitan Detroit in 1921. Adherents were not restricted geographically, and another mosque was established in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1934. Presently, the Red Crescent movement is closely associated with the Red Cross movement, and together they form a large global humanitarian network.

In 1930, Fard Muhammad (Wallace or W. D. Fard), an African American religious leader, went to Detroit, where his teaching of Islam led to the establishment of the Nation of Islam. Within the context of African Americans’ experience, in the period between World Wars I and II, Islam was a means to deflect the stigma associated with the black race. Fard's mission was to restore black Americans to their original divine nature, language, and culture through Islam. For most black Americans, Islam was viewed as a religion of liberation.

Under Elijah Muhammad's leadership, and with the help of Malcolm X, the Nation of Islam in the 1950s and 1960s grew to become the most successful Black Nationalist movement in the United States. During this period, influential organizations such as the International Muslim Society (later renamed the Federation of Islamic Associations of the United States and Canada), the Uniting Islamic Society of America, the Islamic Mission of America, and the Islamic Center of New York Foundation were established. During the past four decades, Muslim immigrants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East have come to America in large numbers. Since the 1960s and 1980s, the United States has been a haven for Muslim immigrants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East seeking freedom and better economic and educational opportunities.

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