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While the first Muslims in northern Mexico were migrants from the Levant in the early 20th century, since 2010 the number of Muslims living in northern Mexico, particularly the borderlands, has grown rapidly. This is especially true in northern Baja California, where Mexican converts to Islam aid Muslim migrants from the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia who make their way to the city of Tijuana in hopes of claiming asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. The first musallas (places of prayer) were built in the border cities of Tijuana and Rosarito in the 2010s, and they serve diverse communities of Muslims. As Muslim migrants continue to make their way to northern Baja California, the forces of the U.S.-Mexico border shape the emergence of this religious community in a variety of ways. In striving to live a coherent Muslim life, Muslims in this region of Mexico navigate life in a country where few people know about Islam in addition to multiple layers of border security and surveillance developed as part of the U.S. war on terror. While Muslims in the greater Tijuana area come from all over the world, they have recourse to the Islamic discursive tradition in building community together and as a way of making sense of life in a border zone.

Americans have utilized Islam as a rhetorical device for articulating various understandings of American identity from the time of the earliest Anglo-American settlers. In every period, many rejected Islam and Muslims as oppositional to American identity, accusing Islam of inherent despotism that conflicted with American liberty. Others, though, used perceived traits of Islam to critique American behaviors or focused on similarities between Islam and Christianity. Many citizens of the early American republic assumed their country was essentially Protestant, but founding figures such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison indicated their support for a more inclusive polity by listing Muslims among the varieties of people they believed could be good citizens. These men meant this abstractly, as they believed there were no Muslims in the United States at the time and did not know some African slaves were Muslim. American Protestant organizations sent missionaries around the world starting in the early 19th century, including to areas of the Middle East where the Muslim majority was legally protected from proselytization. Therefore, missionaries tended to work with native Christian populations. American missionaries, travelers, and explorers had a great interest in the Holy Land. A frequent theme in their writings was a desire to see this area reclaimed from Islamic rule. They believed the Holy Land could be regenerated through Protestant influence and often suggested Jews could be relocated there. Over time, liberal Protestants moved away from seeking conversions and became more interested in educational and medical aspects of missions. American discussions about Islam intensified again after September 11, 2001. Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” thesis argued that Western civilization and Islamic civilization were inherently incompatible. Others, like John L. Esposito and Feisal Abdul Rauf, focused on the historical and theological similarities between Christianity and Islam to suggest common ground.

Environmental ethics has emerged as one of the most topical issues in modern studies. Islamic ethical foundations and their specific guidelines aim to inspire and sensitize Muslims to become active participants in humanity’s efforts toward curbing the problem of environmental degradation, climate change, and global warming. The Islamic outlook strives for equilibrium between moral and spiritual responsibility and an equilibrated approach to nature and its exploitation. The guiding ethical norms about the significance of the different components of the environment integrate secular concern with spiritual aspects. Islam encourages Muslims to participate and collaborate with others in engineering technical measures to rectify the inflicted damages to the well-being of the ecosystem.

Islamophobia is widely known as the fear of Muslims and Islam. However, there is more to this terminology than just its literal translation. The term Islamophobia itself has been widely debated by scholars over its definitions and use. While many scholars agree that Islamophobia refers to the negative treatment of Muslims and the misrepresentation of Islam, notions of anti-Muslimness are debated. Islamophobia also effects non-Muslim communities and individuals who are perceived to resemble Muslims, such as non-Muslim Arabs, Sikhs, Latine, and other minority religious and ethnic groups. So, what exactly constitutes Islamophobia? Is Islamophobia different than anti-Muslimness or anti-Muslim bigotry? Does Islamophobia refer to the fear/hate of Muslims as people or is it directed toward Islam as a religion? Where does Islamophobia stem from? Understanding Islamophobia, along with its roots and causes, is significant to further explore its impacts on Muslim communities where research is lacking in North America such as in Latin America or the Caribbean. Studying Islamophobia also benefits those who aim to combat the discrimination, prejudice, and bigotry that Muslim communities and individuals face whether they are challenging anti-Muslim laws or campaigning for anti-Islamophobia education. Factors that contribute to advocacy of anti-Muslim hate and fear include politicians with anti-Muslim rhetoric such as in the 2016 American elections, media that depict Muslims as evil and oppressed like the film True Lies, and/or bills and policies that aim to restrict Muslim women like Bill 21 in Quebec, Canada. Islamophobic sentiments and actions often increase after events such as 9/11 when Muslims have to defend themselves to disassociate with allegations of terrorism and are directly affected by mass shootings like in Quebec, Canada, in 2017 and in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019. Muslims around the world suffer from Islamophobia be it through genocide, such as the Rohingya in Myanmar or the Uyghurs in China, or being restricted from practicing their religious beliefs like wearing the hijab or niqab in France.

