Ishmael in Islam writ, Ishmael. Behold, he was always true to his promise, and was an apostle [of God], a prophet, who used to enjoin upon his people prayer and charity, and found favour in his Sustainer's sight." As a descendant of Ishmael, Muhammad is justified as the Prophet and continues the line of prophets from pre-Islamic times. As Islam became established, the figure Ishmael and those descended from him, the Ishmaelites, became connected, and often equated, with the term "Arab" in early Jewish and Christian literature. Before Islam developed as a religion, Ishmael was depicted in many ways, but after its establishment,
Islam in the United States rates among American Muslims and immigration of Muslims to the U.S. as the reasons for the growth. It said that religious conversion was not expected to be a significant factor, because the number of American converts to Islam is roughly the same as the number of people who leave the religion. According to a 2001 study written by Ihsan Bagby, an associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky, of Americans who convert to Islam, 64% are African American, 27% are White, 6% are Hispanic of any race, and 3% are other. Around that time increasing numbers of