Islam is the major religion in many African countries, especially in the north of the continent. In Comoros, Libya, Western Sahara, at least 99 percent of the population was Muslim as of 202. These were the highest percentages on the continent. However, also in many other African nations, the majority of the population was Muslim. In Egypt, for instance, Islam was the religion of 79 percent of the people. Islam and other religions in Africa Africa accounts for an important share of the world’s Muslim population. As of 2019, 16 percent of the Muslims worldwide lived in Sub-Saharan Africa, while 20 percent of them lived in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Together with Christianity, Islam is the most common religious affiliation in Africa, followed by several traditional African religions. Although to a smaller extent, numerous other religions are practiced on the continent: these include Judaism, the Baha’i Faith, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Number of Muslims worldwide Islam is one of the most widespread religions in the world. There are approximately 1.9 billion Muslims globally, with the largest Muslim communities living in the Asia-Pacific region. Specifically, Indonesia hosts the highest number of Muslims worldwide, amounting to over 200 million, followed by India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Islam is also present in Europe and America. The largest Islamic communities in Europe are in France (5.72 million), Germany (4.95 million), and the United Kingdom (4.13 million). In the United States, there is an estimated number of around 3.45 million Muslims.

This study, designed and carried out by the "http://www.asarb.org/" Target="_blank">Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB), compiled data on 372 religious bodies by county in the United States. Of these, the ASARB was able to gather data on congregations and adherents for 217 religious bodies and on congregations only for 155. Participating bodies included 354 Christian denominations, associations, or communions (including Latter-day Saints, Messianic Jews, and Unitarian/Universalist groups); counts of Jain, Shinto, Sikh, Tao, Zoroastrian, American Ethical Union, and National Spiritualist Association congregations, and counts of congregations and adherents from Baha'i, three Buddhist groupings, two Hindu groupings, four Jewish groupings, and Muslims. The 372 groups reported a total of 356,642 congregations with 161,224,088 adherents, comprising 48.6 percent of the total U.S. population of 331,449,281. Membership totals were estimated for some religious groups.

In January 2024, the ARDA added 21 religious tradition (RELTRAD) variables to this dataset. These variables start at variable #12 (TOTCNG_2020). Categories were assigned based on pages 88-94 in the original "https://www.usreligioncensus.org/index.php/node/1638" Target="_blank">2020 U.S. Religion Census Report.

Visit the "https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/sources-for-religious-congregations-membership-data" Target="_blank">frequently asked questions page for more information about the ARDA's religious congregation and membership data sources.

In this manuscript, we review the literature to date on Muslims’ descriptive and substantive representation in American politics. We then evaluate how Members of Congress discussed Muslims from 2011-2017 by turning to their tweets during this time period. We find that Muslims were most discussed by non-White Democratic legislators, and contrary to expectations, White Republicans tweeted about Muslims far less than their White Democratic counterparts. But when White Republicans did mention Muslims, their tweets were much more negative in tone than Democrats of any racial background.

