Devout Muslim Preaches His Love For America
Canada Goose Parka Some 60 million people have moved to the United States from around the world since 1965. That’s the year President Lyndon Johnson signed a landmark immigration bill. The law transformed America into a truly multicultural nation. NPR’s Tom Gjelten is bringing us some of those immigrant stories today, a devout Muslim from Libya who preaches his love for America. Canada Goose Parka
TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE: Many immigrant groups have faced hostility. The Irish did in their time. Jews did. Italians did and now, Muslim immigrants. At the Dar Al Hijrah mosque in northern Virginia, the Friday sermons often touch on conditions faced by American Muslims.
canadian goose jacket GJELTEN: Omeish sees a contradiction in America. Muslim immigrants like himself encounter prejudice here but also find political and religious freedom. His parents brought him to America at the age of 15 from Libya. Everybody there is Muslim. But it was only canada goose outlet belgium here in America that Omeish was inspired by Islam and where he found support for that inspiration. canadian goose jacket
canada goose black friday sale E. OMEISH: The main reason why I love America more than anything else and I consider it to be home for me and for my children is not just because I’ve lived here for as long as I have. It’s more because it nurtures what I believe defines me as an individual, which is my Islam. canada goose black friday sale
GJELTEN: This mainly Christian country could nurture his Islam, Omeish says, because it allows people to pursue their own identities.
E. OMEISH: You’re seeing canada goose outlet boston how people interact with their own set of ideas, whether it’s religious or whether it’s this and that. And so you’re constantly re examining your own and seeing how you’re going to fit them in the greater scheme of things. high school with barely any English but canada goose outlet in usa graduated on time with high honors. He thanks his teachers. He credits his principal for supporting his push for a Muslim student group. After high school, he went to Georgetown University, a Jesuit school.
canada goose factory sale E. OMEISH: I remember my first course in college, in addition to my biology and chemistry ’cause I was going into premed, was a course called, the problem of God. I’m like, what the heck? And the professor was a Jesuit who was very much questioning his own faith, if you may. canada goose factory sale
GJELTEN: It was that support for free thinking that sold Omeish on America. He had permission here to dig into Islam, freedom he would not have found in some other countries. The woman he married was also a devout Muslim, also from Libya. canada goose outlet factory Their two daughters, now in college, are also observant also https://www.canadagoosepark.com freethinkers. patriotism.
ANWAR OMEISH: My dad, he’s an canada goose outlet store quebec American, right? canada goose outlet eu He came. He did the whole American dream thing, whatever. But.
GJELTEN: But she draws the line at conventional notions of American exceptionalism.
Canada Goose Coats On Sale A. OMEISH: Yeah, so when you’re like, oh, America’s, like, the greatest country on Earth and whatever first of all, I see, like, kind of a there’s like an implicit racism in that. Like, why do you think you’re better than everybody else? Canada Goose Coats On Sale
GJELTEN: After high school, Anwar spent a year in Jordan studying Islam. There, she found herself sympathizing with Christians. Having been a Muslim in America, she’s sensitive to what a canada goose outlet online store review religious minority faces. And she challenged stereotypes.
A. OMEISH: You know, a lot of these people have a very negative view of the United States. is actually not that bad. And so I’d end up defending America. And I’d be like, like, this is so strange for me because I am the opposite at home.
canada goose GJELTEN: Where she’s quick to criticize her country or most anything else. Her father emphasizes this freedom. Five years ago, he canada goose parka outlet uk actually ran for public office, competing unsuccessfully for a seat in the Virginia legislature, emphasizing his American values. In his sermons complaining about some candidate like Donald Trump or Ben Carson saying bad things about Islam, it’s canada goose factory outlet not so much that such comments are anti Muslim as anti American. canada goose
canada goose uk shop E. OMEISH: Because he’s transgressing everything foundational about what America is, not just about what we worry about as a community or it is about fundamentally what this country is. canada goose uk shop
canada goose coats GJELTEN: To him, America is or should be about inclusion. Immigrants like Omeish don’t and can’t fit the white European mold that prevailed in this country 50 years ago. But they have embraced what they believe to be the key American values. The country has already become multicultural. Given immigration trends, it will only grow more diverse, and these new Americans want to share in their country’s identity. Tom Gjelten, NPR News. canada goose coats
GREENE: Our colleague Tom Gjelten is bringing us these immigrant profiles from his new book, “A Nation Of Nations.”
uk canada goose outlet NPR transcripts cheap canada goose are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary uk canada goose outlet.