Muslim
Mosques Growing at a Rapid Pace in the US
Note to Editors: A
FACToid is available for use with this story which illustrates fast
growing congregations.*
*This
file appears in .pdf format, if you do not have Adobe Acrobat, you may download
it for free from their web site.
HARTFORD, CT, December 6, 2001 - End of Ramadan December 16th (Eid ul-Fitir) - Muslim mosques are
springing up in cities and suburbs across America where the holy month of
Ramadan currently is being celebrated as it is around the world.
According to a study now
being analyzed at Hartford Seminary, the rapid growth in the number
of mosques in the last decade parallels the development of Latter-day
Saints (Mormon) and Assemblies of God congregations in the country.
Professor David A.
Roozen, director of the Seminary’s Hartford Institute for Religion
Research, notes that although the first U.S. Muslims came to this country
in the 17th century as slaves, the present rapid development of
mosques and Islamic centers followed changes in U.S. immigration laws in
1965.
Dr. Jane I. Smith,
co-director of the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam,
also located at Hartford Seminary, says that while Muslims have immigrated
to America since the late 19th century for a variety of
personal, economic and political reasons, it is only fairly recently that,
along with African American Muslims, they have reached a "critical
mass."
She points out that in
the 1980s and 90s mosques and Islamic centers were built with generous
contributions from abroad. Now, she says, most are being constructed by
American Muslims.
The newest research,
completed earlier this year, was part of a massive study of American
congregations known as Faith Communities Today. The study was coordinated
at Hartford and involved 41 Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith groups.
According to the FACT
survey, the number of mosques in the United States increased 42 percent
between 1990 and 2000, compared with a 12 percent average increase for the
study’s evangelical Protestant denominations, and a two percent average
increase among oldline Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox groups. The
Latter-day Saints and Assemblies of God congregations exceeded the
evangelical average, but fell short of the growth in the number of
mosques.
The Muslim congregations
(also known as by the Arabic term "masjids") generally include
several national and ethnic groups. According to Professor Ihsan Bagby, of
Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., who directed the research related to
mosques, "most U.S. masjids are intercultural, and include Muslims
from Asia and Africa and Europe as well as from several Arab
countries." Bagby points out that a racial or ethnic focus is
contrary to Qur’anic teaching.
He reports that 93
percent of all U.S. mosques are attended by more than one ethnic group.
"As a matter of
fact," Bagby says, "only about 27 percent of U.S. mosques
emphasize an ethnic focus and most of these are located in African
American neighborhoods." By contrast, among Christians 64 percent of
Latino congregations in the United States and 50 percent of African
American congregations place a high priority on preserving their racial,
ethnic or national heritage.
The study also measured
certain devotional and other emphases within congregations. Among mosques
for example, 90 percent placed a high emphasis on fasting during the
sacred month of Ramadan which Muslims are currently celebrating. By
comparison, less than 20 percent of all U.S. congregations put such
emphasis on fasting during seasons such as Lent. That figure includes
Greek and other Orthodox bodies in the United States that consider fasting
a major spiritual discipline. The Ramadan fast is one of the major
practices of the Muslim faith.
Abstinence from alcohol
is another practice that mosques generally emphasize. Bagby’s research
indicates that 96 percent of all masjids give significant attention to the
Muslim prohibition of drinking alcoholic beverages. Among all religious
groups in the U.S. 38 percent of congregations emphasize this.
The Muslim research,
co-sponsored by FACT and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),
shows that 69 percent of all mosques in the country provide for prayer
services five times daily year round. Seventy one percent of all mosques
have weekend religious education classes, Bagby reports. (Muslim data can
be reviewed at www.cair-net.org/mosquereport)
In terms of membership
growth within congregations, the so-called Mega-churches far outdistanced
all others. The FACT study measured the percentage of congregations in
each faith group that reported at least a 10 percent increase in the
number of regularly participating adults between 1995 and 2000. A whopping
83 percent of the mega-churches reported that significant membership
growth. Muslim communities were next, with 60 percent of American mosques
reporting the rapid increase, followed by 48 percent of Latter-day Saints
congregations. Within the Roman Catholic and Orthodox group, 29 percent of
the parishes noted such growth. Thirty nine percent of evangelical
Protestant congregations and 27 percent of old-line Protestants registered
that growth. (see FACToid)
Roozen noted that there
has been considerable debate about the number of Muslims in the United
States. "There are credible arguments for both the high and the low
ends of the projected Muslim population," he said. "We simply
don’t know how many Muslims there are, but the FACT data certainly
suggest that Islam is one of the fastest growing religious groups in the
United States."
Roozen credits several
factors as contributing to the Muslim growth in the last decade.
"Immigration of Muslims who are professional people is
significant," he says. "There now are many affluent Muslims in
America—individuals with organizational skills and with sufficient
financial means to build the mosques and Islamic centers that are now
common all across our nation."
There is also a growing
self-consciousness and self-confidence among American Muslims, according
to the Hartford professor. The events since September 11 of this year
indicate that American Muslims are eager to be full participants in the
mainstream of U.S. cultural and political life, he said.
Bagby’s research,
conducted well before the attacks, indicated that 77 percent of Muslims in
the U.S. "strongly agree" that they should be involved in
American institutions. Another 17 percent "somewhat agree." When
asked about participation in the U.S. political system, 72 percent
"strongly agreed" that they should be involved with another 17
percent "somewhat agreed."
The Faith Communities
Today research was made possible through a grant from the Lilly Endowment.
Roozen and Professor Carl S. Dudley are co-directors of the FACT study.
For more information,
contact
David Barrett
Tel: 860.509.9519
Email: dbarrett@hartsem.edu
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