This dataset contains the Arab-West Report special reports that were published in 2004.This dataset mainly contains the writings of Cornelis Hulsman ,Drs., among other authors on topics related to Muslim- Christian relations and interfaith dialogue between the West and Islamic world. Additionally this dataset contains reports pertaining to certain Muslim –Christian incidents and reports about allegations of forced conversions of Coptic girls. Some of the articles addressed the issue of missionaries.Further reports address monastic life and recommendations of Arab-West Report's work by other social figures.Furthermore, the dataset included commentary on published material from other sources (reviews/critique of articles from other media).Some of the themes that characterized this dataset:-A description of the history of the conflicts around the development of the convent of Patmos on the Cairo-Suez road.-An overview of a book titled “Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt: The Century-Long Struggle for Coptic Equality” by S. S. Hasan.- Rumors of forced conversions Of Coptic girls: A report by Hulsman stated that the US Copts Association published a press release on March 25, 2004 with the title “Coptic Pope Denounces Forced Conversion of Coptic Girls.” He criticized that the US Copts Association for not making much of an effort, if any, to check the veracity of the rumors.- A Glimpse into Monastic Life in Egypt: A Visit to St. Maqarius Monastery:- Another report covered the incident in which a priest and two members of the church board of Taha al-ʿAmeda died after an accident with a speeding car driven by a police officer.- A critique of Al-Usbuʿa newspapers: the author accused the newspaper of cherry-picking statements by Coptic extremists, who are much disliked in the US Coptic community and who have no following. He considered that quoting statements from such isolated radicals gives readers the impression that they represent much more than a few individuals. It has all appearance that al-Usbuʿa has highlighted these radicals to create fear and harm the reputation of US Copts in Egypt.- A number of reports highlighted a visit and the speech delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey (Lord Carey) at the Azhar entitled “Muslims/Christian Relationships: A New Age Of Hope?”- A report covered the first visit made by Archbishop Rowan Williams to the Diocese of Egypt since he became the Archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop met with President Mubarak, Dr. Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the Grand Imam of the Azhar, Pope Shenouda and also laid the foundation stone of Harpur Community Health Centre in Sadat City.- Updates on the developments of AWR’s work to create an electronic archive of information pertaining to relations between Muslims and Christians in the Arab-World in general and Egypt in particular.Additionally, this dataset also provides updates of the then-under construction - Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU) web-based Electronic Documentation Center (EDC) for contemporary information covering Arab-West and Muslim-Christian relations.- A report discussed the misconceptions of Christians in Islam.- An editorial commenting on the assassination of Theo van Gogh resulted in a debate in Dutch media about the limits of the freedom of expression.- An article calling on the western readers to be careful with Christian persecution stories from Egypt, they may be true but also may be rumours.-The Muslim World And The West; What Can Be Done To Reduce Tensions?-Text of a lecture for students and professors of different faculties at the University of Copenhagen, , about plans to establish the Center for Arab-West Understanding in Cairo, Egypt.- Escalations following the alleged conversion of A priest’s wife to IslamThe list of authors’ featurd in this dataset goes as follows:Cornelis Hulsman, Drs. , Wolfram Reiss, Rev. Dr. , John H. Watson, Kim Kwang-Chan, Dr. , Kamal Abu al-Majd, Fiona McCallum, Mary Picard , Jeff Adams, Dr., Rev., Jennie Marshall , Marcos Emil Mikhael, Usamah W. al-Ahwani, Sawsan Jabrah and Nirmin Fawzi, Hānī Labīb, George Carey (Lord), Rowan Williams, Lambeth Palace Press Office, H.G. Bishop Munir Hanna Anis Armanius, Eildert Mulder, Rīhām Saʿīd, Tharwat al-Kharabāwī, Geir Valle, Janique Blattman, Iqbal Barakah , Munā ʿUmar, Dieter Tewes, ʿAmr Asʿad Khalīl, Dr., Janique Blattmann, Vera Milackova, Tamir Shukri, and Christiane Paulus All reports are written in English, though some reports feature Arabic text or cite Arabic sources.

Research finds that social media platforms' peer-to-peer structures shapes the public discourse, and increases citizens' likelihood of exposure to unregulated, false, and prejudicial content. Here, we test whether self-reported reliance on social media as a primary news source is linked to racialized policy support, taking the case of U.S. Muslims, a publicly visible but understudied group about whom significant false and prejudicial content is abundant on these platforms. Drawing on three original surveys and the Nationscape Dataset, we find a strong and consistent association between reliance on social media and support for a range of anti-Muslim policies. Importantly, reliance on social media is linked to policy attitudes across the partisan divide and for individuals who reported holding positive or negative feelings towards Muslims. These findings highlight the need for further investigation into the political ramification of information presented on contemporary social media outlets, particularly information related to stigmatized groups.

