Islam in the United States in the context of "Cultural Muslims"

⭐ In the context of Cultural Muslims, Islam in the United States is considered…

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⭐ Core Definition: Islam in the United States

Islam is the third-largest religion in the United States (1.34%) after Christianity (67%) and Judaism (2.4%). The 2020 United States Religion Census estimates that there are about 4,453,908 Muslim Americans of all ages living in the United States in 2020, making up 1.34% of the total U.S. population. In 2017, twenty states, mostly in the South and Midwest, reported Islam to be the largest non-Christian religion.

The first Muslims to arrive in America were enslaved people from West Africa (such as Omar ibn Said and Ayuba Suleiman Diallo). During the Atlantic slave trade, an estimated 10 to 30 percent of the slaves brought to colonial America from Africa were Muslims, however Islam was suppressed on plantations and the majority were forced to convert to Christianity. Nearly all enslaved Muslims and their descendants converted to Christianity during the 18th and 19th centuries, though the Black power movement of the 20th century would later influence the revival of Islam among descendants of slaves. Prior to the late 19th century, the vast majority of documented Muslims in North America were merchants, travelers, and sailors.

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👉 Islam in the United States in the context of Cultural Muslims

Cultural Muslims, also known as nominal Muslims, non-practicing Muslims or non-observing Muslims, are people who identify as Muslim but are not religious. They may variously be non-observing, secular, irreligious, or individuals who still identify with Islam due to belief, sprituality, family backgrounds, personal experiences, ethnic and national heritage, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up.

Cultural Muslims can be found across the world, but especially in the Balkans, Central Asia, Europe, the Maghreb, various countries in South Asia and West Asia, Russia, Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the United States. In several countries and regions, self-reported Muslims practice the religion at low levels, and for some, their "Muslim" identity is associated with cultural or ethnic or national heritage, rather than merely religious faith.

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Islam in the United States in the context of Islam in the Americas

Islam in the Americas is a minority religion in all of the countries and territories of the Americas. Approximately 1% of North America population are Muslims, and 0.1% of Latin America and Caribbean population are Muslims.

Suriname has the highest percentage of Muslims in its population for the region, with 13.9% or 75,053 individuals, according to its 2012 census. However, the United States, in which estimates vary due to a lack of a census question, is generally believed to have the largest population, with approximately 3.45 million Muslims living there, about 1.1 percent of the total U.S. population.

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Islam in the United States in the context of Assassination of Malcolm X

Malcolm X, a Muslim African American minister and human rights activist who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement, was shot multiple times and died from his wounds in Manhattan, New York City, on February 21, 1965, at the age of 39 while preparing to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in the neighborhood of Washington Heights. Three members of the Nation of Islam—Muhammad Abdul Aziz, Khalil Islam, and Thomas Hagan—were charged, tried, and convicted of the murder and given indeterminate life sentences, but in November 2021, Aziz and Islam were exonerated.

Speculation about the assassination and whether it was conceived or aided by leading or additional members of the Nation of Islam, or by law enforcement agencies, particularly the FBI and CIA, has persisted for decades after the shooting. The assassination was one of four major assassinations of the 1960s in the United States, coming less than two years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, and three years before the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Cultural Muslims ← Islam in the Americas ← Assassination of Malcolm X
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Islam → Religion in the United States → United States → Christianity in the United States → Judaism in the United States → West Africa → Omar ibn Said → Ayuba Suleiman Diallo → Atlantic slave trade → Slavery in the United States → Colonial history of the United States → Muslims → Plantation complexes in the Southern United States → Black power →