the founding father of the islamic republic of iran. and also i'd like to announce a greeting to the souls of all the martyrs of the islamic revolution and the holy defense era. -- to the s to the 12th shi'ite imam. we ears ago, on such a day, witnessed the popular uprising of the iranian people in order of the fate of their country and they emerged victorious. the people of iran, they had en for hundreds of years nder the domination of a dam nearing system and -- of a dam nearing system -- domineering system and an autocrat was ruling the country and ruled the fate of the country. people had taken part in different uprisings and movements, including the great, the constitutionalism uprising. despite some successes and victories that people had gained, they had not been able o topple the autocratic system by then. also, it had been for dozens of ars that foreign powers, especially the united states, they had been ruling and they had the fate of the people in their hands. people could no longer and tand autocracy colonialism and dominati

islam is a protection for all. today, it is a duty of every single one of us to safeguard this revolution and its ideals. between revolution and moderation, between the revolution and principles, between the revolution and islam , there is no difference. a real reformist, a real moderate person, all of the revolutionaries. the language of revolution should be modernized. we favor talks, logic, negotiations, and understanding. a revolutionary person is somebody who contributes. a revolutionary means a person who likes moderation. a revolutionary means somebody who puts up resistance, somebody market, on the world actually compete. a revolutionary person is somebody who is hopeful somebody , who is dynamic somebody who , likes reconstruction. a revolutionary is a person who wants to reconstruct iran. build iran. it is one who wants to give iran more dignity. a revolutionary wants to show the kind, to introduce the real and kind feature and image of islam. a revolutionary person wants to all ofe whole world that those

islam is a religion of peace. it is a religion of compassion and goodness, and let us allow muslims and work with muslims to fight extremism and terrorism. going after muslims does not help our fight that we need to win. >> all right, he also gave a bit of a history listen. how much do you think people learned today from what the president was saying? >> i know i have learned a lot of things i did not know about thomas jefferson that i got to learn today. there is much more to what american muslims have done for america that america needs to know about. how many people know that george washington's first treaty was with the king of morocco? how many americans know that the first ship to have arrived to the coast of america after our independence was with the name of sultana from the gulf of oman. muslims have been part of the history of america p we just need to teach that to american-muslims and the rest of america. my fellow muslims, we are here because we love how america is a country by all, for all, and we do

is fundamentally at war with islam. so this is the subject of my book that was mentioned, "terrified, how antimuslim fringe organizations became main stream." now, historically social scientists, i'm a cultural sociologist, we looked at small cases of organizations that exerted profound change on public discourse. so we track down an organization that, you know, shapes the way we talk about say nuclear energy or any kind of big, social problem we all deal with. and there are a variety of problems with that approach. we wind up studying groups and wouldn't learn about groups that failed and we'd wind up with a distorted picture that uses circular reasoning to try to understand how groups exert influence on public discourse. but when i was trained, i was learning alongside other social scientists about the new wave of computational social science methods or so-called big data. these are the increasingly large amounts of data that are available due to the rise of social media, the internet, the mass digitization of archiva

islamic society, islamic centers, cultural centers. front groups of various kinds. together, they have tried to dominant the islamic community in this country as they have tried elsewhere and become the official interlock ters with government agency solar system, academic academic institutions. all of which is creating an environment we are basically bliepded too -- blinded to what they are doing. >> armstrong: has the media been coopted? >> they subscribe to the -- we have this mantra, you need to understand terrorist as victims they have been oppressed by regimes by mubarak or general c.c. oppressing them. lack of education, poverty. we need to feel sorry for them >> you are saying this to characterize not endorse it? >> no. this is what the media says, deputy spokes person giving an interview oh a national left-wing media saying we can stop all the terrorism if we have jobs for jihadis. >> we are being told what we can know. in fact, sabastian and i were talking about how it is institutionalized countering violent extremism program. >> armstrong: are they being >

