FPIW offers a two-part series on the rise of Islam:
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Part 1 is political. It chronicles Islam’s power within the cultural landscape here in Washington State, as well as samples its influence across the United States.
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Part 2 is philosophical. It examines the core ideas animating Islam and suggests areas of agreement and areas of concern.
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We hope both parts equip the reader with an introduction to Islam.
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“Because the Left hates America, and because they see the Islamic jihadists hate America, they see a friend.”
– Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch
“The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) is waging a quiet but coordinated political campaign across Washington State. . . . CAIR is building real political infrastructure.”
– Ari Hoffman of Washington State
In 2025 in Washington State, the Left-wing Legislature and Governor enshrined two Muslim holidays as official state holidays. Not even Easter holds such recognition. Was this a harbinger of things to come for our beloved state?
We believe so.
The Left and Islam share a common mission: to dethrone Christian values in America. For years, the Left — essentially a godless socialism — was the primary threat to Christianity, which since the colonial days has been the heart of American society for more than 300 years.
Now Islam is rising, too, in part because of the mass immigration that has taken place during the last 60 years, and in part because of the Left’s support. We were told for decades that “Diversity is our strength,” justifying mass immigration. But in practical terms, such immigration rates undermined Christianity, i.e., British-American culture. Islam is a key example.
Across Washington State, it’s undeniable: there is a powerful presence of Islam within our political landscape, including 100,000 Muslims, its own political action arm CAIR-WA, plus 79 mosques or Islamic centers in 36 cities.
Every citizen should be well-informed about the new heights of its power. Islam seeks to influence our society, shape the story of our state, and thus determine our course. Generally, it seeks not to assimilate to American culture (the English language, Christianity, and British Customs), but to wield its “conquest values” upon the United States. As Christians who seek to defend and advance biblical values, we have good reasons to be concerned about Islam’s impact upon our families.
I. Three Categories of Muslims
Prof. Peter J. Kreeft outlines the three major categories of Muslims:
(1) Terrorists
(2) Imposers of Sharia Law
(3) Practicers of Personal Piety
Today the main threat is the rising influence of the second category — “Imposers of Sharia Law.” Sharia Laws are essentially those laws that come from both the teachings in their holy book, the Quran, as well as the Hadith, their oral teachings.
Sharia Law is frightening. “America is facing an existential threat – the spread of Sharia Law,” warns US Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX). “Instances of Sharia Law adherents have threatened the American way of life, seeking to replace our legal system and Constitution with an incompatible ideology that diminishes the rights of women, children, and individuals of different faiths.”
More details will be given in Part 2 about the importance and threat of Sharia Law. Here in Part 1, we lay the foundation of historical context and political reality in our state and across the United States.
II. A Zero-Sum Game
As Aristotle stated, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” That’s a brute law about reality: it is true physically, as well as spiritually, and so a fundamental truth in any analysis of a society is this: When one faith declines, another will rise up and take its place. As Patrick J. Buchanan writes: “Every gain for one faith is a loss for another.” It’s a zero-sum game: someone’s values will rule. In our state, it was once Christianity, then Leftism, and today we see Islam rising. As PBS reports: “This year’s [2024] elections proved to be historic, with 89 Muslim American candidates winning local, state, federal, and judicial seats across 25 states.”
We were warned. Some 80 years ago, in 1936, the great Christian writer from England, Hilaire Belloc saw this. He predicted the rise of Islam once again against Christians and described it as our “most formidable and persistent enemy”:
“Millions of modern people . . . have forgotten all about Islam. They have never come in contact with it. They take for granted that it is decaying, and that, anyway, it is just a foreign religion which will not concern them. It is, as a fact, the most formidable and persistent enemy which our civilization has had, and may at any moment become as large a menace in the future as it has been in the past.”
The conquering of Europe by Islam is well advanced, and Islam is rising across the United States. Now that day Belloc foretold has come for us here in Washington State, too.
III. The Rise of Islam in Washington State
The rise of Islam in Washington State has reached new levels of cultural and political power. Officially, we are told that there are only about 27,000 Muslims in WA; that is 22nd of the 50 states with the most Muslims. Yet many in Washington State suspect the number is far greater. For instance, a Muslim WA Representative in Olympia proclaims the statistic of “over 100,000 Muslim Washingtonians.” (Another source agrees.) The size shows no signs of decreasing, and their political power is growing.
Let’s briefly chronicle the story:
• 1981, Seattle Mosque. In Seattle, the Idris Mosque arose as a major center of worship and influence:
• 1997, Islamic Center in Seattle. The Al-Mahdi Islamic Center was founded as “a tool to build a bridge between its Arabic and English-speaking community members.”
• 1990’s and early 2000’s, Grassroots Influence Grows. These include community centers, restaurants, businesses, stores, clothing, music, etc. (e.g., here and here):
• 2006, The Muslim Association of Puget Sound. This association is key because it serves as a type of headquarters for Islamic influence and growth throughout the Puget Sound: “The Muslim Association of Puget Sound,” (MAPS). It has branches in Redmond, Seattle, and Snohomish, and it includes the largest mosque in the state (see the video below in Additional Resources).
