Here in Philadelphia, the religion of Islam has been growing steadily, and not just from immigrant influence, but from "home-grown" as well. In Philadelphia, where CHAIM Ministry to the Jews (www.chaim.org) does most of its missions work, we meet Muslims all the time. When we "aim" for the Jews, it seems we reach the Muslims as well. As of 5 years ago, Philadelphia has had one of the highest number of African-American converts to Islam of all major cities in the US. 80% of these, however, were raised in the church. (!) 2/3 of Philadelphia Muslims are now African-American, and there are over 15,000 Muslims (foreign-born and domestic) in the city's public schools. So local churches would do well to take more than a passing interest in learning how to share gospel faith with them. Philadelphia was the first US city to adopt the Muslim holiday of Eid (pronounced "eede"). When Islam first made a significant presence here, it was due to the Black Muslim movement started by F.D. Fard, who founded "The Nation of Islam". This was actually a cult, or heresy of Islam because of its teaching that "God is a Black man", and that the Negro race is superior to the White. Fard's disciple was Elijah Mohammad, who taught that Fard was divine. Elijah also taught that the Black race must separate and subdue the White, and (FYI), Elijah Mohammad's disciple is Louis Farrakhan. The filming of the movie "Malcolm X" (1992) with Denzel Washington produced a huge increase in Muslim conversions among Philadelphia's young blacks, as well as a return movement to traditional Islam among them. One reason: Malcolm X had a kind of conversion experience (not in the "Christian sense) when he made his first pilgrimage to Mecca and saw that true Islam was egalitarian. Contrary to what he had advocated and taught for years, he saw that true Islam did not support the racism of "Nation of Islam", and when he returned to the US to share this revelation, he angered some of his co-religionists. This may have led to his assassination. The point is, more young blacks are finding their way into traditional Islam than ever before and the churches must respond to this, for these are the very children and grand-children of their own congregations! Unfortunately, the ignorance of the true nature of this faith, even in its traditional form is still so widespread. And this ignorance is propagated by the Philadelphia Mayor's Office and the Obama State Department so that it's hard for most people to get a "bead" on what the traditional and Qur'anic faith actually does teach. I've read the Qur'an. It's violent, and it's intolerant of rival claims to God. No, Islam doesn't advocate racism: Malcolm X got that right, but what it does teach is alarming enough. So ... question authority. Get a copy of the Qur'an, read it with an open mind, and then decide if your President and your government are doing their constitutional duty to protect you.
