Matthew Bigg, writing for Reuters, makes that claim. According to his story, “Post 9/11, Islam flourishes among blacks”, Bigg says that, “Islam is growing fast among African-Americans.” He then goes on to state that African Americans remain “undeterred” by the “increased scrutiny” of Muslims after September 11th and that Islams appeal comes from its discipline and devotion to God and its “affinity with people who are oppressed.”
According to Bigg, Islam is the fastest growing religion among Black Americans and that increasing numbers of African Americans see Islam as a “legitimate alternative” to Christianity. Bigg says that this is “according to imams and experts.” He goes on to quote Lawrence Mamiya, a professor of religion at Vassar, who says that there may be as many as two million African American Muslims but also said that there are no precise figures. Bigg then reports that conversion to Islam is seen as a way to connect with an African heritage, that it is a way to protest America’s need to fight wars to maintain its economic status and that it is a way to fight injustice and “European imperialism”.
Let’s look critically at Bigg’s claims, shall we? First, does Islam have an affinity for the oppressed? That is very much open to debate. I am not sure that women, Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims who live in Muslim countries would share that view. In fact, a very strong case can be made that Islam is a very oppressive religion and highly intolerant of those who wish to live outside its strictures. After all, homosexuality carries the death penalty in many Middle Eastern countries. So does advocating any other religion other than Islam. So does having sexual relations out of wedlock. I would argue that these are not the positions of a religion which has an affinity for the oppressed.
Now, as far as bing a protest against imperialism, well that simply shows a complete and utter lack of historical knowledge. Islam began as a warrior faith, it was initially spread through conquest; first of Arabia, then of the Middle East and North Africa and finally of Asia Minor, Spain and Eastern Europe. Rather than being anti-imperialist, Islam has been, from its very founding, a religion which seeks world domination by conversion and, if that fails, conquest. If that is not imperialist, I don’t know what is.
As far as Islam being part of an “African” heritage, that claim also crumbles under critical examination. Islam was founded in Arabia and replaced many of the native African religions, both in North and sub-Saharan Africa. Islam is a relatively recent phenomenon in Africa, only spreading to Africa in the Medieval and early modern periods. Islam is as African as lutefisk. In fact, Coptic Christianity, Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism and Judaism have much longer histories in Africa than Islam. Let us not forget that Saint Augustine was African.
Finally, there are the claims that Islam is the fastest growing religion among African Americans and that it has around two million African American adherents. There are no “precise figures” to support this claim. It is based on the statements of “imams and experts”. Well, you can search the Internet and find out how many Southern Baptists there are in America, how many Lutherans, Presbyterians, Jews, Catholics, Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists. With no precise figures there is simply no way of knowing how many African American Muslims there are. None. All that these “imams and experts” have done pull a figure out of thin air. I could make the claim that there are three hundred thousand Martians on Earth. I don’t have precise figures, but I am an “expert” on Martians. Would my claim be a lead story for Reuters? I doubt it.
Now, I have no doubt that some form of Islam is gaining popularity among African Americans. I am sure that many in the African American community see Islam as a religion which provides the structure which many of them feel will help cure many of the ills in the African American community. Honestly, so could Christianity or Judaism or Rastafarianism, if the teaching of those religions were actually followed. That is the rub.
