As elections approach, Muslim-American leader Anila Ali has urged her fellow American Muslims to vote, but to vote on judgment rather than shared religion. The message, posted on X, was drawn to wider attention by Tom Wegner, founder of the Abhamic Movement, who highlighted it in his own post.

Writing, in her words, “as a Muslim, as an immigrant, and as a mother who loves this country,” Ali said a shared religion, background or party label should never replace personal judgment at the ballot box. In her original post, she named Abdul El-Sayed as an example of candidates who, in her view, have damaged the reputation of Islam and Muslims in America. That is Ali’s characterization, and El-Sayed’s own views are not covered in her post.

“I came to America because I wanted freedom. I wanted women’s rights. I wanted a voice.”Anila Ali, on X

Gratitude, belonging and the memory of September 11

Ali described arriving, like many immigrants, with hope: “driving taxis, practicing medicine, running small businesses, or starting again with very little.” She recalled the fear and painful questions about belonging after September 11, and the Jewish and Christian neighbors, and Americans of other backgrounds and political beliefs, who stood beside Muslims then. She urged the community to remember those hands of friendship and to extend their own when neighbors are afraid.

Teaching children to think independently

Ali said she worries about what the next generation is being taught, claiming that history has been revised and that children are being indoctrinated in school and at the mosque. She posed direct questions: are children taught to investigate a claim before repeating it, and to listen to someone whose experience differs from theirs, or is anger doing their thinking for them? Children, she said, deserve the confidence to question a professor, a political movement, a religious leader and even their own parents. “No one should be entitled to their unquestioning loyalty,” she wrote.

Protest with responsibility

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ali affirmed the right to care deeply about Palestinians, to criticize a government and to demand policy change. But she insisted that compassion must carry responsibility: threatening a Jewish student does not help a Palestinian child, destroying property does not bring peace, and harassing a neighbor does not make a cause more just. Her standard: advocate with knowledge, organize peacefully, and make arguments that can be defended without intimidation. “I hold myself to that standard, too,” she added.

A call to moderate Muslims and mosques

Ali said many Muslims who should be speaking up are not, meaning the whole community risks being “painted with the same brushstroke.” She hopes moderate Muslims will break that silence and begin introspecting: what am I contributing, what kind of neighbor am I, and what example am I setting for my children? She also expressed hope that Muslim clerics and mosques stop preaching anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism and hate, and said that if worshippers leave consumed by contempt for people of other faiths, “we need to ask serious questions about what we are being taught.”

“My Islam calls me to answer for my own conduct. It does not give me permission to strip someone else of their dignity.”Anila Ali, on X

She closed on a personal note: “I am Anila Ali. I am thankful to God that I’m living in America. That in itself is a privilege,” and said she hopes her words and actions reflect that gratitude and that she wants her children to protect their neighbors’ freedom as firmly as their own.

Statements about individuals and communities in this article are the opinions of Anila Ali as posted publicly on X. Faith & Freedom News reports them for public discussion and does not independently verify the claims made in the post.