struggling with the effects of climate change sierra leone's dry season is unforgiving but compounded by corruption in its wet season mudslides that are claiming most of our lives i don't remember. when i think one thousand died in two minutes people in power investigates the effects of deforestation and the illegal building and asks what the future holds if those in authority fail to act the mountain will fall at this time on al-jazeera. the headlines on. hundreds of thousands of people trapped in a rebel held areas capital coming under renewed government. efforts to establish a ceasefire at the un have once again. meanwhile activists say helicopters are

dropping bombs on residential neighborhoods the death toll since sunday is now more than four hundred forty. points. a lot. they call out for those left on another floor but in the dense dust and debris it's hard to see who's left the upper floor. the doctor to open his eyes so he can wash medical workers in eastern are calling for urgent assistance because of the continuous heavy blood with. incendiary bombs are now appearing in the night skies weapons intended to start large fires when they hit the ground. people in bodies are pulled out from crevices between buildings the nearly four hundred thousand people in the besieged enclave are dying in their hundreds how to be a bad what's taking place in eastern is a genocide and

a crime against humanity in violation of international and humanitarian law and the perpetrators should be held liable accountable and cannot escape punishment under any circumstances russia is to blame for directly being involved in the military campaign and even apartment graphic videos we've chosen not to show you contain body parts scattered in the aftermath of the latest onslaught by the assad government and its allies. the opposition holds russia and iran responsible. when the dust settles the destruction is clear people have been forced to live in underground shelters but. one of the a message to the security council is for a cease fire or truce for days as strikes in bombardments have forced families and children into underground shelters we can't do anything we can't even go outside to get food but when the outside looks like this there aren't many places people can go to the ferocity of the bombardment and the arrival of troops on the outskirts of

both are battling with fighters it's reminiscent of what happened to other rebel held parts in places like homs and aleppo entire populations were evacuated to new places in syria and people inside besieged with the have been cheering order flits evacuation zones convinced that this is what is going to happen to them as well. in other news joyce president donald trump says washington is of imposing its largest set of sanctions on north korea the aimed at isolating and putting pressure on pyongyang to give up its nuclear program the latest measures target the north shipping activity. there's been four separate attacks in the least twenty soldiers killed in a taliban attack on an army outpost in the west and two other attacks targeted soldiers in the southern helmand province two soldiers died in the alley and one. while in kabul a suicide bomber blew himself up in the diplomatic area three people were killed

and five wounded in the attack near the u.s. embassy and nato headquarters. the united states has confirmed it will open its new embassy in jerusalem this may much earlier than expected palestinians have condemned the announcement saying it's a provocation the decision in december to move the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem sparked protests around the world recovery efforts are still taking place after at least thirty eight people were killed and twenty car bombings in somalia the first blast was at a checkpoint near the presidential palace in the capital mogadishu the second was in front of a popular hotel group al-shabaab has claimed responsibility. nigeria's president is deploying extra soldiers to search for more than one hundred girls kidnapped from their school in the town of she will home of the well heidi has called monday's abduction by boko haram a national disaster and the attack has cast doubt on the dominance assertions that it's defeated the armed group boko haram kidnapped more than two hundred

schoolgirls from the town of chibok and two thousand and fourteen many of whom are still missing those are the headlines on al-jazeera is up next. hello and welcome to rewind i'm richelle carey and the decade since we launched al-jazeera english back in two thousand and six and built

a library of moving and powerful documentaries here army wine revisiting some of the best of them and looking at how the story has moved on today we are rewinding ten years to two thousand and eight and rug omar set out on a unique journey across the united states to get to the heart of what it meant to be muslim in america and that was back in the decade of nine eleven and the iraq war that followed since then of course the world has turned with the rise of isis the political upheavals that followed the arab spring the chaos that is and go first libya then syria and of course the election of donald trump and his travel ban so today it's more important than ever to understand the history of a vibrant diverse and still growing muslim community and what it means to be both muslim and a patriot here's islam in america from two thousand and eight. oh say. cecil i would think you would rather i think that.

