Rep. Ilhan Omar
Election night, Somali Muslim refugee Ilhan Omar became one of the first Muslim congresswomen in U.S. history, joining Rashida Tlaib. At her acceptance speech, Omar greeted the audience with a powerful “As-Salam-Alaikum” [a religious salutation among Muslims]. Many Muslims felt this was a homecoming.
American Muslims now had Muslim representation in Congress after what they felt were two tumultuous years of a Trump presidency. Writer and host Aymann Ismail shared how he felt “transported” by the gesture. However, others were not quite so sure they were comfortable with it.
Li Izmir runs a popular Facebook page called Secular Muslim Women Group. It was there she confided her conflicted feelings about Omar’s gesture, admitting, “I feel mixed about this. I’m happy to see Muslim representation (and I think both Muslim women support LGBTQ+ rights) but I don’t like religious rhetoric coming from government officials… regardless of which faith is being brought into politics. Why can’t we just all swear on the Constitution and keep religion out of politics?”
Izmir went on to add, “I feel like there’s a double standard coming from a liberal leaning side. If a Christian brings up religion, people will lose it but if a Muslim does the same thing, they’ll celebrate. In reality, I think religion has no place in official government spaces and it should be equally called out.”
Her honest admission brought forward a dialogue among the women, many of whom were also not quick to celebrate what they saw as religious rhetoric by an elected official.