Growth of Islam In the U.S.

The Growth of Islam In the United States Islam is rapidly expanding in the United States. The growth of Islam in the United States is largely fueled by immigration. One- third of American Muslims are African- Americans who have converted to Islam during the last seventy years. Many of African- American leaders turned to the Islamic religion in some point in their life. Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan were once Christian, but then turned to Islam latter on in life. Seeing that many African- American leaders preached their Islamic beliefs led to the growth of Islam by African- Americans in North America. Most of the Muslims who were born in the United States are African- American converts and descendants of converts. The majority of the movement of Islam in America has grown from recruiting African- Americans on college campuses, converting inmates in prison, and proselytizing Christians who have converted in an attempt to connect with and African- Muslim, religious- ethnic Identity. According to Sam Smith who wrote The Threat of the Nation of Islam to African- American Churches “Statistically speaking, African- Americans in the United States are two hundred times more likely to convert to Islam than whites” (Smith ). Islam has become a powerful presence among the black population. Islam has destroyed the rich cultures and civilizations of many North African nations. Some people mistakenly believe that European missionaries brought Christianity to Africa when really Christianity was long established in Africa before it ever spread to Europe. “In Acts chapter 9, Philip the Evangelist baptized a member of the Ethiopian royal court and he is credited with starting Ethiopia’s first Christian Church”(Smith ). American Islamic ideas and traditions have seeped into many African- American churches. A significant number of American Muslims are in Fact convicted inmates who converted to Islam in various state and federal prisons. The