I am a Muslim. I am an American. I am a Patriot. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the relationship between these three statements, not just for myself, but for American Muslims as a whole.

Broadly speaking, the statements "I am a Muslim," and "I am a patriotic American" may be related in one of three general fashions:

1. They may be antithetical to each other. This means that I am a patriotic American in spite of being a Muslim. This notion, that Islam is actually incompatible with Americanism or patriotism, seems to be the preponderant notion among some Americans, especially in the era post September 11, 2001. However, the tragic events of September 11th did not give birth to this idea, but rather more firmly embedded it in the minds and hearts of many of our fellow citizens. The most famous (and to American Muslims, notorious) expression of this idea is in a well-known article by Harvard professor Samuel Huntington, titled The Clash of Civilizations.1

2. Alternatively, the statements may be entirely unrelated facts, such as my weight and the exchange rate of the yen. While the value of the yen goes up and down, my weight seems to go only up, and there is no relationship between the two.

3. Finally, the statements may be related in a synergistic fashion, each of them supporting the other.

The thesis of this chapter is that the relationship is indeed synergistic: that within the central dogma of Islam, the intellectual development of Islamic thinking and jurisprudence, as well as Islamic history, there are many tenets consistent with, and supportive of, the sentiment of patriotism to the United States.

At the beginning then, we must define what is meant by patriotism. A reasonable definition seems to be that to be an American patriot is to cherish the founding principles upon which the United States is based.

We turn for inspiration regarding these founding principles to several sources, but of course begin with the Declaration of Independence: