America—the Promised Land of Muslims

by Sophie Becker
– USA –

“The US is one of the best countries in the world for Muslims to live in,” says Hebah Ahmed, who covers herself completely and wears a veil which leaves only her eyes visible. She was born in Texas to Egyptian parents and has an engineering degree. She works actively to spread information about Islam.

Her view is shared by Moein Khawaja, a member of the Muslim Student Association at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “America is a beautiful country and its constitution lets Muslims, ironically, practice their idea of Islam even better than they would be able to in the Muslim world. I am very proud to be American,” he says. “Also, here there are more resources and strong institutions such as active mosques helping Muslims to learn more about their faith.”

To be a Muslim in the US is in many ways easier than in Europe. Thanks to a history of openness to religion and a large diversity of immigrants from all over the world, Muslims in the US have been able to integrate into the society, the economy and the academic sphere. “It is mainly for educational and economic reasons Muslims immigrate to the US. Fewer come for political reasons,” says Valerie Hoffman, a professor of religion at University of Illinois.

And many of those who come here have good chances of succeeding. “Iranians who came during or immediately after the revolution, for example, have the highest level of education in the US of all ethnic groups. Muslims who immigrate to Europe are often from a rural background,” says Mahir Saul, a professor of anthropology at the same university.

Muslims in Europe have a difficult time being accepted in the homogenous societies there. Sadia Bekal, originally from Algeria, lived in France before coming to the US.

“There was pressure to integrate and lose your own culture in France. It was difficult to be religious there,” she says. Hebah Ahmed agrees. “Here in the US everyone is free to practice a religion—that distinguishes the US from many Muslim countries. And open questioning of the veil for example, like in France, would not happen here. The laws on freedom of religion and against discrimination have proved to be efficient.”

The widespread religiosity in the US makes things easier for practicing Muslims. “Muslims who come here usually realize after a while that the perception they had about the US as being morally degenerate has been exaggerated,” adds Valerie Hoffman.

Another factor helping Muslims is that the American system encourages people to identify themselves according to religious faith rather than ethnicity. “It is easier to start a mosque here than, say, a Palestinian organization,” says Mahir Saul.

Life in the US can affect the degree of religiosity in two directions. Some become more religious after reacting to living in a non-Muslim country. Others continue a more secular approach, according to Hebah Ahmed. After the attacks of 11 September 2001, interest in Islam grew among more secular Muslims in the US. “The events made us look closer at our religion to see what could have caused them,” explains Sadia Bekal.

There is no certain data on how many Muslims live in the US. American censuses do not classify people according to religion. A couple of academic surveys have estimated the number of Muslims in the US to be close to two million, whereas Muslim organizations consider 6-7 million to be a more accurate number.

Muslims in the US are far from a homogenous group. Many have immigrated from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Many of the Arabs in the US are Christian, but the number of Muslim Arabs is growing. About 20% of Muslims in the US live in California. Other states with a large Muslim population are New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Indiana.

A particular feature of the US is the existence of a Muslim population not made up of recent immigrants. One third of American Muslims are African-American. Islam became popular among African-Americans in the 1930s and even more when Malcolm X was preaching in the 1950s and 1960s. The well-known organization, Nation of Islam, has today, under the leadership of Louis Farrakhan, become a small extremist movement with racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric. They are not seen by other Muslims as Muslims. Most African-American Muslims belong to the more common Sunni Islam. Contacts with immigrating Muslims are sometimes less frequent. “Muslims who immigrate to the US are often highly educated, belonging to a higher socio-economic group and tend to look down on African-American Muslims,” explains Valerie Hoffman. “The immigrants are considered to be white. The rift is an issue of race,” says Mahir Saul.

Even though many claim the US is a good country for Muslims to live in, all is not well. In a poll last year by Washington Post/ABC News, it was clear that Americans have a more negative view on Islam now than a couple of months after the 9/11 attacks. 46% of Americans now have a negative view of Islam compared to 24% in January 2002. One of the reasons is the media’s focus on Muslim extremists. “The media has a very strong affect on Americans. This is used, for example, by the TV channel FOX News which promotes anti-Islamic messages from right-wing conservatives”, says Moein Khawaja.

Hebah Ahmed lays part of the blame on Muslims. “Many Americans do not meet Muslims and think that all Muslims are terrorists. We have partly ourselves to blame since we have kept together too much.” How does this distancing relate to the fact the Muslims generally are successful on the job market and in academia? “Muslims will often downplay their Muslim identity at work so as to blend in, but after work many will spend time with Muslims only,” explains Hebah Ahmed.

Mahir Saul says that many Muslims find it difficult to criticize the US. Criticism will often be countered with the question: So why did you come here then?

“On top of this, many Muslims come from countries where they have learnt not to engage and not to question things,” says Aisha Sobh, a graduate student in history at the University of Illinois who is writing her PhD thesis on American Muslims.

In the US presidential election in 2000, a majority of Muslims voted for George W Bush, but after the Iraq war and the passing of The Patriot Act (a far reaching anti-terror law), support diminished in 2004 and more Muslims voted for the Democratic candidate, John Kerry. Even if there is discontent with the US foreign policy in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, many American Muslims welcome conservative domestic policies. “In general the Muslim population is very positive towards the more conservative approach on social issues of the current administration,” says Mahir Saul.

Muslims in America – who are they?
African-American: 30%
South Asian (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan): 33%
Arabs (Middle East and North Africa): 25%
Africans (African south of Sahara): 3%
Europeans (Bosnia, Kosovo): 2%
White Americans: 1.6%
Southeast Asians (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines): 1,3%
Turks: 1.1%
Iranians: 0,7%
Source: Council on American-Islamic Relations 2001. The numbers are based on attendance in mosques.

This article was first published in the Swedish newsmagazine, Fokus.