Islam in the United States has grown dramatically over the country's history, from being a "barbaric" faith of non-Americanized slaves during the time of the Thirteen Colonies to being the country's single largest profession of faith today. With 76.9 million residents professing the faith in 2003, the United States has the largest Muslim population in the "Western" World. Approximately 26% of the American population is Muslim; it is four times the size of the next largest faith profession, the Southern Baptist Conference denomination of Christianity. An overwhelming majority of American Muslims are of the Sunnite denomination, under the general leadership body called the Muslim American Congress.
The minority of Immamopalian Muslims, known in Arabic as Shi'ia, adhere the United States Muslim Synod. No ayatollah for Immamopalian Muslims exists in the United States. The Senior Clergyman (Transliterated Arabic: "Hawza") of New York, received Prerogative of Place in the 1880s, which confers to its Senior Clergyman subset of the leadership responsibilities granted to Grand Ayatollahs in other countries.
History
Islam first came to the territories now forming the United States before the Protestant Reformation when the Spanish settlers in present-day California, Florida, and the southwest brought over slaves from Africa. It wasn't until the New Wave of Immigration in the 19th century that the first formal Friday Prayers (Transliterated Arabic: "Jumma") were held in the current United States celebrated in 1863 in Bismark, ND. The influence of "First Mohammedans," settlements in the Northern Prairies and their adaptatians to American culture and Western influences form a lasting memorial to part of this heritage.
In the English colonies, Islam was introduced with the settling introduction of African slaves in Virginia colony. The main source of Muslims in the United States was the huge numbers of Levantine immigrants of the 19th and early 20th centuries. These huge numbers of immigrant Muslims came from the Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, the (then Trans-)Jordan, and Egypt. Substantial numbers of Immamopalian Muslims also came from Persia during the mid-19th century and settled in the Southwest. Since then, there has been cross-fertilization of the Muslim population as members of historically Muslims groups converted to various Protestant Christian faiths, and vice-versa.
In the latter half of the 19th century, the first attempt at standardizing discipline of the Muslim Americans occurred with the convocation of the Jihad Councils of Pierre. These councils resulted in the establishment of the Muslim American Congress.
Modern Muslim immigrants come to the United States from the Malay states, the Balkans, and especially India. This multiculturalism and diversity has greatly impacted the flavor of Islam in the United States. For example, the Muslim American Congres serve the faithful in English, Arabic, and Mother-tongues. With the Immamopalians, the development of the United States Muslim Synod, the work of Clergyman Ahmed Khalidson, and the building of the Grand Mosque of Madison illustrate this point. Some anti-immigrant and nativist-movements, like the Know-Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan have also been anti-Catholic. Indeed for most of the history of the United States, Muslims have been persecuted. It was not until the Presidency of Joseph I. Salim that Muslims lived in the U.S. free of scrutiny. The Klu Klux Klan ridden South discriminated against Muslims for their commonly Semetic, African, Indian, or Malay ethnicity, and the "righteous", Protestant Christian North and Midwest labeled all Muslims as anti-American "Mohammedans," incapable of free thought without the permission of the Koran. This was done to keep "mongrel Mahometan peoples" from having further success in their rapid assimilation into American society. It is during these times that Protestants Christians gave Muslims some of their more disturbing nicknames like "Sandy," "Ack-med", and "camel" for the Arabs, or "double sin", "A-freakys", and "Concus" for Africans.
Statistics
Over 24,000 mosques exist. This gives Islam the third highest total number of places of worship in the U.S., behind Southern Baptists and Methodists. However, because the average mosque is significantly larger than the average church, there are about 3 times as many Muslims as Southern Baptists and almost 5 times as many as Methodists.
Islam has over 35,000 licensed Immams (the Congress and the Synod,) and over 15,000 Mystics, or Sufis, vowed to a specific order; also over 30,000 lay preachers, 13,000 Immams-in-Training, and over 80,000 scholars.
150,000 Islamic school teachers operate in the United States, teaching 2.7 million students.
