THE GROWTH OF ISLAM IN AMERICA AND EUROPE: A CULTURAL AND SPIRITUAL CHALLENGE FOR THE APOSTOLIC MOVEMENT
Josimar Salum – 30/6/2025
This essay is a sober and prayerful examination of the growth of Islam in America and Europe, presenting it not only as a social and ideological movement but as a profound spiritual challenge for the Apostolic movement and the Ekklesia at large. It explores history, culture, biblical insight, and prophetic understanding to equip believers to discern the times and respond faithfully.
Though this is a long and detailed text, it addresses an issue of vital importance for our generation. It deserves your thoughtful attention, reflection, and intercession. Thank you for taking the time to engage with these truths.
Over the past years, Islam has experienced significant growth in the United States, Canada, and Europe. This expansion has occurred not only through natural population growth but also through intentional outreach, immigration, and social influence funded in part by the wealth of the Arabic oil industry.
In Europe, many view this as a new kind of invasion, reminiscent of historic conflicts when Muslim armies advanced on European soil but were repelled by the defenders of the free world. Today, rather than a military advance, Islam is spreading through demographic shifts, ideological infiltration, and cultural adaptation.
As communism once rebranded itself to infiltrate Western societies culturally rather than militarily, Islam has similarly repositioned itself in the West by shifting from a purely religious identity to a political ideology, while still holding to its core doctrine of world domination through submission to Allah. This theme is embedded in its sacred writings and traditions.
A key strategy has involved mass migration of Muslim refugees — with a disproportionate share being males of military age — along with active outreach to influence and convert entire populations. This is often supported financially and ideologically by oil-funded networks and Gulf states, enabling the construction of mosques, community centers, and educational institutions with a global vision of spreading Islam.
Let’s break this down carefully with the facts:
Mass migration of Muslim refugees
Significant numbers of Muslim refugees have resettled in Europe and, to a lesser degree, the U.S., particularly from conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
Disproportionate share being males of military age
• Early waves of refugees to Europe (2015–2016, especially from Syria) did include a noticeable proportion of young men, often traveling alone.
• Official data from Frontex and Eurostat showed that in 2015, over 70% of asylum-seekers arriving in Europe were male, many aged 18–35.
• However, subsequent waves included more families and women.
Aggressive outreach to convert populations
• There is no data of a coordinated, Europe-wide forced conversion program (I guess why!), though there is active outreach and social influence, including through marriage between Muslim men and European women.
Oil-funded networks and Gulf states supporting mosque/community expansion
• Countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have funded mosques, Islamic centers, and educational programs in Europe, North America, and Africa.
• That funding aims to promote their religious interpretations (especially Wahhabism or Salafism).
Wahhabism and Salafism are movements within Sunni Islam that emphasize a return to what they consider the pure and original practices of the earliest Muslim generations (the salaf). Here’s how they are related and why you often hear them together:
Salafism is the broader term. It refers to a revivalist movement that wants to follow the example of the first three generations of Muslims (the “pious predecessors,” or salaf). Salafists usually stress a strict, literal reading of the Quran and hadith, rejecting later innovations (called bid‘ah) and encouraging a rigidly conservative lifestyle.
Wahhabism is a subset of Salafism that began in the 18th century with Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in what is now Saudi Arabia. Wahhab’s followers allied with the Saudi royal family, spreading an especially strict version of Salafi teaching through Saudi wealth and influence.
In practice, people often mention them together because:
• Wahhabism is Saudi Arabia’s official religious ideology.
• Saudi funding for mosques, Islamic centers, and schools around the world typically promotes Wahhabi/Salafi-style teachings.
• These teachings strongly reject liberal or modern interpretations of Islam, and emphasize a single religious and social order under sharia.
So when people talk about Gulf states funding mosques with a Wahhabi or Salafi vision, they mean a literalist, purist strand of Sunni Islam with a goal of enforcing what they see as the only authentic Islam.
In summary:
• Mass Muslim migration did happen, with many young men in early waves.
• There is significant Islamic outreach activity, although whether it is “aggressive” depends on interpretation.
• Gulf-state money has definitely funded mosques and institutions to promote their version of Islam.
Mosque Growth in the United States During the Obama Presidency phenomenon
The number of mosques in the United States grew significantly during President Obama’s administration (2009-2017).
In 2000, there were about 1,209 mosques. By 2015, estimates suggest there were approximately 2,300–2,400 mosques, though no official annual counts were published between 2009 and 2017 (I also guess why!). By 2020, the next major survey recorded around 2,769 mosques nationwide.
Officially this rise resulted from higher Muslim immigration and refugee resettlement, the growth of second-generation Muslim Americans, private funding (often with Gulf-region support), and the climate of religious freedom in the U.S. Although President Obama did not directly promote mosque construction, his administration’s immigration and pluralism policies created an environment where Muslim communities could continue to grow.
