Minnesotan poised to be Congress' first Muslim

[Al-khiyal]

"You can't back down, you can't chicken out, you can't be afraid, you got to have faith in Allah, and you got to stand up and be a real Muslim."

First Muslim congressman encourages crowd to push for justice

[Al-khiyal]

Keith Ellison made history Thursday, becoming the first Muslim member of Congress and punctuating the occasion by taking a ceremonial oath with a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

"Look at that. That's something else," Ellison, D-Minnesota, said as officials from the Library of Congress showed him the two-volume Quran, which was published in London in 1764.

A few minutes later, Ellison took the ceremonial oath with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, at his side. So many of Ellison's family members attended the ceremony that it was done in two takes.

Ellison had already planned to be sworn in using a Quran, rather than a Bible. He learned last month about Jefferson's Quran, with its multicolored cover and brown leather binding, and arranged to borrow it.

Although the Library of Congress is right across the street from the Capitol, library officials took extra precautions in delivering the Quran for the ceremony. To protect it from the elements, they placed the Quran in a rectangular box and handled it with a green felt wrapper once inside the Capitol.

Instead of using surface streets, they walked it over via a series of winding, underground tunnels - a trip that took more than 15 minutes. Guards then ran the book through security machines at the Capitol.

The Quran was acquired in 1815 as part of a more than 6,400-volume collection that Jefferson sold for $24,000 to replace the congressional library that had been burned by British troops the year before, in the War of 1812. Jefferson, the nation's third president, was a collector of books in all topics and languages.

The book's leather binding was added in 1919. Inside, it reads, "The Koran, commonly called 'The Alcoran of Mohammed.'" Jefferson marked his ownership by writing the letter "J" next to the letter "T" that was already at the bottom of pages, according to Mark Dimunation, chief of the Library of Congress' rare book and special collections division.

Ellison, the first black member of Congress from Minnesota, was born in Detroit and converted to Islam in college. He said earlier this week that he chose to use this Quran because it showed that a visionary like Jefferson believed that wisdom could be gleaned from many sources.

In a brief interview Thursday on his way to a vote, Ellison suggested he had tired of the whole issue of his using the Quran.

"It was good, we did it, it's over, and now it's time to get down to business," he said.

Asked if he was relieved to have it behind him, Ellison said, "Yeah, because maybe we don't have to talk about it so much anymore. Not that I'm complaining, but the pressing issues the country is facing are just a little bit more on my mind right now."

Some critics have argued that only a Bible should be used for the swearing-in. Last month, Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Virginia, warned that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims" will be elected and follow Ellison's lead.

Ellison approached Goode on the House floor Thursday, introducing himself and offering to meet for coffee. According to Ellison, Goode said he'd be interested in doing that. The subject of Goode's comments didn't come up, Ellison said.

"Look, we're trying to build bridges," Ellison said. "We're trying to help bring about understanding. We don't want issues of misunderstanding and division to exist if they don't have to."

Goode's office did not immediately return phone and e-mail messages for comment.

Ellison's mother, Clida Ellison, said in an interview that she thought any controversy over her son's choice was good, "because many people in America are going to learn what the diversity of America is all about."

She described herself as a practicing Catholic.

"I go to Mass every day," she said.

Ellison uses Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an

[Al-khiyal]

Detroit native Keith Ellison, the first Muslim Congressman, told the Free Press Friday that he used the Quran during his oath of office because the Islamic holy book helped influence the founding fathers of America.

Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, garnered international attention Thursday when he used a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson during his ceremonial swearing-in ceremony for the House of Representatives.

The Quran is "definitely an important historical document in our national history and demonstrates that Jefferson was a broad visionary thinker who not only possessed a Quran, but read it," Ellison said in an interview with the Free Press. "It would have been something that contributed to his own thinking."

Ellison was criticized by some commentators for using the Quran during his oath off office. Ellison said he decided to use Jefferson's Quran after receiving a letter from someone who told him about the copy, which is with the Library of Congress. U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, a Virginia Republican, slammed Ellison for using a Quran.

But Ellison said Friday that Jefferson's Quran "shows that from the earliest times of this republic, the Quran was in the consciousness of people who brought about democracy."

Ellison: Qur'an influenced America's founding fathers

[Al-khiyal]

Riyadh • The Muslim member of the US Congress, who accompanied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a Middle East tour, said yesterday that he hoped to return to Saudi Arabia later this year to perform the Haj pilgrimage in Makkah. “I did think of going to perform Umrah but the schedule did not allow it,” Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, said as the congressional delegation prepared to wrap up its regional tour. “I hope to perform the Haj this year, God willing,” he said.