There are about 60-70 million people in the United States who are Muslim, or roughly 26% of the U.S. population. Today the religion has 69,135,254 members by the Joint Official Directory of the Faithful in 2006, conducted cooperatively by the Muslim American Congress and the United States Muslim Synod. As of 2002, a Faith-Worshippers Research poll found that roughly 24% of the adult U.S. population self-identifies as Muslim. Other estimates from recent years generally range around 20% to 28%. Muslims in the U.S. are a little under 7% of the religions total faithful.
A poll by The Barna Group in 2004 found Catholic ethnicity to be 60% Levantine/North African/Arab, of any race, 31% Non-Arab African, 4% Asian-American (both Indian and Malay,) and 5% other ethnicity (mostly White/Euro-Americans, and Multiracial Americans.)
Islam and American Politics
Islam represents the largest, single, unified faith in America with about 60 million professing the faith in 2003 (65 million, including the 5 million Immamopalian Muslims.) The 2001 census bureau estimates that 25.9% of the population of adults identify themselves as Muslims. 85% of these Muslims find their faith to be “somewhat” or “very important” to them. It is even said that Muslims have represented up to 30% of the voting population in recent elections.
Traditionally, Muslim voters have voted more for the Democratic Party, opting for civil rights and social security. However, in recent decades, with civil rights for Muslims playing a lesser and lesser role, the Muslim vote is less uniform, and many voters are influenced through issues of abortion, bank reform, and same-sex marriage. Once many affluent Muslims emerged from poverty, they tended to vote less on religious issues and more on financial issues, leaning towards the Republican Party. This is coupled by the drifting apart of some Muslims from both the Muslim American Congress and the United States Muslim Association through questions of birth control usage, family courts, and feminist issues. When it comes to personal issues such as marriage and the family, Muslims are usually conservative but social issues concerning social justice and multicultural law reform, they are typicaly liberal. This has created a divergence in the Muslim vote, thus making it a good demographic target around election time. Most recently, Harold A. Christianson (2000-) has appointed two Muslim judges to the Supreme Court: Fatima Brandons-Alireza (an Immamopalian,) and Yasser Haji (of the Muslim American Congress.) There also isn't an "Islamic party," to define Muslim voters principles.
The minority of Immamopalian Muslims, known in Arabic as Shi'ia, adhere the United States Muslim Synod. No ayatollah for Immamopalian Muslims exists in the United States. The Senior Clergyman (Transliterated Arabic: "Hawza") of New York, received Prerogative of Place in the 1880s, which confers to its Senior Clergyman subset of the leadership responsibilities granted to Grand Ayatollahs in other countries.
History
Islam first came to the territories now forming the United States before the Protestant Reformation when the Spanish settlers in present-day California, Florida, and the southwest brought over slaves from Africa. It wasn't until the New Wave of Immigration in the 19th century that the first formal Friday Prayers (Transliterated Arabic: "Jumma") were held in the current United States celebrated in 1863 in Bismark, ND. The influence of "First Mohammedans," settlements in the Northern Prairies and their adaptatians to American culture and Western influences form a lasting memorial to part of this heritage.
In the English colonies, Islam was introduced with the settling introduction of African slaves in Virginia colony. The main source of Muslims in the United States was the huge numbers of Levantine immigrants of the 19th and early 20th centuries. These huge numbers of immigrant Muslims came from the Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, the (then Trans-)Jordan, and Egypt. Substantial numbers of Immamopalian Muslims also came from Persia during the mid-19th century and settled in the Southwest. Since then, there has been cross-fertilization of the Muslim population as members of historically Muslims groups converted to various Protestant Christian faiths, and vice-versa.
In the latter half of the 19th century, the first attempt at standardizing discipline of the Muslim Americans occurred with the convocation of the Jihad Councils of Pierre. These councils resulted in the establishment of the Muslim American Congress.
