Travel ban puts Hawaii’s few Muslims in spotlight’s glare
State’s top lawyer challenges order on cultural grounds
HONOLULU — Hawaii has 5,000 or so Muslims— less than 1 percent of the state’s population— who find themselves thrust into an international spotlight after the state’s top lawyer launched a challenge to President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban, saying it contradicts the islands’ welcoming culture that values diversity.
Named as a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit fighting the ban is Ismail Elshikh, the imam of the island of Oahu’s only mosque — a converted house in a hilly Honolulu neighborhood a few miles from Waikiki beach where Muslims who gather in the prayer room know they’re facing Mecca when the view of iconic Diamond Head is at their backs.
Elshikh’s mother-in-law is a Syrian living in Syria who won’t be able to visit her relatives in Hawaii because of the ban, and that will deprive the rights of Elshikh, his wife and their children as U.S. citizens, said Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin.
It was difficult for the shy and reserved Elshikh to make the decision to join the lawsuit and he is not speaking publicly because of legal reasons and fears for his security in a state that has seen a rise in threats to Muslims, said Hakim Ouansafi, president of the Muslim Association of Hawaii.
“It took some thinking. It took some convincing,” Ouansafi said.
Chin said the small size of Hawaii’s Muslim community had no bearing on his decision to challenge the travel ban because “they are part of our community. They should not be labeled presumptively as terrorists.”
The first Muslims in Hawaii can be traced to the 1800s, Ouansafi said. Today, Hawaii’s Muslims have ties to 46 countries, including Asian and Arab countries. About 30 percent are American-born who converted to Islam, he said. And about 80 of Hawaii’s Muslim families are originally from the six countries named in the revised travel ban. “It’s beautiful mix,” he said. Ouansafi, who is from Morocco, said he considers Hawaii the most inclusive and safest place for minorities to live in the U.S. But he is troubled by the recent threats directed at Muslims.
The threats started before the election and increased when Trump became president, prompting the association to install security cameras, he said.
On Jan. 27, a man followed two Muslim children getting off a city bus and harassed them, Ouansafi said. About two weeks ago, the mosque recorded an anonymous caller yelling: “Killing Muslims is God’s will.”
Hawaii’s lawsuit also argues the travel ban will hurt the economy of a state that depends on a constant stream of visitors from all corners of the world.
Before Trump’s election, the popular Friday afternoon prayer service used to see many Muslim tourists show up to join local residents in prayer. The numbers of praying tourists have since declined, Ouansafi said.
“They can take their money … elsewhere,” he said. “We have princes and we have rulers from Muslim countries that do come. They don’t want to be stuck at the airport. They don’t want to be insulted in the street.”