Hussein Rashid Archives – PEN America

Letter 4 | Values and Voices. Muslims have been part of this country since its founding. Since nearly a third of all slaves were Muslim, this country literally was built on the backs of Muslims. We have remained important contributors to American history, serving to defend our nation and contributing culturally to what it means to be American. Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Qur’an sits in the Library of Congress as a testament to how important Muslim thought was to the founding of this country.

American Islamophobia Is Helping Trump Kill The Iran Deal | HuffPost. The U.S. response to Iran’s recent economic protests, and President Donald Trump’s decertification of the Iran nuclear deal, show us how little we understand Muslims. That ignorance, and our failure to see Muslim nations as rich, diverse cultures peopled by, well, people, tears at America’s social fabric, and weakens the U.S. as an international actor.