Johari Abdul-Malik – Why Cant A Muslim Be A President

And finally, we'll have imam Imam Johari,

with the Council of Muslim Organizations for the

Greater Washington DC area. Is that

no. Good morning, everyone. If you can spell

Imam Johari Abdul Malik, I m a m

j o h a r I.

Abdul Malik, a b dulhyphenmalik.

I serve on the board of the,

Council of Muslim Organizations of Greater Washington

DC.

But I think perhaps this morning, I really

stand,

before you,

as a father,

as someone who, if you ask the members

of our council, they would say, every child

has the right to dream

that they could become the president of the

United States.

Myself,

I'm a native son of Brooklyn, New York,

descendant

of enslaved Africans freed by the president of

the United States

and confirmed by the congress in the 14th

13th amendments to the constitution,

reaffirmed and freed again by the Civil Rights

Act of 1964

65.

So I stand also as the clergy in

the Islamic tradition saying there is no contradiction

between our faith

and the constitution of the United States of

America.

And it enshrines

for us in its first amendment

that we have the freedom to practice our

religion peacefully

along with other citizens.

And we have the right as a citizen

to run for any office of the United

States and to let the American

people decide

who should be their leaders.

Doctor Martin Luther King reminds us that we

should evaluate people not based on the color

of their skin, but based on the content

of their character.

Now I have some concerns about some of

the characters

who are running for the office of the

United States presidency

because

when you say I'm going to be the

president,

it means that you're going to uphold the

constitution

against enemies,

foreign

and domestic.

General Colin Powell reminds us that if someone

is eligible to die for their country,

then they should have the right to lead

their country.

I believe sincerely that we now have a

problem in America with our moral compass,

that it's time for us to say as

an American people, black, white, red, yellow, Muslim,

Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Zoroastrian,

every faith and no faith Come on.

To be able to say never again will

we go back to a tradition

of

racism and bigotry.

I move that we, as a people, move

forward with a spirit of

civility.

There are those who have said

that our nation has survived

World War 1, World War 2, Vietnam.

We now run the risk of being destroyed

from within

by those who would seek to divide us.

We are a society that respects law and

order,

and we expect to have law enforcement

executed

with the highest levels of civil rights, human

rights,

due process,

and justice.

I'm gonna close,

but to say that I believe that the

American people should say loudly and clearly

that we want representatives

who speak to a nation that is 1

nation

under God

and maybe for some people good consciousness

with liberty for everybody

and justice for all.

Thank you.