Dr. Ihsan Bagby, Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Kentucky, was the guest speaker for the Mosque Foundation's Monthly English Program on Saturday, March 22, 2008. Dr. Bagby, an African-American who converted to Islam in 1969, has done extensive research on Islam and the African-American experience, historically to present time.

Dr. Bagby stated that Muslims living in America today should not feel intimidated by people portraying Islam as "new" or "foreign" in the United States, when in fact, Muslims have been here since the first American colonies were formed.  An estimated 10% of the African slaves brought to America were Muslim, mainly from the Senegal-Gambia region.  That's close to one million Muslims in the United States before 1900! 

Between the 1920's to the 1960's, there were two large groups of African-American Muslims: one group who followed the orthodox Islam, and another group who mixed other elements with Islam.  These groups maintained a separatist existence, separated from each other and from American society.  Early African-American Muslims felt alienated from white America, and Islam gave them an alternative to uplift them from the overt racism in America at that time.

From the 1980's, larger numbers of immigrant Muslims were trying to establish their mosques and communities internally, but were also, to a large degree, separated from American society. 

This is the first time in history that such a large number of Muslims, both indigenous and immigrants, are living under a non-Muslim rule, and both groups are starting to come to the realization that they need to be united.

May Allah reward Dr. Bagby for his fascinating presentation, and we look forward to his book "African American Muslim Movements and Experiences: The Struggle between Race, Religion and Nationality," to be published soon.