Editors, Vineyard Gazette;

In 1790, George Washington wrote to Rhode Island’s Touro Synagogue: “May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

Today, I fear, there is less good will being shared, and too many Americans — not just the descendants of Abraham — are afraid. I, one of the descendants of the stock of Abraham, have been invited to the Oak Bluffs Public Library on July 8 at 11 a.m. so that I, an Arab-American-Muslim whose faith tradition traces to prophet Abraham, can engage with your community through my offering of Ask a Muslim Anything.

Over the years I’ve found that most people, even those critical of Islam and Muslims, when engaged in small scale or in one-one-one conversation, are willing to listen and engage on sensitive or controversial issues if that engagement occurs in what are perceived to be safe places: houses of worship, schools, civic organizations, libraries — especially in libraries!

Thus, at your library’s invitation, I will talk and answer questions about my life, what it’s like to be Muslim in America, how I came to convert to Islam, about Islam and its history — especially in America — and about the Middle East, terrorism and associated political and social issues.

I will speak on how I believe the interests of the Other in America intersect; on how perhaps 10 to 15 per cent of the enslaved peoples brought to America were Muslim; on how the disenfranchisement, marginalization or delegitimization of one affects us all.

You ask, I try to answer. Nothing is off the table except rudeness and disrespect.

Robert Azzi

Exeter N.H.