Muslims find welcome at Democrats’ party

c. 2008 Religion News Service DENVER _ Muslim leaders here say the Democratic National Committee is welcoming their rising profile in the party, even as Democrats’ presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, battles false rumors that he is Muslim. As the Democratic National Convention draws to a close tonight with Obama’s official acceptance of the nomination, […]

c. 2008 Religion News Service

DENVER _ Muslim leaders here say the Democratic National Committee is welcoming their rising profile in the party, even as Democrats’ presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, battles false rumors that he is Muslim.

As the Democratic National Convention draws to a close tonight with Obama’s official acceptance of the nomination, faith has assumed a new prominence in the party’s proceedings.


Just as Democrats have shone a spotlight on evangelical and Catholic progressives, they’ve also highlighted the small-but-growing number of Muslim Democrats.

Party bosses have attended American Muslim Democratic Caucus meetings, Muslim leaders participated in a pre-convention interfaith gathering, and Muslim congressmen have mingled with rank-and-file community activists.

“The Muslim community in America is a surging political force,” Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said in an interview here, “people from all various walks of life who are running for office, who are getting engaged, precinct captains, delegates, local public officials.”

Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress last year.

There are about 1.5 million voting-age Muslims in the U.S., according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, many living in the critical swing states of Michigan and Florida.

But Obama’s campaign has conducted a delicate dance with Muslim voters. While the candidate is eager to be seen as inclusive of all Americans, Obama has aggressively fought false rumors that he is Muslim.

This summer, Obama’s Muslim outreach adviser, Chicago attorney Mazen Asbahi, resigned after being publicly linked to a controversial imam.

Muslim leaders here say they feel welcomed by the Democratic Party and are eager to flex their growing political muscle.


“People felt that they were embraced,” said Hiam Nawas, a Muslim member of the Democratic National Committee’s Faith in Action outreach program. “They felt that they had a seat at the table. One of the Muslim delegates told me this was a defining experience for her.”

On Monday (Aug. 25) the American Muslim Democratic Caucus drew more than 150 guests to a meeting and urged fellow members of the faith to get involved in politics.

Pollster James Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute, points to the increased political prominence of South Asian and African-American Muslims, “both of which seem to have come of age in politics in a way that we hadn’t seen before.”

Of the more than 4,400 delegates here, only about 20 to 40 are Muslim, according to several Muslim political organizers.

Miami attorney and community activist Khurrum Wahid said that’s a start, but wants to raise the profile of Muslim Democrats even higher.

“It goes under the radar that it’s a very educated, very politically active community and a community that has a lot of resources,” Wahid said. “We’re not the liability everybody thinks we are.”


Ellison said that courting Muslims at home may also lead to better foreign relations with critical allies in fighting global terrorism.

“If we fully employed Pakistani Muslims, Indian Muslims, Asian-American Muslims,” he said, “we will be able to bridge the gap of folks around the world who might threaten our country.”

DSB/RB END FINNIGAN550 words

File photos of Rep. Keith Ellison are available via https://religionnews.com

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!