Comparison across manipulation conditions of perceived identification of Muslim Americans with both American and Muslim identities.

This dataset contains the Arab-West Report special reports that were published in 2001. It should be noted that at the time the articles were published, Arab-West Report did not exist. Religious News Service from the Arab World, the organization which would ultimately become Arab-West Report, originally published the following documents.

The dataset contains primarily the writings of Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., reporting on the affairs of Coptic Christians in Egypt, and subjects related to the Copts in the US and the west in general. A number of articles serve as a media critique of Coptic organizations’ (namely, the US Coptic Association) press releases issued abroad which present biased information on certain incidents that took place in Egypt.In addition to the reports and journalistic work of Hulsman, the dataset also contains commentary from RSNAW on published material from other sources (reviews/critique of articles).

Some of the themes that characterized this dataset includes:

- An article about H.H. Pope Shenouda and Father Matta el-Meskeen, two major reformers in the contemporary Coptic Orthodox Church in addition to the Ubur-city church incident. The dataset also includes interviews conducted by RNSAW with the governor and the Bishop of the church.

- Articles refuting claims by a number of Coptic organizations abroad through collecting testimonials from local Bishop and Officials. These reports denied false and inaccurate claims and criticized the press releases that lead to confusion, negatively impacting the Copts in Egypt.

- An interview conducted by RNSAW with Bishop Marcos and highlighted his remarks on the war against terrorism led by the United States following September 11 events and the war on Afghanistan which broke out subsequently.

- A report written by Dr. Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd shed light on the media debate on Islam in the West, and his criticism of the widespread views in the western media that Islam should be held responsible for terrorist attacks.

- The RNSAW database also included highlights of an interview with Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., by the by Egyptian TV where he concluded from the questions directed at him that there is a deep mistrust of western reporting about the Arab and Islamic world.

- Other editorials by Hulsman criticized the adoption of a resolution by the Anglican General Synod of Australia addressing the persecution of Christians in Egypt, without consulting the Anglican Bishop in Cairo or Anglican experts in England who are well acquainted with the church in Egypt.

- The reports also highlighted the issue of conversions from Christianity to Islam in Egypt. The reports refuted claims by Coptic activists in the US that two Christian were abducted by the Egyptian Government from their own mother, who then handed them over to strangers, under the name of Islam. One of the articles highlighted a film script entitled: “Hurghada...the Magic of Love" which deals with the issue of mixed marriages between Muslim men and Christian women which is a sensitive and painful matter for Christians.

- Coverage of Coptic feasts in Egypt, such as Palm Sunday and the Coptic Christmas celebration which was broadcast on the National Egyptian TV and showed senior officials attending the ceremony in the Cathedral.

- Additionally, some of the reports included an update on the trial of the renowned human rights activist Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim. In line with the aforementioned, this dataset contained an article penned by Saad Eddin Ibrahim explaining his motive behind declining to attend a meeting with members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom as advised by his defense lawyer. Ibrahim was being tried at the time before the Higher State Security Court on charges made against his lectures and writings on religious freedom and minority rights, including those of Egyptian Copts.

The authors of this material include Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., Dr. Graham Leitch, Dr. Rudolph Yanni, John H. Watson, Dr. J. J. G. Jensen, Katherin Spencer, Michael Munīr, Monk Father Yuhanna al-Maqari, Monk Basilius al-Maqari, Mamdūh Nakhlah, Fr. Dr. Christiaan van Nispen, Saad al-Din Ibrahim, Munir Hanna Anis Armanius, Bishop Ghubriyal, Dale Gavlak, Mike Newton, Dr. Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd, CAIR-NET, Tareq Mitri (Prof. Dr.), Wolfram Reiss (Rev., Dr.) among others.

This dataset consists of the articles and reports of the RNSAW content that were published in the year 2002. As previously noted that at the time the articles were published, Arab-West Report did not exist. Religious News Service from the Arab World, the organization which would ultimately become Arab-West Report, published the following documents.

