Islam is a major world religion that was proclaimed by the Prophet Muhammad in what is now Saudi Arabia in the 7th century C.E. Starting in the Prophet Muhammad’s lifetime and during the centuries after his death, Islam spread rapidly through the Middle East to Africa, Europe, the Indian subcontinent, the Malay Peninsula, and China. Today, Islam is the second-largest religion in the world with approximately 1.9 billion followers (including 3.45 million in North America).
The first Muslims in the United States arrived as slaves from Africa in the 17th century. Scholars estimate that 25 to 35 percent of slaves were Muslims. These slaves were not allowed to practice their faith, but passed it on in secret to their children.
In the mid-19th century, a wave of Muslim immigrants began arriving in the United States. From the late 1800s to the 1920s, a large number of Arab immigrants (mostly Christian, but some Muslim) arrived in America—mostly settling in the Midwest. The first mosque in the United States was established in 1929 by Syrian-Lebanese immigrants in Ross, North Dakota. (Some mosques were established earlier, but they were in existing buildings.) According to the U.S. Department of State, the mosque “was built to handle rugged prairie winters. It was constructed as a sub-basement to shelter it from wind and cold. It was small—about 111 square meters—and contained a coal stove as well as benches and a rug. Spiritual leaders came from Canada or Minneapolis for a few weeks, living temporarily with Ross families, to teach and hold services.” The mosque was dismantled in the 1970s, but a smaller mosque was rebuilt near the original location in 2005. The oldest surviving mosque—the Mother Mosque of America—is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was built in 1934. Today, there are more than 2,765 mosques in the United States, but a shortage of imams to serve followers.