if you would see. this. hand. you. mention america and islam and most people think of irreconcilable conflict but i suspect that's not the whole story in this two part series i hope to discover the truth relationship that's evolving between the two. there is said to be eight million muslims in the united states and the faith is said to be the fastest growing religion in this country and the roots and history of islam a longer than most people are aware of i want to travel across this huge country to find out the stories of what it's like to be an american. in this program

all the searching for the origins of islam in america talking to african-americans who had just discovering that own islamic history and exploring if being american fits comfortably with being muslim. my journey begins with a trip to minneapolis in the midwest it may seem an old destination for a program on islam because its citizens are mostly jewish and christian but in two thousand and seven voters here elected america's first muslim congressman keith ellison. keith spock on the campaign trail on a most significant anniversary today is juneteenth it commemorates june nineteenth eight hundred sixty five. the abolition of slavery these are local political activists and they're coming on the parade to get people in this community fired up about voting and at the halls of their efforts

a young muslims playing their part trying to get congressman keith ellison the first muslim in congress reelected. how good it's hearing us to see keith ellison is a charismatic politician who's keen to get young muslim started in politics well you know we're just having fun out here you know keith introduces me to his intent. would you say just sort of young muslims we're living in other parts of the world i think being a muslim in america is a very tough thing and such are i mean there's advantages there's disadvantages we definitely have a lot more opportunity is that it's kind of difficult going up any different especially where i'm from it's a stance and the only muslim in my school the only muslim in my high school so that's definitely a challenge but once you get past that you know you can there's so many different avenues so many different opportunities for you to connect with and what it's like to be able to come in the united states get challenging and rewarding on the same time but i think the most important thing to remember is that you don't you know

what we can make you know if we want and i encourage all muslims around the world to actually do the same you know please get to know your elected officials will it all that's the only way you can make a difference. mom is going to get. you guys who are happy to see you know this is when the slaves got free right this is a great example of the american author of glad handing it's the way to the electoral heart of the nation how candidates meet their votes is and has paid off for keefe here in minneapolis and it's worked elsewhere now americans have elected to muslims to congress. all these historically been on the margins of american society now come in you know when there's enough. everybody right now. for those muslims around the world in western countries who have no idea about the community here how would you say life is for muslims in america at the

moment all yes american like you don't hear about people getting cassel in the airport you know there's a long way to go obsolete because impression i mean come from britain in terms of sure muslims is a base level is hiding under their beds. that's broadly speaking that muslim living is really the beast not only did i not only did i just get elected by an overwhelmingly jewish christian community so did andre carson who's a muslim here in indiana so people need to not look for excuses to just again you have to get involved you have to run the risk that you're going to encounter bumps in a long way but you still have to seen and heard here. and certainly keith needed the votes of christians and jews to get elected but there's a community of forty four thousand somali muslims here the biggest in america they even have their own t.v. network and they got behind chief. somali t.v. of minnesota and we're so glad to hear today. ok redlands focus to

the muslim. countries i think muslims in european countries. believe that you know they joy the greatest freedoms in the muslim communities in the west are thriving most of all in europe and when they think about the position of muslims in america to be honest with you i think they think that the numbers are tiny before i caught the plane here actually i was with my mom and i said who are you as we say in somalia. how many muslims you think they're on in the whole of the united states and she said hundred thousand hundred fifty thousand you know the whole united states in the whole united states but i mean as i understand there is anywhere between five and eight men. i mean when you think about america as a land of opportunity and sort of seizing things with both maybe the sort of you know the next rock humas if i could be so arrogant as to say that will come from

him because you. think so. i have distant relatives in the somali community here they're among the first to escape the civil war that's been raging in my homeland off and on for decades twenty years on and the new wave of refugees has arrived from somalia some of just graduated college and the throwing a party to celebrate their achievements we came here to take advantage of the opportunities that are here at the same time to keep our identity as muslims we're all going through the same experiences let's not forget our identity and let's give back to the community. i'm a very blast person because. excuse you i get a little bit emotional. we've been given so much you know we've gone through so much but you read the news it's happening at home i have nothing to complain about . after that we need some laughs so i went to

welcome i am doing. thank you very much but the problem is that is beginning to be so money i get better than me. but he's a big shot making more than me about it you know who knows that i said i you know i'm on the money you know i was at the height. of the. my adopted home england has a bigger somali community the minneapolis and it's been settled for longer but they do tend to think of england as home my parents a typical their mental bags are still packed to return to somalia but that's not true here. these somalis no less god all traumatized by their experiences have planted roots deeper and faster than any somali community i've seen in the world

