The History of Muslim Emigration to the United States of America
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The History of Muslim Emigration to the United States of America
Many people in the world are affiliated with different religions. People worship the creator in many different ways, while others do not share a belief about the existence of God. The religion distribution in terms of population percentage is that Islam religion is 22%, Christianity 33%, Hinduism 15%, Chinese 4%, Buddhism 15%, non-religious 14%, primal 3%, other 4%. The Islamic religion has been growing and spreading worldwide since its introduction by the prophet of God Muhammad. Muhammed was the last prophet of God as it is written in the Holy Quran. The Quran is the Holy book in the Islamic religion, where the word of God is written. The people gathered all the revelations of God to Muhammad to write the Holy book of God, the Quran. Most of the population in the united states of America are emigrants from other continents, including Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. America was a British colony and specialized in large scale production using human labor as human resources. Human labor was used compared to capital machines, as it was cheap and easily accessible. Currently, the American population constitutes of Muslim 1%, Jewish 2%, Christian 71%, Non-religious 23%, and Hinduism 3%. Muslim emigration. Muslim emigration originates from the slaves taken to America in the 17th century. Muslims have encroached major American cities like New York and Chicago. In terms of Muslim distribution in the American population, black Muslims are 28%, Hispanic 28%, white is 38%, Asian 4%, and 3% others. The researchers have confirmed that white people make a large population of Muslims in the united states of America. The paper describes the emigration history of the Muslims to the united states and the spread of the Islamic religion in the country since the 17th century.
Most American Muslims have adopted American culture. Research shows that 56% of the American Muslim emigrants are practicing the American culture and traditions, while 44% of the population are practicing the ancient religion of the origin countries. According to the current American politics analysis, most of the Muslims are affiliated to the Democratic party. 70% of the Muslims are affiliated to a democratic party constitution that prefers the freedom of speech, and expression.48% percent of the American republican party are hostile to Muslim Americans. They do not prefer the Islamic religion and associate it with terrorist groups like al-Qaida. The majority of the Muslima religion believes that the Islamic doctrine is not about weapons and fighting other people. 81% of Muslims do not accept that suicide bombings and violence are justified in the Islamic religion. Some Islamic group religions of about 5% of the Americans believe that the terror group is favorable and should be accepted. The Islamic faith is rapidly spreading in the united states, as many people are converting to the Islamic religion.
Overview of Islamic history
Apart from Christianity, Islam is the second-largest religion that is invading the world in the current century. Muhammed is being considered to be the founder of the Islamic religion in the 6th century. He was born in 570A.D in the 6th century at a place known as Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The wife was called Khadijah, and the father died before Muhammed was born. Muhammad grew as a herdsman and pastoralist as he used to take care of goats and sheep. When the mother died at the tender age, Muhammad was raised by the grandmother and the uncles. As he performed the daily chores, Muhammad trained on how to make the weapons. He trained how to make the weapons that are used in war. This has been the major reason that those people who do not understand the Islamic faith believe that all Muslims are associated with war and violence. The religion think in one God, and Muhammad was just the prophet like Moses and David. The Islamic religion do not worship Muhammad as other religious faiths who are uneducated in religion belief. At 6years old, Muhammad had lost both parents as the mother died.
At the mountain, Angel Gabriel appeared to the prophet of God and gave him many revelations about the Islamic religion and the way of life of the followers of God. The angel of God at that time gave the prophet 114 revelations. The revelations constituted the norms and doctrines that a Muslim should possess and worship the one God. The revelations revealed to Muhammad were later assembled to make the holy book in Islamic religion the Quran. The book has the teaching of God that the Muslims follow. At those time, most people did not understand about religion. They never knew that God created Heaven and earth. They did not have written guideline to direct them about their spiritual growth. They made and worshipped self-images. After Muhammad was inspired by the angel of God, he opted to eradicate the worship of idols I the town of Mecca. In the town of Mecca, there was a cube-like structure located within the Grand mosque in Saudi Arabia that was built by Abraham and Ishmael the prophets of God. The people of Mecca had turned away from God and were worshiping the idols. They had neglected the use of the mosque to worship God but to use it for economic purposes. Muhammad advocated for monotheism where people should worship one God. He rebuked the polytheism the activity of worshiping many gods.