A central theme in discussions focused on the evolution of intellectual history among Muslims of the Russian Empire has been that of Jadidism and its relationship to modernity. Unfortunately, many decades of historiography have not served the subject well. Even much of the most recent and serious writing has further confused what many think about Jadidism as a form of modernity with (a) its inherent opposition to classical Islamic theology and practice stemming from fundamental epistemological differences, purposes, and goals that thereby render it indifferent to Islamic reform; (b) its rejection of religion’s tethering of humankind to the “straight path” so as to control the former’s natural dark side and make humans reliant socially rather than merely personally on an invented God; (c) its further rejection of religion’s fixed canons, ostensibly the Word of God, that are made infinite through continuing human exegesis and the containment of free will; and (d) its displeasure with the dream of salvation, rather than the exercise of human will, serving as the antidote to the pointlessness and suffering of life. In total, these aspects of Jadidism place it securely within the realm of modernity.

The forms of interaction mediated by the internet brings society closer to the transformations of distinct forms of socialization and the contemporary idea of community. There exists a construction of an imagined community with ethnic and religious borders located in the United States and on the internet. Islamic on one side and Latino on the other side are characteristics expressed in that imagined community that in virtual space can take the form of a cyberenvironment of Islam Latino. Latinx Muslims sought to be represented in front of other Muslims and civil society itself, such as the Latino community in the United States. The internet allows the creation of an extensive community based on the universal ummah and Islamic discourse. However, while the internet allows Islam to reach to minorities such as Latinos, it also enables the creation of cyberspaces where Latinx Muslims can express their needs as a community and claim their Muslim identity; what could form a flexible and changeable cyberenvironment according to their needs. Therefore, the margins that shape the cyberenvironment are a hybridization between Islamic and ethnic aspects.

Even among those most invested in defining “terrorism,” there is an inability to agree on a shared definition. This suggests the political nature of the concept. Terrorism is best understood in relation to other social phenomena, particularly colonialism and capitalism. This essay discusses several questions on the topic of terrorism and violence: What is at stake in the definition of terrorism? What is the relationship of Muslims and Islam to terrorism? What is the scope of counterterrorism? In addressing these questions, the article discusses a range of topics including Black Power, paper terrorism, “Barbary” pirates, the Christian Identity Movement, black identity extremism, racially motivated violent extremism, and the permeation of terrorism concerns into sectors, including education and natural disaster management.

Relics can be found in every era of Islamic history, throughout the Islamic world. In line with other religious traditions of the Near East, the Qur’an mentions several objects endowed with special power (e.g., Joseph’s coat, the Ark of the Covenant). The earliest Islamic literature, preserving the life and mission of Muḥammad, presents details of several revered objects. These include objects handed down from pre-Islamic prophets as well as the discards of Muḥammad’s person, including clothing, weapons, and hair. Saintly figures, descendants of the Prophet, and his companions have also been sources for relics. Relics are displayed and venerated in devotional contexts such as shrines, tombs, mosques, madrasas, and museums. Relics have been paraded on special occasions such as the festival days of the Muslim calendar, in medieval protest marches, as part of the rituals for relief from drought, and as talismans in battle. Despite the occasional objection from austere doctors of law, devotion to relics has remained commonplace. While a full inventory is impossible, five categories may be proposed for the Islamic relic: (a) Bodily relics include the blood of martyrs, hair, and fingernail parings. Shrines have been built over severed heads—the most famous being that of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī (d. 680). (b) Contact relics, having collected the baraka (blessing) of their one-time owners, pass those blessings on to any pilgrim who touches them. Several staffs, lances, bows, shields, turbans, cloaks, and sandals attributed to the Prophet have been preserved, some of which were presented as symbols of authority in the early caliphate. (c) Impressions in stone made by feet, hands, fingers, posteriors, and even hooves are preserved. Muḥammad’s footprints saw a brisk trade in the medieval period, and his sandal inspired a minor tradition of devotional iconography first in manuscript copies and later in modern mass production. (d) Inanimate objects, miraculously endowed with speech or locomotion, constitute a fourth category. These animated relics could be speaking stones or moving trees, particularly in the sacred topographies of Medina and Mecca. (e) Many revered places which were the site of important events have been marked off and preserved. More than commemorations, these “stage relics” anchored sacred history and holy bodies in the landscape. The location of Muḥammad’s birthplace in Mecca was until recently a revered stage relic.