they don't talk of returning home they are growing up and i said. i don't want to. tell you stuff and it's a message that came across loud and clear and i was still hearing it in the taxi to the airport with a salad you left out the step two years thirteen years you know and you came from ramallah somalia. and now the dishes i was born there haven't been there for a long time a lot of problems last fifteen seventeen years. in england we somalis you know we're not that organized you know here in america you don't organize if you don't vote if you don't but disobey the american way of living you last saw you know but that's the way to be visible that's the word to get heard yes can you be muslim and american up to yes you have to sacrifice one to be the other you have to be american first and you have to do what other americans decent fison alive to

defending america because this is our country this is feel that you know when you don't think about going back. to my life defending this country god dobbs tonight i get the welcoming i get. that's a powerful thing compared to where i come from how we were how i was you know slaughter a friend of mine who died the war where we come where i come from coming here. you know having what i have. is home. minnesota is a liberal state in the democratic heartland of the midwest a welcoming place for the somalis the latest black immigrants to establish themselves in america but in the early years of its history america was the very opposite of welcoming for the first africans to reach these shores. for three hundred years africans were brought here in chains

a slave labor i'm heading to jackson mississippi in the deep south to meet some of the descendants of those first african-americans because it seems that their history minds of the hearts of the story of islam in america. this impressive looking building is actually the state capital of mississippi and i'll be honest i've come with my own really strong preconceptions about the south for me it's about being in the hearts of the bible belt it's about prejudice and the history of segregation but actually being told that the story of islam in america begins of all places here centuries before muhammad ali or malcolm x. and it's a story that begins with slavery. it starts here because most of the slave ship from africa came to work the plantations of the south among them were

muslims. forbidding from practicing their faith they found secret ways to keep islam alive calling the faithful to prayer here in mississippi is abdul rashid he believes that one way they achieve this was through. the africans that leaves it here as slaves people lose came from mississippi i don't think so i've been hearing about the link between the call to prayer and the songs the slaves used to sing in the fields are they similar the call to prayer . are if you ever went to a baptist church and you can hear this in a baptist church all of the that this is a specialism but this is an. archipelago.

singing the whole congregation to sing you know. love. the crown. your city be called the entire koran was basically chanted uss you know and i was that chanted basically in that minor scale you see that connection to you and your singing things that had deeply embedded within the sort of african-american experience in the blues not only that but that was one of the things that. guided me to islam really yes the music when you started reading when i was introduced to the koran and that was founded there as well founded as well. so i think from my opinion this is just why i opened it with my opinion of the daughter and something you go to look over. but this is my opinion that this entire movement is

a spiritual and is geared toward islam. like abdul more and more people of all ethnicities are finding their way to islam a third of all muslims in america about two million a converts the people at the mosque in jackson convinced that this is having a positive impact on the entire nation o'connor was she is one of the founding members here today have you heard so much about it yet. and we're just happy to have a caller who is involved in a new research project with twenty five other historians they believe their discoveries will not only rewrite the history of islam in america but transform our understanding of african cultures i think we're leading the way actually. as part of this initiative a co-founded the international museum of muslim cultures the first in america research it suggests the number of muslim slaves was much greater than previously thought one third of all of them slave to africans that were brought to america

actually were muslims nobody knows this is new cutting edge information because we read our history books we don't see that we have one of the great stories here in mississippi in a place called natchez mississippi we have the story of our prince abdul-rahman ybor he he was an african muslim prince and scholar came out of the area around gambia and he was actually slave to matches for over forty years and we have that story but but you're a combination of all these things that's unique here to the to the deep south on she i mean africa american and muslim and why. why is it important to stress i mean in this example in your work this missing link of islam in this in this week's the most important reason is that it's going to help the african-american to become

a first class citizen am opposed to a second class citizen and this whole standing up for rights fight for freedom leaving the whole effort in america for reforming america and bringing america to respective own constitution blending is really was that's what makes me optimistic about the future. this corner of the exhibition is really interesting because you've goals real evidence of this link between islam and slavery in mississippi and it him of the man who was known as the prince among slaves who was sold into slavery for forty years before winning his freedom and going to live as a free man in liberia and i understand that there are his descendants still living in the united states and i'm going to try and find them.

i now see that what's up the heart of the story of islam in america is the story of slavery and on this issue america was divided as early as the seven hundred seventy s. some americans were calling for the abolition of slavery one of these thomas jefferson proposed forming a colony in africa to take freed slaves but it wasn't until eight hundred sixty three after the civil war that slavery was finally abolished with it came the economic collapse of the southern states which depended on slaves the big plantations fell to ruin and two million freed slaves headed for the northern cities. for those who stayed behind life remained brutal well into the twentieth century lynching and murder where every day facts of life african-americans across the south. african-americans have been telling me that here in mississippi a place and i've always associated with prejudice they can now be muslim without

prejudice and that this is an essential part of being a muslim in america the fight against prejudice and the struggle to be free and it was in pursuit of this struggle that in the early part of the twentieth century millions of african-americans abandoned the south and they headed north which is where i'm going next. i'm catching the night train to chicago following in the footsteps of millions of freed slaves to the city by the promise of jobs in the factories and stockyards. with the hope of living a life free from prejudice but they did have another option to sail from liberia the colony america established for free to slaves in africa. it was

a stark choice scratchie living in america's ghettos will build a nation from scratch the muslim prince ibrahim of mississippi put a collar told me about was among the first to sail from liberia where he dreamt of establishing islam but the early settlers encountered little bit disease and hardship and prince ibrahim barely saw the completion of the first settlement before he died. martin liberia has suffered a succession of civil wars and feeling the last of these was abraham's great great great great grandson who's turned this story on its head he fled wall to liberia to find freedom in america his name is optimist game. that i want to civil war was started in liberia i came to this country and it was just a sheer says on it and in my own country's history that i spent hours in the library just trying to find. the history of the mississippi to liberia and then a defined oh yes there was a ship there was a ship manifesto and along the ship's name all of great ground by this name his

name was. he was one of the sons of. remodel who was and was a prince but also clearly by his name a muslim a muslim was very important to realize that your own astute son's. medicine and that for me was like winning the lottery on the rare amazing. reverse here to come from africa. here have the come from africa. refuge enough for chicago us a place in the lead to a place for me is spiritual home for me in above all it has one of the largest collection of books in africa on norway in africa it's right here in chicago how important was it that up to you relative was a muslim this country has to understand its roots especially when it comes to african-american is an islamic groups african-american shoe not seen as just

a religion it is a heritage and a good thing about it people respect each other here you know in the midst of all of this is diversity so that's something that you've got what has that we will say shills what it means when people in. all merge. artemus has a good point chicago is culturally very diverse and it has an large muslim community big enough to justify this celebration of arab culture it's the second year running the city celebrating its links with the middle east for those for whom the slaves who fled the south a little over one hundred years ago the transformation of this city would be unbelievable. african-americans came to chicago as parts of one of the largest human migrations of the twenty. centry they were leaving the segregated and racist south in search of a new life in what many hoped would be a promised land and it was out of this experience that was born the first american

muslim movement and it was known as the nation of islam. in the one nine hundred thirty s. a radical idea began to spread through the cities of america the idea that white people were irredeemably evil form the coolness stone of the nation of islam used the ology combined islam and black nationalism the nation's message appeal to african-americans who'd fled the bigotry of the south of the one nine hundred fifty s. the nation had around one hundred thousand members led by in large. part . but out. there. who would gave the nation some credibility were high profile members including the boxer caches clay who took the name. and the radical charismatic activist malcolm x. in the present situation don't know the political power they don't know that they can

put the man in the white house so they can take the man out of the white house but in one thousand nine hundred sixty five off the leaving the movement malcolm x. was assassinated defection sawed off to a larger mamma died most of the membership converted to mainstream islam. i'm on a bit of a pilgrimage south of chicago to meet a man who's had a profound effect on the story of islam in america he's the son of john muhammad but he led the largest single conversion to mainstream islam that america has ever seen. the environment doesn't know any boundaries what goes up into the environment goes around the world. the sides are pushed on trans that it's a very modern way to do. and we've made. the measure of progress in the domestic population. should be your.