The transition of people from monotheism to polytheism triggered many conflicts and violence. Many of the local population had put reliance polytheism. They used the structure to conduct business activities and worshiping other gods. Muhammad began converting the local people in mecca into Muslims. Those people who strongly believed in many gods refused to convert into Muslims and continued worshipping many Gods. The exercise continued as war began between the monotheism and the polytheism. They attacked one another and polytheism people never wanted to see the monotheism converts. Muhammed had knowledge in war and weapon. He fought the polytheism group which constituted the majority of the local population. Most of the young population and the slaves had converted into Muslim. The few converts were not able to sustain him to defeat the polytheism. He was defeated and decided to flee and seek refuge to the north in the town of medina.
After the death of wife, Muhammad made a journey to heaven and was commanded by God to marry the daughter of Abu Bakr who was known as Aisha 6 years old by then. Abu Bakr was a great friend of Muhammad who were converting people into Islamic religion. Muhammad had married a widow who was 40years old when he was 25 years old. Muhammad marked made an historic flight from Mecca to medina commonly known as the “the Hijrah”. This journey dates the history of Islamic religion in the end of the 6th century.
In Medina, a group of people had established the Islamic religion and welcomed the prophet of God overwhelmingly. Muhammad continued preaching and spreading the Islamic faith the locals in Medina. The Jewish tribes rejected the conversion of people into Islamic. The opposition resulted into armed wars as the prophet of God insisted that people must convert into Islamic. Most of the local Arabs converted into Muslim. The Muslim religion expanded in Medina as a vast population turned to Islamic religion. The popularity of the prophet of God reached many people as thousands of them converted into Islam religion. The prophet of God continued to have multiple women and children. Many people loved him as he continued preaching the word of among the people. The number of followers increased from hundreds to thousands. The prophet of God continued receiving the revelations from God. The revelations strengthened him as he continued with the vision of transforming people into Islamic religion.
The prophet of God spent a decade in Medina. He achieved converting many people to the Islamic religion. He trained many of the followers to military. The armed group was used to fight those tribes that had refused to change into Islamic. In A.D 630, Muhammad decided to return to the home town of mecca to continue preaching the Islamic religion. Most people had not submitted to the Islamic religion. The journey is usually remembered as the “Farewell pilgrimage trip to Mecca”. In the hometown, Muhammad converted many Arabs into Muslims. The groups that opposed Islamic religion and monotheism were beaten and forced to relinquish polytheism. Many people turned to Islamic religion and Muhammad died at the age of 62 years old.
In A.D 656, due to leadership disagreements, the Islamic religion was split into two. One faction believed that the leader of Islamic religion to succeed Mohammed must have a blood relationship with Muhammad. This conflict resulted to “Shiite” imams, Ayahs, Hassan, and the other group the Sunni, caliphs, sultans, sheikhs who come from the royal families. This did not as the disagreements propagated within the individual factions. The Shiites split further to khrijis, Zaydis, Twelvers and Seveners. The Sunnis split further to Ascetics, Antinomians, poets, and Dervishes. Currently, the Shiites constitutes about 15% of the total Islamic population while the Sunnis comprises of 86% of the total Islamic population.
The history of American Muslim
Evidence shows that Muslims started arriving in the united states of America in the 17th century despite the fact that there was Muslims on the Columbus ships. The historians believe that the first emigration of Muslims Began in the end of 16th century to the united states of America. The Americans were colonized by the British government who were practicing agriculture. They British crown preferred to use human labor as it was cheap and easily accessible. Most of the slaves that were arriving in America were of Islamic religion. Africans and Asians who provided the cheap labor were Muslims. In addition to the British colonies, united states of America had other colonies of the Portuguese and the Spanish. Some of the individuals in Spain and Portugal were Muslims. According to the American to the British regulation, a slave had no freedom for anything. The essential role of the slave was to work from dawn to evening. If a slave was found practicing the religion, they were arrested and beaten by the British armies. Some of the Muslims practiced Islamic religion secretly as they avoided the penalties of insubordination if they were found practicing any religion. In the 19th century, mass movement of Muslims started emigrating to the united states of America. Most of the emigrants originated from middle east of Asia and other parts of the word. Most of the Arabs were from Syria, Lebanon and Saud Arabia.
