The U.S. Department of Labor does not provide an employment outlook for Muslim religious scholars, but it does report that job opportunities for college religion and philosophy professors (a similar career category) will increase by 2 percent, slower than the average for all careers, from 2023 through 2033.
Demand for religious scholars will increase because the number of people who practice Islam continues to grow. The Pew Research Center predicts that the number of Muslims in the U.S. will more than double from 3.45 million Muslims in 2015 to 8.1 million Muslims by 2050. Worldwide, it anticipates that the Muslim population will increase by 70 percent, from 1.8 billion in 2015 to nearly 3 billion in 2060. One thing to remember: the number of Islamic scholars is not large, and only the most learned and experienced scholars will be able to find full-time positions.