 |
| Home About MANA Projects Education and Dawah Islam In America Essays Community Activism Social Justice MANA Events Activism Masjid Development Grassroots Journal Speeches/Essays News and Views Donate FAQs Join MANA Regional Conferences Contact |
 |
| Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) is an organization committed Muslims issues and concerns that especially impact indigenous Muslims—issues and concerns that we feel have been largely neglected. With the launch of this web site we are inviting masjids, organizations and individuals to join MANA. |
 |
home | contact |
 |
|
||
The Pew Study and African American MuslimsIhsan BagbyPew Research Center recently released a major study entitled “Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream.” This article highlights some of the findings of this study with special reference to African American Muslims. Overall African American Muslims along with the age group of 18-29 (the second generation) distinguish themselves from other American Muslims by greater religiosity, more unhappiness with America and its policies, stronger Muslim identity and greater unwillingness to assimilate. The full report can be downloaded at http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf. DEMOGRAPHICS The Pew study estimates that African American Muslims are 20% of the total U.S. Muslim population. This estimate seems low. For example, the 2000 study, “The American Mosque: a National Portrait” found that 30% of mosque goers in America are African Americans. Since the Pew study found that African American Muslims tend to attend masjids more than immigrant Muslims, it is reasonable that the percentage of African Americans in the total Muslim population is lower than 30%--but how much lower. The problem might lie in Pew’s methodology in conducting the study. A portion of the Pew sample was generated by selecting Muslim sounding names from a large list. Pew admitted that few African American Muslims were on this list but it is unclear how Pew compensated for this deficiency. American Muslim Population Foreign Born 65% African American 20% Native Born 15% Almost one-fourth (23%) of the entire American Muslim population are converts. Of all the converts, 59% are African American and 34% are white Americans. Undoubtedly the percentage of white American converts has been increasing over the past decades. Converts African Americans 59% White Americans 34% Other (Hispanic) 7% Almost half of the converts chose Islam when they were 21 years or younger. More than a third converted between the ages of 21-35. In general most people convert when they are young. This should inform our efforts to call people to Islam. Age at Time of Conversion Less than 21 49%21-35 34% 36 + 17% RADICALISM AND QAEDAH A problematic statistic, which has been the focus of some media attention, is that among American Muslims, African American Muslims have the highest favorable rating for al-Qaedah and the least unfavorable rating for al-Qaedah. Actually only 9% of African Americans view al-Qaedah favorably and 61% view al-Qaedah unfavorably (30% didn’t know or didn’t respond). View of al-Qaedah Favorable Somewhat Very Don’t Know Unfavorable Unfavorable Refuse African Americans 9% 25% 36% 30% All American Muslims 5% 10% 58% 27% 18-29 7% 16% 58% 29% So, the reality is that a very small minority of African American Muslims think favorably of al-Qaedah. In my own opinion, this response is not an endorsement of al-Qaedah but the residue of the sympathy that African Americans in general and African American Muslims in particular feel for those who struggle against the “man,” “the powers that be,” just as African Americans had to struggle against the dominant white power structure for their own rights. Nevertheless, the vast majority of African American Muslims recognize that al-Qaedah’s struggle entails terrorist tactics that are misguided, immoral and un-Islamic. RELIGIOUS PRACTICE African Americans and the age group 18-29 overall have a higher rate of religiosity than the average American Muslim. Only Pakistanis have a higher religiosity rate. More than half (54%) of African American Muslims attend a masjid weekly or more. About 37% of immigrant Muslims attends a masjid weekly or more. More than one-fourth (27%) of African American Muslims never or seldom attend a masjid. Masjid Attendance Weekly Less often Seldom Or more or never African Americans 54% 20% 27% All American Muslims 40% 26% 34% Foreign Born 37% 27% 36% MUSLIM IDENTITY African American Muslims also score high in giving priority to their Muslim identity over their American identify. In response to the question of whether the respondent considers themselves as American first or Muslim first, 58% of African American Muslims responded that they are Muslim first as compared to 47% of all American Muslims. Only Muslims aged 18-29 scored higher—60% said that they are Muslim first. In the same vein, about half of all African American Muslims said that Muslims should remain distinct from American society as opposed to adopting American customs. About one-fourth (26%) of all American Muslims felt that Muslims should remain distinct. This particular question is somewhat unfair, because Muslims might interpret the question differently, but nevertheless African American Muslims are clearly in favor of retaiing the distinctiveness of their deen as opposed to assimilating and losing their identity in the American mainstream. INTOLERANCE AFTER 9/11 An interesting finding is that African American Muslims reported that in the post 9/11 environment they experience more instances of discrimination and intolerance due to their Islam than other Muslims. African American Muslims are also more likely than other Muslims to feel that anti-terrorism policies single out Muslims. In certain regards, the 9/11 tragedy did not affect African American Muslims directly, but these findings demonstrate that African American Muslims are enough more impacted than other Muslims. |
|