# Question about Islam in America **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2001, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710 "2001-09-20T00:56:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/1 "2001-09-20T00:56:20Z")
Those whose correctness is political need not apply… Why are most American-born muslems black? What is the appeal of Islam to African-Americans? Or rather, why does Islam _ **seem** _ to appeal far more to blacks in America than whites? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/2 "2001-09-20T01:00:01Z")
I don’t see it that way at all. I’d also like to point out, before anyone brings it up, that the Nation of Islam sect is very different, and not at all like mainstream Islam. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/3 "2001-09-20T02:25:38Z")
Christianity was often considered a “white man’s religion.” Seeing how many Christians rationalised slavery thru the Bible etc, I can see this. The Black Muslim sect is different and gave Islam a “BLACK EYE” for most white folk. Muslims don’t really prosletize(sp?) in America as much as elsewhere and if our Christians are disatisfied there are a lot of other Christian religions out there witnessing to get the disatisfied. Heck you can be a Unitarian/Universalist and be an athiest. ---
**Author:** ![Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milton_De_La_Warre)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/4 "2001-09-20T16:26:31Z")
Both the OP and Usama bin Laden would be surprised how many US service people of all races (and particularly those of European ancestry) have converted to Islam after being over in the Middle East. The military now has Imams in addition to Priests, Ministers, and Rabbis in its Chaplian ranks. A Additionally, there are a lot of people who either immigrated from traditionally Islamic countires or are the childred and grand children of same. You probably already know Muslims outnumber Episcopalians in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/5 "2001-09-20T19:03:06Z")
It’s interesting that American blacks see Islam as less oppressive to blacks than Christianity. Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, etc. (I might be wrong about one of those, please don’t flame me) have muslim arab governments that have driven their black citizens into abject poverty. Not that it’s a teaching of Islam, just as slavery is not a teaching of Christianity. But in these countries, the arabs are looking out for the arabs, not embracing their black brethren. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/6 "2001-09-20T20:27:13Z")
You’re probably thinking of [The Nation of Islam](http://www.noi.org/) which is a very, very fringe sect of Islam. Most “mainstream” Muslims that I know are plain white dudes and arabic guys. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/7 "2001-09-20T23:12:20Z")
Nation of Islam=Louis Farrakhan. Does that answer your question? Hey, there are quite a lot of Black Christians, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/8 "2001-09-22T02:34:16Z")
Bluethree you are most likely thinking of Sudan. The northern 2/3 is Arab muslim and the southern 1/3 is Black Christian - Anamist. The Nation of Islam is very different from mainstream Islam but so is the Taliban. ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/9 "2001-09-22T06:26:13Z")
From a July 1998 US News article cached on Google, > [@](#): > > Minister Louis Farrakhan, with his inflammatory racial comments, may be the Muslim leader most familiar to Americans. But he commands the allegiance of only a fraction even of African-American Muslims. His Nation of Islam today boasts only 20,000 to 50,000 members, says Prof. Sulayman Nyang of Howard University. The charismatic Farrakhan can attract huge crowds, as the Million Man March demonstrated, but few of those in attendance actually convert. > > Instead, the man who attracts the greatest following among American Muslims–black, white, or Asian–is a moderate who has left behind the divisive doctrines Farrakhan upholds. Warith Deen Mohammed, an imam–leader of prayer–and the son and successor of the black separatist Elijah Muhammad, has up to half a million solid supporters, and perhaps 1.5 million followers more loosely affiliated. Also, the Nation of Islam is not so separate from mainstream Islam as it once was. From [this site](http://www.islamamerica.org/articles.cfm?article_id=31) > [@](#): > > Washington Post > CHICAGO, Feb. 25, 2000-Appearing together in public for the first time in 25 years, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and his onetime bitter enemy, Muslim American Society leader Wallace Deen Mohammed, today celebrated a symbolic reunification of their rival black Muslim factions… ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/10 "2001-09-22T06:41:04Z")
Louis Farrakhan speaks for only a minority of African American Muslims. After Elijah Muhammad’s death in 1975, the Black Muslims splintered into several groups. Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam seems to be the most vocal, but not the most numerous. Elijah Muhammad’s son Warith Deen Muhammad (né Wallace Dean Muhammad) leads what is probably the largest group, which has changed its name many times and is now called (I think) the Muslim American Society. He has abandoned the outlandish views of his his father and the MAS is (as far as I know) indistinguishable from orthodox Sunni Islam. All races are welcome to join. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/11 "2001-09-22T09:47:00Z")
I think Malcom X (either in his autobiography or it was depicted in the Spike Lee film) was an ardent “black speparatist” and perhaps supremacist until he went to Mecca on a pilgrimage. When he arrived in Mecca for their Hajj, he was shocked to see white skinned Muslims -Bosnians, Turks, and other Europeans in particular - following Islam. That forced him to change his mind about “race”, which in turn probably led more radical Nation of Islam members to kill him. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/12 "2001-09-22T10:08:42Z")
Why don’t you [Ask the Muslim Guy](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=87474)? ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/13 "2001-09-22T10:23:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cuate \* > When he arrived in Mecca for their Hajj, he was shocked to see white skinned Muslims -Bosnians, Turks, and other Europeans in particular - following Islam. Are you sure that’s true? I mean, did this man \*seriously \* not realise that there were Muslims who weren’t ‘Arab’ or black. If true, that is _some_ ignorance, which I find difficult to believe. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/14 "2001-09-22T10:31:55Z")
An Autobiography of Malcom X is really an interesting read and an eye opener. Yes, Malcom X had a kind of Saul/Paul on the road to damascus experience when he went on the Haj. He came back from the Haj quite changed. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2001, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-islam-in-america/82710/15 "2001-09-22T16:01:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Andy \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by cuate \* > > When he arrived in Mecca for their Hajj, he was shocked to see white skinned Muslims -Bosnians, Turks, and other Europeans in particular - following Islam. > > Are you sure that’s true? I mean, did this man \*seriously \* not realise that there were Muslims who weren’t ‘Arab’ or black. If true, that is _some_ ignorance, which I find difficult to believe. \*\* It’s not so much that he didn’t realize there were white people practicing Islam, but that he realized there were white people practicing Islam who _were nice guys_. This led him to forsake a lot of the racist tripe that the NOI was founded on when he came back to the US, which eventually led to his assassination at the hands of NOI members.