During his terms, there was a notable increase in immigration from Muslim-majority countries (such as Syria, Iraq, and Somalia) largely due to refugee crises.
Glenn Beck on Muslim-Related Violence
Glenn Beck has repeatedly warned that large-scale Muslim immigration into Europe and America has been accompanied by violent incidents, supporting his view that radical Islam poses a civilizational threat. Beck has cited events such as:
• Cologne, Germany (2015–2016): mass sexual assaults during New Year’s celebrations involving mostly North African or Middle Eastern young men
• Paris attacks (November 2015): coordinated shootings and bombings killing 130 people
• Brussels bombings (March 2016): airport and metro attacks
• Charlie Hebdo (2015): murders of journalists in Paris over cartoons of Muhammad
• Bataclan concert hall (2015): the killing of concertgoers in Paris
• Sweden’s urban gang violence: assaults and arson linked to immigrant youth gangs in suburbs with high Muslim populations
Beck has also linked female genital mutilation (FGM) and “honor killings” to Muslim immigrant subcultures in Europe and North America.
In the United States, he has highlighted:
• radical preaching in some mosques
• domestic terror plots inspired by ISIS or Al-Qaeda (e.g., the San Bernardino attack in 2015, and the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013)
Beck argues that these cases illustrate how Islamist radicals exploit religious freedom and immigration to gain footholds in Western societies, while many Western leaders — and even some churches — remain naïvely tolerant, failing to see that Islam in its worldview includes political domination. He frames this as a civilizational mission to destabilize the West through both terror and cultural pressure, warning that these movements take advantage of a spiritual vacuum in Western culture.
Sharia Law and Legal Challenges
The implantation of courts guided by sharia law represents a serious disregard for the Constitution of the United States, as it ignores the laws of the land and attempts to replace them with a parallel legal framework. The insistence on allowing a separate justice system for Muslim communities is, in practice, an act of isolation — establishing a community that seeks to live under its own laws instead of respecting the shared laws that govern all Americans.
This is not religious liberty. It is a counter-revolution that fundamentally rejects the Judeo-Christian values upon which this nation was built. Rather than integrating and participating in American civic life, this trend creates what amounts to a nation within a nation, setting up boundaries between Muslim communities and the broader society.
This is a deeply serious issue. People, under the banner of religious freedom and tolerance, can be manipulated to allow such practices, failing to realize that this is an abuse of America’s generous constitutional freedoms. When communities demand their own courts based on sharia, they are not simply asking for the freedom to worship — they are seeking to establish an alternative authority and worldview that stands in opposition to the constitutional order.
If not addressed, this tendency undermines our legal unity, erodes shared civic responsibility, and weakens the very social fabric that holds our diverse nation together. It must be recognized and challenged, not out of hatred for any group, but out of commitment to uphold one nation under one law, where true religious liberty exists without creating separate, competing systems of justice.
Cultural Influence in American Universities
Countries such as Qatar, in particular, have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in American universities under the banner of educational partnerships, donations, and endowments. While these funds are publicly presented as supporting academic programs or cultural exchange, many observers believe they also serve to promote agendas designed to foster Islamist tolerance on campus while subtly encouraging antisemitic sentiments. The goal is to influence the minds of young students, drawing them toward ideological sympathies that undermine American values and destabilize the very fabric of society from within.
It is highly strategic how these efforts are carried out: they often align with progressive or leftist academic movements, echoing doctrines rooted in Marxism and communism to weaken students’ confidence in their heritage, freedoms, and faith. By eroding these moral and cultural foundations, they create openings for their own religious doctrines to infiltrate and eventually dominate. This combination of soft-power financial influence and ideological collaboration is a sophisticated strategy to pave the way for broader cultural submission and, ultimately, a deeper societal transformation aligned with their vision of the world under Islamic rule.
A Personal Reflection
The first time I perceived this issue was in 1981 when I heard Don Richardson, author of Peace Child and Lords of the Earth, speaking about The Mosque and the Cross in a lecture he shared at my Bible College in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Richardson explored the challenge of Islam from a Christian perspective, examining how Islam has historically expanded, how it influences cultures, and how Christians can respond with faith, truth, and courage rather than fear. His book blended historical perspective, biblical insight, and practical guidance for believers who want to engage Muslims with the gospel while understanding the ideological differences between Christianity and Islam and he cleared denounced how they would conquer the west by their domination agenda.
And it was Lou Engle in 2001 who powerfully described the war between the “House of Islam” and the “House of Prayer.” He defined the house of Islam as a spiritual and ideological system deeply committed to advancing its vision of submission to Allah globally, which includes cultural, political, and religious dominance. Engle emphasized that Islam is not merely a personal religion but a worldview with a strong territorial and civilizational ambition, historically seeking to establish itself as the only legitimate faith and law.