in 1957 when dedicating the islamic center in washington d.c. president eisenhower said i should like to assure you my islamic friends that under the american constitution and in american hearts this place of worship is just as welcome as any other religion. [ applause ] and perhaps the most pertinent fact, muslim-americans enrich our lives today in every way. they're our neighbors and teachers who inspire our children. doctors who trust us with our health. future doctors like saba. they're scientist who's win nobel prizes. young that create new technology wez use all the time. they're the sports heroes we cheer for. like mohammed ali. one of the americans waving the red, white, and blue will be a fencing champion wearing her hijab in the next olympics. she is here today. stand up. come on. i told her to bring home the gold. not to put any pressure on you. muslim-americans, keep us safe. they're our police and our firefighters. they're in homeland security, in our intelligence community. they serve honorably in our armed forces, meaning they fig

so if islam were intolerant and daesh represented islam, would islam have preserved socrates and passed it on to the west? of course not. so i urge you, all of you, to be careful when it comes to making generallizations, or to accepting generalizations that have no basis in fact. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. the final question. >> reporter: ann marie snaud. >> hi, ann. >> thank you for addressing the issue of woman in your country, i think you are right to see that this is an increasing issue for many in the world. i just wanted to make sure i heard you correctly, because i heard you say was there is nothing in your culture that prohibits the -- or retards the advancement of woman. did i hear that right? >> what i was saying is that in our faith, at least in -- when it comes to issues like women's driving, that this is not a religious issue. this is a societal issue. when it comes to issues like education. this is not a religious issue, it was a societal issue, but we dealt with it, and we went from no schools for women in 1960, to universal education, to where today 55% of col

>> my world turned upside down, because the islam that we were living, this very egalitarian islam at home... outside in saudi arabia, i was seeing the complete opposite. and so i learned at that age, at 15, that there were many different types of islam, because the islam i was taught was, "you and your brother are equal, you and your brother must go to university, you and your brother have to perform at this very high level that we expect of you." but outside, on the streets of saudi arabia, women were absent, and it was a very misogynistic interpretation of islam. so it was a real culture shock for me. >> hinojosa: and actually, you write about, at that point, going into a depression. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: what was the source of that depression, and what did you do as a, you know, muslim teenager depressed in saudi arabia? >> i think the source of the depression now, when i look at it, you know, with much introspection and reflection and time, you know, between then and now, was this great culture shock that i experienced because, you know, teenage girls anywhere have a hard time--

islam is a protection for all. today it is a duty of every single one of us to safeguard this revolution and its ideals. between revolution and moderation, between revoluntary lug and islam there's no distance, real reform is a real principle, real moderate person, all the modern revolutionaries, so the language of revolution should be modernized. we favor talk, logic negotiations and understanding. revolution, a revolutionary person is somebody who contributes, a revolutionary is a person who likes moderation, revolutionary means somebody who puts up resistance, somebody who can on the world market actually compete. revolutionary person is somebody who is hopeful, somebody who is dynamic, somebody who likes reconstruction. a revolutionary is a person who wants to reconstruct iran and build iran. it's one who wants to give iran more dignity, a revolutionary wants to show the kind, to introduce the real and kind feature and image of islam. a revolutionary person wants to tell the whole world that all of those who ar

war of enemies of islam. it also has another enemy, spiritualru struggle to action n islamic manner and other people choose that meaning, it's a more minority view jihaddist need to have a war against presumed enemy of islam. >> host: nadal husan. who is he and where is he now? >> guest: he's in fortis lenaworth. he faces death penalty but unlikely to be carried out for killing 12 soldiers in fort hood, texas. he's an army major, psychiatrist in ron oak. either nonobservant muslims who became more islamic over time, fundamentalist, people fairly wellar educated. the problem with law enforcement they are ordinary americans. they are not foreigners coming into the country. >> host: where did the conversion happen? >> with hasan, both parents died. his mother was and his father died in early 40's and late 50's. and that turned him into a more fundamentalist in islam. i also interviewed his first cousin who was also from northern virginia, successful lawyer here not far from this office, while we are doing this i

