Islam in the Americas

Islam in the Americas is a minority religion in all of the countries and territories of the Americas. Approximately 1% of North America population are Muslims, and 0.1% of Latin America and Caribbean population are Muslims.{{cite web|url=https://www.pewforum.org/files/2014/01/global-religion-full.pdf|title=The Global Religious Landscape|publisher=Pewforum.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170125173538/https://www.pewforum.org/files/2014/01/global-religion-full.pdf|access-date=7 May 2020|archive-date=25 January 2017}}

Suriname has the highest percentage of Muslims in its population for the region, with 13.9% or 75,053 individuals, according to its 2012 census.[http://www.statistics-suriname.org/images/Presentatie.pdf 2012 Suriname Census Definitive Results] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924105905/http://www.statistics-suriname.org/images/Presentatie.pdf |date=2015-09-24 }}. Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek - Suriname. However, the United States, in which estimates vary due to a lack of a census question, is generally believed to have the largest population, with approximately 3.45 million Muslims living there,{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/03/new-estimates-show-u-s-muslim-population-continues-to-grow/|title=A new estimate of U.S. Muslim population|website=Pew Research Center|date=January 3, 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-11}} about 1.1 percent of the total U.S. population.{{cite web |url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/03/new-estimates-show-u-s-muslim-population-continues-to-grow/ |title=New estimates show U.S. Muslim population continues to grow |date=January 3, 2018 |website=Pew Research Center |access-date=August 16, 2018}}

Most Muslims in the former British Caribbean came from the Indian subcontinent as indentured servants following the abolition of slavery.{{Cite web |url=http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Demographics/Muslimpopulation.pdf |title=Demographics: Muslim population |publisher=Pew Research Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727173718/http://pewforum.org/uploadedfiles/Topics/Demographics/Muslimpopulation.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-07-27 |date=2011-07-27 |access-date=2019-11-11}} This movement also reached Suriname, although other Muslims there moved from a separate Dutch colony, which is now Indonesia. In the United States, the largest Muslim ethnic group is of white Arabs from the Middle East.{{cite web |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/07/26/findings-from-pew-research-centers-2017-survey-of-us-muslims/#:~:text=Pew%20Research%20Center%20estimates%20that,1.1%25%20of%20the%20U.S.%20population |title=Findings from Pew Research Center's 2017 survey of US muslims |work=Pew Research Center |date=2017-07-26 |access-date= }} However, in South America, the Muslim population is mainly composed of upper-class immigrants from the Levant, including those from Lebanon and Syria.{{Cite web |url=http://www.elindependiente.com.ar/papel/hoy/archivo_2004/noticias_v.asp?39074 |title=Islam in the Caribbean |work=El Independiente.com.ar |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908043743/http://www.elindependiente.com.ar/papel/hoy/archivo_2004/noticias_v.asp?39074 |archive-date=2014-09-08}}

Population by country

{{Update|date=April 2025|reason=It's useful a 2010 data and its 2025, 15yr old}}

The population of Muslims varies across the Americas. Below is the percentage of every American country that was Muslim in 2010, according to a Pew Research Center estimate:{{cite web |title=Religious Composition by Country, 2010-2050 |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projection-table/2010/percent/all/ |website=Pew Research Center |access-date=18 August 2017 |date=2 April 2015 |archive-date=2 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802041823/http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projection-table/2010/percent/all/ |url-status=dead}}

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left"

|+ Muslims among total population

! scope="col" |Country

! scope="col" |Estimated %
{{small|(in 2010)}}{{Cite web |title=National Profiles {{!}} World Religion |url=https://www.thearda.com/world-religion/national-profiles?u=234c&u=12r |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=The Association of Religion Data Archives (the ARDA) |language=en-gb}}

{{Flag icon|Surinam}}Suriname

|15.2

{{Flag icon|Guyana}}Guyana

|7.0(2012)

{{Flag icon| Trinidad and Tobago }} Trinidad and Tobago

|5.9

{{Flag icon| Canada }}Canada

|4.9(2021)

