WASHINGTON D.C- In an article published in the American newspaper, Washington Post, the author named Elahi Izadi has taken an insight into what the founding fathers of America believed regarding Muslim rights. You will be surprised to see that their views were quite different from those prevailing in the current time.
The author says, a number of the Founding Fathers explicitly mentioned Muslims along with other believers outside the prevailing Protestant mainstream, as they outlined the parameters of religious freedom and equal protection.
Muslims, referred to in those years as “Mahometans” or alluded to as “Turks,” likely lived in this country; an estimated 20 percent of enslaved Africans were Muslim. But much of the citizenry at the time didn’t acknowledge that Muslims existed in America, according to several historians.
So unlike Jews and Catholics, Muslims were discussed in the hypothetical — and often with negative opinions, including those held by Thomas Jefferson  to show “how far tolerance and equal civil rights extends,” said Denise Spellberg, author of “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders.”
Here are the views of founding fathers of America regarding religious liberty.
Thomas Jefferson, also the principle author of Declaration of Independence penned the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and claimed as his accomplishment. Jefferson specifically mentioned Muslims when describing the broad scope of protections he intended by his legislation, which was passed in 1786.
In another statement regarding ‘supporting freedom of religion’, Muslims were mentioned:
Certain it is that every argument for civil liberty gains additional strength when applied to liberty in the concerns of religion, and there is no argument in favor of establishing the Christian religion but what may be pleaded with equal propriety for establishing the tenets of Mohammed by those who believe the Al Koran.
Regarding the issue of Presidency, founders were quite vocal about Muslims as in the constitution debate Muslims were mentioned five times, Jews seven times and Catholics ten times. The connection between the presidency and Islam was raised three times.
So, we can see that there was provision for Muslim Rights in America when the constitution of USA was being articulated.
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