the year was nine hundred seventy five the nation of islam had reached its peak of membership no religious group had ever grown so quickly however a major change was about to occur  muhammad died and a new religious leader was introduced one with the ability to translate  here this is not only was this his father this was his leader and this was the leader of everybody that he really knew the community and his family and the day after his father passes this man stands up before a community of and with all the muslim center hundred mosques located in every major city in the united states it was a struggle i mean a lot of work and you had to stay up day and night trying to get this but one day when i went out when the band was called and i would want to step out i got a nice round of applause and it gave me feelings with our brothers here in the united states know for years as a close aside the doors were now open to people from every god conscious walk of life we were not doing that five years ago celebrities like isabel santana and roger mostly as well as political figures like angela davis all came to support america's new islamic movement genuine dialogue was finally established with the christian and jewish communities i was here as the president the american jewish congress and i think it was very important for there to be jewish representation and something like this today i thought was a very meaningful talk on bringing people together of all races all religions all creeds it was a moving hour and i couldn't help but think this morning that when i went to church i belong to the church of christ and the preacher said today that every man is my brother and i came down this afternoon to the sports arena and virtually heard th because you don't think you know yourself i'm looking in the future revenue man and i know that america needs leadership who have enough sense to lead and then to see the community continue to develop its earnest devotion to the religion of valor they began an unprecedented propagation of islam in america and their national newspaper was the single largest to next area of significance was with their national school it had become the nation's largest islamic educational system period of time with a limited amount of resources i mean is nothing short of miraculous my child is a product of the paramount school my son graduated with high honors from college he is now a vice president a one of the major  financial institutions in the country it has worked very well for him but what has worked even better is that he is a more well known and he's a good person and the society schools are even more important than massager that the more we can pay and have worship and a clean place however we need schools to assure that our children and our neighbors children in our neighborhood and you know and sixty five the immigration act was passed in a surprise to us expectations it led to a huge influx of people from africa asia and the middle east islam was one of the great beneficiaries as a substantial number of muslims came in search of higher education and better professional opportunities the began building mosques schools and communities that would for ever relationship between indigenous muslims and islamic countries members of the saudi arabian family including prince adel and prince mohammed announced their first business venture with american muslims you know africa we were able to find out from these different areas what it is that those countries need people ask me all the time what do you want to do when you finish but this is a good question and so hard for it and i'm still debating support for the growth of islam in america came from around the world kings scholars and many international diplomats came to see what they could do to assist the saudi arabian government sent religious  ns and shipped large amounts of crohn's to educate indigenous muslims on the tenets of the religion a great pleasure for me personally but also it's an honor that i thank you very much for giving me and my colleagues and brothers the opportunity which lasted less than a year presented the first opportunity for muslims in america to demonstrate their value to the country and especially dedication to saudi arabia re met with high officials in the royal family and was asked to be a spokesman during the gulf war addressing the presence of u s troops so close to the holiest place of islam  we know that he a human being born february twenty six eight hundred seventy seven is not the or originator of the heavens and the earth but the good that we gained from his three years and four months among us was that he raised from among us a man that would get us started in a process that even though the islamic world would have liked to have helped us and many muslims came to try to help us they didn't have the right methodology and approach for the condition that we were in islamic experiences in america during the last quarter of the twentieth century you see a distinct pattern of religious groups however to gain a keen understanding of why islam emerged just such a hundred nine less than five years after african american muslims made their historic conversion huge events began to unfold in the islamic world on november fourth radical students in iran sees the united states embassy complex in tehran the crisis deaf olive the seizure created in his lobbyist movement that would prove to influence american history for years to come less than a year after the cleric later convicted in the u s for his role in the one nine hundred ninety three world trade center bombing however it was barely a memory when in one thousand nine hundred three american muslims woke up to the headlines that nearly three hundred u s soldiers had been killed by an explosion in beirut a suicide bomber the chain of events that were quickly unfolding in the islamic world begin to mold the thought process of muslims in america and it also let african american converts who were still new to this religion know that they were on a special pa in their islamic growth hundred ninety s islamised conflicts erupted around the world a series of terrorist attacks were launched against africa france and the us in the eyes of many the root cause of this turmoil was the occupation of palestine by the israeli army and palestinian president yasser arafat reached out to muslims in america for help in resolving the conflict which had cost thousands of lives opened across the united states perhaps the most amazing part of this growth was its ethnic makeup although at one time african americans made up the majority of the muslim population in the us the influx of muslim immigrants from around the world had turned the islamic relations