Islam in the United States

[[File:Ahmed Zewail HD2009 Othmer Gold Medal portrait.JPG|thumb|right|165px|Ahmed Zewail, with his Othmer Gold Medal, awarded by the Chemical Heritage Foundation in 2009.]]{{Islam}}
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'''[[Islam]]''' is perhaps the fastest growing [[religion]] '''in the [[United States of America]]''' due both to [[immigration]] and to conversions. Various estimates put the number of Muslims in the United States between 1 and 6 million.<ref group=note>Because the US does not track religion in the census, exact numbers are very hard to come by.</ref> The vast majority of American Muslims have South [[Asian]], [[Arab]]ic, or [[African]] ancestry; about one-quarter are [[African-Americans]]. As of 2010 the United States had 2,106 mosques, up 74% in 10 years.<ref>[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-02-29/islamic-worship-growth-us/53298792/1 USA Today: Number of U.S. mosques up 74% since 2000]</ref>

==Early years==
Contrary to what [[Dominionists]] might have you believe, Muslims figured among the earliest Old World immigrants to areas that would become the US. A Moroccan slave named Estevanico was shipwrecked in what is now Galveston, [[Texas]] in 1528; he traveled through much of what is now the American Southwest.<ref name=manseau>[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/opinion/the-founding-muslims.html?_r=0 The Muslims of Early America] by Peter Manseau (February 9, 2015) ''New York Times''.</ref> Anthony Jansen van Salee, a Dutch-Moroccan, arrived in New Amsterdam (later [[New York City]]) in 1633.<ref>[http://www.billsbrownstone.com/notorious/AnthonyvanSalee.asp Anthony Jansen van Salee, the Turk] by Bill Greer</ref>
An estimated 20% of African [[slaves]] professed Islam, at least before slave owners suppressed their religion.<ref name=manseau/> A few Muslims fought in the [[American Revolution]] (though mostly on the [[British]] side) &mdash; two were known to have fought with the Americans: Yusuf ben Ali and Bampett Muhamed.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=owZCMZpYamMC&pg=PA561&dq=Yusuf+ben+Ali+and+Bampett+Muhamed&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Db25U_DTLLD60gWezYDwAg&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Yusuf%20ben%20Ali%20and%20Bampett%20Muhamed&f=false|title= Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History|publisher= |accessdate= March 5, 2015}}</ref> Ali and Muhamed likely did not fight with the purpose of making the thirteen colonies a [[Christian nation]]. The first ''iftar'' dinner, ending [[Ramadan]], that celebrated in the White House was in 1805 and hosted by [[Thomas Jefferson]] for Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, the Tunisian ambassador.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/06/17/thomas-jeffersons-iftar-dinner-and-the-history-of-ramadan-at-the-white-house/?utm_term=.00dbaa202e8c&wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1 Trump just ended a long tradition of celebrating Ramadan at the White House] by Amy B. Wang (June 24, 2017, 4:56 PM) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>

One of the earliest slave narratives was written in Arabic in 1831 by Omar ibn Said, a.k.a. Morro or Uncle Moreau, when he was still enslaved.<ref name=ruane>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/01/20/when-few-enslaved-people-could-write-one-man-wrote-his-memoirs-arabic/ When few enslaved people in the United States could write, one man wrote his memoir in Arabic] by Michael E. Ruane (January 20 at 8:00 AM) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> ibn Said was a Muslim scholar in West Africa who was abducted in 1807, and the narrative included a verse from the [[Qur'an]].<ref name=ruane/>

==Modern America==
{{cquote|Indeed, America would fight with her whole strength for your right to have here your own church and worship according to your own conscience.|||[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], addressing the opening of the Islamic Center of Washington in 1957<ref>[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=10824 120 — Remarks at Ceremonies Opening the Islamic Center] by Dwight D. Eisenhower (June 28, 1957) ''American Presidency Project''.</ref>}}
As with every other religion, no set theology, political view, or level of religious conservatism correlates with the practice of Islam in the United States. The trend appears more progressive than in [[European]] and [[Middle Eastern]] Islam, possibly because many American Muslims (particularly the African-American segment) do not come from a culturally Muslim background and many converted for political reasons. However, that is by no means true of all American Muslims.

Muslim women in the US are often offered more access to the religion in the United States than in Europe, the Middle or Far East. Women are taking active roles in redesigning the mosques they attend, teaching classes for both men and women, and even pressing to become [[imam]]s.<ref>
{{cite book
| editor1-last          = Abdul-Ghafur
| editor1-first         = Saleemah
| editor1-link          = Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur
| title                 = Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=sxM2j8eKs8MC
| edition               = 1
| location              = Boston, Massachusetts
| publisher             = Beacon Press
| publication-date      = 2012
| isbn                  = 9780807096925
| accessdate            = 2017-01-22
| quote                 =
}}
</ref><ref>
''Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today''  by Yvonne Yazbeck
</ref>

==Famous and infamous American Muslims==
*{{wpl|Ahmed Zewail|Ahmed H. Zewail}} &mdash; chemist and recipient of the 1999 [[Nobel Prize]] in Chemistry<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nobel-egypt-zewail-idUSKCN10D2CP Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian chemist Zewail dies] August 2, 2016 ''Reuters''.</ref>
*{{wpl|Art Blakey (aka  Abdullah Ibn Buhaina)}} &mdash; jazz drummer
*{{wpl|Busta Rhymes}} &mdash; rap artist
*{{wpl|Dawud Salahuddin}} &mdash; assassin and film actor
*{{wpl|Kareem Abdul-Jabbar}} &mdash; basketball player (prev. Lew Alcindor)
*[[Keith Ellison]] &mdash; first Muslim elected to [[Congress]] in 2006
*Kool & the Gang &mdash;  {{wpl|Ronald Bell (musician)|Ronald}} and {{wpl|Robert "Kool" Bell}}
*[[Malcolm X]] (born Malcolm Little, he also used the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) &mdash; human rights leader. Was a member of the [[Nation of Islam]], but converted to [[Sunni]] Islam in the last year of his life.
*{{wpl|Muhammad Ali}} &mdash; boxer (born Cassius Clay)
*{{wpl|Nidal Malik Hasan}} &mdash; spree killer (Fort Hood shooting)
*{{wpl|Stephen Suleyman Schwartz}} &mdash; journalist
*{{wpl|SZA}} &mdash; singer-songwriter
*{{wpl|Warith Deen Mohammed}} &mdash; religious leader (converted most of the membership of the [[Nation of Islam]] to orthodox Sunni Islam)
*{{wpl|Yusef Lateef}} &mdash; Grammy-winning jazz musician
*{{wpl|Zalmay Khalilzad}} &mdash; US Ambassador to the United Nations.
*
[[Barack_Obama#Islam|Barack <span style="color:red;font-weight:900">☭HUSSEIN☭</span> Obama]]

*[[Zohran Mamdani]] &mdash; first Muslim mayor of [[Fun:New York City|New York City]]

==See also==
*[[Islamophobia]]
*[[The United States as a Christian nation]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Islam]]
[[Category:United States]]

Categories: Islam, United States