In the U.S.—where Islam is the third-largest religion and where, by 2030, almost two out of 100 Americans are projected to be Muslims —a growing controversy exists as to whether Islam and American values are compatible with each other.
After the 9/11 attacks, Muslims were portrayed as violent and anti-Western. Fear of Islam grew after the U.S. supported war against the Islamic State group and, most recently, after the tragic terrorist attacks in Paris. Yet, surprisingly for many, Muslims historically have defended our homeland, and America has had a longstanding openness towards Islam.
To begin with, we must understand that radical Islamists account for a tiny, although very vocal, fraction of the over 1.6 billion world Muslim population. In the U.S.—the bastion of religious freedom—Muslims generally represent an ethnically diverse, educated and integrated group. And only eight percent of American Muslims believe suicide bombings are sometimes or often justified.
As an example, growing up in post-Soviet Azerbaijan—where religion was banned under the communist rule—my parents allowed me to read both the Bible and the Quran. They explained to me that Jews, Christians and Muslims all believed in the same deity but in distinctive ways just like various branches of Islam have their differences in worshipping God. They also taught me to treat others as I would like others to treat me. And never in my memory had I perceived non-Muslims as infidels.
When I came to the United States as an exchange student in 2004, I lived with a Christian Baptist family. Seven years later, an American Christian woman gave me shelter and adopted me into her family as her own child. While I continued to practice Islam, I also celebrated Christmas and Easter holidays. Besides, as an American Muslim, I support the absolute equality of all people. I endorse separation of religion and state. And I believe in freedom of speech.
Nevertheless, on Jan. 16, sitting in the Duke University Chapel during Friday service, where "adhan"—the call for Islamic prayer—had been cancelled because of threats against Muslim students, I could not but wonder about the escalating Islamophobia in our society. Praying under the guard of undercover officers and policemen, I suddenly felt vulnerable in the U.S. Unfortunately, there is a lot of ignorance about American Muslims.
For starters, Islam is not a new phenomenon in America. In 1776, John Adams, one of our Founding Fathers, praised Prophet Muhammad as a “sober inquirer after truth” in his “Thoughts on Government.” Twenty-one years later, he signed the Treaty of Tripoli, which declared that the U.S. had “no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility” of Muslims.
Other Founding Fathers—George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson—all defended religious freedom in America. In his autobiography, Franklin wrote that “even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service.” In addition, the first country to recognize the United States' independence in 1777 was Morocco, a Muslim state.
Furthermore, Muslims are not foreigners in the U.S. They are part of our American history. The first Muslims came to America as early as the 16th century. They fought in the Civil War for the Union; they died on the battlefields of World War II fighting against the Nazis, and as Winston Churchill wrote in his letter to President Franklin Roosevelt, “We must not on any account break with the Moslems … the main army elements on which we must rely for the immediate fighting.”
In fact, two of the earliest mosques in the U.S. were built in traditionally conservative states—in North Dakota in 1929 and in Iowa in 1934, where the Muslim National Cemetery in Cedar Rapids is a burial site for American Muslim veterans who perished in World War II. And during the Vietnam War at least 12 American Muslims died for the country.
Moreover, even after the 9/11 attacks, many American Muslims joined the war on terror and, as of 2012, 3,600 Muslims were on active duty in the U.S. armed forces. Muslim tombstones in the Arlington National Cemetery are a reminder of their sacrifice to defend America.
Today, however, by portraying Muslims as existentially evil and anti-American, by presenting Islam as a religion of violence, by burning the Quran and attacking the religious beliefs of Muslims, we are missing an opportunity to reconcile the world’s largest religions. One way to achieve this goal is to encourage inter-religious dialogue to promote coexistence in the U.S. in the manner our Founding Fathers envisioned it and to educate all people in the spirit of tolerance, love and peace.
These principles are emboldened in our holy scriptures. The Bible teaches us to be “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love” and the Quran says, “You shall have your religion and I shall have my religion.”
President George Washington was right when he wrote in 1790 that “all possess alike liberty of conscience. ... For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens.”
Finally, we must also not forget recent history when the fear of another religious group led to the horrors of Holocaust. We need to learn from our past. And, once again, let us not obliterate the United States' longstanding openness towards Muslims. We, Americans, as a progressive nation, should work together to build a better country, where Islam is a part of our colorful religious and cultural mosaic.
Geysar Gurbanov is a Rotary Fellow at Duke-UNC Chapel Hill Center for International Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution.
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