A Common Faith, but Little Common Ground?

"The foreigners think they're superior because they come from Muslim countries," she said. "But prophet Muhammad said Arabs are not superior to other races, and vice versa."

Louay Safi, who heads the ISNA Leadership Development Center, acknowledged that the conventions did seem to reflect a failure to unite but cited efforts to bring the two groups together. A few years ago, for example, ISNA granted automatic entry to anyone registered for the Warith Deen Mohammed convention.

"We have a good relationship," Safi said. "The two conferences do not reflect a split, and we've moved closer."

Many black Muslims who were at the ISNA convention said they felt welcome there. "ISNA is very inclusive," said Qasim Wasi, 24, who was manning a booth for the Islamic Post newspaper, which he publishes out of South Carolina.

At his convention, Warith Deen Mohammed cautioned listeners against putting too much emphasis on race. Instead, he said, they should reach out to people of all races and faiths.

"I'm the son of Adam and the son of Abraham," he told the overwhelmingly black audience. "Satan makes you look at physical color; we have to get past that."

Although having two conventions was disappointing for some, people at both sites said progress was being made in intra-Muslim race relations, often at the grass-roots level. Many black Muslims, such as Siraj Wahaj of Brooklyn and Johari Abdul-Malik of Washington, for example, have become prominent imams, leading large congregations in which racial and ethnic composition reflects the national composition of U.S. Muslims (about one-third black, one-third South Asian and one-third Arab and other groups, according to estimates).

At the same time, many Muslims from South Asian and Arab backgrounds have started social programs such as volunteer health clinics and soup kitchens in urban neighborhoods with large black and Latino populations.

"There's still interaction between the communities outside of the conventions," said Sultan Muhammad of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network. "There are joint efforts to forge that Islamic inclusiveness."