Two Muslim women have been elected to Congress in the United States’ 2018 mid-term elections. Ilhan Omar, 37, is a Somali-American who won in Minnesota’s fifth congressional district. She immigrated with her family to the US under a resettlement programme when she was 14, after fleeing the Civil war in Somalia and spending four years in the…
The Muslim-American co-founder of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, Imam Zaid Shakir, has faced backlash for his now-deleted post on Facebook which suggested Sharia law should be applied in judging whether Dr Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Brett Kavanaugh are credible.
The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding’s 2018 American Muslim Poll has revealed that one-third of American Muslims are “at or below the federal poverty line”. Further research conducted by ISPU to investigate economic disparity within the community examined the demographic factors that are correlated with low- and high-income households in ISPU’s poll.
The Muslims for American Progress NYC (MAP-NYC) project, launched in 2017 by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, sought in part to counter the negative media portrayals of Muslims, which are so prominent. What emerges are the stories of Muslim women who, although often unrecognised, have driven significant civil change through politically organizing and making themselves visible. This mobilisation is motivated by a religious identity which calls on them to protect and love, and therefore tackle injustice.
Rashida Tlaib has become the first Muslim woman elected to the US Congress. Her win has highlighted the contested relationship between politics and religion, and especially Islam, in the US, as well as contention in the country regarding the compatibility of Islam with western values and way of life.
