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Latest Statistics of Muslims and Islam in America
akhan
04/27/01 at 10:20:27
Asalaamalaikum wr wb, I came across these stats yesterday, you may find these interesting: http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/04/26/usmuslimsurvey.ap/index.html I found the part about leadership quite interesting.  Over half our mosques do not have full-time staff....just goes to show our priorities (or the lack of).

Re: Latest Statistics of Muslims and Islam in America
MuslimaKanadiyya
04/27/01 at 11:42:55
assalam alaikum, This is the paragraph of the CNN article that was mentioned above. [quote]LEADERSHIP: "Mosques are not staffed well," the report says. There were no paid full-time employees at 55 percent of mosques, and 45 percent had no paid staff even on a part-time basis. The typical imam or other mosque leader is a part-time volunteer who makes a living elsewhere. [/quote] Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that this is the way that it is supposed to be.  I never thought that the imam was supposed to be a paid for his services as though he were a minister or a priest.  Many mosques, according to the survey make over $100,000 a year, so I don't think they don't hire full-time staff because they can't afford to.  Perhaps the problem lies with the model used to judge the leadership of mosques; that is, the various Christian churches.  Such a comparison is not always valid. Again, if I am wrong, please correct me and may Allah forgive me for my mistake. wasslam

Re: Latest Statistics of Muslims and Islam in America
Arsalan
04/28/01 at 02:12:34
[slm] This article was also published in our school newspaper today.  I have two comments: 1. According to the study, there are ~ 6-7 million Muslims in the U.S. Out of those, only 411,000 attend Jumu'ah!!!  That's insane!  That's only 6%!  Subhan Allah!  "Foam of the sea" anyone?!? 2. I was disturbed by the following stats: [quote]However, when asked whether America "is an example of freedom and democracy that we can learn from," only 35 percent strongly agreed.  Some 28 percent strongly agreed that "America is an immoral, corrupt society," and 15 percent strongly agreed that "American society is hostile to Islam."[/quote] Only 35, 28 and 15 percent???  I expected these numbers to be MUCH higher!!! Anyway, it was nice to see such an article appear in the campus newspaper.  Props to Br. Bagby, CAIR, ICNA, ISNA and MAS for this effort. Wassalamu alaikum.

Re: Latest Statistics of Muslims and Islam in America
Mona
04/27/01 at 14:04:59
Assalamu alaikum, [quote]Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that this is the way that it is supposed to be.  I never thought that the imam was supposed to be a paid for his services as though he were a minister or a priest. [/quote] Not necessarily Leslie.  I can speak about countries in the middle east, where imams are indeed paid by the ministry of awqaaf (some government agency whose mandate is to look after religious institutions).  Over there, the imams are full time imams. They don't have the time nor the training to work at other types of jobs.  So, they are paid to defray the costs of living and help them provide immediate necessities for their families, but they are by no means wealthy. Now the downfall of that is that in most if not all middle eastern countries there is no such thing as freedom of speech.  You can imagine how that can limit the choice of topics for some imaams, but not all of course. Over here, the situation is different.  While there are few institutions to take care of these things, eg  Council of Imams (in toronto), they don't have enough funding.  Most imams deliver their services on a voluntary basis. And they are probably employed and have a source of income anyways. Wassalam

Re: Latest Statistics of Muslims and Islam in America
jannah
04/27/01 at 22:58:42
3 threads on the same topic!! Ack ppl please actually read the board b4 posting something!! So many things are being replicated. Anyway this topic was posted before, but since there are more replies with this one i'm adding all the other posts here: [color=purple] From  Anonymous: CAIR 's Mosque Survey Assalaamu Alaikum WRB... The following is a survey of U.S. muslims. Please read it, if you get a chance. CAIR's Survey: -------------- http://www.cair-net.org/mosquereport/Masjid_Study_Project_2000_Report.pdf CNN Story: ---------- http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/04/26/usmuslimsurvey.ap/index.html Some Comments: -------------- Alhamdulillah, Number of U.S. muslims are increasing, and mosques are also increasing. It is blessing of Allah Subhanu wataala. We should be grateful to Allah for Allah's ifinite Mercy upon us. Allah has given us mosques to pray in and company of muslims to pray with. Also, look at regular average Jum'ah figures it is 411,000 ot of 5 to 7 million; which translates to 5.87% to 8.22%. That means almost 90% of the muslims are not able attend regular Jum'ah, due to whatever reasons, according to this survey. These figures might be little bit low due to survey errors (may be by 10% to 20% - my approx. estimate) but look how much more effort is needed by muslims to come on complete Deen of Islam, brought to us by out dear Prophet Mohammed Sallallahu Alaihi wasallam. Please remember in duas for me and all muslims in general and of US muslims in particular ... * This post sent by a visitor to Madinat Al-Muslimeen using the "Anonymous Posting" link. [color=green] From se7en wow awesome stuff.. [color=purple] From jannah yeah i want to sit down and read this more carefully... 1/3 of active participants in mosques are converts!!!  more arabs are into political participation!! the majority of converts are african-american and male! fascinating things we can learn. [color=green] From Akhan Asalaamalaikum, The latest statistics on Islam and Muslims in America can be found at: http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/04/26/usmuslimsurvey.ap/index.html Wasalaam. Subhan allah, Alhumdulillah, La Ilaha Illallah, Allahoakbar. [color=purple] From KB Salam I attended  jummah and Imam Bagby was talking about this study. I came in late and did not know he conducted the study. He gave a very positive outlook of Islam in America. He compared statistics from a couple of years before and said that we have become more unified in the sense that there are more mosques with different ethinic groups. Also he pointed out there are very few mosques with youth programs. He emphasized the importance of creating more youth program because if we did not that we would lose a generation of Muslims. Overall he shed a very positive light in Islam that we all knew about but did not have the actual statistics to show.

