The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) is a non-religious, nonpartisan nonprofit organization that provides objective research and education about American Muslims to support well-informed dialogue and decision-making. Founded in 2002, ISPU has been at the forefront of discovering trends and opportunities that impact American Muslims for almost 20 years. ISPU builds understanding and strengthens communities by laying a foundation of actionable research. As the only organization of its kind, it is the go-to source for anyone seeking objective information about Muslims in America and the issues that impact them.
Since 2002, ISPU has equipped tens of thousands of change makers including:
Islam has a centuries long tradition of inspiring its adherents to contribute to humanity based on conviction in its tenets. Previous generations of Muslims were on the forefront of contributing to medicine, philosophy, architecture, and governance among other areas. We are an institute aiming to rekindle this tradition.
Constant negative portrayals of Islam have put Muslims in a defensive position in which they constantly have to justify their convictions, while fighting off the natural doubts and insecurities that arise in such a climate. As such, young Muslims should be intellectually equipped and spiritually anchored in a way that empowers them to deal with the onslaught of doubt-inducing claims routinely leveled against Islam.
Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research is a nonprofit think tank launched in 2016 to counter this narrative by magnifying trusted voices within the Muslim community to tell their own story. Yaqeen is dedicated to providing academic research on Islam from foremost Muslim scholars and academics, making it an authoritative reference point on contemporary Islamic discourse and Muslim identity formation. Yaqeen aims to directly address these topics by producing quality research that is carefully disseminated through articles, surveys, journals, videos, infographics, conferences, toolkits, curriculum, mobile applications, and more. By ensuring that their content is fully accessible, Yaqeen seeks to nurture conviction in Muslims to inspire positive change and contribution to society as a whole.
Little understanding or misunderstanding of Islam, a lack of data on American Muslims, and a dearth of Muslim voices in policy circles in America
Research organizations focused on the study of normative Islam (Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research) and the trends, opportunities, and challenges of American Muslims (Institute for Social Policy and Understanding)
The latest survey data on American Muslim demographics, religiosity, civic engagement, contributions, and attitudes toward political and social issues
Digestible, data-based recommendations gleaned from ISPU’s rigorous research publications in accessible formats, including toolkits, videos, and infographics
Background on issues seldom discussed to help bring new perspectives to understanding community and current events
Direct access to more 50 experts on issues related to Muslims in the United States through ISPU’s scholar network
Signature trainings tailored to equip policymakers, media professionals, educators, and faith leaders with facts on American Muslims
Research that is produced by mainstream Muslim scholars and academics that demonstrates the beauty of the Islamic tradition often obscured by Islamophobic narratives and extremist distortions
A research engine that has published over 130 high-quality, peer-reviewed research papers on Islam
Academic papers systematically converted into videos, audiobooks, infographics, live broadcasted Q&A sessions, curricula, journals, and other media assets distributed online
Structured learning for Muslim institutions, media outlets, policymakers, youth groups, and self-paced individual learners looking to navigate complex topics with simplicity and cutting-edge technology
A platform to highlight present-day efforts of Muslims who have been inspired by their faith to contribute positively to humanity, with ideas and recommendations to inspire many more
Founder and President of The Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research
Dr. Ali S. Taqi is an ER physician working out of three hospitals in Pontiac, Michigan, who has treated many COVID-19 patients through several night shifts in the ER. Dr. Taqi also serves as a volunteer first responder (Lieutenant) on the Troy Fire Department as well as the EMS coordinator for St. Joseph Mercy Oakland.
Suzy Ismail is the founder of Cornerstone, a New Jersey nonprofit coordinating multiple initiatives including #FeedingtheFrontlines, a partnership with New Brunswick Islamic Center to support local halal restaurants by covering the costs of meals and helping package and deliver lunches and dinners to local hospitals for doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff.
Dr. Mona S. Masood is the founder of Physician Support Line, a peer-to-peer support line made up of over 300 volunteer psychiatrists providing free support to their physician colleagues as they navigate this crisis.
A third of Muslim families are low income (living at or below the poverty line), a larger percentage than any other major faith community in America. Low-income people have been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Economically disadvantaged Americans are the most likely to be frontline workers, to lack access to proper healthcare, and to have no cash or credit cushion should they lose their job, magnifying the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis on poor families.
Half of American Muslims are born in the United States, and 86% of Muslims are Americans by birth or naturalization.
In fact, stronger Muslim religious identities correlate with stronger American identities, according to data. Such data challenges the myth that Americanness and Muslimness are mutually exclusive.
As a 2016 Yaqeen study on internalized Islamophobia demonstrated, constructing a strong identity based on deep conviction and confidence can lead to a healthier young Muslim individual that feels valued and responsible for contributing to society as a whole.
It has become a recurring preoccupation of media pundits and politicians to argue about whether Islam itself is violent and whether such terrorist groups can be justifiably called “Islamic.”
As Dr. Nazir Khan contends in his paper Forever on Trial—Islam and the Charge of Violence, this rhetoric is not only dangerous but dangerously inaccurate.
ISPU’s 2018 American Muslim Poll found that Muslims were the least likely of all faith groups measured to accept both military and individual violence against civilians.