circle of poison this time on al-jazeera. facing new realities growing up when did you realize that you were living in a special place the so-called secret city getting to the heart of the matter why is activists to live in jail just because she expressed herself hear their story on and talk to al-jazeera at this time. however the problem and the headlines on al-jazeera hundreds of thousands of people trapped in a rebel held on clay of near syria's capital are being bombed a seventh day as diplomats of the u.n. negotiate a cease fire proposals activists say government helicopters are dropping bow bombs

on residential neighborhoods at least five hundred people have been killed since sunday. and other news u.s. president donald trump says washington is imposing its largest set of sanctions on north korea the aimed at isolating and putting pressure on pyongyang to give up its nuclear program the latest measures target the north's shipping activity. there have been four separate attacks in afghanistan with at least twenty soldiers killed in the taliban attack on an army outpost in the west and two other attacks targeted soldiers in southern helmand province two soldiers died in the alley and one in lashkar gah while in kabul a suicide bomber blew himself up with a diplomatic area three people were killed and five wounded in the attack near the u.s. embassy ad and nato headquarters tony berkeley is following developments from kabul this attack in kabul especially shows that islamic state is still active it's still capable of launching attacks i think that was the message they wanted to to put out

there the taliban is getting stronger as we understand it every day they control something like seventy percent of the country we're told specially in rural areas of course the civilians are bearing the brunt usually of all these attacks the u.n. of just published a report which shows that last year ten thousand civilians were killed and injured a lot of them by suicide bombings. the united states has confirmed it will open its new embassy in jerusalem this may much earlier than expected or palestinians have condemned the announcement saying it's a provocation the decision in december to move the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem sparked protests around the world recovery efforts are still taking place after at least thirty eight people were killed and twenty car bombings in somalia the first blast was at a checkpoint in the presidential palace in the capital markets issue of the second was in front of a popular hotel armed group al shabaab has claimed responsibility. as

the headlines on al-jazeera do stay with us as rewind as america continues next thank you very much for watching. imaam wallerstein mohammed lives modestly here in chicago he became the head of the nation of islam when his father in law jim hammer died in one thousand nine hundred seventy five wallerstein persuaded most of the nation to adopt mainstream islam and he changed the nation's name to the world community of islam in the west it was a very startling night. yeah tell us about some of the it was a myth to destroy we had a myth of the origins of the white race as grafted there were the black men you know as man and the black and black people were gods and the whites were devils

as an exactly exactly but what made you break with the nation of islam that it didn't it didn't take nothing but a child's brain for me to do that out about eleven or twelve when i was that that was wrong then you became a sunni muslim well i don't make a big deal about sony you know when i lay my mainstream you became a mainstream muslim yes and the really the importance of it how it would affect not only muslims but christians to. was not realize ballasts in one thousand nine hundred five in what way was it important turning that means a lack of nationalists movement as extreme as ours believing what we believe in the race if you could make a one hundred eighty degree turn and join the muslims of the world good christians and of the good people of this earth is amazing but when you look from the middle east to europe thinking of america as a bad place to be

a muslim it's like living in the belly of the beast i have heard that how would you say that life is like for people well we know things that happened to make america peer ugly in the eyes of citizens of this country and that is a world that if we can see america the beautiful that has advanced against america the ugly successfully. then i'm sure that we would recognize that america is the most fertile soil we have for x. davening out of religion in our future for our children grandchildren and children to come and then my journey across america i want to find america the beautiful. where will i find that certain kind of things should i look for the concept of citizenry how citizenry it is that race. in the constitution the united states based upon the equality of man and i feel very

strongly that the founding fathers envisioned. a world that would welcome muslims. from across the waters not this not only christians. seems to be an incredible transformation in only thirty years ago chicago was the most racially divided city in america it had a white supremacist movement and a black separatist movement it saw some of the worst racial violence in the entire country i'm amazed what i'm hearing from people like ata misson wallerstein and it seems chicago is becoming much more at ease with its own diverse population it's a rich city where life is improving on many fronts better public education karma race relations and overall the crime statistics show a big improvement. but there is still a dark side to the city because even though the city has cracked down and arrested

gang leaders gang violence is getting worse i've been here for three days and nine people have been killed in gang warfare. islam has made huge gains in chicago which is home to the largest number of african-american muslims in the u.s. thirty years ago they had only one mosque today they have more than forty to choose from now islam has a new battle to win trying to loosen the hold the gangs have on chicago's south side this news and i'm heading to the south side to visit the city's first halfway house for muslim x. prisoners its aim is to provide an alternative to life in the gangs the man who runs this project to serve twelve years for murder like many ex offenders he

