American Muslims Leaders and Activists Respond to a Trump Presidency

Azhar Azeez

In his thoughts, Dr. Azeez, who currently heads the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), reflected,

Many American Muslim families, men, women, children and teens, are traumatized by the result of the election and the fear of what is to come. It is important as a community that the healing process begin….Muslims, as all Americans of faith, put our trust in God and pray for guidance for our leaders to serve the cause of righteousness and for the best for this country and for the people of the world.

As reality sinks in, some Muslim Americans have already begun discussing the significance of Muslim American engagement with a Trump administration. On a related note, Dr. Azeez shared,

It is impossible to deny that this phase of our history, now passed, has been particularly difficult for Muslims and other minorities. It does no good to re-live this. The Quran reminds us that it may be that there may be things we do not like but are good for us nonetheless (2:216). We pray that this is one of those times and that good comes to America…We hope that Mr. Trump and his team reaches out to the Muslim community and to other minority communities currently in fear, and not merely those that supported his presidential campaign.  Mr. Trump’s victory speech has perhaps started this new tone, one that we hope continues. Mr. Trump will provide a great service to the nation by assuring fellow Americans that his administration will not abandon fundamental values of cherishing equal protection under the law, and equal opportunities for all Americans regardless of race, national origin, gender, religion, or other constitutionally protected categories.

Of course, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with engaging a Trump administration. Throughout former President George Bush’s presidency, spanning the course of eight (8) arduous years, Muslim Americans consistently engaged all levels of our federal government to challenge policies and practices that violated the U.S. Constitution, founding national values and even international law.

Next: Imam Suhaib Webb