Part 1: Why Muslims Must Participate in the Political Process in the United States

Part 2: How do Muslims Participate in the American Political Landscape?

In order to seek Qur’anic guidance in the context of our current dilemma, we should first examine the political scenario that we are encountering in the United States. According to the Pew Research Center, about 49% or registered voters are Democrats, lean to the Democratic Party and about 48% are Republicans, or lean to the Republican Party.

The same survey suggests that there are more leaners today than three decades ago. Why has the number of leaners increased now?

This is because the two established parties have increasingly created barriers for dissenting voices. As a result, most independent minded voters have turned out to be leaning toward one of the two major parties or they have decided to stay out of politics. In fact, according to one report one of the reasons for the Democratic Party’s defeat in the last mid-term election is that many frustrated young democrats simply decided not to participate in the political process.

According to one Pew survey in 2023, the number of Democratic leaning voters were 23% as opposed to 33% Republican leaning voters. This was a huge increase as opposed to earlier years.

What Message do the Surveys Indicate?

First, these reports indicate the dissatisfaction of many voters in the electoral system. The number of ‘leaning toward a party’ has increased and true independents tend to avoid politics. This against the spirit of democracy and against the fundamental value of the American constitution.

Secondly, these reports indicate the anti-democratic stance of the two major political parties –over the past two decades they have put more barriers in various states and made the election process difficult for independents and third party candidates. We should also remember that both Obama and Clinton actively sabotaged Keith Ellison’s attempt to secure the DNC leadership.

This brings me to the third point: Muslims are not the only element that feels marginalized in American politics. The ‘leaning voters’ and independents, particularly the younger Americans’ are frustrated with the mainstream politicians. The campus protests are simple reflections of the current political predicament.

Opportunity for Muslims

In an earlier article, we have already noted the desire of third party and independent candidates win over Muslim votes. Muslims should take this opportunity to promote their mission of establishing good governance based of universal values. The Qur’an teaches us values of law based on human dignity, equality and justice and the American constitution too stands for civil liberty, green environment, international peace and prohibition of political bribery.

Almost all third party candidates endorse these values and therefore Muslims should and must participate in this political transition. We shall undertake discussions on how Muslims should interact with their non-Muslim fellow Americans in this journey.