Converts to Islam

October 21, 1:42 PMHouston Islam ExaminerJanette Grant

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Islam has been acknowledged as one of the fastest growing world religions. There are over 8 million estimated Muslims in North America with 7 million estimated within the U.S. and 1 million in Canada according to Allied Media Corp, and it has been documented that on average 200,000 convert to Islam within the U.S. each year.

Many scholars, Muslim and Non-Muslim, have addressed the growth and spread of Islam in various books and articles, each citing one reason or another for Islam's rapid growth. One such scholar, Ataullah Siddiqui, in his book Islam and Other Faiths, attributes the growth and spread of Islam to several factors, one of the main reasons being the migration of Muslims from Muslim countries to Western countries.
 

The immigration history of Muslims to the United States is rich and not a new occurrence, migrants having been arriving to the U.S. as far back as the early 1500’s as slaves. The Center for Immigration Study reports that the first Muslim immigrants came as slaves from Africa beginning as early as 1501 and that slave-owners sometimes appreciated and rewarded their literate Muslim slaves. The report goes on to say that the modern history of immigration began during the decade following the Civil War and continues today with Pakistan leading in sending immigrants to the United States. Reasons for modern Muslim immigration to the U.S. are listed as for refuge from religious or ethnic persecution, refuge from national/international wars, education opportunities,  and Islamist ambitions. For the full report written by Daniel Pipes andKhalidd Duran, click here.
 

Muslim immigrants bring their religion and Islamic practices to the United States where they often establish Islamic places of worship called Mosques and Islamic organizations for educating others about Islam. Many converts, however, cite the Islamic holy book, The Quran, or an internal search for meaning in their lives as the reason for converting to Islam. Celebrities such as Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) and Jermaine Jackson cite the Holy Quran and the search for truth respectively as part of their motivation to convert to Islam. To read their conversion stories, among other conversion stories, you can click here.

Fatimah Ashaela Moore Ibrahim, a Houston native and the Director of Aakifah Creative Multi Media Productions, is a convert to Islam of over 10 years, and says about her conversion, “After looking at all of the other religions, Islam seemed to be the purest way to God.”