Islam

and Jews. //Class Notes,Religions: Islam//
 * // **Section 1-Beliefs** // ||
 * The Islam faith has very strong beliefs towards their religion. The supreme being in the Islam faith is, Allah, or god. It is the same God that is prayed to in the Christian and Jewish faiths.Their sacred text is the Qur'an. The Qur'an fatures almost the exact same stories as the bible. Adam and Eve, and expansion on the Old Testament and the New Testament. //Bates, Stephen. "The Beliefs and Laws of Islam." June-July 2002 .// The main quidelines Muslims follow to stay true to the Islamic faith is the 5 Pillars. The 5 pillars are faith, prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage. The religious leader of a mosque and Muslim community is an Imam. The goal of this religion is the same as it is for Jews and Christians, live a good life on earth to get to Heaven. Muslims believe the Day of Judgement will come and followers will either go to Heaven or Hell, and that is where they will live their afterlife. The beliefs in Islam are very similar to Christianiaty and Judaism.



//The Islam holy symbol. [|www.]//catholic-resources.org //The Islam holy book, the Qur'an.// www.islamconcepts.com || [] The number of Muslims in America has increased greatly since they first came to America. ||
 * **Section 2-History of the Faith in America** ||
 * Who brought the reigion here? When were the first believers of the religion living in the United States? Where did they live? How has the number of followers grown? Immigration? Conversion? How were the followers of the religion accepted? Was their worship tolerated or did the followers have to hide or change their practice to avoid trouble? Did the followers face problems or discrimination because of their religious beliefs? ||
 * The islam religion was brought to America by Afican Muslims who were apart of the crew that journeyed here in the 15th and 16th centuries.The first group of Muslims lived mostly in the mid-west in towns like Cedar rapids, Iowa and Ross, North Dakota. Many Muslims now reside in Dearborn, Michigan. (Islamic Faith in America-page 19-James A.Beverly) The number of Islam followers has grown significantly. This is due to many people who have converted to Islam, which is usually African Americans. I think people started to get accepted Islam as a relligion when they started learning about the religion and when they saw that people were converting to the religion. Islam had problems and discrimination in their history and still nowadays.People think their religion is different because they dont know anything about it but it has many similarities to Christianity.
 * **Section 3-How does the Faith Look in America** ||
 * What do the worship places look like? Who practices this religion in the United States? Where is it practiced? How is it practiced? ||
 * Muslims worship in buildings called mosques. Outside every mosque there is a place where worshippers can remove their shoes. There is also a place where you can carry out the ritual washing before the prayer. The main hall of the mosque is devoted largely to furniture. There are no pictures of Allah in any mosques, Muslims believe there can be no pictures or stautes of Allah, who is a holy spirit. When in parayer everyone kneels on the floor. There is a niche on the wall, called a mihrab, which is to inform you in what direction Mecca is.Muslims practice this religion in the United States. Muslims practice their religion in mosques or their homes. Women can attend the mosque and when they do they sit separately from the men. (BBC.com) The type of people who practice this religion in America are African American, Asians, Arabs, and Iranias. There are many more nationalities that are apart of this religion, but these are the main ones.

This is the largest mosque in America. Most mosques in America do not look like this. Here in America, alot of Muslims have transformed buildings, such as old stores, into mosques for them to worship in..[|www.websthots.com]

This is the inside of a mosque. This man is in the middle of prayer.[|www.wordpress.com] || "Islamophobia." //Global Issues in Context Online Collection//. Detroit: Gale, 2010. //Global Issues In Context//. Web. 17 Nov. 2010. media type="youtube" key="PqbQWxHIn4U?fs=1" height="385" width="480" ||
 * **Section 4-Challenges Followers Face in America** ||
 * This religion gets a lot of intolerance. For example, at a ninth anniversary commeration, President Barack Obama announced to a still very prejudice audience that Islam is not the enemy. He said," It was not a religion that attacked us that September day. It was Al-Qaeda, a sorry band of men, which perverts religion, The reaction of most Americans then, was outrage. One man said, Why should we let them build a mosque? So that we can burn it down. Build the mosque, then fly a plane into it, that's what I say." That's pretty extreme, but it is a deep rooted, prejudice considering all the people that lost loved ones that day. "Obama: Islam Not the Enemy." //Manila Bulletin// 12 Sept. 2010. //Global Issues In Context//. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. Even though Muslims have the opportunity to form a diverse community as is described in the Qur'an small percentages of people still organize around Ethnic and racial ties. As more people immigrate into the United States and more Americans convert to Islam it is easier for people to practice with people of their own background to avoid problems. //Introducing Islam: The American Encounter with Islam Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl Page 100// There are more followers of Islam in Dearborn, Michigan because almost half of the population there is Muslim American. //Google Maps// There are no laws that discriminate against Muslims in the United States, because that would go against the seperation of church and state and the Freedom of Religion that this country is based off of. Muslim Americans do not feel like they can express their religion in public because, for example on the anniversary of September 11th, a Florida church planned an event to burn the Qur'an. Muslim Americans also have been attacked. A New York taxi driver was stabbed repeatedly for being Muslim. Those are the major reasons that Muslim Americans do not feel like they can express their religion in public.