The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published on its website a report on the desire of American youth to convert to Islam, in search of meaning in life.
The report, prepared by author Smadar Shiloni, quotes scholars who study Islam and psychologically analyze the post-millennial generation, saying that the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Israel on October 7 represented “on its face” a strong blow to Muslims in the United States. As a result, doubts and fear of Islam (Islamophobia) increased, and life became more difficult for them.
However, what happened was something else, the newspaper says, adding that the desire of Americans of other religions to know more about the ideology that was the “motivator” for that attack made them so curious and interested in Islam that the Qur’an became a best-selling book.
The greatest advertisement for Islam
Elad Ben David, an expert on Islam in the United States, believes that the attacks of September 11, 2001 on the cities of New York and Washington were “the greatest declaration of Islam” worldwide.
Many Muslim leaders made great efforts to condemn the attacks and highlight Islam as a religion that seeks peace and not a religion that lives by the sword, according to the newspaper’s report.
In the years following September 11, 2001, Muslim preachers have found social media “the perfect platform” to spread Islam, promoting it “in impeccable English” in a positive, objective, and peace-loving manner, the Israeli newspaper reports.
They flock to TikTok
Shiloni stated, in her report, that American youth (mostly females) flocked to the TikTok platform and engaged “with joy” in reading the Qur’an, and were so enthusiastic about its content that some of them converted to Islam.
She added that Americans’ interest in the Qur’an and Islam increased after Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the October 7 attack, in addition to the pictures they saw showing the suffering of civilians in the Palestinian Strip.
According to Yedioth Ahronoth, this time Islam has found an “ideal” audience of young people, progressives, and Generation Z – young people born between the mid-1990s and early 2010 – who found in the Qur’an and its sciences a starting point for their worldviews.
The attractiveness of Palestinian steadfastness
Shiloni gave the example of a young African-American woman named Megan Rice, who a month ago uploaded a blog on the TikTok application in which she expressed her admiration for Islam and the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.
Rice did not waste any time. She began by reading surahs from the Holy Qur’an and the noble Prophet’s hadiths, then she created the “International Religious Book Club,” which allowed users with no background to study the Qur’an with her.
Within weeks, Rice wore the hijab and embraced Islam as a religion, according to the report, which indicated that the young American was not the only one. She had become part of a rapidly growing trend among Generation Z through which they learned about the Holy Qur’an and Islam, as they discovered that it expresses “the All the things they believe in: “progressive values, freedom, socialism, social solidarity, and opposition to a world characterized by greed and exploitation.”
Americanization of Islam
However, Ben David – who also works as a research associate at the Forum for Regional Thinking – says that the Islamic message directed to the American public after September 11 weakened, and “Islam was Americanized and adapted to the lifestyle in a Western secular state.”
One of the manifestations of this Americanization – according to the Shiloni report – is that senior Muslim preachers began wearing Western clothing and emphasizing their national American identity.
Ben David expressed his belief that Arab culture in the Middle East – not religion – plays a greater role, and this matter is less clear in America because the “melting pot” means that the culture of the country of origin has little connection with the second and third generations of Arab immigrants, according to his opinion.
They search for meaning in their lives
However, the researcher in behavioral sciences in the digital age, Dr. Liraz Margalit, has a sharper opinion regarding what the turn of American youth towards Islam means, as she claims that this generation is interested in “superficial” matters, and that it is “guided by what puts it on the map, justifies their existence, and gives them a feeling That they are alive.”
But she added, “I don’t mean to say that they are all superficial. They are searching for meaning” in their lives.