Arabic-speaking peoples, including Palestinians mostly Christian from Ottoman-controlled lands and later living under European mandates in greater Syria, migrated to the Americas, during the last quarter of the 19th century and until the end of the World War II. The creation of the State of Israel in May 1948 meant the expulsion and forced migration of yet more Palestinians, some settling in refugee camps in the region and others moving to distant countries, such as Colombia. This new wave of Palestinian immigrants was overwhelmingly Muslim. The Palestinian diaspora in the 21st century comprises about ten million people around the world and is highly diverse in terms of religious identity. Some communities have organized around supporting the development of their host countries and homeland; nonetheless, not many people are aware of these stories. Also, it is common in the “West” to witness accusations that Palestinians, Muslims, and Arabs in general are violent by nature, as a result of a series of orientalist misconceptions about a people and a religion that, despite exceeding 1,600 billion believers around the world, remains misunderstood. Something similar happens with the Palestinian diaspora in Colombia, where little research has been undertaken to historicize their presence and interactions. Primary and secondary sources illustrate how the Palestinian Muslim immigrant community in Colombia has integrated into the local society and strengthened its ties on a social level beyond the political and economic issues, with consideration of its religious identity and minority condition.

Muslim presence in Latin America is associated with migration processes, with the transnationalization of interpretations of Islam spreading to the region, and with varying stages of institutionalization and growth of the communities in each of the countries involved. There are two previous records of a modest Muslim inflow: Moriscos (i.e., crypto-Muslims who arrived in the Americas after the conquest) and the expressions of Islam brought by enslaved Africans transported to the continent to serve as labor from the 17th century onward. In the Southern Cone, it was Arab immigrants who reinvigorated the presence of Islam; in the Caribbean and the Guianas, indentured laborers from India and Indonesia. In some countries, there have been communities institutionally organized around centers and associations since the early 20th century; in others, the institutionalization process started in the late 1980s. In predominantly Catholic Latin America, Islam has always taken on the form of a religious minority, composed of immigrants of various backgrounds and later also of Latin American converts. Latin American countries have been recipients of expansion projects by certain branches of Muslim tradition, including Shi’ism, promoted by Iran after the 1979 revolution; Saudi Wahhabism; the transnationalization of Sufi orders coming from Asia, such as Naqshbandiyya-Haqqaniyya and Halveti-Jerrahiyya. Worldwide Islam-spreading movements, such as Tablighi Jamaat, Ahmadiyya, and the Murabitun World Movement, also became global, reaching some Latin American countries.

The east African coast and its offshore islands are home to the Swahili cultural tradition. This is a fascinating and long-lived urban tradition that has been synonymous with this coast for nearly two millennia. Archaeologically, Swahili culture is most visible in the remains of a series of stonetowns, which contain houses, mosques, and tombs built of coral and lime. These sites were once cosmopolitan centers of trade and an important part of the medieval Islamic world. They are also the culmination of a long period of urban development, starting with villages built of wattle and daub founded on the coast from around the 7th century ce, which were key players in international trade circuits. The Swahili world is thus associated with a diverse and changing culture, united through oceanic connections and with a range of relationships with interior regions of Africa. The archaeology of these settlements reveals a developmental trajectory that continues directly to the stonetowns of the contemporary coast and islands.

Governance in Islamic history has taken many different forms. The formative period saw most innovative deployment of the Arab tribal norms under the guidance of Islamic norms and the pressure of the rapid expansion. After the conquests, the ruling elite augmented their Arab tribal form of governance with numerous institutions and practices from the surrounding empires, particularly the Persian empire. The Umayyads ruled as Arab chiefs, whereas the Abbasids ruled as Persian emperors. Local influences further asserted themselves in governance after the Abbasids weakened and as Islamization took root. After the fragmentation of the Abbasid empire by the ah 4th century/10th century ce, a distinctively Islamic society emerged whose regional rulers upheld its law and institutions such as land-grants (iqṭāʿ), taxation (kharāj and jizya), education (legal madhhab, jāmiʿ and madrasah), and judiciary (qaḍāh). A triangle of governmental authority was established, with the caliph as the source of legitimacy, symbol of community unity, and leader of religious rites; the sultan as the territorial king who maintained the army and monopoly over violence; and the scholars (ulama’) as socioreligious leaders of their respective communities. The caliph or the sultan appointed the local qāḍīs from among the ulama’, who served not only as judges and mediators but also as moral guides and administers of endowments and jurisconsults and counselors, and thus played a key role in the self-governance of classical Islamic societies.

