Islam in the United States

Muslim Americans
Malcolm X • Keith Ellison • Andre Carson • Zalmay Khalilzad • Siraj Wahhaj • Jermaine Jackson • Queen Noor of Jordan • Dave Chappelle • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar • Rasheed Wallace • Shaquille O'Neal • Muhammad Ali • Mike Tyson • Ice Cube • Noureen DeWulf • Fareed Zakaria
Total population
Estimates range from 2.5 million to 7 million
Regions with significant populations
Largest Muslim populations in California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, and Maryland.
Languages
American English, Arabic, Urdu


The earliest documented cases of Muslims to come to the United States were two West African slaves: Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, who was brought to America in 1731 and returned to Africa in 1734,[1] and Omar Ibn Said in the mid 19th century. There has been some speculation that a Moor slave Estevanico of Azamor, who had converted to Christianity [2][3][4] 14 years before his arrival in North America in the early 16th century, was at least the first born Muslim to enter the historical record in North America.[5] There is also a tradition of an Egyptian named Norsereddin who settled in the Hudson Valley during colonial times. The oldest Muslim community to establish in the country was the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, in 1921, which pre-dates Nation of Islam.[6][7] Once very small, the Muslim population of the US increased greatly in the twentieth century, with much of the growth driven by rising immigration and widespread conversion.[8] In 2005, more people from Islamic countries became legal permanent United States residents — nearly 96,000 — than in any year in the previous two decades.[9][10] The new position has been created under white house executive office as a United States special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference to promote relation between Islamic world and United States government.

Recent immigrant Muslims make up the majority of the total Muslim population. South Asians Muslims from India and Pakistan and Arabs make up the biggest group of Muslims in America at 60-65% of the population. Native-born American Muslims are mainly African Americans who make up a quarter of the total Muslim population. Many of these have converted to Islam during the last seventy years. Conversion to Islam in prison,[11] and in large urban areas[12] has also contributed to its growth over the years. American Muslims come from various backgrounds, and are one of the most racially diverse religious group in the United States according to a 2009 Gallup poll.[13]

A Pew report released in 2009 noted that nearly six-in-ten American adults see Muslims as being subject to discrimination, more than Mormons, Atheists, or Jews.[14]