DAR AL HARB - U.S.A.: KEITH ELLISON, DEMOCRAT OF MINNESOTA & A MOSLEM, MAY PERFORM THE HAJ THIS YEAR

First US Muslim lawmaker to perform Haj

Riyadh • The Muslim member of the US Congress, who accompanied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a Middle East tour, said yesterday that he hoped to return to Saudi Arabia later this year to perform the Haj pilgrimage in Makkah. “I did think of going to perform Umrah but the schedule did not allow it,” Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, said as the congressional delegation prepared to wrap up its regional tour. “I hope to perform the Haj this year, God willing,” he said.

Ellison was elected to the House of Representatives when Democrats swept to victory in last November’s elections. Ellison, an African American who converted from Roman Catholicism while a student in college, said he believed the United States “could do much more” in terms of engaging to seek solutions in the Middle East.



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