DNC Boston 2004: The Muslims are coming!

Change is a-comin

“There’s a lot of work in the Muslim community that needs to be done,” reflects Mona Mohib, a Democratic Party strategist on Muslim American issues as she participated in this week’s Democratic Party convention in Boston. She and the other Muslim delegates (who number about 40 out of 4,300) worked the crowds, fielding questions regarding Sen. John Kerry’s stand on issues of Muslim concern (including the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq) and preparing to stump for the Democratic ticket in Muslim gatherings across America. “The Muslim community is getting more and more politically sophisticated,” she noted.

In Texas, for example, Muslims voter registration and organizing led to Texas bringing the largest number of Muslim delegates (seven) to this year’s convention. And they have found a receptive audience with the DNC. Haleema Salie, a Muslim woman who lost her daughter and son-in law in the 9/11 attacks was chosen to reflect upon them to the convention hall. “Remember September 11th as the day we were one,” she said, “the day we acted as if we valued each other.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) recently hosted a gathering of national Muslim groups, calling it “only the first in an ongoing dialogue between congressional Democrats and Muslim Americans.” Also, Imam Yahya Hendi, a Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University, gave the closing benediction on the second night of the convention. Saudi-born Muslim Ferial Masry, a candidate for the California State Assembly who was written in to the November ballot, lamented that she spent more time in interviews than on the convention floor. “After seeing a rising young star like Barack Obama at the DNC,” said her son Omar Masry, a sergeant in the US Army who just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, “stories like my mom’s seem even more realistic, because they represent the things we love about this country.”

While the majority of the Muslim vote seems destined to go Kerry’s way, but some voters remain skeptical. “They have to do their homework,” said delegate Asad Zaman from Minnesota, who reflected a common sentiment that Kerry would have to do more than kiss Muslim babies to get votes. “He needs to visit mosques the way he visits synagogues.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.