MUSLIMS AND AMERICA

Muslims in America

Muslims in America

Introduction

This paper would offer the demographic data of Muslims as Americans in the United States. The discussion would include the cultural values and norms of Muslims. The historical and present biased behavior; the Muslims faced in the U.S. Cultural aspects of deliverance of human services will also be researched. The issues of biasness and freedom to live would be studied.

Discussion

Islam is the most rapid growing religion in America and the world. The prediction of many scholars seems to be true that Islam will become the largest minority religion in United States of America. Muslims in America are mainly middle class and normal living people. There are about 1.5 million Muslims (adults) and 850,000 (under the age of eighteen) in the America. They are educated and most of them are attending college and earning good enough as compare to other minorities in United States of America. Gallup reports that most of the Muslim women in America are highly educated, thus making them one of the most highly educated female religious group in the United States. Another study by Gallup in 2009 states that, Muslim American women are more educated than Muslim women in Western Europe, in addition they are more educated than the average American. The annual income reported for American Muslims is within 2 percentage points of the population at large. $ 100,000 or more is made by 16 percent of Muslims. (Pew Research Center)

The cultural norms of Muslims are not very different from the religious groups living in America. The difference exists in the practice of religion. Most of the Muslims practice their religion and have firm believe on it. When we talk about other religions in United States, Christianity is the most common religion. There are many similarities between the religions but practices differ and thus create cultural differences. Muslim men and women covers their head which makes them look different. The beard for men also distinguishes them from others. Most of the Muslim women cover all of their body parts. They do not drink alcohol as it is prohibited in their religion. (Kirkpatrick, 2009, 503, 513-14)

The differences in the culture are wide and thus making the group different and prominent. Racism has not entirely detached from its perpetrators. From the history till present day, the behavior remained biased for Muslims in America. The reasons for this biasness can be various but the affect remains one. The fear and hatred for Muslims is evident in America. The biasness is in the form of cultural prejudice and religion based discrimination. Biasness varies from cultural racism to religious racism. (McMaster, 2003, 288-313). The reasons may include nationality issues, language problems, ethnicity etc. Yet, current practices of racial profiling in the War on Terror perpetuate a logic that demands the ability to define what a Muslim looks like from appearance and visual cues.

Rapid increase in Discrimination

The tragic events of 9/11 had a substantial affect on the position of Muslims in ...