Engle contrasted this with what he calls the House of Prayer, which he sees as God’s strategy to confront spiritual darkness and false ideologies. The House of Prayer is a movement of believers, rooted in day-and-night prayer, worship, and intercession, releasing the light of Christ and the power of the gospel to transform Muslim hearts and challenge the advance of Islam’s ideological structures.
Engle has often said the church should not meet the house of Islam with political rage or hatred, but rather with “a greater house” — a house of worship, intercession, and radical love that calls Muslims to the true knowledge of Jesus. He believes this is God’s ultimate weapon against the spread of Islam: a praying, fasting, Spirit-empowered church standing in love and truth.
He has challenged Christians to pray for supernatural breakthroughs in the Muslim world.
And this I recorded mentioning past revivals in places like Iran and dreams of Jesus among Muslims — as evidence that intercession and the gospel are far more powerful than any military or political campaign.
Islam as a Spiritual Principality
We must understand that Islam is not merely an ideology or religious belief system. On the surface, it presents itself as a comprehensive way of life — encompassing religion, culture, politics, and law — which is why many label it an ideology. However, from a biblical worldview, it goes even deeper.
Islam functions as a spiritual principality, meaning it operates as a ruling spiritual power that influences and binds entire nations and peoples. It is empowered not only by human agreement with its doctrines but by spiritual forces working behind its message. The Bible describes these realities as principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual hosts of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12). Islam, in this sense, is more than ideas or practices; it is a spiritual stronghold energized by unseen forces that oppose the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the only Savior of men.
Furthermore, Islam behaves as a living spiritual force because it has the ability to motivate, animate, and move multitudes, generation after generation, with fervent zeal for its cause. It forms a spiritual culture that resists the gospel and seeks to expand globally, demanding total allegiance and submission — at the heart of its name, “Islam” meaning submission.
From a biblical perspective, its denial of Jesus as the Son of God (1 John 2:22–23) reveals its spiritual root as an antichrist spirit, which denies the Father-Son revelation. That is why its impact is not merely cultural or political, but deeply spiritual — challenging the very truth of who Jesus is.
For these reasons, confronting Islam cannot be done merely with human arguments or political efforts. It requires spiritual discernment, intercessory prayer, proclamation of the gospel, and the power of the Holy Spirit to break its spiritual hold and bring true freedom to those under its influence.
An Appeal to Apostolic Leaders and a Call to the Church
It is incomprehensible that Christian leaders in Europe and America have been indifferent or overly accommodating to the rise of Islam, failing to recognize that it is not simply a faith among many, but a worldview that aims for cultural and governmental submission to Allah. Their silence has left a vacuum where evangelism and bold truth should have stood.
This moment demands fervent, united, and corporate prayer by the Ekklesia for revival and transformation among Muslim populations — a revival that brings the truth of Jesus Christ into hearts and minds, just as revival movements have flourished in Iran and parts of the Arab world, pushing back against this counterfeit ideological advance.
Islam’s growth cannot be seen only as a political or cultural problem, but must be recognized as a spiritual challenge, to be addressed with spiritual weapons: the gospel, prayer, fasting, and the mobilization of God’s people to love, speak truth, and contend for souls.
If Western civilization is to preserve its freedom and moral foundation, it must recognize this infiltration and respond with wise policies and passionate faith, remembering that the battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.
Apostolic leaders must form councils and make coordinated efforts to highlight this challenge and address it insightfully. They need to come together beyond denominational lines, uniting apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to prayerfully and strategically discern how to confront the ideological, cultural, and spiritual advance of Islam. These councils should equip believers with sound teaching, train them in effective evangelism toward Muslim communities, and mobilize intercessory networks to break spiritual strongholds. Apostolic leaders must raise awareness, speak with prophetic clarity, and develop resources that empower the Church to respond boldly yet compassionately, with unwavering biblical truth and Spirit-led wisdom, so that the Kingdom of God advances even in the face of these growing cultural pressures.
May we stand alert, courageous, and compassionate to reach Muslim communities with the transforming love of Jesus Christ, refusing to yield the ground of truth, and praying for a powerful spiritual awakening to break through even the hardest walls of ideology and cultural conquest.
Let us respond not as a religious institution, but as the true Ekklesia — the governing assembly of Christ on earth, called to represent His Kingdom with authority and love. As Scripture commands:
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
— 1 Peter 3:15
We must confront the strongholds of deception of Islam with unwavering obedience to Christ, pulling down every false argument and exalting His name above all powers:
““For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”
— 2 Corinthians 10:4–6
As His Ekklesia, we are not called to retreat, appease, or blend in, but to stand immovably on the unshakable truth of Christ, confronting darkness with uncompromising light. We must trust the Lord to break through hardened hearts, tear down every false stronghold, and transform lives by the unstoppable power of the gospel, all for His glory.
#ASONE
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