From Ebony Magazine
The first Muslim member of Congress on his faith journey
By Brooke Obie
In 2006, U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison was elected to represent Minnesota’s 5th district, becoming the state’s first African American representative and the first Muslim to serve in Congress.
To both praise and controversy, Ellison was sworn into office on a copy of the Qur’an once owned by Thomas Jefferson, a reminder of the religious tolerance the nation was founded upon. Ellison’s faith journey was founded on that same principle.
Raised by devout Catholic parents, Ellison, the third of five sons, remembers respect, tolerance and social justice being constant topics in his household, and he was given the right to choose his path at a young age. As a kid, when Ellison became disinterested in Catholicism, seeing the faith as “just rules and regulations, orthodox dogma,” he stopped attending services.
“I think I was an atheist or agnostic at some point, as well,” he tells EBONY.com.
It wasn’t until his sophomore year of college at Wayne State University that a 19-year-old Ellison made a true connection with Islam and chose the faith for himself.
“I was studying for a calculus test with a friend of mine from Libya when he said he had to leave and go to Jum’ah and I asked, ‘What’s that?’ He thought I should come and see for myself. I was curious, so I went with him and I saw all these shoes out in the hallway in the student center at Wayne State and men and women were sitting in there on sheets and there was a speaker talking about things that were interesting to me. I was working on anti-apartheid activities at the time and I was active on racial justice and fairness issues, so I liked what the speaker was saying. I went back the week after that and started reading more on the Qur’an and started reading other books on Islam.”
As Ellison’s interest grew, he sought out a deeper connection to the Muslim community off-campus. “I was driving on the highway in one of the major arteries in Detroit called Davidson and saw a sign that said ‘Muslim Center.’ I met the guys at the Davidson Muslim Center and they welcomed me in. After going there for a month, I took the Shahada, which is the first pillar of Islam, ‘There is no god but God, and Mohammed is his messenger.’ It was Islam’s message of social justice and equality that affected me the most and satisfied my spiritual yearning and wondering about God, man, nature, and humanity.”
Though his family was initially surprised by his conversion to Islam, Ellison, who has a Baptist minister for a brother, says his family has “always been pretty accepting.” Ellison took that example with him as he started his own family with former wife, high school sweetheart Kim Ellison, who was not a Muslim, though their four children were raised in the faith. Respect and humility, he says, are key in healing the divide that differences in religion can create between loved ones, especially concerning the afterlife.
