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Muslims in the United States

Objectives and Content of This Guide

No other country in the world has a Muslim population that is as culturally and religiously diverse as that of the United States.

Introduction

Muslims as a World Population

Islam is the second largest religion in the world, with more than 1.2 billion adherents. Muslims reside in 184 countries (Council on Islamic Education, 1995) and represent many different ethnic groups and linguistic backgrounds.

Confusion sometimes arises about the difference between Islam and Muslim. Islam is the name of the religion, comparable to the names Christianity and Buddhism. A Muslim is a follower of or a believer in Islam, as a Christian is a person who follows Christianity and a Buddhist is a person who follows Buddhism. The terms Mohammedanism and Mohammedan are incorrect and should not be used.

Table 1 (see Appendix) provides the distribution of Muslim populations throughout the world.

A significant proportion of post- 1965 Muslim immigrants have been persons with professional qualifications in fields such as medicine, nursing, and engineering.

Muslims in the United States

Muslim Americans today are a remarkably diverse group, belonging to over 75 different ethnicities and nationalities and representing many different interpretations of Islam. Muslim refugees represent a spectrum of educational backgrounds, social classes, language backgrounds, and ways of expressing their faith. They include people who wear western dress and adapt their religious observances to a western lifestyle, as well as people who maintain customs of dress, food, social relationships, and religious observance that are traditional or normative in their countries of origin. Indeed, no other country in the world has a Muslim population that is as culturally and religiously diverse as that of the United States.

Muslims have been a part of the population of the western hemisphere since before the United States was founded. The plurality of cultures and interpretations present among Muslim Americans is the result of a multi-layered history of Muslim immigration to America and the emergence of movements inspired by Islamic traditions among African American populations. Although this history, especially in its early periods, is difficult to reconstruct because of the fragmentary nature of the evidence, we can nevertheless discern several distinct phases.

For the earliest phase, there is evidence suggesting the presence of Muslims in Spanish colonial America before 1550. Presumably, these Muslims came to the colonies to escape the religious persecution they were facing in the wake of the Catholic reconquest of Spain after several centuries of Arab rule. There is little information about the numbers involved or their fate, but it can be surmised that they must have constituted a significant element among the population of the Spanish American colonies, making it necessary for the Spanish crown to issue an edict in 1543 ordering their expulsion.

Of greater historical significance in this early phase was the forced “migration” of African Muslims who were brought to America as slaves. It is estimated that close to 10% of the slaves who were transported from West Africa to work on the plantations of pre-revolutionary America were Muslims (Nyang, 1999, p. 13). These slaves represent the first numerically significant Muslim presence in North America. While a tiny number of these enslaved Muslims were able eventually to secure their freedom or repatriation to their homeland, for the vast majority it was impossible to maintain their identities as Muslims or to practice their faith. Almost all were forcibly converted to Christianity.

The next significant influx of Muslims to America took place in the post Civil War period, when various peoples from the realms of the former Ottoman Empire immigrated to the United States. The majority of these immigrants were ethnically Arab and Christian, with Muslims constituting only a small minority. Many were from a rural background. Uneducated, they worked as peddlers and petty traders, immigrating mainly to the Midwest and spreading through the Dakotas and Montana. Michigan, especially Detroit, emerged as a major center for these immigrant groups during this phase. In addition, Muslims from Yugoslavia, Albania, the Ukraine, and Central Asia came to America, founding small ethnic communities located mostly on the east coast. Contributing to the heterogeneous nature of Muslim settlement during this period were Tatar Muslims from Tsarist Russia and a small number of Indian Muslims. Although the total Muslim population was small, formally organized communities began to emerge in Michigan, Iowa, Maine, Connecticut, and New York states; the first mosque in the country was built in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, during this time.

The two or three decades preceding the Second World War did not see any significant increase in the number of Muslim immigrants because of legal restrictions on immigration from the Middle East and Asia. After the Second World War, there was a slight increase in immigration of non-Arab Muslims mostly from Turkey, the Indian subcontinent, and Eastern Europe. The creation of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent displacement of Arab populations in the region also triggered a steady flow of Palestinian refugees, Muslim as well as Christian, that continues until today.

Changes to United States immigration laws in 1965 that resulted in the abolition of race and ethnic based quotas for immigration had a dramatic impact on the diversity of Muslim communities because larger numbers of Muslims could now come to live in the United States. It was now possible for previously excluded groups, such as Muslims from West Africa (particularly from the Senegambia and Nigeria) to come as legal immigrants. Some scholars estimate that more than half of the immigrants who have come to the United States as a result of the changes in immigration legislation in 1965 have been Muslim (Smith, 1999, p. 52). A significant proportion of post-1965 Muslim immigrants have been persons with professional qualifications in fields such as medicine, nursing, and engineering. To these, we can add the large inflow of students from Muslim nations who came to study at American universities. Upon completion of their studies, a substantial number of these students decided to settle in the United States.

Muslim diversity in America is not just the result of the inflow of immigrants. Beginning in the early twentieth century, African Americans, descendants of former slaves, also began to form communities that defined themselves as Muslim. In the racially polarized climate of the 1920s and 1930s, some African Americans sought to express their distinctive identities as free men and women by identifying themselves with a variety of movements that associated with Islam and/or appropriated Islamic symbols.

In addition, a growing number of Anglo, Hispanic, and Native Americans have become Muslim, in some cases because of their contact with Sufi orders. These orders, which were transplanted into North America by immigrant Muslims or established by visiting Sufi shaykhs (spiritual teachers) and/or their disciples, emphasize mystical or spiritual forms of Islamic belief and practice and have proven to be influential in attracting converts of a European ancestry to Islam (Nyang, 1999, p. 20).