The founder of Islamic religion began in 1893 when an American convert by the name Mohammed Alexander Russell Web started spreading Islamic religion to the Us. Most of arriving Arabs were a mixture of Islamic and Christians. Alexander Russell Web converted many people from Christianity to Islamic as the religion started growing to the American citizens. At this period, the American people had clinched their freedom from the colonial masters and had freedom of worship and expression. Muhammed established a mosque in 1893 where Muslims could gather and worship. Most of the Muslims settled in the Midwest in the country. The Muslim converts who were loyal in mind to the Islamic religion started spreading the religion to people in schools and in any social gatherings. The Muslim mission school was established by Alexander Web as many converts were trained to preach the Islamic religion. In 1929, a Muslim structure was established to cater for the rapid rising Muslim religion in the united states of America. The mosque was built in Ross, North Dakota in 1929. Most people had started being affiliated to the Islamic religion. Another mosque was built in Cedar Rapids, Lowa in 1934. The mosque provided adequate for space the new converts to worship God. The American slaves started tracing the origin of the forefathers. Most of the African slaves were from Islamic backgrounds. This motivated them to convert into Muslims in the 19th century. After the completion of World Wars 1 and world war II, African slaves had freedom to visit the motherland countries. Most of the Islamic religion practiced in Africa was started by Arabs. The Arabs traded for slaves and ivory from Africa in exchange with their goods. Africans leaders were bribed and could sale their colleagues to foreign countries to provide human labor. In the ascertaining the original religion, they embraced Islamic religion in the united states of America.
In 1965, the American parliament enacted policies that allows the emigrants and immigrants into the country. This resulted to the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that allowed many people to start contemplating emigrating to the united states of America. Most people were attracted to United States because of their modern system of governance that obeys the constitution and human rights. As an independent state, America had much of natural resources that needed to be extracted to produce goods and services. The country started scouting for skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labor to assist in production of goods and services. Despite advancement in democracy, the country wanted to develop and increase market for the goods. This lead to establishment of manufacturing and service industries that were in need of human labor. This allowed Arabs who were highly skilled to emigrate to the united states of America. Most Africans from west Africa who were of Muslim origin emigrated to the united stated of America. The drastic adjustment to the immigration policies motivated most Arabs from India, Bangladesh, Lebanon and Pakistan emigrate to the united states of America.
Major causes of Muslim emigration to United States
Seeking refuge from dictatorial leadership
According to research, most of the Muslim led countries do not believe in the rule of law. The citizens are subjected dictatorial commands from the leaders who do not obey the constitution. Most of these leaders believe that they are above the law and not want to be asked a question on the leadership system. Most people in Muslim dominated countries are living in absolute poverty. Those people who attempt to resist and influence people oppose these leaderships are persecuted without trial of the court of law. These difficulties have castigated top talents from Muslim countries to travel the united states of America. For instance, countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia have been prone to civil strife, internal and external wars, extreme poverty and evolution violent regimes in most part of the history. Some of these countries have never experienced a stable government. This make the citizens of these countries to seek refuge where there is democracy and good system of governance. After the Americans obtained independence from the British Crown, the parliament enacted law and regulations that prevented the president from being above the law.
Ethnic persecution and discrimination led to mass movement of Muslims to the united states. In 1980s, most East African countries were led by dictators who were racists and overwhelmed with power. The Ugandan president by the name Idi Amin never wanted to see Asians in the country as the president gave them the period in which those who had not left the country could be persecuted. This led to mass exodus of Muslims to the united states of America. America accepted refugees without discriminating color, religion and race. The extermination of Kurds by Saddam Husayn increased the number of refugees who wanted to save their lives. It’s believed that during this period, thousands of Muslims migrated to united states.