Ellison was elected to the House of Representatives when Democrats swept to victory in last November’s elections. Ellison, an African American who converted from Roman Catholicism while a student in college, said he believed the United States “could do much more” in terms of engaging to seek solutions in the Middle East.

First U.S. Muslim lawmaker to perform Haj

[Bent_Bladi]

Born and Raised in the U.S.A.
Keith Ellison, Newsweek/Washington Post, 7/27/07

I didn’t need to watch the PBS series “America at a Crossroads” or read the recent Pew Research Center survey on American Muslims, to know that the Muslim community is under intense scrutiny.

The day I won the Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) endorsement for the Fifth Congressional District of Minnesota, it was the first question out of the shoot.

“Aren’t you a Muslim?” “Will you be the first one in Congress if you win?” “Will you swear your oath on the Qur'an?” “Do you oppose terrorism?”

I’ve heard them all. But although I’ve been asked a few intrusive, repetitive, and even silly questions about my faith, life has been good.

First, a fairly small number of conversations revolve around religion. Whole days – even weeks – have gone by without me being asked to speak on behalf of the 1.3 billion Muslims in the world. But more importantly, I’ve been able to pursue my work on behalf of my constituents. I have been effective on issues such as peace, ending the war in Iraq, credit justice, and environmental sustainability. My colleagues have been tolerant and inclusive. I have not had a single unpleasant face-to-face encounter with a member of congress over religion. Individual leaders in the Bush Administration have been open and inclusive. I accompanied Speaker Pelosi on her trip to the Middle East, and I’ll never forget the warm reception she received from the women who poured out of the Omayyad Mosque in Damascus just to shake her hand or take a picture.

Of course, there have been a few bumps.

For example, officers in a training class reported that a Minneapolis police lieutenant made comments that implied that I was a terrorist. The comments were rebuked by the Mayor and Police Chief, and the incident is currently under investigation. Commentator Glenn Beck asked me to “prove” him that I was not working with “enemies”. Another conservative commentator opined that I should be barred from serving in Congress if I swear to uphold the U.S. Constitution on the Qur’an.

Of course, there’s more, but those incidents prove my main point: there is much reason for hope. I did win the election. I am making progress on a broad swath of progressive issues. I continue to be inspired by the courage of people standing up for peace, for shared-prosperity, and health care reform.

While some Muslim friends and acquaintances have recounted shabby treatment in post 9/11 America, in the next breath they have told me about how they are opening up businesses, sending kids to college, or prospering in some other way. It’s common for some bright young Muslim person to tell me about their own political ambitions. “You might have been first, but I’m gonna be in Congress too.”

Some have pledged to get more politically engaged or to support candidates who have the backbone to speak up for civil and human rights for all. But every prescription I have heard has been solidly within the heartland of American civil redress and our democratic political process.

This should not be surprising, given that 71 percent of Muslim Americans report that they believe that you can make it in America if you work hard, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll. Only 64 percent of Americans on average reported the same level of confidence in American economic and social mobility. For Muslim Americans, the United States is the land of opportunity.

I don’t want to diminish those occasions, however, where Muslim Americans have been persecuted or mistreated. These cases exist. Just ask James Yee, former United States Army chaplain and captain, who was threatened with the death penalty, kept in solitary confinement for seventy-six days, and forced to undergo sensory deprivation because he voiced concerns about the treatment about Guantanamo detainees. All charges were later dropped and he was cleared to resume duties. Instead, he accepted an honorable discharge. Today he lectures widely about the importance of upholding our constitutional heritage even in the face of a terrorist threat. Or ask Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer, who received a rare public apology from the FBI, when it admitted that his fingerprints were mistakenly linked to one found near the scene of a terrorist bombing in Spain. The blunder led to his imprisonment for two weeks, and eventually a settlement of $2 million. There are other cases as well.

Though rare, these cases are not unimportant. They are widely known incidents, and could overshadow the more typical story of participation and prosperity. As the injury is widely known, the remedies and apologies must be also widely known. But the more important lesson is that tragedies like 9/11 can cause us to react out of fear and rage against our neighbors and fellow loyal Americans.

American Muslims are an asset to the country, not a threat. Unfair suspicion and profiling does not serve the national interest or honor our hard earned reputation as the beacon for civil and human rights around the world.

I can’t speak for every Muslim, but I remain confident and hopeful about the prospects for America’s Muslims because, in the end, America is about religious tolerance, inclusion, and fairness.