Embassy News and Events

"Al Shabiba journalist Mohammed Al Balushi interviews Rep. Keith Ellison"

Visiting Congressional Delegation Meets with U.S. Alumni - Congressman Discusses His Role as First Muslim Representative

From November 25 to 27, Oman played host to a delegation of five members of the U.S. House of Representatives.  The visiting delegation, led by Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia, met with a range of Omani officials including the Deputy Prime Minister.  They also had the opportunity to attend a special dinner at the residence of Ambassador Gary A. Grappo.  The evening celebrated the American Thanksgiving holiday and was in honor of Omani graduates of U.S. colleges and universities as well as participants in U.S. academic exchange programs, including the Fulbright and other exchanges.

In addition to Rep. Moran, the visiting group included Rep. Thomas  Davis (Virginia), Rep. Steve Chabot (Ohio), Rep. Keith Ellison (Minnesota), and Rep. Laura Richardson (California).

While in Muscat, Rep. Ellison spoke with reporter Mohammad al-Balushi of Al-Shabiba Newspaper, discussing the work the group is carrying out during its travel in the Gulf, as well as his own role as the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Congress.  Highlights of that interview follow.

AL-SHABIBA:  Welcome, Congressman Ellison, to the Sultanate of Oman.  Could you please let us know about the purpose of the visit?

A:  Well, thank you.  I’m honored to be here – it’s a wonderful opportunity.  I’ve been wanting to visit Oman and the Gulf states for quite a long time.  The purpose of this visit is to get a greater level of familiarity with the Gulf region, beginning with Oman and moving to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and then on to Doha.

The United States Congress has the constitutional obligation to set trade policy and the United States, and Oman recently completed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).  So, we’re able to investigate and ask questions about how the implementation is proceeding and what final details to the Agreement need to be worked out and to follow up.

AL-SHABIBA:  What were the main topics that were discussed during the meetings with Omani officials today? 

Rep. Ellison:  The Free Trade Agreement came up quite a bit, and then also the economic profile and picture of Oman. 

We talked about Iran quite a bit.  As you know, there has been concern about Iran’s relations with the rest of the world recently in the United States; it’s been a topic we discuss in Congress on a regular basis.  Given that Oman has historically been able to have working, functioning relationships with all of its neighbors, including Iran, we asked Omani officials their advice as to how we might form our opinion as to what we should do. 

We also talked about the rising price of oil – $100 a barrel – and expressed our concern about how that could damage the world economy, not only the United States but also many countries around the world.  So that was an important topic as well.  Then we also discussed how the Omani officials looked at the Annapolis peace conference that is going on right now.

AL-SHABIBA:  Is this your first visit to Arab or Muslim countries?

Rep. Ellison:  No.  I’ve visited Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq.

AL-SHABIBA:  How do you feel about being the first Muslim congressman?

Rep. Ellison:  I think it’s a special responsibility.  You know, when I was in the state legislature in the state of Minnesota, everybody knew I was Muslim, but it really wasn’t a big deal.  We have a long tradition of religious tolerance – as Oman does as well – in the United States, so people just said, “well, that’s your faith, practice it as you see fit”.  But when I ran for Congress, it became a very big deal.  At first I tried to say, “well look, my faith is Islam, but I’m here to represent my district” – in the Congress, we represent geographic areas – but then over time I began to see that I was going to be a symbol, and so I felt a greater responsibility to do a good job and put in an excellent performance, because I knew that people would judge an entire faith by what I did.   It’s not fair – there are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world – I shouldn’t do so, but at the same, people do sometimes form their opinions about a group based on one person.

I should add that I’ve received very excellent treatment from my colleagues.  There have been some people in the press who have been concerned, because this is the first time a person who is Muslim has been in the Congress.  Some of them have raised criticisms, but my colleagues in general have been very welcoming, and so it’s been a good experience.

In the wake of 9/11, many people, Americans included, want to know more about Islam, and so I try to be of assistance.  I’m not an Imam, nor am I a scholar; I’m a politician.  So I don’t try to claim to be an authority on Islamic jurisprudence, but I do offer perspective and information when needed.  I hope that Americans who are not Muslim learn that Islam is a positive force in the United States, and that people who commit horrendous acts of violence could be of any faith.  Unfortunately, some of them are Muslim, but some are also Christian, some are Jewish, some are Hindu.  Then also, I hope that young people in America who are Muslim now feel that they can go into politics, that they can participate in the political arena.

AL-SHABIBA:  Would you please tell us what you think is the way forward to convey the right image of Islam to American citizens and to bridge the cultural misunderstandings between Americans and the Muslim world - what would be your role as a congressman?

Rep. Ellison:  I think there are several things.  I think my role is to be the best congressman I can be.  I think that I need to represent my district well.  Are you familiar with Jackie Robinson?  He’s a baseball player – American baseball – and for many years they would not allow people of African descent, like me, to participate in professional baseball.  They had Negro leagues, but for major league baseball, blacks couldn’t play.  The first one, in 1948, was a man named Jackie Robinson.  Some people who didn’t believe he belonged there, they threw baseballs at him, tried to hit in the head with the ball, and when they slid into a base they would try to spike him (they have spikes on the bottom of their shoes) – they’d try to catch him and cut him.  They’d call him names.  He had to take all of it, but I’m glad he did take it, and never lashed out, because he opened the door for so many more who came behind him. 