you know, the president has been careful to kind of not use the phrase militant islam or radical islam. i understand his reasoning. the more he says it the more it does play into the playbook we are at war with islam. and of course we are not. and the fact is, it is just a fact, this ideology has something to do with an islamic reading and text. the koran is the word of god. and you can cherry pick parts that talk about offensive wars. when osama bin laden declared war on the united states he cited a verse in the koran. these are fundamentally religious beliefs. this has something to do with islam. but the good news is the people are most likely able to fight back because they have islamic knowledge and one of the people i profile in the book is a guy from northern virginia also and he has intervened in the cases of several young men who are becoming enamored with isis and how did he do that? he is a leading islamic scholar and makes the arguments from the islamic perspectives that isis doesn't represent a utopian version of islam. he has been successful. >> host: when you bet osama bi

the islamic civilization and the islamic arab civilization connected china with europe. it's global. the point i made early on, they represented islam. they have passed on to the west and islam has connected the civilization with western civilization, of course not. so i would urge all of you to be careful when it comes to this or accept the generalizations that have no basis. thank you. [applause] >> the final question. >> the president and ceo of new america. thank you very much for addressing the issue in the country i think that you are right to speak to this increasing issue for many in the world that it should should be addressed openly. i just want to ask that i heard you correctly, because what i heard you say is there is nothing in your culture that would slow the advancement of women, did i hear that correct? >> when it comes to the issues this isn't a religious issue it is a societal issue. when it comes to things like education this is a societal issue and we dealt with it and we went from no schools for women in 1962 the education to take a 55% of college st

he is a leading islamic scholar. they do not represent some utopian version of islam. when you met osama bin laden in 1997, what was your impression? guest: my impression was that he was quite well-informed, intelligent, he was talking shinseki.leader of gerry adams was a terrorist at one point. he is pretty well-informed about what is going on in the world. he is intelligent. charismatic at all? guest: i did not find him that charismatic, but the people around him, on his every word and treated him with much deference. he is certainly charismatic to his followers. as i'm sure you know, isis and dispute aboutn a the head of the global jihadi movement. isis can see themselves as the rightful heir of bin laden. i took about the ideology of bin laden. laden-ism is a lot like other ideologies. it claims to explain the present and the future. bin laden set out a series of ideals that isis is acting on in a more extreme way. we need to create a caliphate, there were people standing in the way, we need to created in a violent means. bin laden, his ideas continue to influence

islamic at dukes. we tweet about these events as well as islamic study at duke.edu. if you have any more questions, please let dr. bail or myself know. thank you all for coming. we are here next week again. have a good day. [applause] ♪ >> washington journal, live every day with policy issues that impact you. coming up, green party presidential candidate will join us live in the studio. plus, eric erickson's new book. be sure to watch this morning. >> tv has 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors every weekend on c-span2. here are some of the programs to watch for this weekend. 730 p.m. eastern, david randall talks about some of the books incoming college freshmen are asked to read before the first day of class. on sunday night, former nsa and cia director michael he gives an inside look at national security is look playing to the edge. interviewed by the former cia director of the clinton administration. metadata is the outside of the envelope for electronic communication. american law enforcement is traditionally looking at the outside of the envelope. the supr

an introduction to islam. it was taught by professor katherine johnson. >> i found professor katherine johnson still teaching religion studies. >> do you remember him? >> i don't. i really don't. >> she's a muslim herself. she says the islamic state's views contradict her teaching and the muslim's face. >> because these people disagree with your understanding of their religion, their lives, families, and properties are forfeit. somewhere along the line he latched on to a very extremist version of islam. morgan told me he committed to islam in 2012. court documents show he posted support through multiple fbi assistant special agent in charge tim says agents had been monitoring his posts. >> would you consider him a home grown terrorist. >> he's somebody who was radicalized online. he accepted a different perverted way of islam. >> he traveled over seas trying to enter syria. >> my objective was to help in whatever capacity i could. >> were you willing to lose your life or kill others for your faith? >> i was wi

