Robert Azzi of Exeter is a New Hampshire-born Arab-American Muslim, photojournalist, and columnist who has spent several decades working in and writing about the Middle East. His columns are archived at TheOtherAzzi.wordpress.com. He will be in Andover to answer audience questions about Islam and the Middle East on Monday, September 26, at 6:30 PM in the Town Hall meeting room, sponsored by the Andover Library.

“May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land,” wrote George Washington to Rhode Island’s Touro Synagogue in 1790, “continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

I write as one of the children of “the Stock of Abraham,” as a Muslim whose faith tradition traces to Prophet Abraham through his son Ishmael, and as an American who’s increasingly uncomfortable witnessing the rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric in our Public Square.

I’m here to ask you to recognize that Islam has been part of New England’s religious and political fabric for generations. Early traders brought back spices, textiles, and Scheherazade’s stories from the Middle East. Slave traders brought back Muslims from West Africa, some sold into slavery by Muslims, most of whom were forcibly converted to Christianity, some of whom settled in New England.

While certainly Christianity was elevated above all other religions in America, there was little of the sort of anti-Muslim rhetoric in the early days of the Republic that we witness today. In the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, the United States wrote, “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion — as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (sic) – and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (sic) nation …”

John Quincy Adams had a copy of the first Qur’an printed in America – by Isaiah Thomas in 1806 – when he defended the Amistad rebellion mutineers, many of whom were Muslim. And Benjamin Franklin wrote in his autobiography that he wanted a meeting hall built in Philadelphia so inclusive “… so that even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service.”

Imagine a public figure voicing such sentiments in Andover today, even as we recognize that today Muslims live among us, pray, pay taxes, and fight, and die, as patriots in America’s wars.

While the September 11 attacks on the homeland, followed by a war of necessity in Afghanistan and a catastrophic war of choice in Iraq, were traumatic, we should understand that most Americans never even thought about Islam before September 11, 2001. On that day, when Muslims seemed to appear, like “Topsy,” to set the world upside-down, most Americans woke up realizing they knew nothing about Islam.

Today, Americans should understand that the perpetrators of such horrors and violence – which we still witness – are no more representative of Islam that the Ku Klux Klan is representative of Christianity. That before September 11, American Muslims were so well assimilated that they only seemed to appear decennially – as part of the national census!

After September 11, another wave of anti-Muslim sentiment swept across America when the candidacy and election of the an African-American president set loose some of our darkest demons: the birthers, truthers, and deniers, united by fear and ignorance, determined not only to disenfranchise President Obama but along with him anyone who was remotely related to “The Other,” primarily Muslims.

Today, I ask you to understand that while it’s true that the Qur’an is the literal word of God, it’s not meant to be read literally. Like other sacred scripture, it’s rich in metaphor and allegory and, like other peoples of faith, Muslims try to understand and live within God’s words and challenges, whether in Andover or Algiers.

Today, please understand that for many Muslims, myself included, hearing fellow Americans attempt to disenfranchise, marginalize, and target my faith community and misrepresent my religion – a community and religion that’s been spiritually present in America for over 400 years – is not unlike waking up to see a cross burning on America’s communal front lawn.

I want such struggles to end. I want to be able to breathe freely once again. To be able to disagree politically and feel unthreatened, to express solidarity with the oppressed and the occupied, to agitate for social justice, and not be accused of supporting terrorism.

To Cotton Mather, who once wrote, “Ah! Destructive Ignorance, what shall be done to chase thee out of the World?” I would answer: Together we must gather, as neighbors, as citizens, as believers in justice and peace, in places like Andover, to listen, to speak, to work together for the health and security of our families and nation.

At 6:30 PM on Monday, September 26, I’ll be speaking at the Andover Town Hall about Islam and being Muslim in America. After my opening comments, I will open the floor to an “Ask a Muslim Anything” program where I will try to answer whatever questions you have on your mind. Nothing is off-limits, as long as it’s respectfully presented.

Together, let’s sit under George Washington’s fig tree and engage in fellowship and peace.