I guess maybe I shouldn’t be using a baseball analogy in Oman, but he was a man who had to play for more than just himself.  He had to keep in mind a broader constituency.  If he struck out – if he couldn’t play well – it wouldn’t matter what he said out of his mouth about race relations in America.  He had to perform well on the field.  So I have to perform well in Congress.

AL-SHABIBA:  As a congressman and an American Muslim, how do you think we can face extremism?

Rep. Ellison:  I think that we need to focus on the life of the Prophet (Peace and Blessing Be Upon Him) and we can focus on Quran.  Today, there are 1.3 or 4 billion Muslims in the world.  The Muslim world has a number of countries in which they are the majority.  At the time that the Prophet came to deliver the message and to reveal the Quran, they were very small in number, and yet, even though they were under pressure, they were under threat, Allah said, through the Prophet, “There is no compulsion in religion”.  So how could any Muslim today, when we are so large in number, try to force somebody to adopt faith?  It’s a matter of choice. 

If, at the time that the Quran was revealed, the Prophet taught that you are to never kill an innocent person, you are never to kill yourself, and the Quran says this, how today could somebody kill themselves as they kill other people?  There is no Islamic support for that.  This is completely contrary to what Islam is all about:  the Quran says that anyone who murders an innocent person, it’s as if they killed the whole world.  Well then, how could you justify killing an innocent person with Islam?  It cannot be done.  In fact, in nearly every Sura of the Quran its says, Bismillah al Rahman al Raheem, the Merciful, the Compassionate.  Well, as Muslims, we need to embrace mercy and compassion. 

Yet some of these extremists exhibit no mercy or any compassion for anyone.  In fact, they are viciously cruel, and they have more Muslim blood on their hands than any other kind.  I think it’s very important to bear this in mind:  that although they claim to be upholding Islam, actually they are violating the basic idea of Islam, which is peace.  The root word of Islam is salaam, peace, and so we should strive for peace, we should demonstrate compassion and mercy, we should uphold life, and we should never harm anyone unless you have to do it defend yourself when you are under attack.  None of these things are being done.  I think we should return to the source.

And then, I think that the Muslim world needs to communicate better with the rest of the world.  The Muslim world at one time led the entire world in terms of science, technology, and learning.  There’s a Hadith, I believe, that says that “the ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr”.  If you look at so many technological innovations, at nautical innovations – we’re in Oman, which is right on the sea – if it had not been for Muslim inventors, the whole world would still be trying to navigate the seas.

Also, it’s important to remember that it was Muslim scholars who took the writings of Plato and Aristotle and the Romans and the Greeks, the Classical writers, and preserved them in Arabic, and that’s how the West was able to transfer the knowledge in the Renaissance.  So we have this tremendous history of intellectual pursuits, and yet we have countries where education is not promoted, not fostered, and where there is education, it’s just rote memorization, without any thinking.  We have to restore the concept of ijtihad, which is using your head, thinking, and trying to embrace knowledge and understanding.

Extremists will try to exploit a situation in which people really are suffering.  They’ll go to a situation in which people are suffering, and they will not offer people hope, they will not even cry for justice, but they’ll make a call for revenge, and they’ll try to cultivate people’s anger and their despair.  What we need to do is go to situations where there is a lack of human rights, where there is a lack of opportunity, and argue, even among ourselves, for justice. 

The Quran says:  speak the truth, even if it’s against your own self.  So, for example, in Muslim countries where there is no freedom for minorities to practice their faith, we have to demand that they have that opportunity.  We have to say that women have the right to rise to the full measure of their talents.  Who was the first person the Prophet told about Islam and Allah’s message to him?  It was his wife.  Would Khadijah be welcome in some of the masjids?  I know some Muslims who would ask her what she was doing there.  One of the great scholars of Hadith – Aisha – she probably knew more about what the Prophet had to say than a lot of men, and yet so many men think that they have nothing to learn from a woman. 

We need to work on human rights internally.  This has nothing to do with the non-Muslim world; this is internal.  Oppression breeds resistance, and so we have to promote justice.  The word for justice is aadil, and so we have to promote this idea.

And by the way, Oman is doing many of these things, and as a result you have very little extremism here in Oman.

AL-SHABIBA:  Would you please describe your relationships with your colleagues in Congress?

Rep. Ellison:  Very positive.  I work cooperatively with both Republicans and Democrats.  I’m a Democrat, but I work with people on both sides of the aisle.  I work very well with the leadership, with Speaker Pelosi; I came to Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia along with her when she was here in March.  So I have a good relationship with people on both sides of the aisle; I’ve only been there for ten months, but I’ve already begun to form some very close friendships, and insha’allah, I’ll form some more.