will never be at war with islam. i'm proud to carry with me the goodwill of the american people. and a greeting of peace for muslim communities in my country. islam is not part of the problem in combatting this violent extremism. it's a important part of promoting peace. >> al qaeda's cause is not islam. >> the president doesn't mention radical islam or talk about muslim countries that oppress minorities and women and people of other faiths and gays and lesbi lesbians, dr. jeffers. why? >> because he's in that role yesterday at the mosque and today at the prayer breakfast. that is defender in chief of islam. now, look, i appreciate many of the things the president said about faith but the application is feared is that if you're overly concerned about terrorism, or try to draw a link between islam or terrorism you're not a person of faith, you're a person of fear. there is a link between islam and terrorism. i would remind the president that there is a reason that islamic state is not called the episcopalian state. we

he posted messages on a social networking page urging people to join the islamic state group. an islamic radical siege for those opposed to western values and the widening gap between rich and poor. >> facebook, twitter and other social media are playing a big role in spreading the ideology of the islamic state group. >> the indonesian government checked on websites carrying the propaganda and recruitment messages. it also said indonesia is ready to make changes to the effectively prevent the reason. >> islamic militants target indonesia and asean nations. >> they are stressing the difficult challenge of containing an increasing number of islamic state sympathizers. nhk world, jakarta. >> that are wraps up our bulletin from bangkok. >> a u.s. defense department official said the number of islamic state militants has dropped in iraq and syria, but is increasing in libya. they share the department's latest analysis with nhk. it shows the number of islamic state fighters has fallen to about 25,000, down from an estimated 30,000. the number in kwlib is believed to have risen to ab

the founding father of the islamic republic of iran. and also i'd like to announce a

so, daesh represent islam. islam has connected eastern civilization with western civilization. we encourage all of you to be careful when we make generalizations or accepting generalizations that have no basis in fact. thank you. [applause] question is anne-marie slaughter. ms. slaughter: anne-marie slaughter. thank you for addressing the issue of women in your country. i think you are right to speak because this is an issue that should be addressed openly. i just want to see if i heard you correctly. what i heard to say was there was nothing in your culture that prohibits or retards the advancement of women. did i hear that right? minister adel al-jubeir: what i was saying was in our faith, when it comes to issues like driving, it is not a religious issue. it is a societal issue. when it comes to things like education, this is not a religious issue. this is a society issue. inwent from no schools women 1960 two universal education where today 55% of college students are women. i could give you another statistic, but it would be embarrassing -- more than 60% of graduate student

if isis represented islam would islam have preserved western and eastern civilization? of course not. i encourage all of you to be careful when it comes to making humanization or accept gener generalations that have no bases in fact. thank you. >> [applause]. >> final question is that ann marie's daughter? >> it is. >> hi, ann. >> thank you very much for addressing the issue of women in your country. i think you are right to see this is about increasing issues for many in the world and it should be addressed openly. i want to ask if i heard you correctly. i heard you say there is nothing in your culture that stops the advantagement of women. did i hear that right? >> what i was saying in our faith when it comes to things like driving this isn't religious issue. this is a societal issue. when it comes to issues like education. this isn't a religious issue but a societal issue. we dealt with it and went from no schools for women in 1960 to universe education where 65% of college students are women. i can give you another statistic but it would embarrass me. more than 60%

what is fundamental from an islamic perspective is who claims to speak for the islamic civilization, culture and history. islamic civilization is a grand synthesis. when we measure the circumference of the earth, the rest of the world did not know that the world was round and that was a thousand years ago. we need to claim back our heritage and create a vibrant and comprehensive debate among ourselves so we can work. the other dimension is national. in here, our emphasis is, first of all, technological problems. the fourth -- a country that is inherited the mantle of being, the dishonor of being among the tenth most corrupt countries that not have the right -- does not have the right to speak for itself unless i addresses its fundamental corruption. a country that has 41% of its people living below poverty must bear the shame. a country that cannot empower its women, youth, and the poor, must bear responsibility for addressing the fundamentals. as a result we need to get politics right. it is the politics of empowerment, the politics creating citizens, and turning the state into an i