The dataset contains primarily the writings of Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., reporting on Christians situation in Egypt and subjects related to the Copts in the US with a number of editorials serve as a media critique of the Coptic organizations press releases issued abroad and other articles published in the local Egyptian newspapers.

The reports covered the following topics:

- A report that addressed a conflict between the Coptic Orthodox and Brethren Churches in Al- Ashmonein and described the relations between the two denomination there as “tense”.

- A critique of what the authored believed as” Distorted Reporting” About Coptic Christians in Egypt. The three authors criticized a report in the Layman, an American Presbyterian publication, claiming Christians in Egypt are persecuted. They believe the author of this article was ill-informed and provided readers with wrong information.

- An overview of the contents of the three books about Coptic Orthodox ecclesiastical law, published by the Monastery of Makarios.

- A List of Churches in Assiut Governorate for Which Governorate Decrees For Restoration And Presidential Decrees For Building And Renovated Were Issued.

-An overview of the activities of the Coptic Catholic peace movement, Justice and Peace in Egypt

Media critique:

Press release of the US Copts Association about the decision of the governor of Assiut instructing to remove an illegally built section of the church which the association does not mention and thereby providing only part of the information needed to form an accurate picture of this issue. The press release is also very aggressive in the last paragraph where it calls the governor an Islamic extremist.

- Criticizing the press release of the US Copts Association. Some Copts frequently resort to claims of Islamic extremism if they are dissatisfied with the decisions made.

- An Interview with Bishop Marcos about the Succession of Pope Shenouda, Father Matta Al-Meskeen, Ecommunications and Other Subjects. In Addition to that the dataset included an Interview with Father Johanna and Father Basilius of the Monastery of Makarios.

-Summary of the Ph.D. thesis of Revd. Dr. Wolfram Reiss about the Sunday School movement in the Coptic Orthodox Church with a focus on the role of Pope Shenouda III and Father Matta el-Meskeen and the place of the church in a Muslim society. Reiss´ study provides an excellent insight into the contemporary history of the church and explains differences between church leaders in the past decades.

- A crisis in the Egyptian Church Resulting from an article in the Sunday School magazine requesting the pope to avoid public [political] activities.

-A text of the statement of the Anglican/Al-Azhar Dialogue Commission

- Egyptian TV Addresses Inter-Religious Dialogue

-Egyptian Cultural TV broadcasted on October 27 a live discussion with Patrick Haenni, social researcher at the CEDEJ in Cairo and Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., on inter-religious dialogue.

A report about A group of Germans belonging to the YMCA [Young Men´s Christian Association] and Evangelical Church of Saxony, Germany [Evangelische Kirche Deutschland] who discovered a very different Christian Egypt from what they had expected from press reports in their home country. The group had followed the trail of the Holy Family between Beni Suef and Assiut and met with many different people.

- A report about a claimed apparition of the Holy Virgin In Giza

- An analysis of the Arab and Western Press in terms of the biases of the Western media and the limits imposed on political and freedom press in Egypt.

- A report about Dr. Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd, sympathizer and supporter of the RNSAW, receiving the Franklin Delano Roosevelt prize for his contribution to the Freedom of Worship

- Media criticism of ‘Reckless, Anti-Islamic Statement’ of major US Christian leader.

- An evaluation of the RNSAW workshop for Egyptian journalists. The report shed light on the objectives and program of a RNSAW workshop for Egyptian journalists in cooperation with the Al-Ahram Institute for Regional Journalism. The workshop was financed by the Dutch Embassy and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and covered human rights issues, women, Western and Arab media, freedom of expression and reporting about the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

- The Dialogue Agreement between the Azhar and the Church of England

The authors of this material include Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., Jos Strengholt, Rudolph Yanni, Peter Zarqah, Dr. Kamal Burayqa‘...