Source: Muslim Public Affairs Council
http://www.mpac.org/article.php?id=774
The Muslim Public Affairs Council today joins millions of Americans and people around the world in celebrating this historic day on which we have witnessed the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States of America.
On this unique and moving day, we stop to pray that the inauguration of Barack Obama will usher in an era of much-needed change.
"Starting today, we must dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. For everywhere we look, there is work to be done," President Obama said during his inaugural speech. "What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. This is the price and the promise of citizenship."
Muslim Americans stand ready and committed to working with people of all backgrounds to make our country a better place and to return us to our Constitutional values and to our strong international standing.
"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness," Obama said. "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth... To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect."