slam is the third largest religion in the United States, after Christianity and Judaism.[1] A 2017 study estimated that 3.45 million Muslimswere living in the United States, about 1.1 percent of the total U.S. population.[2]

While an estimated 10 to 20 percent[3][4] of the slaves brought to colonial America from Africaarrived as Muslims,[5][6] Islam was suppressed on plantations.[3] Nearly all enslaved Muslims converted to Christianity during the 18th and 19th centuries. Prior to the late 19th century, the vast majority of documented non-enslaved Muslims in North America were merchants, travelers, and sailors.[5]

From the 1880s to 1914, several thousand Muslims immigrated to the United States from the former territories of the Ottoman Empireand British India.[7] The Muslim population of the U.S. increased dramatically in the second half of the 20th century due to the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished previous immigration quotas.[8] About 72 percent of American Muslims are immigrants or "second generation".[9][10]

In 2005, more people from Muslim-majority countries became legal permanent United States residents—nearly 96,000—than there had been in any other year in the previous two decades.[11][12] In 2009, more than 115,000 Muslims became legal residents of the United States.[13]

American Muslims come from various backgrounds and, according to a 2009 Galluppoll, are one of the most racially diverse religious groups in the United States.[14]According to a 2017 study done by the Institute for Social Policy, “American Muslims are the only faith community surveyed with no majority race, with 26 percent white, 18 percent Asian, 18 percent Arab, 9 percent black, 7 percent mixed race, and 5 percent Hispanic”.[15] The Pew Research Center estimates about 55% of American Muslims are Sunni, while 16% are Shia; the remainder identify with neither group, and may include movements such as the Nation of Islam or non-denominational Muslims.[16] Conversion to Islam in large cities[17] has also contributed to its growth over the years as well as its influence on black culture and hip-hop music.