First Ever
Muslim Elected to the US Congress
By Dr. Ghulam M. Haniff
St. Cloud, Minnesota
To
say that Muslims were euphoric on the election
evening would be an understatement. For them it
was an enchanted evening when one of their own,
a follower of Islam, was elected to the Congress
of the United States. The election returns of
Tuesday, November 7, 2006 brought ecstasy to the
Muslims of America as they watched Keith Ellison
emerge victorious in Minnesota’s fifth congressional
district for a seat in the US House of Representatives.
As millions around the world stared at television
monitors numbers trickled in, haphazardly at first
then turned into a tidal wave, for Keith Ellison
the Democratic choice for the district that includes
the city of Minneapolis and nearby suburbs.
Thus ended a hard fought election battle in which
the winner was a target of personal attacks from
the beginning of the campaign. The acrimonious
political tussle continued until the very last
day. Despite considerable mudslinging the Democratic
candidate maintained his cool and remained positive
to the very end.
His Republican rival Alan Fine, a person of Jewish
background lashed out repeatedly at Ellison for
being Muslim, and tried to make Islam an issue.
The voters of Minnesota’s 5th CD would have
none of it and rejected making a person’s
religion into political football.
Precisely because of his Islamic faith Ellison
received national media attention with many articles
pointing out that in his earlier life he had belonged
to the Black Muslim movement. Though he distanced
himself from his past association, the Republican
competitor kept on pursuing the matter to generate
controversy.
From the beginning the Democratic candidate reached
out to diverse communities and built a winning
coalition. Ellison campaigned while fasting during
the month of Ramadan and kept up with prayers
five times a day. He mobilized an army of activists
to cover his entire constituency door knocking,
dropping-off literature, telephoning and putting
up placards.
Ellison was chosen by the Democratic Party at
its biennial convention in the spring to compete
for the vacant seat. He succeeded in winning over
a party activist, Mike Erlandson, the chief of
staff of the outgoing congressman and onetime
chair of the state Democratic organization in
Minnesota.
For a while it appeared that he had cinched the
endorsement. But as the primaries drew closer
two competitors stood-up to challenge him for
his choice as the party endorsee. In the election
that followed Ellison emerged at the top with
a margin of ten points separating him from his
closest rival.
The choice of Ellison was largely due to his reputation
as a progressive legislator willing to work with
lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. Since
his election to the Minnesota state legislature
he has worked diligently for the passage of laws
broadening the arena of social justice and had
actively worked to build coalitions.
No doubt because of his experience in the political
process as a legislator Ellison was found to be
the ideal candidate for the seat held by retiring
popular Congressman Martin O. Sabo. The choice
of Ellison was based essentially on merit, an
important consideration for Minnesota voters.
The election of Keith Ellison is likely to heighten
Muslim interest in American electoral politics.
While Muslims have been interested in elective
political offices for a long time their understanding
of the American political process leaves much
to be desired. To this point even if they entered
the political arena their candidacies reflected
mostly nuisance attempts at elective offices.
The pattern has been for Muslims to run as Republicans
in heavily Democratic constituencies, and vice
versa, where chances of success are negligible.
They have also chosen to run as candidates for
third parties which virtually never win. Many
of these candidates lacked political experience
in sharp contrast to Ellison’s service in
the state legislature.
While interested in politics Muslims have also
shown unrealistic expectations. Consider the presidential
election cycle six years ago when one organization
drew up a plan called 2000 by 2000, to elect 2000
Muslims to political offices in the year 2000.
Such expectations fly in the face of reality and
demonstrate a lack of understanding of the dynamics
of politics in America.
At the moment only a small handful of Muslims,
about six, serve in the legislatures of fifty
states. All of these are local born except for
one. Most immigrant Muslims do not understand
how the political system works. Even those with
education are naive when it comes to American
politics or are disinterested or have carried
over the apathy of the home country. Ellison’s
victory is likely to galvanize some to volunteer
their services for roles where political ropes
could be learned.
Despite Muslim differences with the current administration
in Washington the election of Keith Ellison is
a great propaganda victory for the United States.
This will be a living demonstration of the meaning
of democracy for the Muslim world, indeed, for
the entire global community.
It will also show the world that, regardless of
relentless Islam-bashing, Muslims are citizens
with equal rights and, indeed, are respected to
the point of having one of them elected to the
Congress. The action of the electorate speaks
louder than all the words either for or against
Islam. - haniff@stcloudstate.edu
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