André Carson of Indiana, a Democrat, for a total of three Muslim members of the House. She lost in a special election to replace him but won the 2018 general. Tlaib ran for the seat vacated by John Conyers, who resigned over sexual harassment allegations. And Omar used a Quran when she was sworn in to the Minnesota House two years ago. Omar was elected to Ellison’s old seat after he stepped down to run for state attorney general and won. Keith Ellison of Minnesota - who was the first Muslim elected to Congress - used Jefferson’s Quran for his ceremonial swearing-in. It’s not the first time members of Congress have been sworn in using the Quran. Related: These are the women who made history in this year’s midterm elections Especially now more than ever, with all the bigotry going on and hatred that’s being exposed.” “To finally have women of color, or immigrants or second generation-Americans to be sworn in on a holy book other than the Bible - for me it personally validates that I do belong here, and this is home,” says Shabbeleh, who campaigned for Omar and flew to Washington, DC to attend Thursday’s swearing-in. For many Muslim Americans, the presence of a Quran is a symbolic moment amid a presidential administration that has seemed to wage an all-out war on the triple whammy of what Tlaib and Omar represent: immigrants, Muslims and women.ĭegha Shabbeleh, a suburban Minneapolis high school English teacher whose family was exiled from Somalia when she was a child, says it’s the first time she feels truly represented in national politics. Nancy Pelosi called them in her address after being elected House speaker Thursday. Tlaib and Omar used the Qurans at individual, ceremonial swearings-in at the House speaker's office after the official, en masse swearing-in on the House floor.īoth Democrats, they are part of an extraordinarily diverse class of representatives - "transformative,” as Rep. In fact, they need not swear on anything at all. New members of Congress are not required to take their oaths on the Bible or any other religious text. And Ilhan Omar, who arrived in the US 23 years ago as a refugee fleeing Somalia’s war, used the Quran of her late grandfather, who helped raise her. Rashida Tlaib, an American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent, was sworn in with her left hand on her own copy of the Quran, though she considered using a 1734 English translation that belonged to Thomas Jefferson. Thursday’s swearing-in to the US House of Representatives was no different. The first two Muslim American women in Congress have been unapologetic about their faith from the start of their campaigns.
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