But should they be expected to?
Here’s one point of view: ISPU Director of Research Dalia Mogahed says, “When [acts of ideologically motivated violence perpetrated by non-Muslims] occur, we don’t suspect other people who share their faith and ethnicity of condoning them. We assume that these things outrage them just as much as they do anyone else. And we have to afford this same assumption of innocence to Muslims.”
Americans who are Muslim have been targets of unconstitutional and unwarranted surveillance by local and federal law enforcement, and receive an average of four times the prison sentence as other Americans facing similar allegations. This is despite the fact that in 2019 most violent extremist arrests involved white supremacists.
A strong majority of Americans want to live in a nation where no one is targeted for their faith, and most Americans oppose the surveillance of mosques. Moreover, the majority of Americans support Muslim civil rights. Americans who are Muslim are as likely as other Americans to express concern about violence in the name of Islam and are more likely to reject violence in the name of any ideology. And yet their civil liberties are often violated in the name of national security.
A recent study by ISPU found that perceived Muslims accused of a violent plot received more than seven times the media attention as their non-Muslim counterparts, despite similarities in their alleged crimes. Similarly, Muslim-perceived defendants accused of violent acts were referenced in the media more than four times the rate of their non-Muslim counterparts.
Individual Muslims determine the role of religious rules in their lives depending on their personal beliefs. If a legal dispute arises involving one of those rules, individuals will likely find themselves in litigation, raising claims before an American judge. Anti-shariah legislation restricts the rights of American Muslims to apply religious rules to their lives, from legal matters such as how they specify their wealth is divided after their death to personal matters of devotion like praying five times a day and fasting in the month of Ramadan.
As explained by Muslim scholars, nothing in Islam gives Muslims general permission to lie. The origin of the notion of taqiyya refers to the permissibility for Muslims to conceal their faith if identifying as Muslims puts their lives in danger. Even this concept in its most accurate form is so esoteric to most Muslims that they often only learn of it from Islamophobes.
American women who are Muslim are one of the most educated female religious groups in the United States. They also overwhelmingly view their faith as a source of happiness and a part of their identity for which they feel a great deal of pride. As described in a Yaqeen Institute publication, the rights afforded to women by Islam in the seventh century include the right to enter into a consensual marriage, to remain their own legal entities after marriage, to initiate a divorce, to receive child support, to own property, to pursue education, and to be involved in social and political affairs, long before women more broadly were afforded these rights.
Many Muslim women rise to the tops of their professions as doctors, lawyers, and scholars. A recent study suggests U.S. news media’s disproportionate focus on gender discrimination in Muslim societies, while ignoring similar issues in non-Muslim societies, contributes to stereotypes that Muslims are distinctly sexist and misogynistic.
The language of liberating Muslim women from Islam in the name of allyship serves instead to reinforce false myths about women in Islam, even in supposedly supportive spaces.
In fact, according to ISPU research Jews and Muslims mirror views of each other, with about half of each group holding favorable views of the other. Furthermore, Jews are the mostly likely faith group to know a Muslim, with three in four reporting knowing a Muslim personally, compared with about half of the general public. Islamophobia and anti-semitism go hand in hand, both stemming from the larger tree of bigotry.
By Imam Omar Suleiman, Founder and President of The Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research
As a minority faith group, American Muslims have been prone to embrace any politician or alliance that embraces them. However, many Muslims have come to realize that the tokenization of the Muslim community usually follows a pattern of temporary embrace to permanent abandonment based on mere political convenience. There has also been a trend to only associate with Muslims who have not been viciously targeted by the billion-dollar Islamophobia industry, which seeks to demonize mainstream Muslim organizations and leaders, rendering the community unable to tell its own story and appoint its own representatives in consequential spaces. Muslims often face only conditional embrace, with the embracing parties unwilling to challenge their own Islamophobic biases and inconsistencies. When conservatives limit their calls for religious freedom to Christian religious freedom, and liberals limit their calls for inclusivity to liberal Muslims, they both betray their own professed ideals.
Muslims are not a racial group but a faith group that happens to be made up primarily of minority races. As a faith group, Muslims have binding theological commitments that do not make them disloyal citizens. They seek both the ability to preserve their faith and participate with it. That means that Muslims have concerns with religious freedom in that they seek the ability to practice Islam fully in their institutions without intimidation or legal restriction, and at the same time participate with their Islam fully by productively leading the way in combating hatred, poverty, systemic injustice, etc., without being asked to forsake what makes them uniquely Muslim.
Islamophobia is not merely anti-Muslim harassment in the public space but a complex form of bigotry that penetrates government agencies, societal trends, and media spaces, often without accountability.
Muslims’ top priorities for the nation are the economy and civil rights.
Removing systematic bias in law enforcement and the criminal justice system is a top priority of American Muslims.