converted to islam in prison his name is. rafi peterson. we used to go in the cook county jail division eleven which is in the like maximum security and then. we sing so many brothers we did there for like six years and then we seen so many brothers coming home and going right back right we realized that we needed so its mission to fall back and most being musta been very hard for a lot of movie you've known as if you come back and you've got to make money you got to make ends meet not only that even with a lot of brothers that convert to islam and institutions. they were other than the institutions so we know that you have to have an environment here for the brothers to get a foothold when they get out and so we want to national housing service said look my. house as you noted up can we get one right and he said no good you can have what we have and a lot of problems with you know we can do

a little bad way when you first saw this goofy everywhere and here this is again the gang house it was boarded up you know and the neighbors and stuff with afraid to say and thinking what are you to call the police on these guys the neighborhood is feeling the benefits of this project but that's no rule it's having a positive impact on new still in prison. haven't you noticed any more more i mean african-americans coming to islam i mean especially in in prison. they already have it in the south they need somebody to bring it out. so fast they see it. like this you know. this whole free house is a calm sensor in a neighborhood torn up by gun violence and rafi is not content to let murder and mayhem thrive on his doorstep. with little market. you're going to drop a brother right here and they shot him in the. this is

a very you have the. book in fast and they're. up this street here. eighty eight thousand young people between the ages of eight to twenty five in this general area that we live in west a lot of. subsidies in them down the street don't want to go down especially with a camera in the car this morning his own sound if you look down the street to street look like a ghost see all the houses the same thing down this way. having a drug infested also. known him six you don't want to take you up six meters i mean you're living right now also so you know a lot of people. you know they know a lot of the brothers and even a lot of the brothers in the tribes they don't like what i'm doing but they know that i got to do so weeks ago they killed a brother that i get the best the store that they broke in on the corner they shot

that place up the one thing that they did when they locked up all the real gang chiefs in chicago they destabilize all of the gangs now there's no one individual you can come to but you used to back in the day as a man he got control of the whole you know there's a madison vibe or me they got to do what they got to do this. now you know could i understand why. you want to turn people away you got to turn into a song. and of course what rafi is trying to turn this neighborhood towards is islam. what do you think rushdie here in chicago would do you think islam is place in america i mean is it a growing one to go to a healthy future or not i think that islam can be the cure to america ills of this openness up to islamic cannot down barriers because we as muslim we spoke to be the best for humanity and i think in america has opportunity to really teach and show

that that's what we are and that we can be. i have to admit i've come to america with my own prejudices and misconceptions i thought that being muslim in america was a story of widespread fear discrimination and stereotyping but in the short time i've been here what i'm hearing from muslims is about opportunity constitutional rights and due process about having a stake in this country and being made to feel that they belong and as i travel across america what i want to find out is whether these ideas define not only what it means to be a muslim in america what it actually means to be an american muslim. and i'm getting the message that a great deal of what it means to be an american muslim is understanding your

constitutional rights and how you go about being a good citizen and it's in washington the nation's capital where i'm hoping to learn about citizenship the law of the land and the influence of islam in fact in something that would come as a huge surprise to most of us amongst the founding fathers one of the greatest thomas jefferson had his own koran in full of knowledge mints. islam's contribution to world civilization and one of the most famous monuments in the american capital over that is dedicated to him. a big part of the legacy of thomas jefferson in the founding fathers is freedom of expression it means a lot to americans including american muslims one of the most radical ways you can indulge this freedom is on stage through comedy. i mean washington d.c. about to get a lesson in free speech at a comedy club show you the room nicholas berg's generation pakistani muslim woman she just won an ignite one is in america ruby nicholas won

a national talent competition and became an overnight star my parents like when they came to this country they told everyone they were pakistani muslim immigrants so that i wouldn't have to grow up with the stigma being known as hawaiian that. this is my mom that one nation of easter to me and my sister's two story. get. east jesus christ will come back from the dead. and he will give all of the good days in the night. but you know i mean. i make stitch. on the east the jesus christ will come out of the gate. and if he does not see his shadow. i.

