Islam’s equality continues to attract black Americans

He said the number of black Muslims is growing, but not as fast as before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Few white Americans convert to Islam “because the tendency is to view Islam as foreign,” he said. “For African-Americans, it’s part of their African heritage. There’s a long tradition [in Africa] ... It moves them away from the Christianity they saw as a slave religion, as the religion that legitimized their slavery.”