moving to Dearborn, Michigan as a Muslim convert? (Detroit, Sterling Heights: cliquey, college)

[ttkvsi]

I’m considering moving to Dearborn for the rest of my college classes. I know that Dearborn has a huge population of Arab born Muslims. I was wondering if anyone knows about the general feelings towards Muslim converts from the Arab Muslim community in Dearborn, especially as a newcomer. Should I expect my experiences to be mostly positive or should I expect it to be a more cliquey environment where I might get ostracized?

[reppin_the_847]

Originally Posted by ttkvsi

I’m considering moving to Dearborn for the rest of my college classes. I know that Dearborn has a huge population of Arab born Muslims. I was wondering if anyone knows about the general feelings towards Muslim converts from the Arab Muslim community in Dearborn, especially as a newcomer. Should I expect my experiences to be mostly positive or should I expect it to be a more cliquey environment where I might get ostracized?

I think you may find it a little bit cliquey, but being of the same religion you should be able to quickly make some receptive new friends in the community. Do you have a different ethnic background perhaps?

[Dangerous-Boy]

Why did you convert?

[MarcBetrus]

You'll love Dearborn.. And if you're looking for a spouse, the options will be endless. Dearborn is generally a very welcoming community to converts. I know many Lebanese and Iraqi families that have converts who've married into their family.
Don't quote me on this, but I'd say that 80 - 85% of the Muslim community in Dearborn are Shia, and the remainder are Sunni.
So if you're Shia, you're REALLY going to love Dearborn. Most of the Shia are Lebanese and Iraqi. The majority of the Sunni are Yemeni, although there is a small Palestinian community as well, and they're all Sunni.
Aside from that, if you eat halal, there is no other place like Dearborn in north America. There are hundreds of halal restaurants, bakeries, butcher shops, grocery stores...etc..
I say make the move! I think you'll love it.
Make sure you look into both east and west Dearborn. West Dearborn is nicer in my opinion. Also check out Dearborn Heights, which is another very Arab-Muslim area.

[reppin_the_847]

Originally Posted by MarcBetrus

You'll love Dearborn.. And if you're looking for a spouse, the options will be endless. Dearborn is generally a very welcoming community to converts. I know many Lebanese and Iraqi families that have converts who've married into their family.
Don't quote me on this, but I'd say that 80 - 85% of the Muslim community in Dearborn are Shia, and the remainder are Sunni.
So if you're Shia, you're REALLY going to love Dearborn. Most of the Shia are Lebanese and Iraqi. The majority of the Sunni are Yemeni, although there is a small Palestinian community as well, and they're all Sunni.
Aside from that, if you eat halal, there is no other place like Dearborn in north America. There are hundreds of halal restaurants, bakeries, butcher shops, grocery stores...etc..
I say make the move! I think you'll love it.
Make sure you look into both east and west Dearborn. West Dearborn is nicer in my opinion. Also check out Dearborn Heights, which is another very Arab-Muslim area.

I believe most of your post is quite accurate although I was always under the impression that the majority of Muslims in the area were Sunni Muslims, while Shia Muslims were more of the minority. I might be mistaken though. Folks from the Muslim community that are local to the actual area (particularly east Dearborn) would probably know for sure.

[MarcBetrus]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

I believe most of your post is quite accurate although I was always under the impression that the majority of Muslims in the area were Sunni Muslims, while Shia Muslims were more of the minority. I might be mistaken though. Folks from the Muslim community that are local to the actual area (particularly east Dearborn) would probably know for sure.

You'd be correct if we were talking about global population. Globally the majority of Muslims are in fact Sunni, roughly 85%. The remaining 15% are primarily Shia. In Dearborn the situation is reversed, the Shia are the majority.

This is due to a few factors, notably the large scale immigration which began in the 70s from southern Lebanon. -- This area of Lebanon is a Shia stronghold, so the vast majority of people that have emigrated from that area are Shia.

A second wave of Shia Muslims came shortly after Desert Storm ended in late 1991. Shia were heavily persecuted under the Saddam regime after Desert Storm. The reasons and the history behind that persecution are too long to explain here, however, what happened is that we experienced a huge influx of Iraqi refugees that came here beginning in the 90s, mostly Shia.

There is also a massive population of Chaldeans (Iraqi Christians) here in Detroit metro. There may be a very small percentage that live in Dearborn, but the majority live in Sterling Heights, Troy and Bloomfield Hills.

If you like all things middle eastern, I recommend visiting or moving to Detroit metro.

[reppin_the_847]

Originally Posted by MarcBetrus

You'd be correct if we were talking about global population. Globally the majority of Muslims are in fact Sunni, roughly 85%. The remaining 15% are primarily Shia. In Dearborn the situation is reversed, the Shia are the majority.

This is due to a few factors, notably the large scale immigration which began in the 70s from southern Lebanon. -- This area of Lebanon is a Shia stronghold, so the vast majority of people that have emigrated from that area are Shia.

A second wave of Shia Muslims came shortly after Desert Storm ended in late 1991. Shia were heavily persecuted under the Saddam regime after Desert Storm. The reasons and the history behind that persecution are too long to explain here, however, what happened is that we experienced a huge influx of Iraqi refugees that came here beginning in the 90s, mostly Shia.

There is also a massive population of Chaldeans (Iraqi Christians) here in Detroit metro. There may be a very small percentage that live in Dearborn, but the majority live in Sterling Heights, Troy and Bloomfield Hills.

If you like all things middle eastern, I recommend visiting or moving to Detroit metro.

Ahh this definitely sounds accurate to me. Thanks for enlightening me on the history & demographics of the metro area a bit more. This totally makes sense, including the part about the Lebanese community in Dearborn & the Chaldeans (Iraqi Catholics) mostly residing in portions of Macomb County & Oakland County as described.

[RandyMiller33]

Originally Posted by Dangerous-Boy

Why did you convert?

He found out that Islam is the one true religion, duh.