The first significant waves of immigration of Muslims to North America came through three centuries of the slave trade. In the midst of brutal treatment and forced conversion to Christianity, many African Muslims preserved their religious identities.... Read more about The First American Muslims

For America's first Muslims, prayer took place in private homes or rented public spaces which grew into Islamic associations. As Muslims began to establish roots in America, their communities started to build American earliest mosques in Maine, North Dakota, Michigan, and Indiana between 1915 and 1925.... Read more about Early American Mosques

Prominent African American Muslim leaders and organizations include Noble Drew Ali (founder of the Moorish Science Temple), Ahmadiyyah missionaries from India, and the Lost-Found Nation of Islam in America led by Elijah Muhammad. Some of these groups are distanced from the Muslim ummah due to teaching that was contradictory to the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad. Black Muslims now make up over 20 percent of the American Muslim population.... Read more about African American Islam Reborn

The number of Muslim immigrants in the United States increased after World War II and again after the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 eliminated the previous quota system based on national origins. Efforts at unity were illustrated by the opening of Islamic centers and Muslim student associations across the country.... Read more about New Immigration and the First Organizations

The history of the Nation of Islam continued in the mid-1960s under the leadership of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. Mohammed focused on reforming the organization with an emphasis on orthodox Islam and interracial and interreligious collaborations. Other important African-American Islam organizations emerged, such as the Dar-ul Islam movement and the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA).... Read more about African-American Islam Reformed: “Black Muslims” and the Universal Ummah

Increasing internal diversity of Muslims in the United States after 1965 led to the creation of national organizations such as the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the North American Shi’a Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities (NASIMCO). Many social, educational, and charitable Muslim organizations contributed solutions to wider social issues and built Muslim communities from the ground up.... Read more about Emerging Islamic Infrastructure