By Askia Muhammad

THE WHITE HOUSE— President Barack Obama praised Muslims in this country for enriching the American culture, and paid tribute to what he called “a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress,” at an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and prayer, in the State Dining Room on Sept. 1.
“The contributions of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country,” Mr. Obama told the audience which included three Cabinet secretaries, members of the diplomatic corps and members of Congress—including Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Andre Carson, (D-Ind.), the first two Muslim Congress members. Guests also included Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.),  House Judiciary Committee Chair and the Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus; Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.) and Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Since taking office, Mr. Obama has made a special effort to reach out to the Islamic world to repair U.S. relations with the world’s Muslims. He made visits to Turkey and Egypt, and in a June speech in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, the President said: “America is not — and never will be — at war with Islam.”
Mr. Obama also released a video message to Muslims before the start to Ramadan. In the video, he said Ramadan’s rituals are a reminder of the principles Muslims and Christians have in common, including advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.
White House dinners marking Ramadan are nothing new. Former President George W. Bush held Iftar dinners during his eight years in office, but his efforts were intended exclusively for international consumption. Aside from administration officials, all of Mr. Bush’s guests were diplomats from countries with large Muslim populations, and with the exception of 2001 and 2002, the White House Iftar celebrations excluded reporters from U.S. media outlets.
Mr. Obama, on the other hand welcomed American Muslim community leaders, including Imam Yusuf Saleem of Masjid Muhammad in Washington, D.C.; and Imam Plemon El-Amin of Atlanta Masjid al-Islam. Both men are members of the American Society of Muslims, which was led until his death in 2008 by Imam Warithudeen Mohammed.
Mr. Obama shared the story of a number of Muslims born in this country, including Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, who broke the Massachusetts state record formerly held by Rebecca Lobos, for most career points scored by a female high school basketball player. “She recently told a reporter, ‘I’d like to really inspire a lot of young Muslim girls if they want to play basketball.  Anything is possible. They can do it too.’ As an honor student, as an athlete on her way to (the University of) Memphis, Bilqis is an inspiration not simply to Muslim girls, she's an inspiration to all of us,” Mr. Obama said.
He also noted the contributions of, and borrowed a quote explaining religion from boxer Muhammad Ali.  ”A few years ago, he explained this view—and this is part of why he’s The Greatest—saying, ‘Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams, they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do, they all contain truths.’ ”
Mr. Obama also praised Nashala Hearn, from Muskogee, Okla. Ms. Hearn took a stand for the First Amendment-guaranteed right of freedom of Religion, at an early age, he said. “When her school district told her that she couldn't wear the hijab, she protested that it was a part of her religion.
“The Department of Justice stood behind her and she won her right to practice her faith. She even traveled to Washington to testify before Congress. Her words spoke to a tolerance that is far greater than mistrust -- when she first wore her headscarf to school, she said, ‘I received compliments from the other kids,’” Mr. Obama continued.
Ramadan is a month-long period of prayer, reflection and sunrise-to-sunset fasts, which began Aug. 22 in most of the Islamic world. Muslims believe that Allah (God) began revealing the Holy Quran to Prophet Muhammad ibn Abdullah (PBUH) during Ramadan, and the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims spend the month in religious reflection, prayer and remembrance of the poor.
“Tonight's Iftar is a ritual that is also being carried out this Ramadan at kitchen tables and mosques in all 50 states,” said Mr. Obama. “Islam, as we know, is part of America.  And like the broader American citizenry, the American Muslim community is one of extraordinary dynamism and diversity, with families that stretch back generations and more recent immigrants; with Muslims of countless races and ethnicities, and with roots in every corner of the world.
“Together, we have a responsibility to foster engagement grounded in mutual interest and mutual respect.  And that’s one of my fundamental commitments as president, both at home and abroad. That is central to the new beginning that I’ve sought between the United States and Muslims around the world. And that is a commitment that we can renew once again during this holy season.
“So tonight, we celebrate a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress. We honor the contributions of America's Muslims, and the positive example that so many of them set through their own lives. And we rededicate ourselves to the work of building a better and more hopeful world,” Mr. Obama said.

by Askia Muhammad

I have never knowingly been inside the home of a judge.

Not for 50 years, since Lisa Griffith—the daughter of Judge Griffith—and I graduated from John Muir Jr. High School in Los Angeles and I quit my L.A. Herald Express paper route where I delivered to their home, have I even known where a judge lives. But that’s fine with me.

I have however, been kicked out of some pretty fancy parties, and been in some very distinguished homes.

Of course I went in and out of the White House for 30 years. I’ve been in a number of presidential palaces—in South Africa, Nigeria, Mali, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates, among others. I’ve been to the Kabah in the Holy City, Mecca. I’ve been (more than once) in the Dessert Tent-homes of Libyan Leader Muammar Qaddafi. On numerous occasions I’ve visited the homes of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. I’ve been personally acquainted with a couple of "Old Money" Millionaires, and have visited their homes. I was a guest in the home of an heir to the South African gold miner who inspired the movie character "Goldfinger." And I rubbed shoulders with Michael Jackson at Neverland, but I’ve never knowingly been inside the home of a judge.

I once had an acquaintance whose father was a judge. And I once flew home from Africa after judging Nigerian legislative elections seated next to a retired D.C. judge. But except for a few political fund-raisers, I’ve only been in the homes of two or three lawyers that I can recall.

Not so with doctors and various other "Bourgies." I’m a member of a social group that meets once a month in the homes of members that has goo-gobs of doctors in it. I’ve visited various newspaper publishers, broadcasters and college professors, including the home of the illustrious John Kenneth Galbraith, but I’ve never knowingly been in the home of a judge. And to tell you the truth, I don’t think my life is any poorer from not knowing any judges.

I believe judges and "certain" lawyers must intermarry, so as to keep their Tribe’s bloodline pure. Unlike doctors, whose ability to empathize with the plight of ordinary people can be an asset to a successful "bedside manner," if judges get too cozy with ordinary people it might skew their feelings too much in favor of the weak, the poor, the least of these my brethren. We can’t have that. After all, the law’s job (and judges are the chief custodians of the law) is clearly intended to always favor the side which represents "the money."

Why else would Landlord-Tenant Court automatically give the plaintiff-landlord (money) a default judgment against the poor tenant during the roll call, where every other civil proceeding requires proof that the defendant has been legally "served?" Why else is there no "justice" at all in the "criminal justice system"—just us?

So, imagine my surprise when I heard Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) say something utterly earthshaking May 3 on "This Week" on ABC News: "I would like to see more people from outside the judicial monastery, somebody who has had some real-life experience, not just as a judge..." said Sen. Leahy. Why, you could have knocked me over with a feather. A really "big-time," legal "A-List" person talking about President Barack Obama’s upcoming appointment to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, and sounding to me like he had read my mind.

Thank goodness for Sen. Leahy’s comments. Even if the president does (and probably will) choose an "insulated" legal-eagle from within the "judicial monastery," at least I am comforted to know that it’s not just me thinking that their breed is a bit too aloof, and that it might be a good thing if someone from outside the black-robed and powdered-wigged, legal monastic orders of Harvard and Yale law schools, might once again be considered for an appointment to the Supreme Court.

More than 40 years ago I interviewed Black Panther Party attorney Charles Garry in his office in San Francisco. He said he was a law clerk in the office of Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, who had a guiding principle: "If I make an error, let me err on the side of mercy."

Mr. President, that’s the kind of Supreme Court Justice I’d like to see.