{{Flag icon| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines }}St. Vincent and the Grenadines

|1.5

{{Flag icon| British Virgin Islands }}British Virgin Islands

|1.2

{{Flag icon| Bermuda}}Bermuda

|1.1

{{Flag icon|Argentina }}Argentina

|2.14{{Cite web |title=Argentina Report 2023 |url=https://www.acninternational.org/religiousfreedomreport/reports/country/2023/argentina |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=www.acninternational.org |language=en-US}}

{{Flag icon| Barbados}}Barbados

|1.0

{{Flag icon|French Guiana |variant=local}}French Guiana

|0.9

{{Flag icon| America }}United States

|1.34

{{Flag icon|Panama}}Panama

|0.7

{{Flag icon|Antigua and Barbuda}}Antigua and Barbuda

|0.6

{{Flag icon| Cayman Islands |variant=local}}Cayman Islands

|0.4

{{Flag icon|Guadeloupe |variant=local}}Guadeloupe

|0.4

{{Flag|Anguilla}}Anguilla

|0.3

{{Flag icon|Falkland Islands }}Falkland Islands

|0.3

{{Flag icon|Grenada }}Grenada

|0.3

{{Flag icon| St. Kitts and Nevis }}St. Kitts and Nevis

|0.3

{{Flag icon| Venezuela }}Venezuela

|0.3

{{Flag icon| Aruba}}Aruba

|0.2

{{Flag icon| Netherlands Antilles}}Caribbean Netherlands

|0.2

{{Flag icon|Curaçao }}Curaçao

|0.2

{{Flag icon|Martinique}}Martinique

|0.2

{{Flag icon|Sint Maarten}}Sint Maarten

|0.2

{{flag icon|Saint Pierre and Miquelon|local}}St. Pierre and Miquelon

|0.2

{{Flag icon| Bahamas}}Bahamas

|0.1

{{Flag icon|Belize}}Belize

|0.1

{{Flag icon| Dominica }}Dominica

|0.1

{{Flag icon|Honduras}}Honduras

|0.1

{{Flag icon|St. Lucia }}St. Lucia

|0.1

{{Flag icon|United States Virgin Islands }}U.S. Virgin Islands

|0.1

{{Flag icon|Bolivia }}Bolivia

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Brazil}}Brazil

|<0.1

{{Flag icon|Chile }}Chile

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Colombia }}Colombia

|<0.1

{{Flag icon|Costa Rica}}Costa Rica

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Cuba}}Cuba

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Dominican Republic }}Dominican Republic

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Ecuador}}Ecuador

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| El Salvador}}El Salvador

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Greenland}}Greenland

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Haiti}}Haiti

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Jamaica }}Jamaic

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Mexico}}Mexico

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Montserrat}}Montserrat

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Paraguay}}Paraguay

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Peru}}Peru

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Puerto Rico}}Puerto Rico

|<0.1

{{Flag icon|Turks and Caicos Islands }}Turks and Caicos Islands

|<0.1

{{Flag icon| Uruguay}}Uruguay

|<0.1

Immigrant Muslims in America

During the rule of the Spanish and Portuguese in the Americas, Islam and any religion beyond Catholic Christianity were strictly forbidden. Some of the first Muslims to enter America were Wolof (Jelofe) slaves of Senegal who were introduced to Hispaniola in 1522. Their entry was soon banned by Casa de Contratación that regulated Spanish trade in the Americas since they were considered Moors (Moros). This did however not stop their further import since African slaves who were introduced to Spanish America had their origin and faith obscured by slave traders.{{Cite thesis |title="Negros musulmanes, esclavos y libres en la América Colonial: Cofradía de Jolofos de Lima correspondiente de la nación de los Jolofos" |last=Roa Contreras |first=Felipe Andrés |access-date=2025-02-04 |publisher=University of Chile |url=https://repositorio.uchile.cl/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2250/109972/Roa%20Felipe_2010.pdf?sequence=3 |language=es|year=2010}} Despite the suppression of Islam some Islamic customs and beliefs appear to have transferred to the Americas such as the idea of going to heaven riding horses and bathing on Saint John's Eve.{{Citation |last=Salinas |first=Maximiliano |chapter=Las hablas populares sobre la religión en Chile (1541-1840) |editor-last=Sagredo |editor-first=Rafael |editor2-last=Gazmuri |editor2-first=Cristián |title=Historia de la vida privada en Chile |year=2005 |volume=I: El Chile tradicional. De de la Conquista a 1840 |publisher=Aguilar Chilena de Ediciones |place=Santiago de Chile |publication-date=2005 |edition=4th |isbn=956-239-337-2 |language=es|pages=199–229 }}

