Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
All I'm saying is that you don't really see that in cities in the south or the west coast. I'm pretty sure a muslim wearing a burqa in cities like San Diego or Jackson, MS would more likely be stared down like an alien or even possible harassed. In those cities it would probably be shocking for most residents to see that(especially in downtown areas) while in Philly it's no big deal. That's the difference.
People get used to sights like that, and I'm sure they would in other cities. They aren't doing harm to anyone. And as long as their religion is their own private matter, to each his own.
This subject really hits home to me. Literally. Moved to Deep West Philly, near 52 & Market. Probably the biggest Muslim hot spot in the entire city. From Jamaica, Queens NYC as a young kid and lived across Philly next to Camden during my adolescence. Living on the deep side of West Philly really opened up my eyes to an entire different world that exists on the peripheral of the city's mainstream [media] culture. I really do see and feel how Islam is more than just a religion but a way of life. It's a beautiful thing I find and amazing to seeing so many generations develop since the 1950's, which gives the religion the sense of stability and normalization it has today in Philadelphia. At the same time there a new cultural phenomenon it now has because, perhaps because not it generationally hit a point where it strikes on a large percentage of great/grandparents, into babyboomer families.
It's crazy remembering back to a young child when i believed that Islam was only an Arabic middle eastern phenomenon. When I was an adolescent in highschool I first saw afro-muslims when passing through Camden and in the rare occasion I went into Philly. I didn't understand it and it was very alien to me (but I didn't have any personal judgement, just some misconceptions). Overtime as I go into radical politics and studied culture I began to understand the background. In recent years, especially when I moved to a very large Islamic populated region, I've grown to love it as an intimate part of my community on the level that I could say that Islamic culture is a part of my life (although I am not Muslim). There is still a lot for me to understand culturally. It's really great to see people talking about this.
One huge thing that needs to be noted is that Philadelphia is a majority black city, in an unusual context in that, at the same it, it holds high cultural significant to anglo-America too. It's a grey city, both equally black and white cultural, which also seems to play a major part in it being a safe neutral haven for fringe Afrocentric culture to flourish in ways that other cities were not able too (only in small pockets that never grew past themselves). It's really interesting.
I think that many non-afro philadelphian's don't realize the level that Islam plays in the city. It's like people see it but it doesn't register as to how big of a percentage Muslims are in the city. You don't know unless you live in the neighborhoods, your black, or your white and you actually past through (which most don't at all). Philly seems like it's a coin, when your white you see the white side the 'strongest/clearest', black the blackside. (I'm only speaking in generality here on the level of sociocultural, not on an interpersonal level.)
Does anyone know the Philly population percent that is Muslim?
There are other cities with muslim enclaves but no city with the amount of black muslims as Philly. I went to Community College of Philadelphia and in a few of my classes about a quarter of the girls wore burqas. But then some days they would come in in regular clothes and I'd be like "whose that?". Deep West Philly might be the biggest muslim enclave in the US.
Regarding the beard I gaurantee Philadelphia has the highest percentage of beards of any place in the country. A lot of them are Muslim Sunni beards but you also see tons of people rocking the big beard just because they like it (probably even more for this reason then for religious reasons). It's kind of a sign of respect in the city. My old neighbors in North Philly had 7 or 8 men living in the house and they all had beards bigger then James Hardens or Rick Ross's.
Even in the surrounding cities of Philadelphia there are high muslim populations. I know Wilmington, DE has a higher then average black muslim population.
Philadelphia may have more muslims per capita than any other major city in the United states. The majority of muslims in Philadelphia are sunni, many muslim and non-muslim african American men grow a beard it has come to be a normal in philly. Many popular rappers in Philadelphia are muslim such as Beanie sigel, Freeway, tone trump, A-R ab and many more, many non muslim african Americans have also adopted Islamic names such as omar, raheem, jamal, aisha, fatima to name a few. The sunni beard has become a major trend among african American men there are many mosques in the city. Kenny gamble is a muslim as well a major song writer who has written over 150 platinum and gold records
Per capita I believe that emporia, va has the largest percentage of NOI members.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
