Demographic Facts

(Chart based on information from the Hartford Institute for Religious Research)   Mosques in the United States: 1,209 American Muslims associated with a mosque: 2 million Increase in number of mosques since 1994: 25 percent Proportion of mosques founded since 1980: 62 percent Average number of Muslims associated with each mosque in the United States: 1,625 U.S. mosque participants who are converts: 30 percent American Muslims who "strongly agree" that they should participate in American institutions and the political process: 70 percent U.S. mosques attended by a single ethnic group: 7 percent U.S. mosques that have some Asian, African-American, and Arab members: nearly 90 percent Ethnic origins of regular participants in U.S. mosques:     South Asian (Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Afghani) = 33 percent     African-America = 30 percent     Arab = 25 percent     Sub-Saharan African = 3.4 percent     European (Bosnian, Tartar, Kosovar, etc.) = 2.1 percent     White American = 1.6 percent     Southeast Asian ( Malaysian, Indonesian, Filipino) = 1.3 percent     Caribbean = 1.2 percent     Turkish = 1.1 percent     Iranian = 0.7 percent     Hispanic/Latino = 0.6 percent U.S. mosques that feel they strictly follow the Koran and Sunnah: more than 90 percent U.S. mosques that feel the Koran should be interpreted with consideration of its purposes and modern circumstances: 71 percent U.S. mosques that provide some assistance to the needy: nearly 70 percent U.S. mosques with a full-time school: more than 20 percent

The information above was drawn from the "Mosque in America: A National Portrait," a survey released in April 2001. It is part of larger study of American congregations called "Faith Communities Today," coordinated by Hartford Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religious Research in Connecticut. Muslim organizations cosponsoring the survey are the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America, the Ministry of Imam W. Deen Muhammed, and the Islamic Circle of North America. Charts throughout this publication are from the same study.

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