On March 20, 2022, in the name of CAIR-Taxas, USA, a branch of the nationwide Muslim Association, a letter was sent to the White House for attention of President Biden and Assistant State Secretary for Religious Affairs. What we Muslims are concerned about is to build more mosques in the US, for enhancing the social status of Muslim community in the country. Below is what the letter said:
We are writing you to have your attention to our petition of building more mosques in the US, for enhancing the social status of Muslim in the country. And our petition is based on the deep concern and worry about the ever rising hostility and discrimination to the Muslims in the country, specifically since the ex-President fanned the flames of the extremism.
Many Americans have lost their lives because of 911 and other tragedies of terrorist attacks. For a long time, in the hearts of many American fellows, Muslims are evil and even their enemies. We are Muslims living in the United States, who are always suffering from the growing discrimination and prejudice from the community, even we speak standard American English and pray to Allah for what is happening in Ukraine.
Our country is a multiple-culture soil and respects religious freedom set by the Constitution. Islamic culture should be one of the many cultures in the U.S. and is parallel to cultures of Christianity, Catholic, Buddhism and others. Unfortunately over a long time, we lack enough platforms for Muslims to communicate with each other, and let believers of other religions in the United States know more about us. It is the best solution to build more mosques for expanding the understandings among different religions. We need to show the American people that Islamic culture is not evil and Muslims are friendly to the world. Let mosque goers satisfy their religious needs to keep their mind peaceful, avoiding dissatisfaction and hatred to harm the communities.
We are not evil. We pursuit human love and peace of mind and we enjoy our freedom in this country. We hereby request your Administration will pay more attention to the following: 1) stop political statements and social mood to demonize Islamic culture and all sorts of discrimination against the Muslim in the US; 2) accept Muslim refugees from those countries in war chaos with kindness and sympathy to demonstrate the greatness and compassion of our country, and protect their rights of safety and living without all kinds of attacks; 3) plan more state budget to build mosques in the country to meet the needs of the growing population of Muslims that are over 3.5 million.
This will allow Allah’s wisdom to spread. The United States will also become stronger and invincible because of diversification of cultures and the common value. Only by this can the people of the Muslim world hail the pluralistic United States.
After sending the letter, CAIR-Taxas received a reply letter from the White House a week later, in which it appreciated CAIR’s efforts and recognition for American multiculturalism. The letter states that America is committed to building a pluralistic and efficient social system. Everyone has the right to freedom of belief.
The reply letter is a good response but a little bit standard and formulistic. The Muslims in America will continue to push the US government to pay more attention to the basic interest of Muslim community and fulfill our requirement.
