“When Mr. Trump becomes president and kicks us out of the country, where will we go?”
That was the conversation-stopper when Khalid Khan was visiting his children and grandchildren in Chicago recently. Asking the question was a 7-year-old child — an American citizen who was born here and has never known any other home.
The child is Muslim. The family is Muslim. Trump, the front-runner in the Republican presidential race has swept to popularity partially by promoting distrust and fear of Muslims.
“Trump has said all Muslims should have to have an ID card,” said Khan, one of the leaders of the Islamic Society of Southwest Washington, a mosque in Hazel Dell. Trump has flirted with the idea of closing down some mosques and even banning all Muslims from entering the country, Khan pointed out.
If you go
• What: “A conversation with your Muslim neighbors.”
• When: 2 to 4 p.m. March 6.
• Where: Washington State University Vancouver, 14204 N.W. Salmon Creek Ave., Dengerink Administration bldg., room 110.
• Cost:Free.
• Information:360-831-3135.
What’s most alarming, Khan said, is how many Americans support such ideas at a gut level. Khan recalled that, in December, a firm called Public Policy Polling found that 30 percent of Republican primary voters supported bombing the nation of Agrabah, with just 13 percent opposed. Committed Trump supporters were even more certain: 41 percent said they wanted to bomb Agrabah.
Agrabah doesn’t exist. It’s the country in Disney’s “Aladdin” movie.
“Good people are getting really bad information” from media and candidates who blatantly lie, said Shirin Elkoshairi, a mosque volunteer who grew up in Virginia and recently moved to Clark County.
“What really concerns me most is that it’s Muslims now, but it could be Jews tomorrow and blacks the day after that,” said Elkoshairi, who said he works as an information technology consultant for a firm in New Jersey. Khan is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Portland.
” ‘Why are you here? What are you doing here?’ We’re here to do exactly what everybody else is doing,” said Elkoshairi. “Paying our mortgages. Raising our kids. Trying to get an education. Being good neighbors.” Elkoshairi said he introduced himself to some elderly neighbors in La Center and offered to help them with things like computer glitches and car troubles — because that’s the Muslim way to treat neighbors, he said — and they were “slightly shocked.”
Meet your neighbors
The Islamic Society of Southwest Washington will host “A Conversation with Your Muslim Neighbors” from 2 to 4 p.m. March 6 at Washington State University Vancouver. The event is free and open to all.
It will begin with a brief presentation on understanding Islam by a panel including Khan; Elkoshairi and his wife, Kristen, who is a converted Muslim; and Tervaris Evans, a converted African-American who helps lead the Islamic Society here.
Also on the panel will be Michael Chrzastowski, Ph.D., a Christian scholar of Islam who teaches frequent seminars on the subject for churches and other interested groups. “Islam for Lutherans” and “Islam for Catholics” are the sorts of classes he has been teaching professionally for several years.
And after that — speaking of slightly shocked neighbors — Elkoshairi said he hopes and expects the forum will get a little shocking. Don’t hold back from asking any question, no matter how basic, controversial or just plain “nasty,” he said. If you’re shy or uncomfortable, write down your question and pass it forward. You won’t be alone, he promised.
Khan has estimated that there are approximately 2,000 Muslims in Clark County.
