Muslims benefit America

By Ekram Haque

The Dallas Morning News

What would the U.S. be like under Donald Trump’s plan to block Muslims from entering the country? It wouldn’t be the country we love.

In December, Trump called for a “complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” This summer he changed course a bit, backing strict immigration controls, including an ideological litmus test for Muslim visitors and migrants.

Trump’s Islamophobic remarks seem especially ungrateful in light of our country’s early relationship with Morocco. In 1777, Morocco, which is predominantly Muslim, was the first country to recognize the new nation called the United States of America. Morocco had also extended protection to American ships in its territorial waters.

In more recent history, Trump’s initial ban on Muslims would have prevented Hakeem Olajuwon, the Nigerian-born NBA legend and basketball Hall of Famer, from playing for the Houston Rockets.

Under Trump’s plan, the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) and the John Hancock Center could not have graced Chicago’s skyline. The tower, the world’s tallest building until 1996, and the Hancock building were designed by Muslim architect Fazlur Rahman Khan, who was born in what is now Bangladesh. Khan fell in love with this country and called it his new home.

If the proposed Muslim ban had been in place, Kareem Rashad Khan, a U.S. soldier and the son of Pakistani immigrants, would not have died for our country in Iraq. His father told Gannett News Service that the young man felt a calling to join the Army because of his memories of 9/11.

Ultimate sacrifice

Humayun Khan, another Muslim, also would not have made the ultimate sacrifice for the U.S. had a Muslim ban been in effect. The army captain born in Pakistan died in Iraq in 2004 at the hands of a suicide bomber while trying to block a vehicle speeding toward his troops. His action saved the lives of hundreds of his colleagues. His father, Khizr Khan, delivered a powerful speech condemning Trump’s views on Muslims at the Democratic National Convention.

The two soldiers are buried at Arlington National Cemetery and were posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

The future impact of a complete or partial Muslim ban on the U.S. appears more ominous.

One of the biggest effects of a Muslim travel ban would be on tourism. A 2011 study by travel consultant CrescentRating estimated the global Muslim tourism market at $126.1 billion and projected growth to $192 billion by 2020. That’s twice as large as the travel among Chinese people.

More than 1 million Middle Eastern tourists visited the U.S. in 2013, spending on average $6,000 per head, which is $2,000 more than the European traveler. This amounted to $6.8 billion.

A ban would divert those U.S. tourism dollars to other economies of the world.

As for the argument that a Muslim ban would make America safer, it is misleading at best. If anything, such policy would make U.S. citizens abroad less secure. ISIS and Al-Qaeda make up a fraction of 1 percent of the 1.8 billion global Muslim population, and to ban all Muslims from coming to the U.S. because of the actions of a tiny minority defies common sense. Can we ban all Italians because of the fear of the Mafia?

Ekram Haque is the author of “Muhammad: Son of Abraham, Brother of Moses, Successor of Jesus.” He wrote this for the Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.