Muslim Community Flourishes in DC’s Outer Suburbs

August 1, 2005

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/31/AR2005073101185.html

On August 1, 2005 The Washington Post reported, "In the outer suburbs of Washington, long filled with Christian churches, new and expanding Muslim mosques are changing the religious landscape... Mosques from Annapolis to Manassas are growing as Muslims who have migrated to the outer suburbs seek places to worship near where they live... The boom in exurban mosques has resulted from the migration of Muslims to the outer suburbs, as followers of Islam -- just like other suburban emigrants -- seek less-expensive housing and good schools. 'Like all other segments of society, there's a move to suburbia, and Muslims are part of that movement,' said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Washington. As those Muslims establish more mosques, more Muslims are drawn to the area. About 300,000 Muslims live in the region that stretches from Richmond to Baltimore, according to Islamic organizations. In metropolitan Washington, the number of suburban residents who claimed ancestry from a mostly Muslim country jumped 81 percent from 54,295 in 1990 to 98,084 in 2000, according to a 2003 study by the American Communities Project, a Brown University project on population trends."

See also: Islam, Statistics