--- title: Donald Trump: Nearly 300 American Muslims Sign Open Letter description: "We call on you to make mutual respect and acceptance a hallmark of your presidency," the letter reads canonical: https://time.com/4591178/donald-trump-muslims-open-letter/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-05T21:21:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:09:06.435Z article:section: Politics og:title: Nearly 300 American Muslims Sign Open Letter to Donald Trump og:description: Urges Trump to make "acceptance a hallmark of your presidency" og:url: https://time.com/4591178/donald-trump-muslims-open-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93a82cb156257f07/6988b0c8e20a87dc8ea936e7/trump_american_muslims_open_letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3991 og:image:height: 2245 og:image:alt: President-elect Donald Trump in Indianapolis, Dec. 01, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nearly 300 American Muslims Sign Open Letter to Donald Trump twitter:description: Urges Trump to make "acceptance a hallmark of your presidency" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93a82cb156257f07/6988b0c8e20a87dc8ea936e7/trump_american_muslims_open_letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nearly 300 American Muslims Sign Open Letter to Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 5, 2016 9:21 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump in Indianapolis, Dec. 01, 2016. President-elect Donald Trump in Indianapolis, Dec. 01, 2016.Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 5, 2016 9:21 PM UTC Nearly 300 American Muslims, from high-profile leaders to imams across the country, have [signed an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump](http://www.muslimlettertotrump.com/) asking him to take concrete steps to assure them the community will be protected under his administration. “As our President-Elect, one of your duties is to ensure our collective safety and security,” the letter reads, noting the 67% uptick in anti-Muslim hate crimes reported by the FBI in 2015\. “We call on you to make mutual respect and acceptance a hallmark of your presidency.” Tensions have run high in the wake of the election, which was already marked by harsh rhetoric aimed at Muslims and immigrants. The [Southern Poverty Law Center](https://www.splcenter.org/20161129/ten-days-after-harassment-and-intimidation-aftermath-election#antimuslim) counted 867 incidents of harassment or intimidation 10 days after the election, about 6% of which were aimed at Muslims. The group also expressed concern about some proposals that have been floated by Trump’s transition aides, including a Muslim registry. “We call on you to appoint individuals who have a demonstrated commitment to serving and defending the Constitutional rights of all Americans,” the letter reads. Without naming names, the letter says it is “deeply concerning” that individuals who have “a well documented history of outright bigotry directed at Muslims or advocating that Muslims should not have the same rights as their fellow Americans” are being named to the administration. “We urge you to reconsider and reject such candidates,” the group wrote. Among the letter’s signatories [Rabia Chaudry](http://www.rabiachaudry.com/), a lawyer who has advocated for the release of _Serial_ subject Adnan Syed; former NFL player Husain Abdullah; and Gold Star father Khizr Khan. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4591178/donald-trump-muslims-open-letter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4591178/donald-trump-muslims-open-letter/"},"headline":"Nearly 300 American Muslims Sign Open Letter to Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-12-05T21:21:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:09:06.435Z","description":"\"We call on you to make mutual respect and acceptance a hallmark of your presidency,\" the letter reads","url":"https://time.com/4591178/donald-trump-muslims-open-letter/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","Religion","Islam","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93a82cb156257f07/6988b0c8e20a87dc8ea936e7/trump_american_muslims_open_letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93a82cb156257f07/6988b0c8e20a87dc8ea936e7/trump_american_muslims_open_letter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President-elect Donald Trump in Indianapolis, Dec. 01, 2016.","caption":"President-elect Donald Trump in Indianapolis, Dec. 01, 2016.","creditText":"Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4591178/donald-trump-muslims-open-letter/","name":"Nearly 300 American Muslims Sign Open Letter to Donald Trump"}}]}] ```