Muslims can be found from Africa (278,250,800) through all of
Asia (636,976,000). In the New World, the United States has
10.000.000 adherents while in the Caribbean, there are at least 400,000
Muslims. Suriname itself has 100,000 believers (almost 25%), Trinidad
and Tobago another 100,000, Venezuela 50,000, and Guyana 120,000.
The remainder may be found in Barbados, Grenada, Dominica, Puerto
Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands, and Jamaica. I In some New World
countries, it was the Africans who introduced Islam.
When many historians analyze African and African American
religions. they usually concentrate on indigenous African religions and
the conversion of Africans in America to Christianity. Included in the
discussion is the estabishment and development of the Black church in
Amierca. Themes usually not mentioned are (I) a few Africans were
already Christians before their capture, (2) some Africans retained their
indigenous religious beliefs in whole or in part, and (3) a significant
number of Africans were Muslims. Even scholarly works such as The
Muslims of America, edited by Yvonne Haddad, exclude any reference
to early Muslims from Africa in its historical references. Islam in North
America: A Source hook, edited by Michael AKoszegi and 1. Gordon
Melton, provides a short bibliography and other minimal historical
information though it does acknowledge early contributions of
Africans. Likewise, Akbar Muhammad's article "Muslims in the United
States: History, Religion, Politics and Ethnicity" claims that the.
foundation of the American Muslim community was the work of
European American hummanists and social and religious malcontents.
Further, he maintained that African Americans were merely the
religious successors of those earlier whites. 2
There is a historical union between Islam and Africans. According
to Islamic tradition and Ibn Ishaq, a biographer of Muhammad, it was
an Ethiopian named Bilal Ibn Rabah who first called the Muslims to
prayer. Born in Mecca, Bilal was one of the initial converts to Islam,
preached in 1610 by a local merchant of Mecca named Muhammad the
Prophet. In 622 during the Hijra, the emigration of Muhammad and his
followers from Mecca to Medina, Bilal accompanied the Prophat over
1. Larry Luxner, "Muslims in the Caribbean," Arameo World 38 (September-December
1987): 3.
2. Akber Muhammad, "Muslims in the United States: History. Religion , Politics and
Ethnicity. "Journal Illstitute o/Muslim Millority Affairs 12:2 (July 1991) : 439.

the next decade as macebearer, steward, and as his muezzin. There is
some confusion over Bilal's history after the Prophet's death in 632,
but it seems he may have accompanied Muslim'armies to Syria where
he may have died between 638 and 642.

Book NEITHER CHRISTIAN NOR HEATHEN; ISLAM AMONG THE AFRICAN SLAVES IN THE AMERICAS author : George H. Juone, Jr.