state, or islamic state in syria and iraq, it's not islam. it's not islamic, and it's not a state. which is true. it is true that it isn't a state. and it isn't islamic at all. if we talk about daesh, what i would like here, don't want to repeat what the general said, thank him for his keynote speech, i would not like to repeat what he said, i would like to complement. daesh have always, always managed to go to things and think of two things and elaborate on two things. the physical entity of daesh and ideology. the physical entity, which we know from jordan and from our intelligence, with the help of the several organizations, that there always, always have support from somewhere. they cannot exist on just what we have. they must have logistics. i did my ph.d. in logistics. they must have had some very, very powerful and strong and very, very deep logistic support from somewhere. and the problem is that they still do. so that is something to do with their physicality with whatever they are doing at the moment. the most important issue for us

state, or islamic state in syria and iraq, it's not islam. it's not islamic, and it's not a state. which is true. it is true that it isn't a state. and it isn't islamic at all. if we talk about da'ish, what i would like here, don't want to repeat what the general said, thank him for his keynote speech, i would not like to repeat what he said, i would like to complement. da'ish have always, always managed to go to things and think of two things and elaborate on two things. the physical endit of da'ish and ideology. the physical entity, which we know from jordan and from our intelligence, with the help of the several organizations, that there always, always have support from somewhere. they cannot exist on just what we have. they must have logistic hes. i did my ph.d. in logistics. they must have had some very, very powerful and strong and very, very deep logistic support from somewhere. and the problem is that they still do. so that is something to do with their physicality with whatever they are doing at the moment. the most important issue f

that's not what islam is all about. islam is peace. these terrorists don't represent peace. they represent evil and war. >> reporter: but 15 years later with a fractured and war torn middle east, a deadlocked congress and war fearing nation, this campaign seems to be focusing those fears into bigotry and american isolationalism >>> joining me now is a board member of the council for american islamic nations, new york city chapter and another who is assistant professor at a university school of law. thank you for joining us. professor, you've written that anti muslim bias is nothing new in america. would you give us a few historical examples of what you describe as a bias? >> yeah. there's a number of precedents that proceed the islamaphobia coming out of the trail. for roughly 164 years we had essentially a prohibition against immigration and naturalisation of muslims. there was a statute in place during that time pan that restricted individuals who identified as muslim from becoming naturalized citizens. that's one precedent. obviously, you had the persecution of the first

it has also allowed in the islamic state group. the ms. lieutenant -- the militant islamists have taken control and are attacking the country's oil ports. leaving some western leaders to consider military intervention. obama: i have been clear from the outset that we will go after isis wherever it appears, the same way we went after al qaeda wherever they appeared. diplomats say a deal needs to be reached between the government and rebel factions first so the country can be unified in the fight against the islamic state group. the latest u.n. deadline for a peace deal passed on monday with little sign of an agreement on the horizon. we werearlier today, told about how chaos has spread across libya since the revolution. >> you could call it moammar gadhafi's legacy. what did he leave libyans with? what country did they have to rebuild after the former decatur was house -- after the former dictator was ousted? they did not have a working political establishment, political life. it was a dictatorship. it used to hang by one thread, which was

as the islamic islamic organization that got in touch with the fbi and they were arrested and packed and. family members often know the most about people. sometimes they will inform our raise the alarm. >> host: how many investigations currently are underway? >> guest: the fbi says in all 50 states. >> host: did you say 900 separate people? >> guest: of 900 best editions. i'm not clear how many people that is. typically they are single people. we are not seeing the large groups of the 9/11 attackers. typically these are about most militant. the boston marathon bat mitzvahs two brothers. so you know, you get some of the more sanguine cases made. that is 2015 more jihadists terrorism cases than any year since 9/11. >> host: those 900 cases -- first of all, how do you define jihad? >> guest: it has to mean that the people i profile in the book defined it as a holy war the enemies of islam. it has another meaning that is a spiritual struggle you have it turn only two active islamic manner and a lot of people choose that meeting. it is a minority view to say jihads is the defense words ag

