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Demographic Portraits

By providing fresh socio-demographic data on 257 American female converts to Islam, we see an accurate portrait that reflects the incredible diversity of Muslim Americans, a diversity not accurately represented in American news media. This survey reflects women of varied race, faith background, education, age, and experience.

257 Complete U.S. female convert responses
40+ U.S. states, territories & countries worldwide
10 Demographic figures presented here
2014 IRB-approved · University of Georgia
Geography Identity Background Education Faith Marital Status

Geographic Reach

90.7% of respondents resided in the United States. The remaining 9.3% of the 257 represent 18 different countries around the world. The thesis declined to map them out of an abundance of caution for anonymity; the full country-level map, which identifies no individual, was later published in the foreword to Project Lina (2020).

Figure 5

Geographic Distribution

257 Respondents
40+ U.S. states & territories represented
4+ Regions beyond U.S. borders
Europe Multiple countries represented
North Africa Multiple countries represented
West Africa Multiple countries represented
Asia Multiple countries represented
While the study focused on American female converts, respondents were not limited by location, women living abroad across Europe, North Africa, West Africa, and Asia also participated, reflecting the global reach of the American convert experience.
Feeling Muslim Study · 2014
Feeling
Muslim

Global Reach

Sisters on six continents

18 Countries beyond the U.S.
Feeling
Muslim

233 women across the United States, and sisters in 18 countries spanning six continents: Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Oceania, and North America beyond U.S. borders.

The complete map appears in the author's foreword to Project Lina: Bringing Our Whole Selves to Islam (Daybreak Press, 2020). Here, their presence appears as light: no woman in this study was ever identifiable, by design.

Recreated from the response map first published in Project Lina (2020) · positions approximate

Race & Ethnicity

These self-identifications are representative of the diversity existing among American female converts to Islam, a diversity not being accurately represented or portrayed in American news media.

Figure 6

Race & Ethnicity

257Respondents
Of the 37 respondents who self-identified as 2+ racial or ethnic identities, 18 mentioned Native American as part of their race/ethnicity, and 11 mentioned African American or Black, a richness of identity that a fixed-category survey could not have captured.
Respondents
Caucasian or White
53%n=136
African American or Black
20%n=51
2+ Races or Ethnicities
14%n=37
Hispanic or Latina
7%n=17
Other
4%n=9
Asian
2%n=6
Native American
<1%n=1
Total
100%n=257
Feeling Muslim Study · 2014

Age at Conversion

When did women take their shahada? The three largest groups, ages 25 to 34, 20 to 24, and 16 to 19, tell a story of young adulthood as a season of spiritual seeking.

Figure 10

Age at the Time of Conversion

257Respondents
79% of respondents converted between the ages of 16 to 34, during adolescence and young adulthood, the developmental stages Erikson identifies as identity vs. confusion and intimacy vs. isolation.
Respondents
25 to 34
35%n=90
20 to 24
28%n=72
16 to 19
16%n=42
35 to 44
10%n=26
45 to 54
5%n=12
55 to 64
3%n=8
Less than 16
2%n=6
65+
<1%n=1
Total
100%n=257
Feeling Muslim Study · 2014

Education & Prior Belief

100% of respondents held at least a high school diploma. The vast majority came from Christian backgrounds, in a Christian majority nation, the data invites deeper questions about the draw of Islam.

Figure 7

Highest Level of Education

257Respondents
100% of respondents held at least a high school diploma or GED. 73% hold an Associate's degree or higher, a complete departure from Pew's 2007 findings on U.S. native-born Muslims generally.
Respondents
B.A. / B.S.
32%n=81
M.A. / M.S.
26%n=68
Some College
16%n=42
A.A. / A.S.
11%n=29
Trade School
6%n=15
High School / GED
5%n=13
Ph.D.
4%n=9
Total
100%n=257
Feeling Muslim Study · 2014

Figure 8

Belief Prior to Conversion

257Respondents
76.3% identified as Christian before converting. The largest percentage come from Protestant or Roman Catholic backgrounds, a finding that merits further research on which specific denominations most U.S. converts to Islam identified with.
Respondents
Christian
76.3%n=196
Other
7%n=18
Agnostic
5%n=13
Jewish
3.9%n=10
None
3.9%n=10
Atheist
2.7%n=7
Buddhist
1.2%n=3
Total
100%n=257
Feeling Muslim Study · 2014

Faith Backgrounds & Practice

Islam reveals itself to be not monolithic, but rich in diversity and interpretation. Not all Muslims practice Islam the same way, and these 257 women embody that truth.

