Young Muslim Americans: Coming of Age in a Post-9/11 World

Our founding fathers dedicated their lives to a vision of a society that promised liberty and equality for all people.

I envision an America where Muslims are part of the mainstream; they are full and equal citizens; and they are no longer a suspect class within our country.

We are a fabric of this society just like anyone else: we are neighbors, we are citizens.

I am a proud Chicagoan, a proud Muslim, a proud American, and a proud Indian.

God bless America.

If I could say one sentence to the rest of America, it would probably be: we all need a little more empathy.

One part of the narrative of what it means to be an American Muslim emerged for me very distinctly. And that is, to be able to reach out, across ethnic racial barriers, and address fundamental issues of social justice that affect so many sectors of our community.

Deeply understanding that issues of both environmental and social justice issues are related to values and ethics.

I am completely Muslim and completely American and devout to both identities.

I am passionate about an inter-connected world, but I am passionate about a future, a future where we can all have our differences and our diversity, and embrace our diversity and not have to set them aside in order to be a part of something much larger than ourselves.

The aspirations that we have, the challenges that we face--none of them are insurmountable.

Muslims are like any other community in this country with the same aspirations and the same struggles as any other American.

I'm a woman. I’m a Muslim. I'm an American. And I’m a patriot. And there is absolutely no dissidence between any of those identifications.

Our country is a country built on diversity. We need to embrace that diversity because it makes our country great.

I believe completely in the equality of men and women and core sense of human dignity.

As an American and as a Muslim, you always keep striving.

I am involved with the work that I do, because I'm a Muslim and because I'm an American.

I’m part of this work because I envision that in the future that we will be an equal contributing part of the country that is valued and not feared.

I'm involved in the work that I do because of the shared values to which all faiths adhere.

Act out our values and our citizenship is to actually do and not just talk.

Jamiah Adams, Wajahat Ali, Hazami Barmada, Shahid Buttar, Faisal Ghori, Safiya Ghori-Ahmad, Zeba Khan, Rami Nashashibi, Zeenat Rahman, Sohaib Sultan, Asma Uddin, Mohamad Abdul Chakaki, and I too am America.”