# Islam in America

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Islam in America," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/islam-in-america/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's response to a widely circulated clip of thousands of American Muslims at prayer, captioned as evidence that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States. He notes that nothing in the clip establishes where or what the event was, and that most new American Muslims are African Americans converting — often, in his experience, in the prison system.*

- **The clip:** Thousands said to be praying in Philadelphia
- **The caption's claim:** Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States
- **Kiriakou's caveat:** The clip establishes neither the event nor the place
- **His observation:** Most new American Muslims are African American converts, many from prison

**Islam in America** was the subject of a segment [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) devoted in July 2026 to what he called a panic taking place in Philadelphia and elsewhere over the visibility of Muslim communities.[1]

## The clip

The item under discussion was a viral post captioned *"thousands of American Muslims praying in Philadelphia,"* with the assertion that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States.[2]

Kiriakou's first move is evidentiary. That may or may not be true, he says of the growth claim — and, more to the point, the clip does not tell you what the event is, and does not even establish that it is in Philadelphia. He offers to give it the benefit of the doubt and assume that it is.[2]

## Who is converting

His substantive point is about composition rather than numbers. Most of the new Muslims in the United States, he says, are African Americans who are converting to Islam — and this happens a lot in the American prison system.[2]

The observation is first-hand rather than statistical: Kiriakou served twenty-three months at [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto), where the [Nation of Islam](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/nation-of-islam-at-loretto) was one of the organised groups on the compound.

What he sees in places like Philadelphia, Detroit, and across Texas and Oklahoma is a fear that is sometimes fairly called Islamophobia and sometimes something less deliberate — a fear resting on a misunderstanding, or simply an absence, of any understanding of Islam at all.[2]

## See also

- [The Nation of Islam at Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/nation-of-islam-at-loretto)
- [Sharia law](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/sharia-law)
- [Jihad means to struggle](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jihad-means-to-struggle)

## Sources

1. How to Avoid a Honey Trap: A Spy’s Guide to Seduction. | Ep. 2 (2026-07-16), at 36:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk7IWpbbMcU&t=2172s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-16-john-kiriakou-how-to-avoid-a-honey-trap-a/
2. How to Avoid a Honey Trap: A Spy’s Guide to Seduction. | Ep. 2 (2026-07-16), at 36:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk7IWpbbMcU&t=2204s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-16-john-kiriakou-how-to-avoid-a-honey-trap-a/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/islam-in-america/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt