Muslims in Metro New York (Part 3) – Muslim Minority
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Muslims in Metro New York (Part 3) – Muslim Minority

A majority of the peoples listed in our one million Muslim population list are from countries that are predominantly Muslim. There are three exceptions. The Indian group is one of these (which will be covered in the forthcoming South Asian blog). The other two are Hispanics and African-Americans. Strolling through predominantly African-American neighborhoods like Harlem,…

Muslims in Metro New York (Part 2) – Specific Muslim Group Estimates
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Muslims in Metro New York (Part 2) – Specific Muslim Group Estimates

On my last blog, I looked at different estimates of Muslims in the United States, and more specifically, the New York metropolitan area. My estimate for Muslims in Metro New York is one million, which is larger than the population of cities such as Baltimore, Washington D.C, and Boston! My estimates are based on a…

Muslims in Metro New York (Part 1) – One Million Muslims
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Muslims in Metro New York (Part 1) – One Million Muslims

The Muslim population is on the rise in the United States. While the percentage of Americans that identify as Muslims is still small, their influence has grown steadily in the last couple of decades. According to a Pew 2015 study, 1% of people in the U.S. are Muslim, which totals around 3.3 million Muslims in…

Map is Not Territory (part three of a three-part series)
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Map is Not Territory (part three of a three-part series)

Grad school at the University of Chicago found me wading through Jonathan Z. Smith’s essays on religion titled, Map is Not Territory. I can only remember a handful of its articles, but the title of the book stuck with me. Smith’s title reminds us that our sacred texts are maps, maps that point to a…

The Thing About Allah (part two in a series)
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The Thing About Allah (part two in a series)

There’s alot of talk out there about this Muslim god named Allah. For many Americans, the name strikes notes of fear and anger. His name is the last word on the lips of terrorists, suicide bombers and killers, who shout “Allahu Akbar!” (God is great!) just before they wreak their deadly havoc. Who is this…

Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?  (Part one in a series)
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Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God? (Part one in a series)

This topic has been in the news recently, particularly after a professor at Wheaton College faced termination for making the claim that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Was this professor right? Do we worship the same God? The simple answer is No…and Yes. Muslims certainly do not have the same revelation and understanding…

Putting water in their hands
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Putting water in their hands

Somalia, the country with one of the longest coastlines of any African nation, known for pirates and camels, also boasts a population that is over 99% Muslim, placing Somalia among the most Muslim nations in the world. Unique among those Muslim nations; however, is that fact that Somalia has had over forty percent of their…