Converts and Conflict: Islam’s Increasing Influence

Photo via NPR

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Following Zohran Mamdani’s historic win in early November, which made him New York City’s first Muslim mayor, his religion has been a central focus of both his opponents and supporters. Mamdani had widespread support across all religions, but it’s clear that the driving force of his movement came from New York’s Muslim community. 

Finally, after the “blue wave” on November 4th, the Democratic Party is realizing the importance of Muslims as a political group. However, it raises the question of why this group has been largely overlooked until now. The answer is, perhaps deceptively, simple: Muslims are becoming a larger, more powerful voting bloc, so politicians now have to ensure that they are representing their interests. 

This, of course, raises another question: If Muslims are now a crucial demographic to cater to during elections, why is Islamophobia on the rise? According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), there were 8,658 discrimination complaints in 2024, representing a 7.4% increase from the previous year. This includes employment, immigration, and education discrimination, as well as hate crimes. 

Despite the drastic increase in violence and hatred against Muslims, Islam remains the world’s fastest-growing religion, according to a Pew Research study. In fact, Islam grew almost three times more than Christianity did between 2010 and 2020, as Christianity began to decline as a global percentage. Some analysts theorize that in the near future, Islam may surpass Christianity as the world’s largest religion. 

To understand why Islam is growing at such a high rate, one only needs to look at where the religion is most prevalent—the Middle East, North Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. This demonstrates how Muslims are largely concentrated in regions with high population growth. However, it might be a “chicken or the egg” situation; do more Muslims lead to a higher population, or are more people becoming Muslim? Compared to non-Muslim women, who only have 2 children on average, Muslim women have about 3 children. Additionally, Muslims are younger than members of any other religion, meaning they are at the age where they are beginning to start their own families. 

Simply having more children is not the only reason why Islam is surpassing every other religion in followers. There is a unique phenomenon within the Muslim community, or the ummah, that is not seen in other major religions like Christianity. The number of people who leave Islam is offset by the number of people who revert and become Muslim. According to a Pew Research study, about 23% of adults who were raised Muslim no longer identify with their faith, which is relatively similar to those who leave Christianity (22%). 

However, about 23% of Muslims are those who converted into the faith, meaning that there is no net change, compared to Christian converts, who only make up about 6% of their faith. Interestingly, Christians make up the majority of Muslim reverts, with 53% former Protestants and 20% being former Catholics. Only about 19% of reverts stated they had no religion or identified as atheist and/or agnostic, and 4% identified with another religion. 

Another factor that has led to more eyes on Muslims is the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Although the brutal treatment of Palestinians began far before the events of October 7th, it seems to have been a cover for Israel to carry out an onslaught of violence and terror on Gaza and the West Bank.

Despite these horrors, Palestinians remain steadfast in their faith in Allah and in a free Palestine. Such passionate conviction is not something often seen in the United States; so, as images and videos circulate of Palestinian courage, and as the West becomes increasingly aware of what profound faith can grant to a hurting people, more people become interested in learning about Islam.

Naturally, Israel’s continuous slaughter of Palestinians is fueled by Islamophobia, as is America’s unwavering economic and militaristic support. For decades, Muslims have been restricted from walking on the soil of their prophets in Jerusalem or visiting the holy Masjid al-Aqsa. Palestinian children are being attacked and killed; Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student, was arrested by immigration officials despite holding a permanent residency green card. Palestinians living in America are forced to pay taxes to a government that is directly contributing to the genocide of their people. 

But Muslims remain firm in their faith in God. In the face of hate-fueled killings, harassment, verbal and physical attacks, and death threats, the Muslim community is only growing. This upsets the status quo and appears as an attack to those who believe in concepts like “the great replacement” or “white genocide.” 

Islam has always been a misunderstood religion. Since its conception, Muslims have been used as scapegoats for problems a society may have. But people are beginning to recognize the value in the Muslim community, whether it be as a powerful political bloc, a resolute social group, or a devout religion. 

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This article was edited by Ayden Suber and Ella Keddy.