In regards to Immigrant Muslims in America: at first, a population of African Muslims entered the United States as slaves, and at the next stage, while the immigration laws to this country eased the conditions for accepting immigrants from all over the world, another population of Muslim people entered there. In the last 25 years, new waves of immigrants as well as the tendency of a large group of American blacks to Islam have caused an increase in the number of Muslims in America. According to one of the professors of the University of Massachusetts, USA, the number of Muslims in America is estimated to be close to four million people, and is appraised that two thirds of this population are "immigrants and their children" apart from Muslim Americans.

In 1991, more than 100,000 immigrants entered the United States legally, most of whom were people (mostly Muslim) from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and India. Also, another unknown figure should be allocated to illegal Muslim immigrants who entered the United States this year.[https://hawzah.net/fa/Magazine/View/89/3420/16454/%DA%AF%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%B4-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7 The spread of Islam in America] Retrieved 4 July 2022

Islamic worship traditions

= Sunnis in the Americas =

=Shias in the Americas =

File:Islamic Center America.jpg

Shia Muslims comprise 15-20% of Muslims in the Americas;{{cite web|title=World Shia Muslims Population|url=http://shianumbers.com/shias-in-americas.html?m|website=shianumbers.com|access-date=19 December 2015}} which is nearly 786,000{{cite book|author=Zahid Hussain Bukhari|title=Muslims' Place in the American Public Square: Hope, Fears, and Aspirations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jXl2Z2PI3xMC&pg=PR37|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=978-0-7591-0613-0|pages=37}} to 2.500.000 persons in the U.S.[https://fa.shafaqna.com/news/660319/%D8%A2%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%87-%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA-%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87-%D8%B4%DB%8C%D8%B9%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8%DB%8C-%D8%AA%D8%B1%DB%8C/ Shiite justice teachings in the westernmost society of the world / The ups and downs of two and a half million Shiites in America] Retrieved 2 April 2023

Shia Muslims are situated on United States. The American Shia Muslim community are from different parts of the world such as South Asia, Europe, Middle East, and East Africa.{{cite book|author1=Daniel Brumberg|author2=Dina Shehata|title=Conflict, Identity, and Reform in the Muslim World: Challenges for U.S. Engagement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dtXXV8dtCpsC&pg=PA366|year=2009|publisher=US Institute of Peace Press|isbn=978-1-60127-020-7|pages=366–370}}{{cite web|title=Mapping the Global Muslim Population|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population/?beta=true|website=pewforum.org|access-date=16 December 2015|date=7 October 2009}}

The American Shia Muslim community have many activities and have founded several organization such as the Islamic Center of America and North America Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities Organization (NASIMCO).{{cite book|author=Mohsen Saleh|title=American Foreign Policy and the Muslim World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4mRkCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA179|date=1 January 2009|publisher=Al Manhal|isbn=978-9953-500-65-2|page=179}}

The first group of immigrant Shiites (Shias) migrated to the United States from Lebanon and Syria about one hundred and eighty years ago (1824-1878). These Shiite Muslims migrated to cities such as Detroit, Michigan, and Ross (California) and North Dakota.[https://basirat.ir/fa/news/41019/%D8%AA%D8%B4%DB%8C%D8%B9-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%8C%DA%A9%D8%A7 Shiism in America] Retrieved in 24 June 2022