Ahmadiyya in the United States
Ahmadiyya is an Islamic branch in the United States. The earliest contact between the American people and the Ahmadiyya movement in Islam was during the lifetime of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. In 1911, during the era of the First Caliphate of the Community, the Ahmadiyya movement in India began to prepare for its mission to the United States. However, it was not until 1920, during the era of the Second Caliphate of the Ahmadiyya movement, that Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, under the directive of the caliph, would leave England on SS Haverford for the United States. Sadiq established the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the United States in 1920.[1] The U.S. Ahmadiyya movement is considered by some historians as one of the precursors to the Civil Rights Movement in America. The Community was the most influential Muslim community in African-American Islam until the 1950s.[2] Today, there are approximately 15,000 to 20,000 American Ahmadi Muslims spread across the country.
Demographics[edit]
Between 1921 and 1925, there were 1,025 converts to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, many of whom were African American from Chicago and Detroit. By the 1940s, the Ahmadiyya movement had between 5000 and 10,000 members in the United States.[40] By the 1980s, there were roughly 10,000 Ahmadi Muslims in the country, of whom 60% were African-Americans. The remainder consisted of immigrant populations from Pakistan, India and the African continent.[69] Today, there are roughly 15,000 to 20,000 Ahmadi Muslims across the country.[70] Although Ahmadi Muslims have a presence across several U.S. states, sizeable communities exist in New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and in Dayton, Ohio.[71]
Muslims for Life blood drives[edit]
Since the tenth anniversary of 9/11, members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community have been holding an annual blood drive in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the attacks. While working with Muslims for Life, a U.S. Ahmadiyya charitable initiative, and the American Red Cross, the Community in its first year of its collection, collected 11,000 pints of blood. The initiative comes in an effort to bring together different people, amid the rising tensions in the post 9/11 era.[72] It also comes in an attempt to honor the victims of the attack.[73]