“As-salaamu alaikum,” may not be in the daily vocabulary of the average New Mexican, but for over 4,000 Muslims for whom New Mexico is home, the greeting is used frequently and faithfully. Unfortunately, the greeting “may the peace be upon you” is not always returned with “and upon you may the peace be.”  At times, our neighbors are met instead with hostile words, threatening gestures and in extreme cases, violent acts, such as in 2014 when someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the Islamic Center of New Mexico. 

Just this year, as a heated election cycle wound down, two disturbing instances here in Albuquerque made headlines. On Election Day, a man wearing a Trump t-shirt grabbed a young woman’s head and tried to pull off her hijab in the Zimmerman library at the University of New Mexico.  Later in November, a female shopper at a local Smith’s grocery store in Albuquerque harassed a Muslim shopper wearing a hijab, calling her a terrorist.

There has been an alarming spike in disturbing acts like these across the country.  In 2015, when Trump began his incendiary presidential campaign, taking aim at women, Mexicans, and Muslims alike, the FBI reported a 67 percent rise in hate crimes against Muslims.  In the wake of the presidential election, dozens of violent attacks against Muslims were reported nation-wide.  It remains unknown how many similar incidents went unreported. 

Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric, along with his appointment of Islamaphobic staff to top White House positions, multiple attempts at creating a Muslim travel ban, and refusal to adequately address anti-Muslim hate crimes are just some of the reasons why the Brennan Center for Justice has labeled his administration “the most Islamaphobic” to date.

But many Americans have not taken these hateful actions or discriminatory policies lying down. In the wake of Trump’s January executive order banning travel from seven majority-Muslim countries, thousands protested at airports across the nation to condemn the ban.  Here in Albuquerque, a diverse group of people gathered at the International Sunport chanting, “no ban, no wall, Albuquerque is for all” and holding signs that read “Muslims are welcome here.”

We take heart in this outpouring of support and show of respect for our Muslim neighbors. We hope to grow this support with our new blog series offering “spotlights” on various Muslim New Mexicans in our communities. We’ll hear from a diverse group of people on what it means to be Muslim in America in this uncertain time and what they believe are the greatest misconceptions about their faith. We’ll get to know real people and hear their real stories.

Though we’re in a particularly frightening time, the attack on Muslims didn't start with and won’t end with Donald Trump.  It ends with understanding, compassion, and a refusal to buy into the myth that we should fear and resent our neighbors and our friends. Instead of getting afraid, let’s all get familiar. 

“The idea that Islam is this foreign thing to America is an illusion, a delusion. The idea that Muslims are people who hate Americans is an illusion, a delusion. You know, we are part of the very fabric of America.”

Abdur’Rauf, born Raul Campos-Marquetti, sits across a table from me, tall and poised, addressing the biggest misconceptions about Muslim identity with care and deliberateness.

A man with undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cornell and Indiana State University respectively, along with over 40 years of experience studying Islam, he draws easily on historical and statistical facts when he talks.  But, most of all, he speaks humbly and from the heart. There’s passion and depth behind his smiling eyes.  

Raised by Afro-Cuban Catholic immigrants to the United States, Abdur’Rauf grew up in Spanish Harlem and Brooklyn's Fort Greene projects in the 1950’s and 60’s.  While in college studying Geology and Planetary Sciences in Ithaca, he was introduced to Islam by a friend and converted. 

When he tells people he’s “Cuban African-American,” they often react with surprise, he tells me.  Most non-Muslim Americans assume all Muslims are Arab, but the truth, he says, is “we’re a world community.”

This world community has deep historical ties to the United States.

He speaks of Muslim navigators who traveled here with the Spanish and Portuguese and of African Muslim slaves torn from their homelands, who arrived in the Americas centuries ago. Then there’s the Muslim iron workers who came from the Middle East in the 1920’s to work on Henry Ford’s model  T’s” in Michigan. 

“We’ve been here for FOREVER”, says Abdur’Rauf.

To those who think they’re going to stop Muslims from coming here, “it’s too late!” he laughs.

“We’re school teachers, we’re engineers, we’re doctors, we’re lawyers… we’re all over the place.  Big towns, little towns.”

“We’re school teachers, we’re engineers, we’re doctors, we’re lawyers… we’re all over the place.  Big towns, little towns.”

What they’re not, are terrorists.

Why, he wants to know, do so many Americans think people who commit acts of terror in the name of Islam, represent all Muslims?  He doesn’t consider the Klu Klux Klan, who lynched his ancestors, as representative of Christianity. 

He adds, “Realize that .01 percent of the population is acting crazy.  What about the other 99.99 percent who are just regular people trying to live their lives?” 

Instead of fearing Islam, Abdur’Rauf says Christians and Jews should realize that their religions, which are all Abrahamic traditions, have much in common with his faith.

 “There are some differences, but we’re similar. Our basic principle is to worship God, love God and care for one another.  Don’t you know that?  You know that.”

But for those who still may not be listening, perhaps they’ll see him around town distributing food to the homeless, showing the world what a Muslim is.

Each Thursday, Abdur’Rauf and a group of brothers and sisters from the Lighthouse, where he is Imam, prepare bagged lunches and distribute them to the homeless, giving meaning to the tenant care for thy neighbor. 

“This is Islam and this who we are.  We’re out here feeding the homeless,” says Abdur’Rauf.

He welcomes people of all faiths and backgrounds to come and get to know the community at the Lighthouse anytime.

But he cautions, “Be ready to work.  Be ready to feed the homeless, make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches” and serve the community.  This is the true Muslim way.