Muslims In America Research Paper

Annette Swann
English 111-21H
Thomas Nelson Community College
Professor M. Weiser
Research Paper
April 15, 2010
Muslims in America
Among the top world religions, Islam poses as a rapidly growing one in America. According to Yvonne Haddad (1993), author of the book Muslims in America, the population of Muslims in America today is a mosaic of linguistic, ethnic, economic, ideological, social and religious groups. She also states that, while newcomers are adapting to life in America, native Muslims in our country are integrated very well into society (Haddad, 1993). In terms of devotion to religion, the Muslim range from secular to moderate, to highly orthodox. They resemble the Jews, Christians, Hindus and other American religions in the
Some of them are similar to the beliefs of other religions. For instance, both Muslims and Christians believe in God, although they use different names to refer to him; however, they have some beliefs that are very much different from other religions. Although, according to Haddad (1993), they believe that God revealed himself in the Psalms, the Jewish law and the Gospels, they are of the view that the Christian bible is corrupted. According to them, the Qur’an is the ideal Book for the word of God; anything else is just but a collection of corrupt writing by human beings. “It is such viewpoints by the Muslim community that brings a lot of differences with other religions. The Christians take such beliefs as a sign of disrespect for their religion and this normally brings tension between the two religions,” says
Seventy-seven percent of those living in America are citizens with sixty-five percent of those born in foreign countries being naturalized citizens. Author Arshad Khan (2003) wrote in his book Islam, Muslim, and America: Understanding the Basis of Their Conflict gives an introduction about the history of the Muslims in the west and the teachings of Islam (Khan, 2003). He speculates that the African-American citizens in America range between one fifth and one third of all Muslims in America. The other large groups of Muslims are South Asians and Arabs. Although most people identify Islam with Arabs, the South Asians are the fastest-growing Muslim population in America. In fact Khan (2003) points out, they occupy around a quarter of the total Muslim population. There is also a growing population of Hispanic and white converts, most of whom are women married to Muslim