celebrations in libya today for opponents of the islamic state pro-government forces have retaken two neighborhoods of benghazi that had been seized by the militants in recent months. it's a major step from the but the jihadists remain a threat. dheepthika: the french defense ministry has launched an investigation over potentially sensitive information that was published. it reveals that special forces units are operating in libya. cracks people should know better -- >> people should know better .here there are citizens abroad elite forces are gathering resources -- intelligence to prepare for strikes. jihadists control cities near cornfields -- oilfields. in libya, two rival governments are fighting for power. italy has given the u.s. permission to use a sicily airbase to launch operations against islamic state group, while french special forces are already stationed in chad and niger. benghazi residents celebrated after the soldiers liberated two neighborhoods previously controlled by jihadist gunmen. >> we will stay in benghazi until the last drop of blood we have. we will come aft

they said radical islamic terrorism is not the enemy. we should've stopped before that bombing and even san bernardino. then ghazi is the result of the failures of the obama clinton foreign-policy. toppling the government in libya that handed the government over to radical islamic terrorism. it set the stage for benghazi in the first place. we need a singularly focused commander-in-chief. not degrading them, not dropping a missile or bomb where it looks good on television. but directing the force of military power to utterly destroying them. and by the way, we should not be sending service members a combat with rules of engagement that tie their arms behind her back. [applause] that is wrong, it is immoral. if and when military force is required, we should go in with overwhelming force, kill the enemy, and get the heck out. so let me close with this. if you will agree with me that the stakes have never been higher, that it is now or never, that we are at the edge of a cliff staring down, and we risky doing irreparable damage to the great

fighter jets in western libya targeting spots linked to the islamic state organization. wise leadership during turbulent times, the words of the international monetary fund at the hands of christine lagarde, and a second five-year term. time now for a check of business news. markus karlsson is here. good evening to you. start by talking about what everybody in the world is -- being you investment, the financial world, brexit. >> yes, we're watching every move coming out of brussels this evening come up i'd we? we're hearing that there is progress in the renegotiation of the bridge and's eu deal. we will look at some of the economic consequences were written actually to vote for an exit or for a so-called brexit, as we have been talking about. we have heard from business leaders this friday as these stalks have been going on in brussels. one of the latest business leaders tied his voice, virgin founder richard branson, and he said it would be a sad day if britain were devoted to leave the european union. we also heard from the chairman of the scottish-based insurer standa

judaism, christianity and islam. we started along like that and whatever that came out from that area, it has always been the product of either that culture or the integration of these three religions. in so many centuries ago, anything that happened in that area that was related to those religions, it's always been a fact, a very well-known fact that people have actually used that, but the fact is that these religions do complement each other. they say the same thing and they talk about the same values, exactly the same values. none of these religions, they will say go and kill somebody. none of them. not islam, not judaism, not christianity. in fact, in the last maybe hundred years, 70 to 100 years, it was elaborated more and more on religion that has become a norm that what i do, it's because i'm a muslim or because i'm so and so. so i think that in the last maybe 30 or 40 years, we have discovered that certain groups from all over the world, not just from our area, from all over the world, they have used islam to

he calls them islamic and isis isn't islamic. a mosque, two years ago, a sermon who basically said this homosexuals are deviants. they separate men and women there. we had muslims from the reform movement outside that mosque today protesting saying, you know, listen. we muslims want to be held accountable to the same principles you hold the christian brothers an sisters, jewish, et cetera and trooeted like children and others are insulting americans and not applying the reform we need to have. >> i'm not insulting. i'm very proud of our people. >> you're -- >> proud of american citizens. >> joking around about something that's radicalizing muslims. >> i'm agreement. 100%. when you said you mentioned saudi arabia. i'm saying now, mr. president, it is time -- let me finish. time to turn -- >> how about iran? >> turn the talk to walk and let us put these ideas in action and, mr. president, you are -- >> are you -- separating men and women in mosque. >> let me finish, please. >> answer his question. imam, imam. >> pick up your -- >>