• 2019, Strong Lobbying Efforts in Olympia. King 5 News documents “Muslim Day at the Capitol” (see the video below in Additional Resources):
• 2019, First Two Muslim Women Elected in WA:
• 2024, “Arab Festival” in Seattle. The Seattle Center showcased Muslim influence by hosting an “Arab Festival” where men and young boys dressed like terrorists on stage:
• 2025, One WA Senator and One WA Representative are Muslim. Beyond holding seats on city councils and other local positions, Muslims acquired direct influence to both legislative chambers of the Washington State Capitol in Olympia. In 2021, Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D-Tacoma) was the first Muslim in the Washington State Legislature; she serves in the state Senate. In 2025, Rep. Osman Salahuddin (D-Redmond) was appointed by the King County Council; he is the first Muslim in the state House of Representatives.
• 2025, Two Muslim State Holidays. Washington became the first state in the nation to make two Muslim holidays official state holidays. Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the bill into law at the Islamic Center in Tacoma, WA. (Video of signing ceremony is here.)
As FPIW Action reports: It requires Washington State law to officially recognize the Muslim holidays Eid al-Fitr (“Festival of Breaking the Fast”) and Eid al-Adha (“Feast of the Sacrifice”) as state holidays. To compare, Easter—perhaps the most prominent Christian observance—does not have state holiday status. Furthermore, Christmas, historically celebrated as the birth of Jesus Christ, is increasingly referred to as a “Winter Holiday” by schools and federal organizations to avoid offending non-Christians.
• 2025, Political Infrastructure Grows. More quietly, through the largest Islamic political action arm of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), Ari Hoffman documents how Islam is gaining power in the city governments of Seattle, Renton, Tacoma, as well as with key legislators in Olympia. They are making strategic endorsements and providing funding, and more insights about CAIR are toward the end of this essay. For Washington State specifically, see CAIR-WA. (For more on the Hamas links, see the video below in Additional Resources.)
• 2025, Mosques and Islamic Centers Total 79 in 36 Cities across Washington State. (To compare, there are 288 Catholic Churches in Washington State.)
IV. The Rise of Islam in the United States
Having outlined the rise of Islam in Washington State, we turn now to sample its influence across the United States in places where its power is even greater. Is Washington State headed toward a similar fate?
A crucial point to understand is the role of the 1965 Immigration Act that opened our national borders to people from all four-corners of the planet, and that most certainly included many majority-Muslim nations. How did Muslims come to dominate parts of the US? We “imported” them via mass immigration, and they have high birth rates. More than anything, they did not assimilate to American culture: they tend to be more like settlers, who develop a nation within a nation, rather than like converts, who adopt American ways.
In the US, we are told by official accounts that there now are some 5 million Muslims, especially in places such as Michigan (350,000) and Minnesota (115,000). In such places, their presence can dominate a culture due to their ratio to other non-Muslim groups. But others suspect the number of Muslims in the US to be far greater than merely 5 million — at perhaps at least 8 million or more.
Consider how other places in the US have changed with the rise of Islam:
• In Hamtramck, Michigan, the city has the first all-Muslim City Council.
• In Dearborn, Michigan, you can hear the Muslim call to prayer five times per day, including at 5:30am, by way of loudspeakers from the mosques (see the video below in Additional Resources):
• Also in Dearborn, Michigan, Muslim culture even has influenced the police force:
• In Texas, far more than 400,000 Muslims reside. National headlines emerged when it was revealed that there are plans to build a Muslim city on 400 acres of private property; the city would be governed by Sharia Law. “It’s called EPIC City,” explains Charlie Kirk. “The East Plano Islamic Center [EPIC], deep in the heart of Texas.” (Plano is a city less than an hour north of Dallas.)
Kirk continues: “We’ve seen how this unfolds in Europe. There are massive, huge no-go zones in major European cities in Britain and in France and in Sweden. Those are real. You’re not allowed to talk about them, but they are real. The police stay out of things. In no-go zones, Islamic values reign supreme. Blasphemy laws, for example. If you dare question the Prophet Mohammed, they will come after you.”
• The state of New York has the most Muslims in the US at more than 700,000. In New York City, there are public prayer moments (see Times Square picture below), and the Muslims are flexing their political muscle with NYC’s (very likely) first Muslim mayor:
As sampled above, Muslims are having a growing cultural and political influence across the United States. As mentioned above, its main political arm is CAIR, which was founded in 1994, and its national headquarters are located on the prestigious Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. In the 2023 essay “Who Funds CAIR?”, author Sam Westrop reports that its aggregate funding has reached $22,955,709.00. (He provides the full documentation.)
V. The Ideas of Islam
In our lifetimes, we are witnessing the rise of Islam as a cultural and political force. The American Story is changing, and so is the narrative for Washington State. No astute observer, and no American Christian, can ignore Islam’s prominence upon the national stage, nor within our own state. This Part 1 of our series on Islam provides the practical cultural-political landscape in Washington State and a very brief sample of Islamic influence in other parts of the nation. In Part 2, we turn to an analysis of the core ideas animating Islam. We shall offer areas of agreement and areas of concern.
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Additional Resources
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