Persistent civil and international wars. Continuous civil wars in in Somali and Sudan in the 1990s and 1980s triggered mass movements of people from their countries to the united states of America. Endless civil war in Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s necessitated mass movements of Lebanese Muslims to the united states of America. The 1970s Pakistani uncontrolled civil war and anarchy leadership Somalia resulted to conflicts leading to movement of Muslims to the united states of America. Frequent wars between the Israeli and Palestine has led to continuous movement of Muslim people to the united states of America. The Iraqi and Kuwait war in 1990s resulted to waves of Kuwaiti citizens and residents to move to America. Most of these emigrants were of the Islamic religion. The soldiers who had surrendered feared for their lives if they returned to the mother countries. They were treated as traitors and feared persecution from the dictatorial leadership in their countries.
Islamism and religious persecution. Religious discrimination has been exhibited in most countries in the middle east. The Hindu-Muslim conflicts in resulted to most Muslims seeking refuge in the united states of America. The Hindus who are the majority group in India developed a great animosity with the Muslims. This led to religious wars where people were persecuted and killed because of their religion affiliate. The Muslim members who had adequate resources that could allow them travel moved to the united of America for safety purposes. The Islamist dictatorship of General Zia ul-Haq necessitated most Muslims to escape to the united states of America for their lives. Ahmadi group fled Pakistan when the followers were considered not adhering the Islamic doctrines. In 1974, the Ahmadi group left Pakistan for united states of America. This resulted to mass movement of Muslims from Pakistan to united states of America in 1980s. In 1979, the Iranian revolution resulted to the movement of the Republican Brothers of the Sudan and the Association of Islamic to seek refuge in the united states of America. Most Muslims in middle east like Lebanon and India and African countries like Algeria and Egypt stated anti-Islamism groups that persecuted the Muslim groups. This resulted to continuous mass movement of Muslims to the united states.
Quality education in American institutions. In the 21st century, united states had established a good education system that is appealing to foreign students to further their education. The colleges and universities have been installed with modern technologies that enables learning to be effective and efficient. Due to availability of immediate employment, developed economic institutions and political freedom, most students prefer to become American citizens by registration. Attractive remuneration and salary packages motivates the students to seek job opportunities who continue spreading Islamic religion in the united states of America. American democracy, independence and self-reliance attracts most female students who feel to be independent. The American constitution favors female citizens as they can be independent and make their own decisions. In Islamic states, women are not valued and act as assistants to their husbands. Unmarried women are discriminated in the society and have no freedom of independence and expression.
Intra-Muslim bias and diversity. When the prophet of God Muhammad died, the Islamic religion was divided into two factions who further subdivided because of leadership disagreements and Islamic fundamentals. The Muslims religious people have failed to accept and accommodate the differences in faith of their fellow denominations. When these denominations conglomerate, they start opposing each other values and racial diversity in Muslim. The differences in custom and norms has led to internal conflicts leading to Muslim emigration to the united states of America. For instance, the Saudi perceives gravestones as form of worshiping idolatry. This is against the teachings of the prophet of God Muhammad. On the other hand, the Turks decorate the gravestones with laminated images and photographs to the person who has died. This contradictory belief in the Islamic religion angers their colleagues. The Islamic practices of non-Arabs results to internal conflicts and violence. The Saudi Arabs view their fellow Turks as perpetrators of Muhammad teachings. Continuous attacks on the non-Arabic Muslims led to mass movement of the Muslims to the united states to practice their faith. The Muslim intermarriages have become difficult among the Muslim groups. The Sunnis and the Shiites do not want to intermarry. They each have the negative attitude to their Islamic values and norms. The Iran and Iraq war of the 1980s resulted to many Muslims being killed while others escaped the suicidal bombings by the jihadist. Muslim employees in Saud Arabia and other Arabic speaking countries are discriminated by the Arabic speaking Muslims. The Sunnis and the Shiites have publicly differed on the structural appearance of the mosque. As the statistics shows, most the American converted to Muslims do not follow the Islamic religion of the Arabs in their native country. This has caused tension among the Islamic groups; native Islam, foreigners Islam, American born Islam, and emigrants Islam.
