DUBAI: America could soon see its first Muslim woman in Congress, replacing a white, male, Republican if she succeeds.
Speaking to UK website The Independent, Fayrouz Saad, said she was a supporter of providing health care coverage for all Americans, as well as creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
And she is committed to protecting environmental regulations that the Trump administration says are “bad for business.”
The 34-year-old Arab-American, whose parents migrated from Lebanon 40 years before the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers, said she had never previously experienced “much harassment or discrimination.”
But in the days after the two planes were flown into the towers, she said her parents kept her out of school, fearful of what might happen to her.
“That day, my parents came and picked me up and they took me home, because they were worried about anti-Arab and anti-Muslim backlash happening on campus,” Saad told The Independent.
She said this was the first time she “ever even realized that this was a thing – that there was a stereotype against Arabs and Muslims in this country.”
But when she did return to school a few days later she was met with a line of friends and neighbors waiting to welcome her back.
“I say that I ‘came of age’ in the post-9/11 era, because of this experience specifically,” she explained, “and really believing that this is what America is, and that this is what I want to be a part of.”
She is running for Congress in Michigan’s 11th District, hoping to replace Republican Dave Trott who has decided to stand down.
Saad said she would not be running an anti-Trump campaign, but conceded: “a lot of the things that I’m fighting for, a lot of the things I want to see changed, and a portion of what pushed me to run, is to fight back against his agenda.”
Saad’s political career started in the Obama administration after graduating from university when she joined the Obama administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where she worked on “community policing.”
While admitting she was an “Obama groupie,” she said they did not agree on everything.
“I think the great thing about our democracy is that we can love our elected leaders and respect them, but at the same time challenge some of the things that they’ve done or said,” she said.
She said it was after her time at the DHS that she became convinced of the need for a more “whole of government” approach to community policing.
She said the term “security” should include such areas like access to quality health care and education.
She classes herself as the “progressive candidate” because of her desire for government to do more, she said.
On her faith she explained: “My identity is who I am, but it’s not who I represent, or how I represent,” she said. “But it also means that I’m helping change, or at least get people to adjust, their idea of what the face of leadership looks like.”
Could this be the future first female Muslim member of the US Congress?
Could this be the future first female Muslim member of the US Congress?
In southeast Pakistan, Ramadan brings Hindus and Muslims closer
MITHI: Partab Shivani, a Hindu in Muslim-majority Pakistan, has fasted on and off during Ramadan for years, but this time is different as he practices abstinence for the entire holy month.
Every year, he and his friends in the southeastern city of Mithi arrange iftar, when Muslims break their daily fast, to foster peace and solidarity between the two religions.
“I believe we need to promote interfaith harmony. First, we are humans — religions came later,” Shivani, a 48-year-old social activist, told AFP, adding that he also reads the teachings of the Buddha.
“His message is about peace and ending war. Peace can spread through solidarity and by standing with one another. Distance only widens the gap between people,” he added.
Ninety-six percent of Pakistan’s 240 million people are Muslim. Just two percent are Hindu, most of them living in rural areas of Sindh province where Mithi is located.
In Mithi itself, most of the 60,000 inhabitants are Hindu.
Many of the city’s Hindus also observe Ramadan and iftar has become a social gathering where people from both faiths happily participate.
“This has been a wonderful tradition of ours for a very long time,” said Mir Muhammad Buledi, a 51-year-old Muslim friend who attended Shivani’s iftar gathering.
“It is a beautiful example of harmony between the two communities.”
Like brothers
Discrimination against minorities runs deep in Pakistan.
Following the end of British rule in South Asia in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned into mainly Hindu India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
That triggered widespread religious bloodshed in which hundreds of thousands were killed and millions displaced.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, freedom of religion or belief is under constant threat, with religiously motivated violence and discrimination increasing yearly.
State authorities, often using religious unrest for political gain, have failed to address the crisis, the independent non-profit says.
But such tensions are absent in Mithi.
“I am a Hindu but I keep all the fasts during this month,” said Sushil Malani, a local politician. “I feel happy standing with my Muslim brothers.
“We celebrate Eid together as well. This tradition in the region is very old.”
Restaurants and tea stalls are closed across Pakistan during Ramadan.
Ramesh Kumar, a 52-year-old Hindu man who sells sweets and savoury items outside a Muslim shrine, keeps his push cart covered and closed until iftar.
“There is no discrimination among us if someone is Muslim or Hindu. I have been seeing this since my childhood that we all live together like brothers,” he said.
Muslim shrine, Hindu caretaker
Locals say Mithi’s peaceful religious coexistence can be traced to its remote location, emerging from the sand dunes of the Tharparkar desert, which borders the modern Indian state of Rajasthan.
Cows — considered sacred in Hinduism — roam freely in Mithi city, as they do in neighboring India.
At two Sufi Muslim shrines in the middle of the city, Hindu families arrange meals, bringing fruit, meals and juices for their Muslim neighbors to break their fasts.
“We respect Muslims,” said Mohan Lal Malhi, a Hindu caretaker of one of the shrines.
Mohan said his parents and elders taught him to respect people regardless of religion or color, and the traditions pass from one generation to the next.
Local residents said both communities consider their social relationships more important than their religious identity.
“You will see a (Sikh) gurdwara, a mosque, and a shrine standing side by side here,” Mohan said. “The atmosphere of this area teaches humanity.”
