Is there really a Muslim in Congress

The elections are over and the dust has begun to settle. Among the many surprises last Tuesday brought America was its first Muslim in Congress. I didn't think too much about it at the time, and to some degree, I'm still not sure what it means.

Truth be told, a different series of thoughts have been rolling around in my brain for a few weeks. I relaxed on my bed and carefully combed through six pages of the “ Amman Message ”, but this time, I had a pen and highlighters handy to jot down in the margins any thing that hit me as being “wrong” or somehow “off”. As I marked up the document, one word kept jumping out at me: “nation”. On the face level, it's quite innocuous, however, the more the document talked about “the nation” and Islamic principles, I couldn't shake this nasty thought: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, not the Middle Eastern definition of Islam.

Could part of the reason Americans don't like Muslims be in part, due to the very poor image of the Nation of Islam? How many people blindly assume they are the same because they contain the same word: “Islam”?

Mustering up the courage to tick off my best friend, MoMo (Mohammed), I decided to approach him and ask him some questions. I wanted to learn, and I didn't want to offend him and hurt our friendship, so I was cautious. I am grateful to him for letting me ask questions that would surely offend others, all for the sake of understanding.

I started off by asking him if the Nation of Islam (NOI) and the Middle Eastern brand of Islam were different – do they look at the NOI as being “fake” Muslims. He said no, they are considered Muslims, but they do things different. “Are they considered to be a radical offshoot?” He calmly disagreed with that characterization.

“MoMo, are you happy to see a Muslim in Congress?” Of course he was beaming with pride over this. I almost hated to ask him the next question: “Do you feel ashamed that he dropped his Muslim last name to look more presentable, maybe betrayed?” He hesitated a little bit and answered, “But everybody still knows he is a Muslim? Right?” I personally don't know if everyone does; that's a question beyond my ability to answer because one would have to assume everyone follows politics, and that's incorrect.

I felt annoyed – not at MoMo, but at the comparisons I realized I would have to make. The more sites I visited, the more aggravated I became. One popular right wing blog named “ Little Green Footballs” ran a story that bothered me, but not as much as the posted comments. It alleged Rep. Keith Ellison (among many of his aliases - Keith Hakim, Keith X Ellison and Keith Ellison-Muhammad ), had ties to the Nation of Islam, not the Middle Eastern version of Islam. It also tarred him as a security risk. The more I researched Rep. Ellison's past, I more I realized he was anything but Muslim.

I can forgive his legislative record . I can forgive his shady past. I have real trouble, however, overlooking how he tied his political aspirations to a religion when his roots are cemented to a political system that bares little resemblance. I have an equally difficult time when it comes to hiding and denying his past and current ties to the Nation of Islam. It strikes me as he is embarrassed by it, and not because of their racist views (he was a sponsor for a 1990 anti-Semitic lecture).

It doesn't take much time or energy to research the Nation of Islam to spot striking differences between the two “religions”; I say this delicately because one is a religion , the other is a movement . The Nation of Islam has gone through several name changes, and their doctrine bears little resemblance to the Islam of Muhammad.

In my search to determine the extent of similarities between Islam and the Nation of Islam, I found many interesting and equally disturbing statements, such as blacks are racially superior over all races, “god” came to earth in the form of their founder, W. Fard Muhammad, and the Caucasian race are all “devils” due to a bizarre DNA stripping of their soul.

There is an assertion by many the Nation of Islam has converted to “true” Islamic principles, however that is simply not the case. Wallace Muhammad took over the leadership of the NOI in 1975 and began moving it towards traditional Islam, but Louis Farrakhan revived the original beliefs when he split off and took followers with him. If anyone follows Wallace Muhammad's version of the NOI, then they are in the minority, as the modern movement with Farrakhan at the helm, has dominated the image of Islam in America .