The history of figurative painting in Islamic lands, although limited to certain regions and periods, includes a meaningful variety of saintly iconographies, mostly as book illustrations. Produced from the turn of the 14th to the early 17th century in Iranian capital cities or in the Ottoman Empire, paintings of prophets illuminate manuscripts of universal histories, encyclopedias, didactic poetry, and anthologies of prophetic biographies (Stories of the Prophets). They depict personages, not necessarily prophets, from the Old and the New Testaments, two Arab prophets mentioned in the Qurʼan, and finally Muhammad (and ʿAli, although he was not a prophet). The acts of these figures served as moral and spiritual models for the individual believers and, no less so, for the desired behavior of Muslim rulers. In Iran, the message of the illustrated texts and their paintings shifts from historical to moral, and often to mystical. In the Ottoman Empire, in addition, the prophets were conceived as forefathers of the Ottoman dynasty. In Moghul India, only Solomon and Jesus were depicted, not very often, while Joseph’s story was quite popular in late Kashmir. The impact of Western iconography and style, which characterize the recurrence of Jesus’ image, is seen also in later Iran, where portrayals of Solomon, Joseph, and Jesus were painted mainly on decorative objects, such as pen boxes and book bindings.

What ethical issues that nanotechnology raise – in its present state of development and in future, projected breakthroughs? Are those ethical issues to be addressed from a utilitarian perspective (pros and cons to humans) or from higher principles, perhaps religious ones? Does Islam address those issues from a theological perspective or from juristic (“Fiqhi”, i.e. harmful/prohibited vs. beneficial/permissible) angle? What viewpoints and stands have ethicists and religious scholars (Muslim and other) advanced on nanotechnology?

Sufism in North America is exceptionally diverse, reflecting its heterogenous origins and complex transnational dynamics. It can be found as an essential, if at times subtle, element of Muslim devotional practice, with several North American Muslim networks and organizations integrating Sufism into their teachings. It manifests more explicitly in various Sufi orders, normally led by a lineage-holding shaykh or shaykha, with a spectrum of approaches to Islamic identity and practice. Sufism has further been drawn upon as a niche resource for literature and commodity within the broader spiritual marketplace, intersecting with popular culture. Sufism in North America is thus an integral aspect of Muslim devotional practice, a distinct spiritual path embodied in various lineages and orders, and a literary phenomenon and popular spiritual commodity.

Diverse Sunni, Shia, Ahmadiyya, Sufi, and other Muslims have lived in Canada since before its Confederation in 1867. The first were likely slaves being moved along the country's Atlantic coast, but there is little historical record to date. Settlers to Alberta have been examined to a greater extent, in part because there are more records of their presence. The first Canadian census in 1871 documented eight Muslims in Northern Alberta who likely worked as merchants and fur traders. There were, however, surely more than eight; Canadian Muslim minorities have long had reason to not be counted. The first officially recognized mosque followed, also in Alberta, in 1938. Immigration policies have long shaped Canadian Muslim life. War Measures Acts in 1914 and 1939 and policies that overtly preferred British Protestant subjects (until 1952) sharply limited Canadian religious diversity, including for Muslims. Initially, most of the early Muslim community were of Middle Eastern origin, but post–World War II immigration policy shifts meant that, beginning in 1968, Muslim Canadians became the country’s most ethnically, racially, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse religious group. The largest Muslim population growth to date in Canada came in the 1990s, with a 130-percent increase, the same period in which there was greater institutionalization of Muslim organizations across the country. In 2021, Canadian Muslims made up approximately 4.8 percent of the national population. Most Muslim Canadians have settled in Canada’s largest and most cosmopolitan urban regions in and surrounding Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. While statistical data show a growth in population, data on the different sectarian branches among the traditions of Islam have been largely inferred based on individual Muslims’ countries of origin. The largest group are Sunnis. Notable Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism have been charted since 2001; the number of reported Islamophobic incidents escalated sharply beginning in 2015, when federal-level anti-niqab policies were introduced. In 2019, anti-niqab laws were established in the province of Quebec.

