Reporting Tips > Covering Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Religious Minorities in the U.S.
Updates/corrections: saja@columbia.edu / 212-854-5979
last updated: Aug. 10, 2002

On this page: Background, story ideas, news sources
Compiled by Sreenath Sreenivasan, SAJA co-founder, with input from around the globe

NEED HELP COVERING THIS STORY?
 Ask SAJA: saja@columbia.edu / 212-854-5979

SOURCES:
Here is just one name each from the SAJA Source List (see dozens of other names)

Community Leaders, Muslims
QUEENS, NY
Imam Sheikh Fadhel Al-Sahlani
Imam Al-Khoei Islamic Center
89-89 Jamaica Van Wyck Expwy
Jamaica, NY 11435-4123
Phone: (718) 297-6520
Fax: (718) 658-5530
The Center publishes a 12pp. monthly Newsletter Notes: called AL-HUDA which
carries articles on Islam, Questions Notes: and Answers, news about Al-Iman
School, Programs and Notes: activities of the Center etc.
SAJA NOTE: Runs a well-regarded school; has a predominantly Pakistani congregation

Community Leaders, Sikhs
NEW YORK
Inder Jit Singh
 NYU Dental School
Columnist, www.sikhe.com
Author, "Sikhs and Sikhism"
(212) 998-9619 (office)
(516) 781-5163 (home)
ijs1@nyu.edu
SAJA NOTE: expert on Sikhism, observant Sikh

Community Leaders, Hindus
QUEENS, NY
Hindu Temple Society of North America
Uma Mysorekar, PhD
President
718-460-8484
SAJA NOTE: The best resource for Hindu issues in America; the Society also provides priests for services.

See extensive list of community leaders and sources listed at SAJA Source List

Updates/corrections: saja@columbia.edu / 212-854-5979

Also see:

BACKGROUND:
From SAJA Self-Study Guide:
There are Hindu temples in every major U.S. urban center, 12 in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area alone.  Mosques are in every major city.  Islam is the fastest growing religion in America. Gurudwaras (Sikh temples), Shambala and other Buddhist centers can be found everywhere.  Today, there are ample opportunities to become acquainted with the general teachings of all these great traditions of spirituality without ever leaving your neighborhood.  Internet chat rooms like that of Beliefnet.com offer opportunities to enter into dialogue with members of every religious community.

ISLAM
Estimates vary about how large the US Muslim population is - you will see numbers as high as 6 million. The South Asian Muslim population in the U.S. is upwards of 1 million.

Tip: The right spelling and pronunciation is "Muslim" and not "Moslem." See SAJA Stylebook entry

HINDUISM
The Hindu population in the U.S. is approximately 1.2 million.

Sikhism

Books
  • Roberto Calasso, Ka, Stories of the Mind and Gods of India, 1998
  • Donald Lopez, ed., Religions of India In Practice  (Princeton, 1995)
  • Akbar S. Ahmed, Islam Today, A Short Introduction to the Muslim World, (I.B.Taurus, 1998)    
  • Bernard Lewis, ed., The World of Islam (Thames and Hudson, 1976)
  • Heinz Bechert, Richard Gombrich, eds., The World of Buddhism (Thames and Hudson, 1991)
  • W. Owen Cole and Piari Singh Sambhi, The Sikhs: Their Religion, Beliefs and Practices (Routledge, 1978)
  • Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin, Zoroastrianism (Harper, 1966)
  • Wendy Doniger, Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism (Chicago, 1988)
Coming soon: Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism and more