Conclusions
In conclusion, one can say that the arrival of Muslims in greater numbers in American society was made possible by the changes in the American immigration laws and the birth and development of home-grown Islamic movements.
The appeal to Muslim immigrants of the American Dream is by no means unique and peculiar, for most of these men and women were either refugees from tormenting political situations in their own countries or were lured by the greater opportunities of American society. Their case is similar to that of many others from the Old World. Another point that can be made is that the planting of Islam in the United States is another contribution to the cultural diversity of this society. Writing before the changes of the 1960s, Will Herberg could say in his Protestant, Catholic, Jew, that, ‘By and large, to be an American today means to be either a Protestant, a Catholic, or a Jew... Unless one is either... one is “nothing”; to be a “something”, to have a name, one must identify oneself and be identified by others, as belonging to one or another of the three great religious communities in which the American people are divided.’ Under present conditions and given the gradual growth of Islam among indigenous Americans, one can say that Herbert’s statement needs some revision. The growth in the Arab/Asian immigrant population has swelled the numbers of Buddhists, Sikhs, Baha’is, Hindus and of course Muslims.Another conclusion to be drawn is that, with the successful planting of Islam in American society, it is quite conceivable that some day American Muslims could be one of the major pillars of support of world Islam, and American Muslim centres, like those of other branches of the Abrahamic tradition, will play an important role in the cultural development of their brethren elsewhere in the Muslim world. All these developments, however, will depend on the successes of the native-born as well as the immigrant Muslims who have opted for American citizenship and strive to see their Muslim dreams wrapped in the greater American Dream. Last but not least, one can also conclude that Muslims and other American believers in the religious heritage of mankind will maintain and pass on their respective traditions only if they succeed in holding their own against the very powerful forces of secularism and materialism in American society.
Further Reading
Austin, Allan D. African Muslims in Antebellum America: A Sourcebook (Garland Publishing Company, New York, 1984)
Bosquet, G.H. ‘Moslem Religious Influence in the United States’, Moslem World (Jan. 1935), pp. 40-4
Braden, Charles ‘Islam in America’, The International Review oj Missions, vol. XLV111, no. 191 (July 1959), pp. 309-17
Cheyfitz, Kirk, and Warblow, Kathy ‘Arabs and Islam, Detroit is the American Mecca’, Monthly Detroit, vol. 3 (Feb. 1980)
Ghayur, Arif ‘Muslims in the United States: Settlers and Visitors’, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, no. 454 (Mar. 1981)
Lincoln, C. Eric The Black Muslims in America (Saunders of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 1961)
Muhammad, Akbar ‘Muslims in the United States. An Overview of Organizations, Doctrines, and Problems’, in Yvonne Haddad, Byron Haines and Ellison Findly (eds.) The Islamic Impact (Syracuse University Press, New York, 1984), pp. 195-218
Nyang, Sulayman S. ‘Islam in the United States of America: A Review of the Sources’, Islamic Culture, vol. LV, no. 2 (April 1981), pp. 93-109
Tunison, Emory H. ‘Mohammad Webb, First American Muslim’, The Arab World, vol. 1, no. 3 (1945), pp. 13-18
Winters, Clyde-Ahmad ‘A Survey of Islam in the Africa Diaspora’, Pan African Journal, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 425-34