Figure 9

Branches of Christianity
Prior to Conversion

196Prior Christians
Respondents
Protestant
63.26%n=124
Roman Catholic
29.6%n=58
Anglican
2.55%n=5
Mormon
1.53%n=3
Unitarian Universal
1.53%n=3
7th Day Adventist
1.02%n=2
Jehovah's Witness
0.51%n=1
Total
100%n=196
Of 196 prior Christians · Feeling Muslim Study · 2014

Figure 14

Branches of Islam

257Respondents
When taking all Sunni-inclusive categories together, 66% identify at least in part with Sunni Islam. Approximately 24% associate with Sufism in some form, a significant finding.
Respondents
Sunni
51.75%n=133
Other
13.25%n=34
Sunni-Sufi
11.28%n=29
Sufi
10.5%n=27
Shi'a
6.25%n=16
Nation of Islam
2.33%n=6
Shi'a-Sunni
1.55%n=4
Shi'a-Sufi
1.55%n=4
NOI-Sunni
0.77%n=2
Shi'a-Sunni-Sufi
0.77%n=2
Total
100%n=257
Feeling Muslim Study · 2014

Figure 13

Length of Time as a Muslim

257Respondents
60% of respondents converted post-9/11, validating reports of a sharp rise in U.S. female conversion to Islam following September 11, 2001, possibly due to increasing awareness and investigation of Islam and Muslims.
Respondents
0 to 3 years
25%n=66
4 to 7 years
22%n=56
20+ years
18%n=46
12 to 15 years
14%n=36
8 to 11 years
13%n=33
16 to 19 years
8%n=20
Total
100%n=257
Feeling Muslim Study · 2014

Marital Status

At conversion: single women dominate. Today: the majority are married. The data suggests both the significance of marriage in Islamic doctrine and the role Islam plays in building family life.

Key Finding · Figure 11

Single U.S. females are more likely than any other marital status to convert to Islam.

80%
of 257 women

were not in a marriage at the time they took their shahada, single (never married), single with children, divorced, divorced with children, or separated.

n = 205 of 257 respondents

Breakdown of the 80%

Single, never married
n = 141
54.9%
Divorced w/ children
n = 23
8.9%
Divorced
n = 22
8.6%
Single w/ children
n = 13
5.1%
Separated
n = 6
2.3%
80%
Not in a marriage
n = 205
vs.
20%
Married or engaged
n = 52
Feeling Muslim Study · 2014 · Figure 11

Figure 11

Marital Status at Time of Conversion

257Respondents
55% single, never married + 5% single with children = 60% total single respondents at the time of conversion. An additional 18% were divorcees.
Respondents
Single, never married
55%n=141
Married w/ children
9%n=23
Divorced
9%n=22
Divorced w/ children
9%n=23
Married w/out children
7%n=18
Single w/ children
5%n=13
Engaged
4%n=11
Separated
2%n=6
Total
100%n=257
Feeling Muslim Study · 2014

Figure 12

Current Marital Status

257Respondents
The majority of U.S. female converts to Islam, 57%, are currently married, which reflects the significance of marriage in Islamic doctrine and may also point to the importance of gender roles amongst some U.S. female converts to Islam.
Respondents
Married w/ children
39%n=101
Married w/out children
18%n=46
Single, never married
14%n=35
Divorced w/ children
10%n=26
Divorced
10.5%n=27
Engaged
4%n=10
Single w/ children
3%n=8
Widow
0.75%n=2
Separated
0.75%n=2
Total
100%n=257
Feeling Muslim Study · 2014
A Note on the Data All figures presented here are drawn from the original 2014 to 2015 survey conducted as part of the M.A. thesis research at the University of Georgia under IRB-approved protocol. In total, 481 people responded to the survey. Of these, 459 were American women converts to Islam. The remaining 22 responses fell outside the parameters approved by the Institutional Review Board, which focused specifically on women converts born in the United States; those responses were received with gratitude and set aside from the women’s cohort. The figures on this page describe the 257 women who completed both the quantitative and qualitative strands in full. Data collection, research design, and analysis were conducted by Karla Nicole Kovacik (formerly Evans).

"Growth in grace is accomplished by slow degrees, and not per saltum... Why does the formation of an infant take nine months? Because God's method is to work by slow degrees."

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī · Mathnawī · Book VI · tr. Reynold A. Nicholson