Re: Latest Statistics of Muslims and Islam in America
jannah
04/28/01 at 01:00:48
More articles to check out: * Community now 'coming into its own' (USA Today) http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010426/3266895s.htm * Comprehensive Survey of US Muslims (Associated Press) http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nyregion/AP-US-Muslim-Survey.html * Study Finds Number of Mosques Up 25% in 6 Years (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/27/national/27MUSL.html * Islamic Life, Activism Booming in U.S., Study Finds  (LA Times) http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/20010427/t000035575.html * Muslim believers growing (Detroit News) http://detnews.com/2001/religion/0104/27/d01-217560.htm

EIGHT Million Muslims
SuperHiMY
05/05/01 at 10:58:41
AsalamAlay.com,      Peace and e-Greetings to the 7,999,999 of you out there:      ~ HiMY! ~     From [url]http://www.middleeastwire.com/islam/stories/20010427_1_meno.shtml[/url]    Islam is Expanding Rapidly in the US Voice of America News By Nico Colombant Posted Friday April 27, 2001 - 03:59:50 PM EDT Washington - A new report shows Islam is growing fast in the United States. The study, done for the Council on American Islamic Relations, says there are now at least eight million Muslims in the United States. And it says there are now about 1,500 mosques in the country, a 25 percent increase since the mid 1990s, with many more planned or under construction. The report's main author, Ihsan Bagby, says Islam owes its rapid growth in the country to tens of thousands of conversions each year, immigration from Islamic countries, and a high birth rate among Muslims. Most of the conversions are reported among African-Americans, who often find Islam as a possible replacement to broken down families. Mr. Bagby says the report also shows practicing Muslims increasingly want to use their religious group identity as a base for political expression. "This shows you that the mosque is and will be in the future a springboard, a platform for Muslim involvement in the American society," he said. "Sixty-one percent of all [leaders of] Mosques said that in the past year they wrote or called a politician. Seventy percent said that they wrote or called the media at least one time in the past year." Still, Muslims in the country lack political leaders with mainstream appeal. Popular Muslims are mostly athletes - such as basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon, retired boxing great Muhammad Ali, or the recently crowned world heavyweight champion, Hasim Rahman. Most Muslims in the country are not African-American or Middle Eastern as is usually believed but immigrants from South Asia. During the 2000 presidential campaign, many prominent Muslim groups, like the Washington-based Council on American Islamic Relations, endorsed Republican candidate George W. Bush, attracted by some of his conservative policies. However, a Muslim activist in the Washington, D.C. area, Hodari Abdul-Ali, says there are differences between immigrant Muslims looking for a political voice and African-American Muslims who mostly want social progress through Islam. "I would say that there is a divergence of view within the American Muslim community," he said. "While the majority of the Muslims from immigrant background may have endorsed Bush, I don't believe at all that reflects the sentiment of the African-American Muslims. As far as why so many African- American Muslims even accepted Islam, it was as result of our disaffection with American society and the government and our desire to have basic human rights and being inspired by the example of Malcom X, and Muhammad Ali and Elijah Muhammad, people like that who were standing up and speaking boldly about freedom, and we saw in Islam the solution to that." The black radical leader Elijah Muhammad founded the Nation of Islam, which has become marginalized under the leadership of Minister Louis Farrakhan. Still, Mr. Farrakhan may be the Muslim political leader most familiar to Americans. For Charles Haynes, a scholar at a Washington political research group, the First Amendment Center, in addition to divisions, Muslims also face harassment and prejudice in the United States. "I think there is a widespread misunderstanding of Islam in the United States," he said. "Kids don't learn much about it in school and often what they're taught is wrongheaded, and the media continues to unfairly portray Muslims as linked with terrorism. There is very little coverage or understanding of Islam yet that offers a fair and balanced picture. So, I think that yes we have problem in this country with prejudice and stereotypes when it comes to Muslims." Mr. Haynes says Muslims who wear head coverings at work are still ridiculed or told they cannot wear those coverings. Many Americans also identify Islam with denying women equal rights. U.S. media reports about Islamic countries such as Iran or Afghanistan often point out major abuses being perpetrated against women. But many Muslim organizations, including the Muslim Women's League in the United States, say gender discrimination is a betrayal rather than a reflection of the true spirit of Islam. On this issue as on many others, Muslim representatives in Washington at the center of the political debate say they are just beginning to make their voice heard more clearly and more effectively.
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