Muslims in the United States: Settlers and Visitors

Abstract

Although the 1.2 million Muslim-Americans number more than the Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Ameri cans, or the American Indians, no in-depth study of them has ever been conducted. One reason for the lack of aware ness of the scope of Muslim settlement in America has been that most Muslims arrived here only after the liberalization of immigration laws in 1965. Thus they did not become part of the ethnic mosaic of America until recently. They comprise about 100 subgroups based on language, race, culture, and nationality. Although the majority of them are Asians, there are substantial numbers of Europeans, Africans, native Whites, Afro-Americans, and some West Indians or Latin Americans. Arabs and Iranians are estimated to be the largest groups. About one third are concentrated in the three major metro politan areas of America. Family, religion, and ethnicity are intertwined for the Muslim-American. The MSA (Muslim Students Association), the largest Muslim organization, is attempting to create unity out of the diversified groups. With the resurgence of Islam, Muslim-Americans are also feeling more pride in being part of this worldwide community. Muslims constitute one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in America, and it is projected that there will be close to 2.5 million in this country by the end of the century.