Congressman Ellison decided to be a gentleman and went to shake the hand of Congressman Goode and introduce himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ellison is the first Muslim that Congressman Goode has ever met. Many Muslims are the only Muslim that a non-Muslim knows. Genuine kindness is a good response to prove naysayers wrong who think that you are something that you are not.
Sad part is that people seem to be shocked that Congressman Ellison seems to be a nice guy. The more regular people that are not Muslim see regular people that are Muslim like Keith Ellison, the less they will associate Muslims, in general, with the chaos they see lunatic Muslims commit on TV
Filed under: Black American Muslims, Convert Issues, Practical Solutions
Nice!
Do you have clip that shows when he was sworn in?
Indeed a very class brother!
Absolutely true. Bravo Rep. Ellison.
Ya Haqq!
Ah, this guy is turning out to be a tool like everyone else. This guy is already blaming the Palestinians for the violence in the Middle East. He has now DEMANDED and PROCLAIMED the absolute right of the state of Israel to exist.
It seems he has already passed his litmus test for a Muslim to be in the US Congress. One must be a tool, and in his first day, he sure fits the bill.
http://www.keithellison.org/issues-israel.htm
His comments, on his own site, make him sound like a paid up member to AIPAC. Being a tool is the price he must pay I guess.
He says “Terrorism is the greatest impediment to peace. At this point the Palestinian Authority (PA) has yet to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank. ”
Silly me, I thought it was the OCCUPATION that was the biggest impediment to peace.
Ellison-tool. If you have to sell out the truth to be elected, it isnt worth being elected.
Abu Sinan:
There is enough blame to go around on both sides and I think that is what Mr Ellison was saying.
The PA has done an outstanding job of stealing while Jew baiting to cover their tracks
Tariq,
Did you read the page? That certainly did not come off to me.
There are parapraphs, several of them, about Palestinian violence is responsible for the violence. There is not ONE mention of any Israeli obligations. Heck, the word “occupation” doesnt even get a mention.
The entire page is devoted to the responsibilities of the Palestinians. Not once does he mention any Israeli responsibilities, not once does he condemn Israeli violence, but he sure blames all of the current violence on Palestinian, and even has to through in Iran as well.
The guy is a tool. If he is even close to being “even handed” about the issue he wouldnt last. You know it, I know it.
Instead he gives up, rolls over, and plays dead before he has even started.
If you can show me where he points out Israeli responsibilities, lays any of the blame for the violence on Israel, I will change my mind. His own web page makes it clear that just because some 300 Palestinians have died in the last few months, and a couple of Israelis, that the whole impass is due to Palestinian violence.
The guy is a tool.
The guy learned a lesson from Cynthia McKinney, if you support Palestinians you will be out before you can say “falafel”.
His statement was not even handed, and I believe it is not even fair to characterise it as such.
Tim,
Unless you havent notice, Hamas won power in Palestine in free and open elections. Of course Mr. Ellison wastes no time in blaming everything on them.
If he was trying to say that there is more than enough blame to go around, he should have stated that. He didnt, the article CLEARLY places 100% of the onus and responsibilities on the Palestinians.
Take an honest look at the aricle and it is clear who he blames, and in that he is in great company in DC.
Peace folks…
I agree Abu. Jim Carter is now going to be buried for saying what has been the case for many decades. The idea that there is less criticism of israel in the US then in israel itself is just one of the signs of this unbalance in how the “peace process” is being handled (or not handled as has been the case for 6 years min). The US wanted free elections in Palestine and got an outcome it didn’t like and has chosen to freeze out the winners. If free elections are what the US policy is partially pushing, you can’t complain about the results and make efforts to undermine them. In terms of Ellison, he backed away from his Muslim identity while running for office, so his reaction to the Middle East state of affairs shouldn’t be too surprising.
As a side note, can anyone tell me where there is a real democracy on this earth??? if you say the US, you would be incorrect…
Ellison is all class. I have been very, very impressed with his interviews and how he’s handled the attacks from Prager and Goode. And using Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an at his swear in was a stroke of genius.