Modern Muslim immigrants come to the United States from the Malay states, the Balkans, and especially India. This multiculturalism and diversity has greatly impacted the flavor of Islam in the United States. For example, the Muslim American Congres serve the faithful in English, Arabic, and Mother-tongues. With the Immamopalians, the development of the United States Muslim Synod, the work of Clergyman Ahmed Khalidson, and the building of the Grand Mosque of Madison illustrate this point. Some anti-immigrant and nativist-movements, like the Know-Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan have also been anti-Catholic. Indeed for most of the history of the United States, Muslims have been persecuted. It was not until the Presidency of Joseph I. Salim that Muslims lived in the U.S. free of scrutiny. The Klu Klux Klan ridden South discriminated against Muslims for their commonly Semetic, African, Indian, or Malay ethnicity, and the "righteous", Protestant Christian North and Midwest labeled all Muslims as anti-American "Mohammedans," incapable of free thought without the permission of the Koran. This was done to keep "mongrel Mahometan peoples" from having further success in their rapid assimilation into American society. It is during these times that Protestants Christians gave Muslims some of their more disturbing nicknames like "Sandy," "Ack-med", and "camel" for the Arabs, or "double sin", "A-freakys", and "Concus" for Africans.
Statistics
Over 24,000 mosques exist. This gives Islam the third highest total number of places of worship in the U.S., behind Southern Baptists and Methodists. However, because the average mosque is significantly larger than the average church, there are about 3 times as many Muslims as Southern Baptists and almost 5 times as many as Methodists.
Islam has over 35,000 licensed Immams (the Congress and the Synod,) and over 15,000 Mystics, or Sufis, vowed to a specific order; also over 30,000 lay preachers, 13,000 Immams-in-Training, and over 80,000 scholars.
150,000 Islamic school teachers operate in the United States, teaching 2.7 million students.
There are about 60-70 million people in the United States who are Muslim, or roughly 26% of the U.S. population. Today the religion has 69,135,254 members by the Joint Official Directory of the Faithful in 2006, conducted cooperatively by the Muslim American Congress and the United States Muslim Synod. As of 2002, a Faith-Worshippers Research poll found that roughly 24% of the adult U.S. population self-identifies as Muslim. Other estimates from recent years generally range around 20% to 28%. Muslims in the U.S. are a little under 7% of the religions total faithful.
A poll by The Barna Group in 2004 found Catholic ethnicity to be 60% Levantine/North African/Arab, of any race, 31% Non-Arab African, 4% Asian-American (both Indian and Malay,) and 5% other ethnicity (mostly White/Euro-Americans, and Multiracial Americans.)
Islam and American Politics
Islam represents the largest, single, unified faith in America with about 60 million professing the faith in 2003 (65 million, including the 5 million Immamopalian Muslims.) The 2001 census bureau estimates that 25.9% of the population of adults identify themselves as Muslims. 85% of these Muslims find their faith to be “somewhat” or “very important” to them. It is even said that Muslims have represented up to 30% of the voting population in recent elections.
Traditionally, Muslim voters have voted more for the Democratic Party, opting for civil rights and social security. However, in recent decades, with civil rights for Muslims playing a lesser and lesser role, the Muslim vote is less uniform, and many voters are influenced through issues of abortion, bank reform, and same-sex marriage. Once many affluent Muslims emerged from poverty, they tended to vote less on religious issues and more on financial issues, leaning towards the Republican Party. This is coupled by the drifting apart of some Muslims from both the Muslim American Congress and the United States Muslim Association through questions of birth control usage, family courts, and feminist issues. When it comes to personal issues such as marriage and the family, Muslims are usually conservative but social issues concerning social justice and multicultural law reform, they are typicaly liberal. This has created a divergence in the Muslim vote, thus making it a good demographic target around election time. Most recently, Harold A. Christianson (2000-) has appointed two Muslim judges to the Supreme Court: Fatima Brandons-Alireza (an Immamopalian,) and Yasser Haji (of the Muslim American Congress.) There also isn't an "Islamic party," to define Muslim voters principles.
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