By Imam Omar Suleiman
Muslims wish to be able to practice their faith in their daily lives and institutions without interference. This means being able to live in accordance with Islamic scripture and not be forced to violate any religious tenets. The community seeks assurances that Muslims will be able to worship and abide by Islamic obligations without facing discrimination or being legally penalized for being faithful. Any legislation that infringes on the right of the community to live in accordance with Islamic teachings in peaceful co-existence can be perceived as threatening and bigoted. Politicians and policymakers need to take the time to understand how Muslims have felt left out of religious freedom initiatives, often led by Evangelicals, and have been made uneasy by certain proposals from liberals that seem to rob the community of self-determination.
By Imam Omar Suleiman
While Islamophobia has been on the rise in the United States, Muslims in America are deeply concerned with the global dehumanization of Muslims and oppression that often is fueled by the rhetoric and policies of our own government officials. It is not just the ideologically motivated perpetrators who have attacked Muslims in places like Quebec and New Zealand and who have cited President Trump as inspiration, but the Uyghur concentration camps administered by the Chinese government, the fascism in India using white nationalist rhetoric to disenfranchise millions of Indian Muslims and occupy Kashmir, the continued denial of Palestinian dignity, and the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. All of these causes, and many more, are rooted in the dehumanization of Muslims often inspired by our current Islamophobic climate. Muslims seek more unqualified affirmations of the dignity of oppressed Muslim minorities worldwide, and a consistent application of human rights standards that does not exclude the aforementioned.
Muslims are the least likely faith group to approve of President Trump’s performance. Sixteen percent of American Muslims approve of the president’s performance, compared with 27% of Jews, 37% of Catholics, 50% of Protestants, 73% of white Evangelicals, and 24% of non-affiliated Americans.
Income, age, mosque attendance, and local political engagement predict voter participation among Muslims.
Muslims are as equally engaged in community development as other faith groups.
In the state of Michigan alone, for example, where Muslims make up only 2.75% of the population, Muslims contribute to every sector of society. A Michigan without Muslims would lose:
Muslims also make important contributions to New York City:
What would an America without Muslims look like? Watch this short video based on ISPU’s Muslims for American Progress (MAP) project to learn more.
According to a recent study, the word terrorist was used in media headlines far more often in reference to perpetrators perceived as Muslim than those who are not for similar ideologically motivated crimes.
When speaking on ideologically motivated violence, use fact-based language to describe groups, persons, and events at hand. For example, describe perpetrators as “militia,” “gunmen/women,” “bombers,” etc. Calling them “Islamic” gives them a sense of religious validity they do not deserve.
As Imam Omar Suleiman, founder and president of Yaqeen Institute, stated in an article for The Dallas Morning News, “When Islamophobes, politicians, or pundits deem these groups to be ‘Islamic,’ they give them a sense of legitimacy and authority that actual Muslims do not endow them with. They make it harder for us as Muslim scholars to address these degenerates for what they are: outcast criminals. They have no claim to our text. They have no authority in our midst.”
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, this term refers specifically to “a popular reform movement advocating the reordering of government and society in accordance with laws prescribed by Islam.” The majority of these movements are nonviolent and should not be lumped together with those claiming Islam sanctions their violence.
There is no causal relationship between religious adherence and violence. The Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ku Klux Klan aren’t lumped together as “Christianist terrorists,” even though both claim to act in the name of Biblical teachings. Instead the group’s name is used. Do the same for all groups.
Anti-shariah legislation represents the reach of Islamophobia into the legal and policy sphere. This movement was initiated in January 2006 when an attorney started the Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE). In a report analyzing anti-shariah initiatives, ISPU Scholar Asma Uddin writes, “On its website, the attorney proposed a law that would make observing shariah, which he compared to sedition, a felony punishable by twenty years in prison. He also began raising money to study whether there is a link between ‘Shariah-adherent behavior’ in American mosques and support for violent jihad. The project, called ‘Mapping Shariah,’ connected him to a network of former and current government officials, security analysts, and grassroots political organizations.”
The attorney went on to write language for a “model statute” that bars state judges from taking foreign laws or rulings that violate U.S. constitutional rights into consideration. Developed in 2009, this model statute is titled “American Laws for American Courts” and has since been used in bills across the country. Between 2011 and 2017, 177 anti-shariah or foreign law bills were introduced in legislatures across the country.
For Muslims, shariah serves as a code of ethics covering different facets of life. Common examples of rules embodied within shariah that impact the day-to-day life of American Muslims include:
Common examples of how shariah is used in the American legal context include:
“Thank God”
Abed Ayoub, National Legal and Policy Director, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Wa’el Alzayat, Chief Executive Officer, EMGAGE
Dr. Hatem Bazian, Co-founder and Professor of Islamic Law and Theology at Zaytuna College and Founder and Director of Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project (IRDP) at UC Berkeley’s Center for Race and Gender
Zahra Billoo, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area
Imam Zaid Shakir, President of New Islamic Directions
Imam Dawud Walid, Executive Director, CAIR-Michigan
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American Civil Liberties Union (ACLA). Surveillance under the Patriot Act. Accessed April 29, 2020
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Brown, Jonathan. Is Islam a Death Cult? Martyrdom and the American Muslim Imagination. Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, 2017.
Brown, Jonathan. Stoning and Hand Cutting: Understanding the Hudud and the Shairah in Islam. Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, 2017.
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