I pray that Allah continues to bless him with patience and dignity.
If I’m not mistaken, isn’t Hamas the group that sent suicide killers into school buses and malls and as a reaction Israel put up a wall and the violence has since then decreased? nonetheless these guys cover their failures with Jew baiting just like the black leadership does with whitey-baiting here in the US.
Abu in case you didn’t notice, Hitler won power in free and open elections too. Big deal
Peace folks…
Wouldn’t the lessons then of the Palestinian elections be for the US: be careful what you wish for, you might get it
Elections in and of themselves are not a bringer of democratic process/freedom or whatever else the current policy goals are of the US. It takes much more ground work to get the electorate to participate (to large enough degrees) and understand what is in it for them and their fellow voters. Even after this, the results may be surprising (to internal/external powers).
Recall that during the Vietnam era, the US was hailing Vietnamese elections in much the same manor as they did in Iraq. these elections eventually resulted in nothing of value in (Vietnam).
That all said, not all elections bring about no change/negative change (quite valid Hitler point on the negative side). This is highly subjective however as is the reverse. I’m sure quite a few in the UK would not have liked seeing the IRA winning political power in NI, while on the flip side, the struggles in NI would encourage a vote for the Sinn Fein
Tim,
Unless I am not mistaken, Israel has killed 4,000 people in the last 6 years, more than 25% of which were children. They are killing these people on their own land. The land is occupied against international law.
Point is, the resistance wont stop until the Israelis leave the occupied land. Whether it is Hamas, DFLP, PFLP, Hizb’Allah.
Of of this comes from the illegal occupation.
As to being “all class” most tools are. They dont wont to give the wrong impression. Ellison, it would seem, is the token Muslim in Congress. This will be borne out pretty soon, if his own website doesnt say it all already.
Will he vote in the pro Israeli statements that come across the table every few months? WIll he vote to send more money to Israel? Will he vote to continue to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is all well and good that we have a Muslim in the US Congress, but I doubt he will the nerve of even Cynthia McKinney.
Tech,
Sinn Fein, is indeed the second largest political party in the north of Ireland, and is the biggest Nationalist party.
As we can see, respecting the will of the people paid off there. Had the world wanted to veto the will of the people there the IRA would still be bombing.
But I guess it is different, these were white Christian bombers. That isnt as bad as non white Muslim bombers.
BTW, how is he going to handle Boxer, who now thinks that CAIR is a terrorist front group? His own party is party of the problem.
Peace folks…
I guess we are diverging a it, however if the IRA == terrorist, should the UK attempt to arrest the IRA sympathizers in US? Freeze assets? Interesting possibilities…
When the shoe is on the other foot it make for interesting thought. This should apply equally to jews and Palestinians. Neither sides leaders seem capable of stepping back and seeing how the other side lives. I don’t suggest this is easy to do, however it needs to be done. That sure comes across one sided, however there must be a start at some point or things will never change.
Ellison is a politician, and thank God he seems to be a smart one so far. If the issue is brought up to him, I hope he handles Boxer in the same way he handled Prager and Goode. By using his intelligence to figure out how to make the situation work for him, and reflect well on Muslims as a whole. That is what good politicians do, and what he proved he could do with the Qur’an dilemma. He didn’t back down and use the Bible or no book at all, and he made his critics look foolish in the process. A ‘tool’ would have given in, in my opinion.
I’m not sure what we should be expecting out of Ellison. Do we expect him to take a stand on all global Muslim related issues? I don’t. All I want and expect is for him to project a good image, and an authentic American Muslim image, to the rest of non-Muslim America, so that Islam is not just seen as something foreign and strange. That would be a HUGE accomplishment. If he can speak out about civil liberties issues that face American Muslims, that would be nice too. One little step at a time, here.
He has to be like “Sun Shine” on Harlem Nights. Let him get his foot in the door 1st. How else is he going to start the process of setting the house on fire? One must crawl before one walks. If he crawls this entire term, then he can be easily replaced like the rest of the buck shufflers.
He has already sold out on the Palestine issue. His stand is the same as the Israeli/Jewish political action committees.