In recent years, as a result of growing political and economic instability and poverty in various parts of the world, a large number of Muslim refugees have entered the United States. The Arab-Israel war in 1967, the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent period of civil strife resulting in the emergence of the Taliban, civil wars in Somalia and the Sudan, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo, and the Gulf wars have all contributed to the growing Muslim refugee population in the United States.

Table 2 (see Appendix) presents the numbers and percentages of Muslim refugees to the United States from 1988 through the first half of 2003. This data shows a significant increase; Muslims represented 0.1% of the overall number of refugees admitted to the United States in 1990, and 44.4% in 1999. The 1990-1991 increase reflects the number of Iraqi Arabs who entered the United States as refugees following the first Gulf War. The overall increase reflects the admission of large numbers of Afghans, Bosnians, and Kosovars, as well as Congressionally-mandated changes to the regional ceilings, that increased the percentages for Africa and the Middle East and decreased those for Southeast Asia, with the former having a larger percentage of Muslims represented in their refugee populations.

Overall, approximately 15% of all refugees entering the United States since 1988 have been Muslim. This figure includes persons who were admitted as refugees and those who entered on Visas 92 and 93 for immediate family members of a refugee or asylum seeker (but not persons who were granted asylum and are also eligible for refugee benefits).

The Muslim refugees admitted to the United States since 1988 have come from 77 different countries, and represent a variety of ethnicities within their countries of origin. Table 3 (see Appendix) shows the countries of origin of Muslim refugees to the United States since 1990. The predominant populations have come from eastern Africa, Iraq, and the Balkans.

Beyond the racial and ethnic diversity of America’s Muslim populations, doctrinal and theological cleavages that have occurred throughout the history of Islam have been significant factors in diversification. Like any other world religion, Islam is practiced and interpreted in many different ways. Muslim Americans express their faith through discourses that range the spectrum from liberal to conservative. Some of these discourses may stress outwardly visible dimensions of the faith, such as ritual and the law (shari‘a), while others may stress spiritual and mystical aspects. In addition, individuals from some West African nations may combine Islamic observance with animist beliefs and practices.

Recognition of the religious, ethnic, and cultural plurality of Islamic communities is crucial to understanding the many different ways of being Muslim in America today. One should be careful not to presuppose that the narrow and exclusionary visions of Islam espoused by some Islamic groups and organizations are representative of the whole.

For some Muslim refugees, religion is a powerful determining factor in life, while for others it may be less important.

Objectives and Content of This Guide

The focus of this guide is Islam and the ways in which it affects the experience of Muslim refugees. It also addresses some cultural practices and attitudes of Muslim refugees that are not necessarily derived from or endorsed by Islam.

For some Muslim refugees, religion is a powerful determining factor in life, while for others it may be less important. This guide presents information on the needs that arise from the practice of Islam, such as the need for an appropriate space for prayer, consideration during the month when fasting is observed (Ramadan), and the need to observe dietary laws. It also outlines behaviors that may arise as responses to the fear that Muslims experience when they encounter anti-Muslim sentiments and actions in the United States. The caseworker’s understanding of and sensitivity to the needs and behaviors of Muslim refugees will facilitate these refugees’ resettlement in and adaptation to American society.

When working with Muslim refugees, the challenges to service providers are (a) to understand and meet the distinctive needs of Muslim refugees; (b) to work effectively with professionals in other disciplines (e.g., health professionals and educators) on behalf of Muslim refugees; (c) to partner with support organizations in Islamic communities to help meet the needs of Muslim refugees; and, most importantly, (d) to help Muslim refugees adapt successfully to life in the United States. An essential part of this last challenge is helping Muslim refugees recognize the disparities that may exist between their expectations and the actuality of the resettlement experience. Recognizing such disparities, when they exist, enables Muslim refugees to adjust their expectations in ways that give them a sense of control over their new life.

To help service providers and volunteers meet these challenges, this guide has six objectives:

1. To illustrate the demographics and diversity of Muslim refugees
2. To enable service providers to understand the Islamic concept of refuge
3. To give service providers a basis for understanding the beliefs and practices of Muslim refugees
4. To provide knowledge and practical suggestions relating to the conditions necessary for successful resettlement
5. To examine the challenges faced by particularly vulnerable Muslim refugee populations
6. To suggest resources and provide additional information on Islam and Muslim communities in the United States.

The first two chapters present background information on Islam, illustrating both the beliefs and practices that all Muslims share and the ways in which practices and expectations may differ under the influence of cultural factors. Chapter 1 outlines the Islamic understanding of refuge and asylum, experiences that played a pivotal role in the life of the Prophet Muhammad. Chapter 2 presents an overview of the fundamental tenets of Islam and illustrates the ways in which those tenets affect the expectations and actions of individual Muslims. In Chapter 3, five necessary conditions for successful resettlement are presented and illustrated with case studies. Each case study is based on actual events, with certain information changed in order to protect identities. Chapter 4 discusses special considerations pertaining to specific Muslim populations, and Chapter 5 discusses social support networks that can augment the formal support provided by refugee service organizations. At the end of the guide are a glossary and a resource list for those who would like to read more about the topics discussed.

This guide is just a starting point; it does not purport to answer all the questions that service providers and volunteers will face in interacting with Muslim refugees. Muslim refugees, like all other groups, bring strengths that can be used in rebuilding their lives in the United States. Many face major adjustments to their lives when they come to the United States, and most are highly successful in making the transition. This guide seeks to give service providers the basic information they need to help Muslim refugees resettle successfully and add the diversity and beauty of their cultures of origin to the multicultural fabric of American society.

The Cultural Orientation Project--http://www.culturalorientation.net, for more information contact sanja@cal.org
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