Indulgence in Sexual activities and conflicts among the youth. The Islamic teachings in some Islamic religion necessitated the people to be separated according to gender. Unmarried men and women were not allowed to interact at any circumstance this could result to fornication. The Islamic religion advocates that people should not engage in sexual activities until they were married. This embraced separation of the youth from interacting and associating. The Muslim traditions prevented the girl child from obtaining the secondary and university education with the boys. In the United States of America, both girls and boy were entitled to education whatever which religion they attended. This lead Muslims to emigrate to the united states of America so that the girls can get formal education. The parents’ directives for the Muslim children to live as they lived in the mother country is rebuked in the united states. Once the Muslims have arrived in the united states, they must have adjusted and adopt to the country policies and constitution. These restrictions resulted for the young Muslim men coupling to the Christian girls for relationship and coupling. The intermarriage with Christian men and women lead to Muslims disowning their children who converted to Christianity. The strategy to separate the unmarried Muslim adults has been in vain as these youths meet in social gatherings, marriage promotions and seminars for the youth.
To embrace Islamic practice. In the united states, most the emigrants obtain the freedom of worship that they were denied in the respective countries. Most of the Muslims feared dictatorial leadership that was exhibited in the mother countries. People who did not adhere to the Islamic fundamentals were subjected to persecution without trial. Most of the emigrants believe they have improved the Islamic religion values and morals in the united states of America. They have had freedom to select the recommended Islamic values that are feasible while abstaining from the Jihadist Muslims. Some Muslims have gone to an extra mile of denouncing Islamic religion and joining Christianity. This transition of change from Islamic to Christianity in the united states cannot be accepted in the mother countries of the emigrants. Some Muslim girls in the United States have freedom to access the best fashion of their choice. Some have opted to improve their beauty by using makeups and wearing miniskirts that expose their thighs. This change in Muslim traditions can only be practiced in the united states of America. In Saudi Arabia where Muslim religion is very strict, any individual found practicing irrelevant practices to those written in the Quran are subjected to persecution without trial. Some Muslims only attend Friday prayers and praying practice has reduced among the Islamic faithful. There is a rapid spread in consumption of alcohol among the Islamic religion as they have enough freedom of choice. Some are engaging in premarital sex before marriage with the Christian counterparts. In the Arabic countries, if found engaging to these activities, you are subjected to a heavy punishment including death.
The living standards and economic development of the emigrants’ nations. Most the African countries and Asian countries are extremely poor. Most of the population of the people live below a dollar in a day. The countries are characterized inferior technology, low natural resources distribution, constant disparities in income distribution and unfavorable environment for political, social, and economic institutions advancement. This lead to most people in the south Asia to search for green pasture in the united states of America. The united states provided attractive job opportunities to Southern Asia individual who were skilled and had degrees. Most of the skilled medical doctors and engineers are from the southern Asia of origin. The united states and Canada have been attracting the skilled labor. Most people of the Muslims origin have excelled in the united states of America like the chemistry Nobel prize winner Ahmed H. Zewail, actor Omar Sharif, basketball champion Hakeem Olajuwon, and model Imam.
To achieve the Islamist ambition. Most the emigrants have emigrated to the united states to pursue their political, economic and religious ambition to the united states. To some extent, the Muslims have viewed and interpreted the American culture to be naïve and primitive. This has resulted to violation of American right of freedom of speech. Muslims in America have been converting many laws and desire the country to be an Islamic state. The American freedom of speech has motivated Muslims to print and spread the Islamic religion in the united states of America. Currently, the country has enacted policies that support the Muslim schools, colleges and universities. The most important days in Islamic religion are being honored in the united states of America. These days Muslims commemorates important festivals in the Islamic religion. Eid al-Adha which marks the end of pilgrimage in Mecca and Eid al-fitr which the Muslims celebrates the end of Ramadhan. All these days are spelt in the American constitution are honored.
In conclusion, Muslim emigration to the united states of America has been increasing in since the end of the 16th century. Most of the causes of Muslim exodus to the united states was civil war, international war, education scholarships and democratic system of governance in the united states. Most of the emigrants entered the United States as the refugees from their respective countries avoiding the dictatorial rule. Some leaders like Saddam and Idi Amin were so aggressive and subjected the citizens to suffering and absolute poverty. The act of religion and tribal persecution triggered many people to seek refuge in the United States.
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