By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter
(SEATTLETIMES) It was a blazing summer afternoon as Abdullahi Jama, a former attorney and college professor from Somalia, stood outside a local mosque, asking the same question over and over: “Are you citizens?”
Sometimes the 51-year-old Skyway resident was ignored. Other times he was pulled into debates with Muslims who fear or mistrust the federal government, don’t believe their vote would make a difference, or feel it’s wrong to back a candidate who might do something that runs contrary to Islamic principles.
Yet Jama persisted. “I tell them: ‘If you want them to listen to your concerns, you have to vote.’ “
Jama is heading a voter-registration drive on behalf of Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington,
a civil-rights advocacy group, and the Seattle branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Seattle). The groups are hoping to reach as many as 10,000 Muslims statewide —
either new voters or those who’ve registered but are not on the mailing list of either group.
Yesterday, imams and leaders at a dozen local mosques spoke about the importance of political participation,
part of a nationwide effort among Islamic groups to get Muslims to the polls this presidential election year.
“This is a critical moment for the Muslim community in North America,” said Ibrahim Mohamed,
A CAIR-Seattle board adviser
who spoke at Lynnwood’s Dar Al Arqam Mosque.
Muslims in America are being targeted, he said — detained for months at a time, their homes searched by federal agents. “This is a critical time to make sure we are counted, that we matter.”
Hadi Saadi, 47, has been a citizen since 1995. Yesterday, he registered to vote in order to “try to make some changes. Hopefully for the better.” The war in Iraq must stop
and there should be justice for Muslims in the U.S., he says.
And he’s hoping to vote for someone who will make the economy better — he’s unemployed.
Muslims don’t make up a sizable voting bloc — estimates of their numbers nationwide range from 2 million to more than 6 million,