will be six more weeks of children i. think that you're getting ready to go sixty years in the. eye and there's always a mixed bag of reaction i mean there are some that really feel as though it is imminent. you know there are though you know and there are others who just sort of take it in stride and what do you think i mean when you when you say you but you know your heritage is in some ways called maybe is a way to disown people of absolutely a little easier for people to handle some of the muslim terrorist take the jokes when you're made you know like i need to see you know i get totally different then you know a guy with a big beard in appears to look at a woman is it made sort of all the comics suddenly jump in there as well one thing

to sort of talk about iraq you know yeah right they were mixed as a whole tend to be a little more political and. and you have jumped into the mix in terms of taking liberties with making fun of muslims and islam a religion a little bit more than in the past opening up the conversation putting a stereotype on the table that was a mess and so way to break it down for you. i mean i do sort of the battle area type area tell a cab driver job like that and and my mom called me in the head you should get people about the contribution that american muslims have made to this economy we have the most educated we have the left the boat we were. part of ruby's act is offending people and she's very good is it if she wants to say that jesus gives chocolate to children she can but the principles that underpin this freedom go way beyond providing material for comedians they provide the basis

for the nur of this land and guarantee freedoms than a carved in stone. congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press all the rights of people to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances when people talk about the fundamental freedoms in shrines in the american constitution this is what they're talking about the first amendment and it's the reason why so many american muslims have been talking to me about the american constitution because it is they are free to practice their religion as muslims and they are free to speak their minds unlike so many muslims in muslim countries around the world and if anybody tries to oppress them in this country they can seek justice from the american government the fundamental freedoms guaranteed under islamic law not far from these american ideals and that's amazing

when you realize the koran predates the constitution by a thousand years and there is evidence in washington that suggests america knows it's indebted to islam for its own citizens inalienable rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. this is the supreme court in washington now we can't get into film because they're actually in session but what i wanted to show you is a free means which. in the room where the chief justice is actually sits and dispense justice. this frees pays homage to the ideas and principles that have inspired the american legal system and one of the foundation documents represented in this freeze is the koran. and in the nation's capital there are a few other references to islam largely unknown rarely seen the thomas jefferson building contains the library of congress the oldest cultural institution in washington which was completed in the nineteenth century around the dome of the reading room is a mural meant to represent the nations and ideas that contributed most to american

civilization and it might come as a surprise to historians that amongst the ideas represented here is islam. beneath this great miracle i'm meeting congressman keith ellison who i came across at the start of my journey in minneapolis so he tell me about when you took your oath of office because it was a copy of the koran not just any copy that was on this qur'an that we have right here before us and you know in fact this on which is a two volumes it has the initials t.j. it's grabbed right here thomas jefferson and so you know we said this was your reaction when you found the one of the founding fathers had his own copy of the koran i was gobsmacked. as a. huge head it was international. i didn't have much appreciation for why it would be a big deal that a muslim of the elect of the united states congress i thought the issue was going

to be color. and i thought wow we've really made some great strides in terms of racial justice when people don't care that i'm black anymore they're just they're just exudes or dark about religion but do you think keith that all the grassroots activism in the muslim community that at a national level the fact is that most americans are still afraid of islam americans i think are subject to fear just like any people in the world but i think this is deeply rooted tolerance in people and we've been through a moment to civil rights movement we've been through all kinds of social change movements all marching the country toward a greater level of equality and i think people are just not ready to try to cut anybody out of the deal but the fact is in the european context it's what it means to be a brit or a norwegians fairly tightly defined they would look like in what it means to be. yours you're certain colors certain cultures certain faith yes but in america cultures all colors our fates even the most conservative american does not question

my authenticity as an american you know we oppose social orthodox i mean hierarchies and economic iraqis we're not saying we have social justice have been here we don't but but the fact is we don't question our authenticity as americans. on this journey i've met muslims who made me rethink my prejudices about america muslims here realize something the rest of the world and possibly other americans have forgotten this country was born out of a revolutionary moment settlers first came here feeling religious persecution they overthrew a colonial monarchy they based their constitution on the ideals of the french revolution and radical thinkers like tom paine. and yes the prophet mohammed. but there's a much more recent moments in american history that has come to define america's relationship with islam.

you. look out over her. thinking about america's relationship with islam like everybody else i'm joined immediately it's a one city and one moment and the events of september the eleventh two thousand and one in new york city changed that relationship between america and islam forever. and it must also have had an impact on american muslims mohammad was with the new york city fire department on nine eleven will muslims like me then you know who died and some that died definitely muslims died there you know trying to help us.