Just let him ask for the occupation to end…….and he will go the way of McKinney.
I dont feel, in today’s climate, that a Muslim could remain tight with the truth and be a member of either party.
Proof is in the pudding. It would seem that Ellison’s views on Israel and Iran are getting him praise at one of the most popular and Islamophobic sites on the Internet, Little Green Footballs.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=23921_Rep._Keith_Ellisons_Excellent_Opportunity&only
admittedly, i don’t know everything about keith ellison… but it is significant that he’s the first muslim elected to such a high office.
does anyone know whether he is actually a muslim vs. nation of islam? (you the gov lists them as muslims even though they are far from the path)
also, during the whole brew-ha-ha about the qur’an for his swearing in ceremony. people must forget that thomas jefferson was not a christian, he was a deiest. he didn’t like certain parts of the bible and rewrote it to make it fit his convictions. whose to say that he didn’t do that with his copy of the qur’an? so i thought he should’ve used one from the islamic center in d.c. that way he would’ve known for sure that it raelly was the qur’an, you know.
rashida,
the “qur’an” that he swore on was an English translation written by George Sale, it was not the actual Qur’an which is of course the Arabic that was revealed by Allaah (swt).
As I mentioned in a comment on brother Hood’s blog, the translation was done by a non-Muslim who was in fact hostile to Islam, as one would expect at the time.
If people think acting like a politician is consistent with Islam or our mission in this country then the most charitable thing I can say is that I disagree in the strongest way.
Allaah knows best.
abu noor, i think you understand my point : too much was made over a book which was not the qur’an.
on the politician point, i too am sick and tired of muslim apologists disguised as muslim “leaders”. who put them in charge? what do we have to aapologize for? for trying to follow Allah’s command as exemplified by Prophet Muhammed, this is something which should humble us not make us ashamed.
Assalaamu alaikum,
Taking the ceremonial oath on Jefferson’s copy of a Quran translation may have been a stroke of genius in political terms. But as Abu Noor pointed out, it’s a very negative translation; I don’t think his action was praiseworthy from an Islamic point of view..
From http://soundvision.com/Info/quran/english.asp:
“George Sale, a lawyer brought out his The Koran, commonly called The Al Koran of Mohammed (London, 1734), which has been the most popular English translation. Sale’s exhaustive ‘Preliminary Discourse’, dealing mainly with Sira and the Qur’an, betrays his deep hostility towards Islam and his missionary intent in that he
suggests the rules to be observed for ‘the conversion of Mohammedans’ (q.v.).
“As to the translation itself, it abounds in numerous instances of omission, distortion and interpolations.”
——
From http://www.jannah.org/articles/qurdeed.html:
“The motives of george sale, who pioneered an English translation of the Holy Quran, were suspect. He makes no secret of his antagonism to the holy book of Islam. In his preface to his translation in 1734 he made it known that it was his avowed intention to expose the man Mohammad and his forgery. He records: ‘who can apprehend any danger from so manifest a forgery?… The protestants alone are able to attack the koran with success; and for them, I trust, providence has reserved the glory of its overthrow.’ George Sale, And he set to work with his prejudiced translation.”
Assalaamu alaikum,
And Zalmay Khalilzad is going to be the U.S. representative at the U.N. He’s called a Sunni Muslim; does he actually say that he’s a Muslim, or just that he grew up in a Muslim family? (Because if he calls himself a Muslim, I’m not going to argue with him, but I wonder if he does.) In any case, he’ll be representing the U.S. and taking the Israeli side against the Palestinians - all while being described as a Muslim.
And his wife is the one who wrote that stupid RAND report on Muslims…
Great points by Ann and Rashida alhamdulillaah
Ann,
Khalilzad does call himself a Muslim but I’m not sure what he means by that. He certainly tries to use it to his advantage as he represents some of the worst enemies of Islam.
As you noted he is married to a non-Muslim who has views most Muslims think are pretty bad and his kids do not have “Muslim” names (they are neither Arabic names nor Afghan names (he is afghan)).
Allaah knows best.