Islam discussion

Hello all! I’ve always found other cultures and religions fascinating. It’s so easy to generalize and solely resort to stereotypes because it takes much more effort to educate yourself. My first real academic exposure to Islam as a religion was in the book The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror by Bernard Lewis.

In my opinion, it was a very dry read, but definitely offered a more complete glance of the religion apart from the fundamentalist image we constantly see in media.

Anyway, I was recently provided access to an early copy of the upcomingMy Country, 'Tis of Thee by Representative Keith Ellison, and I am now working to promote his book.


For those who have not heard of him, Rep. Ellison is the first Muslim to have been elected to the United States Congress. He is an inspiring man who is very passionate about his religion and politics who offers a very unique and interesting perspective.

Perhaps one of my favorite quotations from the book was the following:
“It is not unpatriotic to acknowledge America’s faults. No country is perfect… We can’t reach the top of the mountain if we don’t fix the injustice and confront our lies."

Do you believe America made progress to address inequalities and prejudice toward minority groups such as Muslims? What do you know about Rep. Ellison?

I've been seeing Keith Ellison a lot more in the news lately and I appreciate hearing his perspective as the first Muslim elected the the U.S. Congress. While I do not agree with all of his political stances and I do not agree with everything that he says publicly, I respect the office that he serves and I respect that fact that he was democratically elected by the people of his district in Minnesota.

I am also working on the team to promote his forthcoming book My Country 'Tis of Thee and after having read the book and learned so much about his upbringing; his education; his religious views; and his belief in America's ever present movement towards equality--I am that much more able to appreciate and at times respectfully disagree with his perspective when I see him in the news.

Ellison acknowledges that America is not perfect and that are still to this day religious prejudices, but he sees that there is potential within the law to prevent discrimination and to promote equality in our country. While Ellison sees many things wrong with the way that America currently functions in regards to inequality, he remains hopeful about the future of our country and he is taking action to fulfill the promises of our country's founders.

I've met Kieth on several occassions and he's a pretty nice guy. He's been to many of the MAS-MN functions and he's spoken publicly at some of MAS's events like the Muslim Day at the State Capitol and such. Although he's not from my district I would have voted for him had he been in my district. Many of his political views are similar to my own and while I don't agree with all of his views (there were a few shaky ones about Palestine if I recall correctly for example) I certainly as an American respect his right to have different views and I still largely support him as a politician. We also had another Muslim run for political offices here by the name of Farheen Hakeem. I would love to vote for her but everything she's run for has been out of my voting jurisdiction.
I hadn't heard of Keith's book but I might have to read it at some point so thanks for letting me know about it.

Cassandra wrote: "I've met Kieth on several occassions and he's a pretty nice guy. He's been to many of the MAS-MN functions and he's spoken publicly at some of MAS's events like the Muslim Day at the State Capitol..."
That's awesome. I'd love to meet Keith in person. I've seen some video clips of a few of his speeches and he comes across as very moving and passionate speaker.