Muslims in America - Essay Example

Muslims had integrated with the American population a long time back, as early as the 19th century. During the Declaration of Independence of the USA, it was quoted as saying by George Washington that “this country promotes freedom of religion in all quarters.”

This had been the idea and the sentiment that the Muslims had been sharing for a long while and had developed a sense of security that the USA was the safest place for them and they will not be harmed by the people of America since they supported the idea of religious freedom.

The people of America were blown away by the tactics of these Muslims Groups which tried to kill their people and take over their ideologies. The terrorist attacks in the USA had played a major role in settling the beliefs in the minds of young and innocent Americans that Muslims hate their country and are inherently violent people, and therefore dangerous to be with.

This sentiment however had now been echoed by the administration of the USA which continues to host Muslims from all over the world and also allows the current Muslim population to prosper with full effect.

Culture Influence:

Muslims have played a very important role in integrating with the culture of the USA. There have been many Muslim rappers in the country.

Muslims have been vocal in their opinions through magazines and other means of public publications. There are Muslims Comedy groups up and running in many parts of the country and they all share a common sense of humor which is nowhere connected with the plight of Americans suffering from terrorism.

The Sunni Muslims in the USA are in the majority, while the Shia Community is in the minority. They both follow their schools of jurisprudence, and more than 2/3rds of Muslims believe that religion is an important tool to strengthen one’s life.

Integration:

The Muslims have integrated very well with the rest of the population in America. Although there were some doubts in the early part of the 20th century, all these doubts were erased when the Blacks living in the USA started converting to Islam, as the religion provided the best possible means to live a life that was devoid of any discrimination as opposed to Christianity.

The Wall Street Journal in its report claimed that American Muslims had been projected as role models for Muslims as well as the rest of the population of America. American Muslims who had migrated into the country during the post-World War II era had created a solid foundation for their living in the USA and have continued to dominate sectors of the population. The area in which they reside is Islamized, which consists of hard-working class people.

It is interesting to note that, unlike their European counterparts, the Muslims living in the USA do not feel marginalized or left out in the community of Americans. The country has taken to the religion as its own and this only proves that the Constitutional aspects and fundamentals have been respected and upheld in the spirit of secularism.

Politics:

Although there is no astute figure with regards to the percentage of the population consisting of Muslims, researchers have claimed that Muslims do hold a good part of the population and there are regions in the USA that are dominated by the Muslim population.

However, even the small percentage of Muslims in the USA has not deterred them to participate in the political process. Dedicated Muslim communities are running active and have been vocal about the current situation of Iraq and Afghanistan and how they see the Government of the USA promoting their ideals.

It has been a trend in the political history of the USA that Muslims have been supporting the Democratic Party over time in elections. However, this trend witnessed a change during the elections of 2000 when the majority of Muslims voted for the Republican George W. Bush.

The Muslim Communities in the USA have been playing a very active role in the development of the political process in the country. Not only promoting the rights of Muslims, these groups have been vocal in their opinion that the terrorist groups which targeted the Americans are different from the Muslims who live in the USA.

These organizations have tried building bridges between the Muslims and the rest of the Americans. During the 2008 elections, more than 80% of Muslims voted for Barack Obama, underlining the fact that Muslims were back to their old base of Democrats.

The Islamic Society of North Americans is one of the strongest communities which prevail in the USA. The task of this organization has been to foster the growth of Muslims in America and to develop and common understanding for all the Muslims residing in the USA. Not only do they work for the betterment of the people of the USA, but they also have tie-ups and links with the administration to work for the upliftment of the Muslims of America.