AHC: Muslim US State

The challenge is to have a majority Muslim US state in existence. If that isn't possible, how large of a Muslim population could a state get?
 

Redcoat

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The challenge is to have a majority Muslim US state in existence. If that isn't possible, how large of a Muslim population could a state get?
Maybe get the US to win Baja California for some reason and try to settle it with Americans to outplace the Mexicans. Maybe get pogroms to start in Bosnia against Muslims, causing a mass exodus. With America leniently giving out cheap land, they go there
 
The Philippines is incorporated into the Union (very unlikely) and (even less unlikely) not as one state but as several including a Muslim-majority one in Mindanao (though Muslims are not a majority even there in OTL).

All alternative ways to get a Muslim-majority state are even less plausible, as far as I can see. (Henry Ford lobbies to get Dearborn separated from the rest of Michigan and it becomes a separate and eventually Muslim-majority state? But Dearborn is too small for a state, it does not have a Muslim majority even now, and Michigan can't be broken up without its consent.)
 
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IOTL, the British Empire brought in a lot of laborers from South Asia to the Caribbean, especially Guyana, after slavery was ended there. In Guyana today, a plurality of the population is of Indian descent, and while most of them are Hindu, there are also a significant number of Muslims there.

To begin with, figure out a way to make it so that the majority of the South Asians sent to Guyana are from majority-Muslim areas rather than majority-Hindu areas. I don't have a specific POD in mind, but it seems doable. After that, you just need the United States to gain Guyana from Britain through war or purchase, have the territory gain statehood, and there you have it: a state with a Muslim majority.
 
And for a 20th century POD... this is stretching the bounds of plausibility, but it doesn't seem completely impossible to have the Nation of Islam somehow catch on more strongly among the African-American community, especially in Northern urban areas and especially if it moderates its stances significantly. Then have D.C. gain statehood at some point and cause a bit more white flight from the city, and I can just barely see it having a Muslim majority.
 
With 1900 POD it is pretty hard. You can have higher Muslim population in USA but it is very difficult get any state Muslim majority.
 
Easy. Joseph Smith discovers a translation of the Koran.

Ya Allah, I can't even begin to imagine what Islamic Mormonism would look like, especially considering that English Qur'an translations were absolutely terrible at this time! The errors would only compound the heterodoxy, I'd guess. It takes until 1930 (!!) for a good translation to be made; in specific, the British convert and Orientalist Marmaduke Pickthall's Qur’an which is still frequently used today.
 
The Philippines is incorporated into the Union (very unlikely) and (even less unlikely) not as one state but as several including a Muslim-majority one in Mindanao (though Muslims are not a majority even there in OTL).

All alternative ways to get a Muslim-majority state are even less plausible, as far as I can see. (Henry Ford lobbies to get Dearborn separated from the rest of Michigan and it becomes a separate and eventually Muslim-majority state? But Dearborn is too small for a state, it does not have a Muslim majority even now, and Michigan can't be broken up without its consent.)

The Philippines can actually become part of America provided it goes to a more Puerto Rico route. Stay as a Commonwealth until the late-20th century and early 21st century. Mindanao, a somewhat Islamic isle, can become its own American province after that.
 
The Philippines can actually become part of America provided it goes to a more Puerto Rico route. Stay as a Commonwealth until the late-20th century and early 21st century. Mindanao, a somewhat Islamic isle, can become its own American province after that.

People can consider statehood for Puerto Rico because it would have a relatively modest impact on US politics in terms of the Electoral College, the House of Representatives, etc. By 2000, the Philippines had 78 million people--well over twice the population of the most populous US state (California). There is no way Congress is going to agree to anything that will revolutionize its own composition (and US politics in general) that much.
 
People can consider statehood for Puerto Rico because it would have a relatively modest impact on US politics in terms of the Electoral College, the House of Representatives, etc. By 2000, the Philippines had 78 million people--well over twice the population of the most populous US state (California). There is no way Congress is going to agree to anything that will revolutionize its own composition (and US politics in general) that much.

This is assuming that butterfly effects wouldn't allow congressional size expansion or the Phillipines, as a whole, won't experience a demographic slow-down.

A POD of 1900 can butterfly away the Apportionment Act of 1911, increase the standard of living of the Philippines to that of the American south by the late-20th century, and shift national attitudes of Congress to accept an additional number of seats in both houses. A more wealthy Philippines in 2000 with a population of 55 million can be divided up with three provinces : Luzon, Mindanao, and Visayas.
 
Wasn’t it like Monaco that first recognized the US? Maybe they could get really friendly to the point where they have near-free migration? Still wouldn’t reach majority.
 
The challenge is to have a majority Muslim US state in existence. If that isn't possible, how large of a Muslim population could a state get?

Close to impossible.

But imagination m8. My option: Circassians who fled the Caucasus arrive save in the Ottom Empire with minimal human losses. Half of them stay in the Empire the other half leave for the USA. The US government keeps them away from the populous East Coast and settles in... I dunno, Nebraska? Or Arizona or whatever.

Option 2: the French or US imports Muslim Slaves from West Africa. At some point, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida or Louisiana become populated with Muslim African slaves. In... Louisiana they form 51% of the population.

This I guess. May Allah bless Louisiana and Nebraska.

Or you could always have the Moroccans settle in some of the US lands, losing it but the population remains Moorish. When USA gets independent you have a whole state full with Muslims.
 
Simple. Make Minneapolis its own US state. :p


"55.10% of the people in Minneapolis, Minnesota are religious, meaning they affiliate with a religion. 19.23% are Catholic; 0.71% are LDS; 6.37% are another Christian faith; 1.54% in Minneapolis, Minnesota are Jewish; 0.44% are an eastern faith; 0.68% affilitates with Islam." https://www.bestplaces.net/religion/city/minnesota/minneapolis

Yes, they have a Muslim congressman (as does Indianapolis). The Kansas Fourth Congressional District https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas's_4th_congressional_district once had a Jewish congressman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Glickman but that didn't make it a Jewish-majority district. The Georgia Fourth Congressional District https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia's_4th_congressional_district is represented by a Buddhist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Johnson but is clearly not a Buddhist-majority district...

If there's any Muslim-majority city in the US, it's Hamtramck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamtramck,_Michigan but 22,000 people isn't enough for a state.
 
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