james he was the army's muslim chaplain at guantanamo prison. i was being accused of espionage spying and aiding the enemy now these are capital crimes for in which military prosecutors even threaten me with the death penalty. they were distinctly american from of islam is emerging in the off to mouth of nine eleven arabic scholar believe something unique is happening here the voice of the muslim woman has not been heard throughout the fourteen hundred years of islamic history now we need to hear from the women and it's only when you live in america that you are empowered to go forward with your idea of. islam in america from two thousand and eight as we know a lot has happened says globally with the rise of by. and in america itself where

terrorism has returned to american soil and president trump has introduced a travel ban which seems to many to target muslims so ten years on what is the position of islam in america realises a political analyst who lives and works in the united states and she joins us now rula thank you very much so you moved to the u.s. in two thousand and nine during that time what as a muslim what have you seen that has changed for muslims in america and i realize it's a broad question that what are the things that stick out to you well a lot of things changed we see major shifts in islamophobia and attacks against muslims in two thousand and fifteen and two thousand and sixteen and it's not a coincidence that the f.b.i. report about hate crimes islam a full big hate crimes in america skyrocketed in those years by far much more than in two thousand and one after nine eleven i just want to remind you that

immediately after the election president trump banned six countries six muslim countries and it looked like a persecution religious based persecution of one group based on the actions of individuals that are carried in pakistan maybe afghanistan iraq and elsewhere he went on to attacking the first muslim mayor subject on immediately in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in london singling him out he did in fact act the mayor of barcelona after the attack or the mayor for any other city but he single out of the car because it is muslim and his brown this is the platform. on which he campaigned and his governing now so where are the voices of people that would traditionally be allies to push back against this type of dangerous rhetoric that sometimes also

crosses over into violence where are those voices. i mean there are breyer voices we have some. muslim voices in america whether they are intellectuals like razor. and others but three d. we are in minority we are underrepresented in the political arena and in the media i mean i am the only one that gets invited invited to c.n.n. and i'm b.c.m. to others to explain why this rhetoric is so dangerous and it was it was used before remember europe in the thirty's when you go through the holocaust museum it's clear if thouse you and it's written in the wall the holocaust did not start with the killing it started with words with violent words it started with politicians dividing people with them versus us it started with demonizing an entire group of people and criminalizing them and then that pave the way for the killing and for the gas gas chambers remember president bush after nine eleven

pushed this narrative of them versus us either you are with us or them that means if you challenge his views or his policies and decision then you are a terrorist and your label as a terrorist and many liberals jumped on that vaga. just want to remind you that president obama and he was elected the first accusation the birth or movement that led and paved the way for trump to win the election what was he accused off of being a secret muslim that he is a crypto muslim and america is fighting a monster today that is called the country off white supremacy is basically the pure race and in the name of the pure race every minority is an enemy and that will be the final word rula jebreal thank you so much for joining us thank you for having me. that is it from us join us again next week and do check the rewind page it's al jazeera dot com for more films from this series and richelle carey thank

you for joining us you can't sing. true confessions mine were never between are many or a cynical example of communist propaganda and i want to put in a page here one who was there i would not want to do example told in twenty ten al-jazeera access to north korea to investigate b. and i just use of biological warfare by the us during the korean war rewind revisits dirty little secrets this time on al-jazeera.

through a tranquil review. i don't mean it seems and it's and gone. the rain is still pouring for some of us in south america the showers they stretch through many parts of brazil and then all the way across into the northern parts of bolivia the southern pass' where we've seen most of the flooding so far over the last month or so but now this is what's happening in the northern parts a lot of heavy rain here and the wet weather is set to continue say more showers here through the remainder of saturday and then during sunday the whole system would just push a little bit further towards the north so still giving us some showers in the northern parts of libya but also stretching down through powerglide and some of us in brazil as well to the south of all of that a handful of shout the hats and you're a guy but one is always should stay dry i don't maximum should be around twenty five degrees for the central americas generally it's quite quiet hey we have seen

a cluster of storms around nicaragua that's still going to be with us on saturday still spreading a bit further south actually into costa rica and gradually trying to push its way towards the west as we head through sunday but not make. a great deal of headway for north america we've got excessive flooding here thanks to this system hit its ground to a halt and has just given a day's of very heavy rain that system still with us as we head through the day on saturday but eventually on sunday it will begin to move away. the way that sponsored by qatar airways. this is al jazeera. hello and welcome to the al-jazeera news our live from my headquarters in doha with me.