City of Residence:
Minneapolis, MN
Occupation:
US Congressman – Minnesota 5th District
Excerpt:
“I’m glad you asked that question, I actually urge Muslims to combat Islamophobia, not to protect Islam, but to protect freedom of faith, generally. Because the truth is, it might be Muslims today, but it could be Jews tomorrow or it could be Mormons the next day. Remember, this country was at one time very anti-Catholic. There are still little strains of it. When John F Kennedy was trying to become the president of the United States, they said, “Well, he shouldn’t be the president because he bows to a foreign dictator.” Everybody was like, “Who are they talking about?” Well, the Pope. It seems silly to us, but that is what his detractor said. The action we should take, we should work in our interfaith groups, we should not just get together and talk, but do interfaith action. So, why not get together Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and go out and, like, feed the hungry. You know what I mean? This is what we should do. We should come together as people of faith. People who are non-theists, so called atheists, we ought to remind them, that yes people of faith cause a lot of trouble, they have wars and violence and stuff like that associated with religious people, but Pol Pot and Stalin were avowed atheists. So, the problem is not religion or no religion, the problem is absolutism; ‘my way or the highway, do it my way or you will die, or we will jail you, or we are gonna do something bad to you if you don’t follow my rigid idea of what should be.’ This is the concept. So, we have to fight absolutism, and there is nothing in the Qur’an, or the hadith, or the sunnah, or the seerah of the prophet, sallalahu alayhi wa salaam, which suggests rigidity and non-flexibility.
As a Muslim, I’ve matured. It started out as a refuge, and now for me, it’s a way of living a perspective that feeds my soul, bolsters me, strengthens me, and allows me to continue to try to do the right thing for myself, my family, and my community; in spite of adversity, in spite of difficulty, and even in good times. Good times can be adversity too, because it can lead you to thinking that you’re doing all this, that’s the challenge. When the trouble comes, you know Islam is there. It’s been a wonderful journey for me and I’m just so glad that my good friend Mafta invited me to Jumuah many years ago.”
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