Muslims in the United States: Settlers and Visitors
| Published date | 01 March 1981 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271628145400113 |
| Date | 01 March 1981 |
| Author | M. Arif Ghayur |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
150
Muslims
in
the
United
States:
Settlers
and
Visitors
By
M.
ARIF
GHAYUR
M.
Arif
Ghayur
is
an
assistant
professor
of
sociology
at
Texas
Christian
University,
Fort
Worth,
Texas.
He
authored
the
entry
on
the
Pakistanis
in
the
Harvard
Encyclopedia
of
American
Ethnic
Groups
and
has
published
an
article
in
Collier’s
Encyclopedia
on
the
Muslim
culture.
He
is
currently
working
on
a
project
that
aims
to
conduct
a
census
of the
Muslim
population
in
North
America
in
1982.
He
was
the
organizer
of
conferences
on
Southwest
Asia
and
the
Persian
Gulf
region
in
1979
and
1980
at
the
meetings
of
the
Asia
Society
of
New
York.
ABSTRACT:
Although
the
1.2
million Muslim-Americans
number
more
than
the
Chinese-Americans,
Japanese-Ameri-
cans,
or
the
American
Indians,
no
in-depth
study
of
them
has
ever
been
conducted.
One
reason
for
the
lack
of
aware-
ness
of
the
scope
of
Muslim
settlement
in
America
has
been
that
most
Muslims
arrived
here
only
after
the
liberalization
of
immigration
laws
in
1965.
Thus
they
did
not
become
part
of
the
ethnic
mosaic
of
America
until
recently.
They
comprise
about
100
subgroups
based
on
language,
race,
culture,
and
nationality.
Although
the
majority
of
them
are
Asians,
there
are
substantial
numbers
of
Europeans,
Africans,
native
Whites,
Afro-Americans,
and
some
West
Indians
or
Latin
Americans.
Arabs
and
Iranians
are
estimated
to
be
the
largest
groups.
About
one
third
are
concentrated
in
the
three
major
metro-
politan
areas
of
America.
Family,
religion,
and
ethnicity
are
intertwined
for
the
Muslim-American.
The
MSA
(Muslim
Students
Association),
the
largest
Muslim
organization,
is
attempting
to
create
unity
out
of
the
diversified
groups.
With
the
resurgence
of
Islam,
Muslim-Americans
are
also
feeling
more
pride
in
being
part
of
this
worldwide
community.
Muslims
constitute
one
of
the
fastest-growing
ethnic
groups
in
America,
and
it
is
projected
that
there
will
be
close
to
2.5
million
in
this
country
by
the
end
of
the
century.
To continue reading
Request your trial