Making Of An American Muslim Practice

Because the United States is home to an enormous variety of Muslims from all around the world, many different traditions of interpretation have blossomed in the country as well. Sunni Muslims constitute the majority of American Muslims, but there is a large Shi'a community as well, which includes different types of Shi’a groups, such as Twelvers, Ismailis, and Bohras, each with distinct beliefs and religious practices. America’s several dozen Sufi orders also play a major role in diversifying the country’s landscape of Islamic practice. With roots from locations as diverse as West Africa to Southeast Asia, American Sufi communities emphasize spiritual practices and inner purification. In addition, minority groups like the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community offer their own unique interpretations of Islamic teachings and practices, and are well-known for promoting peace, tolerance, and service to the broader good of humanity.

As the American Muslim population grew, due to both immigration and conversion, and as more and more MSA members graduated and took professional positions in the United States, there was rising interest in the MSA in supporting and coordinating with non-college-based Islamic organizations. By the late 1970s, new mosques were being founded all across the country, often by former members of the MSA, and with increasing contact being made with other American Islamic organizations, the MSA was able to lead an effort to unite many of America’s Muslims under a single umbrella organization, what was to be called the Islamic Society of North America. ISNA grew faster than its predecessor. By 1982, 112 mosques and other Islamic organizations had joined along with nearly all of the MSA chapters, and a dozen years later ISNA had the affiliation of over 250 mosques and Islamic centers in the United States alone. During that decade ISNA grew tremendously. Its national conventions became the largest for any Muslim organization in the country, reaching 40,000 attendees by the turn of the decade, and its flagship publication, Islamic Horizons, became the most widely disseminated Muslim magazine in the country.

In the twenty-first century, ISNA and the MSA have remained leading Muslim institutions in the United States. Through their efforts to foster interfaith dialogue, advocate for civil liberties, and address Islamophobia, both organizations have remained highly prominent in the public sphere. In addition, ISNA has played a respected role in American Muslim religious life through its continued promotion of religious education and through its support of the Fiqh Council of North America, a body of Islamic scholars and imams who issue religious recommendations as a guide to Muslims in America. Over the last twenty-five years, ISNA has also been notable for supporting diversity in American Muslim leadership. Through these and their many other achievements since 1963, the MSA and ISNA stand as testament to the power of unity, education, and community building within the American Muslim population.