During his first years in Minnesota, Qalinle served as an eligibility officer in the state Department of Human Services. While working there, Qalinle attended the U of M’s law school, graduating in 2004.
Qalinle has been teaching Islamic law since 2004. Addressing his experience with the Muslim community and their attitudes toward U.S. law, he told the Muslim Experience in Minnesota project:
Muslims who are here are subject to the American law. We came here, for instance in my story, as a willing and grateful refugee who is, who understands and is grateful for the opportunities provided by this great country. And I am committed to upholding and abiding the laws of this country. And I have been doing that so far. And I am committed to that, and for me the laws of the United States and the constitution of the United States is the law that I chose to live under. And so are all the Muslims who are here.
Tamim Saidi, an Afghani-born pharmacist, spent his teenage years in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He arrived in the United States in 1990 and has lived in Minnesota ever since.
Saidi, who earned his doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Minnesota, works as a consultant. He lives in Maple Grove with his mother, wife and three children. Speaking of his experience in Minnesota, Saidi told the Muslim Experience in Minnesota project:
I think that I’ve been blessed in many, many ways. I was able to go to school, I was able to meet … a lot of good people who did not look at me like a Muslim foreigner, a lot of people who looked at me like as I’m regular person. They offered me jobs, and internships, and volunteer activities; and they showed me the way, how to apply to scholarships and how to apply to colleges … I think that life has been good. I was able to finish college, I was able to get a job as a professional, I was able to invite my parents to come over. I was able to have our children here go to school, and buy a house, and buy a car — what people call the American dream.
US Bank Vice President Ziad Amra is a Palestinian-American who was born in Shakopee and raised in Chaska. He attended William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul and later earned an MBA from the University of Minnesota.
Amra has been working for the bank more than a decade. Speaking of the challenges that Muslims face in the United States, Amra told the Muslim Experience in Minnesota project:
I feel that a lot of my being plugged in to the Muslim community has changed actually and it’s more in terms of the challenges faced by the Muslim community here, and in some ways that started in 2001. In many ways that is how I feel plugged in with the Muslim community, because it seems a community that’s under assault by the larger forces in society. It needs people to stand up for it. It needs people to work for its benefit within the context of our government here and our political process, and being involved, and being involved with your neighbors, and your PTA, and your school, and everything.
Basic information outlinedSide notes explaining basic facts about Islam and Muslims accompany the exhibit: Islam is the religion. Muslims are the followers of Islam. “Allah” is an Arabic word for “God.” “Muslims also believe in the messengers of God including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad.”
The world’s Muslim population is 1.6 billion, making Islam the second-largest religion after Christianity, according to a report by the Pew Research.
Muslims make up 150,000 of Minnesota’s more than 5 million people. About 18 percent of the state’s Muslims are immigrants; 17 percent are multi-generational, 45 percent are first generation Americans and 4 percent are Arabs.
