Pew Poll On Muslim Americans: Spotlight On Black Muslims

Everyone is talking about Pew Research Center's new poll of American Muslims, called "Muslim Americans: Middle-Class And Mostly Mainstream".

The good news: Muslims are largely are assimilated into society, and income and education levels among Muslims mirror those of the general U.S. population. U.S. Muslims also reject extremism significantly more than Muslims in Europe.

The bad news: more than 1 in 4 American Muslims under age 30 admitted that they believe that suicide bombings are justified in the name of Islam. Only 40% of all Muslims believe that Arab men were behind the 9/11 attacks (despite Osama bin Laden's own claim to it). This is certainly disturbing. I want to particularly highlight what the poll says about black Muslims, who - although the Pew poll doesn't expressly point it out - constitute 2% of all black Americans:

Demographics: 26% of all U.S. Muslims describe themselves as black. 20% of all Muslims living in America are native-born blacks. However, more than half (56%) of all native-born Muslims are blacks, with the majority being converts to Islam as opposed to growing up in the religion. Only 10% of foreign-born Muslims describe themselves as black.

Nearly half of all native-born black Muslims identify as Sunni. 34% say they are just Muslim, and 15% have another affiliation, including Shia and the Nation of Islam. 59% of all American converts to Islam are native-born blacks.

Almost two-thirds of native-born black Muslims are male (64%). This statistic suggests that Islam's very conservative values regarding women is surely a key reason hampering native-born black female converts to the religion.

Most native-born black Muslims are also over the age of 30, with this group having among the lowest share under 30 (28% for native-born black Muslims), even though native-born black Muslims are significantly younger than the public at large. This finding suggests that most native-born black Muslims convert after age 30.

57% of native-born black Muslims share a home with one or more non-Muslims, which is opposite of Muslims in general (61% of whom share a home where everyone is Muslim).

Religiosity: Native-born black Muslims (54%), are more likely to attend mosque weekly than are native-botn Muslims and especially foreign-born Muslims in general. The Pew poll doesn't mention it, but this is even higher than the 41% of all black Americans who attend religious services every week.

Employment & Business Ownership: Native-black Muslims (45%) match the full-time employment rate for all Muslims (41%). 32% of native-born black Muslims say that they are self-employed or own a small business. The Pew poll doesn't mention it, but that is compared to the 8% rate among all black Americans.

On Whether To Assimilate Into American Society: Nearly half (47%) of native-born black Muslims (47%) say that Muslim newcomers to the United States of American should strive to keep their religious and cultural identities; only 31% believe they should try to assimilate. By contrast, pluralities of other native-born Muslims and foreign-born Muslims say that Muslims arriving in the United States should try to adopt American customs.

Social Attitudes: One attitudinal thing that the Pew report reveals: "However, there is somewhat more acceptance of Islamic extremism in some segments of the U.S. Muslim public than others. Fewer native-born African American Muslims than others completely condemn al Qaeda." Just 36% of native-born black Muslims have a very unfavorable view of al Qaeda, compared to 65% of foreign-born U.S. Muslims and 51% of all native-born Muslims. This finding is related to another one: native-born Muslims, black American and others, more often believe that they have been singled out since the 9/11 attacks on the United States and are bothered by the extra scrutiny. Half of all native-born black Muslims say they have been the target of bigotry based on their religion in the past 12 months, compared with 28% of white Muslims and 23% of Asian Muslims.

The Pew report continues about native-born black American Muslims: "More generally, native-born African American Muslims are the most disillusioned segment of the U.S. Muslim population. When compared with other Muslims in the U.S., they are more skeptical of the view that hard work pays off [56%, versus 75% for all native-born Muslims and 74% for all foreign-born Muslims], and more of them believe that Muslim immigrants in the U.S. should try to remain distinct from society. They also are far less satisfied with the way things are going in the United States. Just 13% of African American Muslims express satisfaction with national conditions, compared with 29% of other native-born Muslims, and 45% of Muslim immigrants." However, native-born black Muslims are not outliers on these issues when compared to black Americans in general, as a Pew poll last year found that 59% of all black Americans agreed that hard work brings success.

If I was an al Qaeda jihadist reading this report, I would target native-born black Muslims to do my dirty work. They (1) have significantly more grievances about the United States than do foreign-born Muslims living in the U.S., and (2) black American Muslims make up the majority of native-born Muslims, and black American Muslims might slip under the security radar more than Arab or Asian Muslims; and (3) native-born black Muslim are likelier to go mosque services. It is interesting that native-born black Muslims have so much hostility toward America, given that black life in USA is far superior to black folks' lives in any predominantly Muslim country (Yemen or Sudan, anyone?).

Both native-born Muslims and foreign-born Muslims express similar levels of disapproval of homosexuality. But native-born black Muslims stand out for their particularly high levels of opposition (75% say homosexuality should be discouraged). This Pew Research Center report doesn't mention it, but that is compared to 64% of all black Americans.

Religion & Politics: The report found that native-born Muslims, especially native-born blacks (79%), express overwhelming support for the notion that mosques should express their views on social and political matters Foreign-born Muslims who were born abroad take the opposite view, with six-in-10 saying that mosques should keep out of political matters. This is significantly higher than polls done of all black Americans, 66% of whom believe that religious institutions should express political views. Hence, no surprise there.

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