![](\"images\/stories\/news1\/muslim_kids_scouts.jpg\")
Interweaving the teachings of Islam and everyday scouting activities, US Muslim children are increasingly joining Boy Scouts of America, seeing it a golden opportunity to practice their basic religious beliefs while following the scout law. “The Islamic ideals and the scouting ideals are the same. They’re compatible,” Abdul Rashid Abdullah, scoutmaster of Troop 786, told CNN.
“I can easily talk about the scout law and talk about Qur\u2019anic verses that co-relate to those scout laws, so it makes it really easy.”
Joining scout troops since childhood, Abdullah, who was raised as a Roman Catholic, was introduced to the ethics of scouts including serving God and the country.
He reverted to Islam while attending University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
“I met a lot of students from Malaysia and they gave me the opportunity to ask questions,\u201d said Abdullah, who now serves as a regional chair of the National Islamic Council on Scouting.
\u201cWhen I asked the questions I was like, ‘That’s spot on to what my beliefs already are.’ So I just embraced it,” he said.
Now, Abdullah seizes the opportunity to interweave the fundamental beliefs of Islam with everyday scouting activities.
“I often tell parents, ‘You’re going to take your kids to Sunday school or whatever to learn the Qur’an and to learn Islam,” said Abdullah.
“‘When I take them out camping, we’re going to put that into practice.”
Almost all big Islamic centers or mosques in the United States organize scouting troops for their local communities.
In All Dulles Area Muslim Society Scout (ADAMS), one of the largest American Muslim organizations in US, there are more than 200 scouts; boys and girls.
According to the Boy Scouts of America, Muslim scout troops have been increasing over the past two years.
It says about 2,000 scouts are enrolled in some 112 troops through Islamic schools and mosques.
For Muslim girl scouts, their exact number is unknown especially that many of them join predominantly non-Muslim troops.<\/p>\n