CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

American Muslims Don’t Need to Defend Our Existence

Photograph Source: Ted Eytan – CC BY-SA 2.0

The journey of my prayer rug reflects my own as a Muslim American. It has seen a lot, and despite its fraying fringes, remains resilient as ever.

Praying five times each day is one of the pillars of Islam. Each prayer includes recitations from the Qur’an.

My blue and gold prayer rug was a childhood gift from my late maternal grandmother, or nana as we called her, who brought it from Saudi Arabia. I still remember praying by her side. She taught me to read the Qur’an and would lovingly correct my Arabic.

Wherever I’ve been, I’ve prayed on that same rug. In a world that often leaves me feeling unmoored, my faith anchors me. It’s a sentiment so many Muslims and other people of faith in this country share.

The right to freely practice my religion is enshrined in our Constitution under the First Amendment. It protects this right for allpeople to practice any faith, or none at all, and prohibits our government from establishing an official religion.

You would think members of Congress, who swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution, would know this. Yet many continue to attack the faith of millions of........

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