{"id":1116,"date":"2016-11-25T14:56:24","date_gmt":"2016-11-25T20:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/?p=1116"},"modified":"2016-11-25T14:56:24","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T20:56:24","slug":"john-nichols-history-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/john-nichols-history-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"John Nichols: We Need to Remember History of Islam in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring<\/em><\/p>\n

Out in northwest North Dakota, where the winds hit heavy on the borderline, rural Mountrail County backed Donald Trump, as did all but two of North Dakota\u2019s 53 counties. And the city of Ross,<\/a> population 97, voted a bit more heavily for Trump than the rest of the county and the rest of the state.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s notable because of the place Ross holds in the history of Islam in America.<\/p>\n

It was in this farm town that in 1929<\/a> the first mosque purposely constructed as such in the United States was established.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thus began the column<\/a> by John Nichols<\/a>, the national-affairs correspondent for the Nation. I’ve been a huge fan of his work for a long time, especially because of columns like this one. I have already learned a lot from him, and this column is no different.<\/p>\n

I have always known that Islam’s history in the United States dates back to before its independence<\/a>, but I did not know – until John Nichols educated me – that the oldest mosque in America was in Ross, North Dakota<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I doubt that Donald Trump knows there is a Ross, North Dakota, let alone that Muslim immigrants constructed a mosque there before he was born. I doubt that his aides know that Muslims were living and worshiping in the United States before the founders drafted a Constitution that guarded against religious tests and then added an amendment designed to preserve freedom of religion in a country where Thomas Jefferson believed that a mantle of protection should extend to \u201cthe Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel of every denomination.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

But this history needs to be recalled, and respected, as President-elect Donald Trump begins to fill his administration with men like his incoming National Security Adviser, Lieutenant\u00a0General Michael Flynn, who has claimed that<\/a> \u201cfear of Muslims is rational.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The emphasis was mine. Yet, I cannot agree with him more: “this history needs to be recalled, and respected…”<\/p>\n

There are those in our country that seek to “otherize” Islam and Muslims; they seek to make Islam “foreign”; they even cast doubt on whether Islam is a religion<\/a>. This is wrong, and it tears at the fabric of our unity as a people.<\/p>\n

Thank you, John Nichols, for this wonderful piece and reminder of the beautiful and vibrant history of American faith, which includes Islam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring Out in northwest North Dakota, where the winds hit heavy on the borderline, rural Mountrail County backed Donald Trump, as did all but two of North Dakota\u2019s 53 counties. And the city of Ross, population 97, voted a bit more heavily for Trump…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[799,11,798,24,717,800],"class_list":["post-1116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-common-word","tag-history","tag-islam","tag-john-nichols","tag-mosque","tag-nation","tag-north-dakota"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Nichols: We Need to Remember History of Islam in America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some in our country seek to "otherize" Islam and make it foreign. 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Hassaballa","description":"Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor and writer. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, being published in newspapers across the country and around the world. He has been a Beliefnet columnist since 2001, and has written for the Religion News Service. He is also a columnist for Patheos. His articles have been distributed worldwide by Agence Global, and he was also a guest blogger for The Chicago Tribune and has blogged on ChicagoNow\" . In addition, Dr. Hassaballa has appeared as a guest on WTTW (Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, Fox News, BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Hassaballa is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday), and his essay, \u201cWhy I Love the Ten Commandments,\u201d was published in the award-winning book Taking Back Islam (Rodale). His latest book, Noble Brother, is the story of the Prophet Muhammad told entirely in poetry, and it is now published in its second edition. In 2007, his blog \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for a blog that is \u201cthe most stimulating, insightful, and philosophical, providing the best rebuttals to extremist ideology and making an impact whenever they post.\u201d \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" has also received an award for being one of the \"Top Muslim Blogs for 2010\" by Awarding The Web. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and currently serves on their board of directors. He also co-founded the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation and now serves as its Treasurer.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/GodFaithPen"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/author\/hhassaballa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1116"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1119,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116\/revisions\/1119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}