Park51 is the name of a nonprofit organization that was initially founded to create an Islamic community center in lower Manhattan. The organization’s leaders had hoped that the community center would serve three core purposes: providing local Muslims with a much-needed space to pray and take pride in their identity, uniting the diverse Muslim communities of New York under one roof, and offering services such as child care, educational programs, fitness facilities, and more to the wider city. Originally known as Cordoba House, the project later changed its name to reflect the address of the site that was purchased to create this community center: 51 Park Place. The community center was first conceptualized in 2006 and, over the next few years, elicited support from local city council members, state senators, and others. However, the plans eventually drew the attention of conservative pundits, who condemned the proposal as a potential “victory mosque.” These critics claimed the site was located too close to the sacred space of Ground Zero, where thousands of people were killed on September 11, 2001. Consequently, the project came to be known in mainstream media as the “Ground Zero Mosque.” The damaging rhetoric against Park51 became increasingly severe throughout 2010 as the project became a point of debate in congressional races across the nation. Vitriol, fueled largely by Islamophobia, led to a series of challenges for the organization that effectively stalled progress on their project. After stepping back from the national spotlight for two and a half years to reevaluate their mission, the leaders of Park51 reemerged in 2014 to announce new plans for their site, which now included a residential skyscraper, a prayer space, and a three-story museum dedicated to the faith of Islam and its arts and cultures. Scholarly literature about Islam in America reveals that Islam has a long and complex history in the United States. However, the September 11 attacks created new circumstances and questions with which American Muslims have had to grapple. First, many Muslim Americans faced widespread Islamophobia and hate crimes in the wake of 9/11, creating lasting emotional and psychological distress. The social vulnerability and sense of isolation that many American Muslims experienced was further amplified by other pressures from both inside and outside of their communities. Throughout the early 21st century, Muslims have faced ongoing pressure to foreground their identity as Americans and to show that they are civically engaged citizens. Some scholars have posited that there must be more solidarity among Muslims of different racial, ethnic, national, and other backgrounds to foster mutual support and face these challenges together. Park51 is an organization that spent more than a decade attempting to navigate these complex realities. The inclusion of a museum in the revised plans for its site is particularly noteworthy given the persisting need to shift public perceptions of and misunderstandings about Islam.

Unlike views prevailing in certain cultures that insist on the separation of science and technology from religion, Islamic tradition argues for their interrelatedness, unity, and harmony. Islamic bioethics is both an old and a new field of academic inquiry. It is old in the sense that the practical concern with what are now considered bioethical issues has been present in Islam since its early history. But it is also new in the sense that its domain of inquiry now covers a much wider range of modern ethical issues that do not originate from the Muslim world. Rather, they largely originate from the modern West. It is also new with respect to the kind of philosophical challenges it has to grapple with in response to the competing theories of ethics that seek to best explain the meaning and significance of contemporary bioethics, as well as its relations—especially with its neighboring academic disciplines.

Muslims have been present in North America long before the transatlantic slave trade; Western and North African Muslims were an (involuntary) part of “New World” expeditions as early as the 1500s. Muslims who arrived enslaved during the transatlantic slave trade were often prohibited from practicing, writing about, or discussing Islam. Later, immigration waves, new religious movements, and eventually dedicated centers for teaching about Muslims and Islam and centers of Muslim education and debate yielded sophisticated responses to the specific challenges and benefits of North American Muslim life. Authenticity and connection to Arabo-centric Islam have often characterized theological movements, while the variety of North American Muslim communities developed an ever-changing pallet of Islams and identity markers that still do not coalesce neatly into traditional theological schools. The concept and translation of Islamic theology, or kalam, does not map onto its comparative Christian counterpart. Kalam has historically been employed to define modes of correct Muslim practice within Muslim communities while defending against questions, attacks, or degradations by other religious groups. Islamic theology can be considered from two directions: foundations of practicing Islam that form Muslims’ obligations derived from many Qur’anic interpretations and through the discipline of theology, focused on the rational and technical inquiry of doctrines and arguments to determine correct practice. Both approaches delve into intra-Muslim dialogues, which are vital to the outcome of believers’ performance in this world to prepare for the next. North American experiences inform Muslim approaches to theology, whether attributed to transcontinental migration or developed within the boundaries of North America. Such approaches may sometimes be disparate or even oppositional, accumulated through the lack of a singular religious authority. Numerous leadership groups, histories, informal leaders, and recognized pathfinders who could be considered leading the charge to promote particular theologically driven movements in North America can be pointed to. At the same time, many Muslims in North America do not belong to any particular Muslim organization; they may connect with ethnic or regional communities instead. Tracing the history of Islam in North America is a framework for following North American approaches to theological debates that serve to create, police, or multiply the variety of Muslim experiences in North America. The decentralized development and diversification of Islam in North America contribute to a diversity of theological practices that are better embraced in their multiplicities rather than treated as a cohesive body.

Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) nations have a 90-year history with social work, based on colonial, imported models of practice. There is some success in localizing social work to immediate communities. Social welfare tends to be instrumental, selective, and not comprehensive. Colonialism has hurt political institutions; and geopolitical conflicts, socioeconomic inequality, poverty, and political repression also influence parameters of social work and social change.