between the islamic world and muslims in america reached its peak of interaction during the decade of the night not only when leaders in scholars visiting america in record numbers muslim american leaders were also being requested more than ever abroad the islamic country of malaysia invited american muslims to visit and discuss ways to improve their business relationship especially delegation visited their nation's industries to explore business opportunities between t the group explosion continued the muslim american community really began to make their presence felt no longer all muslims in the cl in cities across the nation the influence of islam was in trenching itself deeper and deeper into the very fabric of american life in mississippi an entire town was named new medina after the name of one of islam disposal of the vehicle and inspired leader an opportunity for us to really achieve the many wonderful thing though we want to be able to open up a forum a little wider the signs of many gatherings with remarkable never in the history of america had a new religious movement grew so quickly with america being a predominantly christian nation it was very important for american muslims to maintain strong interfaith relationships and maintain that they did in fact it became commonplace to see members of the christian and jewish community at their convention it's not only is it it's but its  the interfaith efforts of american muslims did not go unnoticed m m w deen mohamed was appointed president of the world conference on religion and peace during his tenure he would make an unprecedented trip to israel and meet with the world's top religious leaders later he would also take a historic journey to the vatican no other american muslim had ever set foot in this legendary city would lead an entire muslim delegation there and  the seventh century of muslim history in the western hemisphere closed the awakening of the international islamised meant was becoming a political issue in american muslims who are wondering why islamic values were when america wake and on september eleventh two thousand and one it was ushered into a new era of international relations reportedly nineteen hijackers from the middle east attacked the world trade center in new york and the pentagon in washington d c the united states responded by declaring a war on terrorism launching an invasion of afghanistan and iraq while i'm acting the usa patriot act which expanded law enforcement eleven in america our hearts were heavy in two respects war because the senseless loss of innocent life but then it was a double blow to us because in the process although african american muslims who had already experienced the fight for civil rights seemed unaffected the immigrant community begin to see a side of america and was foreign to them they began to face intense discrimination racial profiling and even physical violence in some cases political allies who had once identified with the muslim community seemed to distance themselves as for the u s government has stopped international funding sources which previously had been used for building mosques in islamic schools however amid all of this something else happened along the way an unprecedented awareness of islam begin to develop in america for millions of americans the religion had finally come to the center stage of the twenty first century since nine one one and everybody in america has become aware clear understanding of islam still the question remains how could muslims in america we capture the emotional intensity that they had been built over the past twenty five years after september eleventh and even before september eleventh there are a lot of efforts to exclude muslims from from mainstream america for political reason for whatever but we need to be aware of that and the only way for us to counter all that effort is by but by being constructive and critical and to try to as koran say enjoying what is right and try to oppose what's wrong  moreover they're showing a unique sense of entitlement that previous generations have lacked the muslim students have become a powerful social and political force in every major university and college in america these students are also being supported by professors of these institutions who are also muslims and are providing scholarly research and discourse that is bridging the gap between ancient islamic tradition and the twenty first century people from different backgrounds different historical times can look at the same scriptural passages the same texts the same verses and still come up with different kinds of interpretation depending on where they're located in their lives who the long journey for the growth and establishment of islam in america is one for the ages never has a story been filled with more mystery entry struggle and sacrifice that of the many muslim pioneers who have shared this incredible vision the same vision king abu because the second head when he abdicated his throne in mali to bring his current to america in the fourteenth century vision of african slaves who maintained their islamic belief through threat of torture and death so that it may pass on to future generations the vision of noble who began to rekindle the islamic spirit of those african americans to the more science temple along with marcus garvey to see mohammad ali and medea us the incredible vision of those early lebanese immigrants who built the first american mosque and had the courage to develop true islamic communities in early twentieth century america and of course the nation of islam who told america that our law was god and began a new movement that would for every change the country's religious landscape however history will likely record the single most important factor for the growth of islam in america was the visionary leadership  man who introduced millions of americans to mainstream islam and i know this week from now we are going to go on and well for the first time in history the nations and tribes of the world are all living together at one time and in one place and that place is america and we are unique among the muslims in different other parts of the wor america how ironic it must be that a country just over two hundred years old that was established because of the need for christian religious freedom would also become the world's focal point for the religion of islam some might call this fate others my colleague that's weird but whatever you call it the symbiotic relationship between america and muslims is truly remarkable even more amazing is that in the scope of world history this is just the beginning what will things look like the one hundred years or even a thousand years from now only time will tell w