One nation under Allah

(POST-GAZETTE)

By Suhail A. Khan

As American Muslims find themselves at the center of a heated debate over religious freedom, it’s important to remember that our nation’s founders contemplated these very issues since before the creation of the United States.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” So begins the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, adopted July 4, 1776, which announced that the American colonies regarded themselves as a new nation.

The new nation would struggle to make that proposition a reality for all, including African slaves, native Americans, women and other religious and ethnic minorities. In times of real or perceived danger, this proposition has been tested: In the Civil War, of course, but also in 1882 with a sweeping prohibition on the immigration of Chinese workers. In 1919 and the 1950s, the “red scare” caused many innocent Americans to be unfairly accused of being communist sympathizers. American Jews, Catholics and Mormons faced decades of prejudice and often violence. After Pearl Harbor, over 120,000 Japanese-American citizens were forced from their homes and placed in camps. Not to mention Jim Crow and quite a few other examples.

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Today, it’s the 5 million to 7 million Americans who happen to be Muslim who have been stereotyped and demonized. GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for the registration of all Muslim-Americans, the warrantless surveillance of all Muslim places of worship and a ban on virtually all Muslims entering the country. “They’re not coming to this country if I’m president,” he said in the most recent Republican presidential debate.

“We have a problem in this country: It’s called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know he’s not even an American … when can we get rid of ’em?” one of Mr. Trump’s supporters bellowed at a campaign rally in New Hampshire. Mr. Trump responded, “We need this question,” and promised that “we’re going to be looking at that and plenty of other things.”

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