the president has been careful to not use the phrase militant islam or radical islam. i understand his reasoning. it more he says it, the more does play into the playbook that we are at war with islam. of course, we are not. factact is also, it is a that this ideology has something to do with a particular reading of islamic text. the koran is not a book, it is the word of god, and you can cherry pick phrases and versus which seem to advocate offensive wars against the perceived enemies of islam. just as the crusades had something to do with christianity and the settler inement had something to do , this has so to something to do with islam. the good news is that the people most likely able to fight back are the people who have islamic knowledge, including another northern virginia resident who the third largest mosque in the u.s. he has helped young men who have become enamored with isis. he is able to make the arguments from an islamic perspective. he has been successful in that. host: here he is meeting president obama. when you met osama bin laden in 1997, what was

yes, sir. >> you just said that you -- radical islam. isn't that politically correct to use that term? because based on what you just said, the radicals are those who say they're peaceful, and if the religion itself, like -- what's his maim -- it is about islam-glen beck -- religion is a problem but we won't admit that. >> you're right. i shouldn't be using radical islam. probably out of habit. i usually do it as an example of even how people who hate political correctness sometimes really are swept up in and it i appreciate you pointing that out. you're right. the religion itself, the ideology itself, is radical, and, therefore, really saying it is a -- but something that we've got to get out of the habit of doing. i know lots of people doing do -- do it as a cover and i apologize for that. >> the basic ten nets of christianity are love and forgiveness as compared to the basic tenets of islam, but, yes, jesus christ himself did not hesitate item sheas who did not exercise love. i suggest we need to take that example and start shaming ou

here's another fact, islam has always been part of america. starting in colonial times many of the slaves brought here from africa were muslim. and even in their bondage some kept their faith alive. a few even won their freedom and became known to many americans. and when enshrining the freedom of religion in our constitution and our bill of rights our founders meant what they said when they said it applied to all religions. you know, back then muslims were often called mohamedtants. and thomas jefferson explained that the virginia statute for religious freedom he wrote was designed to protect all faiths. and i'm quoting thomas jefferson now, the jew and the gentile, the christian and the mohamedtan. [ applause ] jefferson and john adams had their own copies of the koran. benjamin franklin wrote that even if the mufti of constant nope l to us he would find a pulpit at his service. [ applause ] so this is not a new thing. generations of muslim americans helped to build our nation. they were part of the flow of immigrants who became farmers and

it is the faces of refugees fleeing violence in syria or the butchering of the islamic state group in iraq that has captured much of the world's attention this year. but there are others fleeing poverty or lesser known wars who don't make the headlines. their arrival in europe is the journey. i recently spent nearly a month in europe. a million refugees arrived on the shores of europe last year, the majority were syrians, afghans and iraqis fleeing brutal wars, in search of a safe haven in europe. this group was applying for asylum in northern europe. >> my friend's house in sweden. >> you're going to germany. >> as syrians over 80% will be granted some kind of refugee status in europe. allowed to stay and to work. but then, there are migrants like karamo. a young man from war torn guinea bisau who traveled thousands of miles by foot for a chance of a new life. karamo is among the hundreds of thousands of migrants from countries whose citizens have become virtually invisible within europe's refugee crisis. they are often from africa, more likely to be seen as fleeing poverty and facin

to know that is not islam. the nonmuslims sitting back to watch. 5,000 flyers invitations in this event in south charlotte, essentially as an olive branch to the community. we are not different from the average american, we are muslims and we are americans, we love this country and wish good for this country. >> reporter: one subject that kept coming into my efforts tonight of the bans of the islamic into the country, and some saying that is disturbing, and i will introduce you to a nonmuslim mother insisting to be here for the event. >> right now police need your help in finding a man who they say is a serial bank robber. last month the subject walked into the fifth third bank, and this morning he robbed the p & c bank on arboretum drive. and remember that the first robbery involving the suspect caused charlotte catholic high school to go on lock-down. new tonight police have arrested kaufman in the walmart on highway 9. police say a woman was approached as attempting to load her groceries and kaufman hit her