This Ramadan, let’s create a new narrative about what it means to be American.

By Samia Khan

Our national memory is made up of stories. These stories tell us what it means to be American, who counts, and who belongs. They include names like Jefferson and Washington, but rarely names like Omar and Shabazz. They ignore too many of our ancestors–enslaved, indigenous, Muslim, Jewish, and countless others. 

At American Muslim, we believe it’s time to reclaim our past, so we can reimagine a future where everyone belongs.

I’m Samia Khan, a storyteller and senior producer at American Muslim, a storytelling platform dedicated to revealing the long and vital role that Muslims have played in shaping America for over 400-years. We make short films, inspiring and engaging stories for social media, educational resources, and are developing a three-part series for PBS–delightful and informed content that will place the Muslim American narrative squarely into the American canon. For too long, our histories have been denied, creating space for bitter sentiments that position Muslims as foreigners, never truly American. American Muslim illuminates the truth of our presence, and the myriad ways we’ve influenced American civic, political, and cultural life–today and always. 

As we imagine new ways of gathering during this historic Ramadan in lockdown, we hope to inspire you with stories of our ancestors who had to reinvent tradition every day. Stories like that of Bilali Muhammad, an enslaved African Muslim who led a Muslim community in Georgia in the early 1800s, or Mary Juma, a Syrian-Lebanese immigrant who came to the American heartland in 1901, and had to reimagine what it meant to fast and pray in a new land.  Creating new traditions is at the heart of the American Muslim experience, and we’re continuing this legacy today. 

I’m excited to share some of these stories with you tomorrow as part of MPower’s IG takeover, so stay tuned for that, and as always, follow us @ammuslimstories and at https://www.ammuslimstories.com/.