Others don't feel it necessary to cover and are...

Others don't feel it necessary to cover and are, therefore, less noticeable but are ________________________ *A Glossary of Islamic Terms, following Appendix C, gives o definitions for all Islamic terms referred to in the text or quotes. also among the slowing number of converts in the United States and Canada.

No one knows for sure how many of the world's one billion Muslims live in the United States and Canada, but the American Muslim Council of Washington, D,C., estimates the Muslim population to be between 6 and 8 million including American-born converts, those who have immigrated, and a growing number of children born Muslim in America. Thus Islam may already have more followers in the United States than Judaism which has 5.5 million adherents.

This would make Islam the second-leading religion after Christianity. The growing number of mosques and student centers also reflects the emerging presence of Islam. Around 1985 there were approximately six hundred mosques, student centers, and other Islamic centers with the numbers growing. Muslim history in the United States is fairly short. The booklet, A Century qf Islam in America,(1) indicates three waves of Muslim immigration.

The first occurred in 1875 with migrant laborers, uneducated and unskilled workers willing to work hard. Many stayed, but those who returned home encouraged others to come to America. The second wave in the 1930s was stopped by World War II. The third wave of immigrants in the '50s and '6es tended to be welt educated and from influential families, often trying to escape political oppression or to obtain higher education.

Muslims tend to group in the larger cities where they have support from each other. Many of the larger universities have active Muslim groups, It is here they learn from and help each other live the Muslim lifestyle that is at times difficult to blend with the schedule and activities of the American society. Muslims are obligated to fisllow the practices of Islam in every detail in daily life.

These practices are dictated by the Qur'an and the Hadith (the reported sayings, deeds, and practices of Muharnmad), and by the other examples attributed to . Unique in many Western settings is the right to practice ________________________ Yvonne Y. Haddad, A Century of Islam (Washington, D.C.: The Middle East Institute, 1986). religion as one desires, which extends to Muslims the opportunity to live their lives Islamically as interpreted in their community.