Ohio Muslims unite behind Obama
As Ohio prepares to vote on Tuesday for the candidates it would like to see running for the US presidency, Matthew Wells talks to Muslims in Cleveland who are impressed by Barack Obama.
A large majority of Muslim-Americans voted for George W Bush on the road to the White House eight years ago.
But now their support seems to be coalescing around an African-American senator, whose first name derives from the Arabic word for blessing.
Among them are the 60,000 Muslims of the economically depressed Cleveland area.
They are mostly middle-class naturalised citizens, disappointed with the Bush administration's record and with a powerful sense that their religion has been misrepresented in the years since 9/11.
The city boasts Ohio's largest mosque, based around a large prayer hall that would sit comfortably in the capitals of the Middle East.
A group of men from the mosque, led by the centre's president, Faud Hamed, spoke to BBC News after evening prayers.
There was exasperation at the on-going war, and a sense that social justice - a central tenet of Islam - is being ignored: "We all know that in the US Constitution it calls for peace and justice, but if we look around the world do we see any peace and justice?"
I would think that a majestic mosque, the right to practice your religion without fear and not having ethnic and religious violence swirling through your life is a step toward peace and justice. More so than in the countries you fled to come here. I would also suggest that your "religion has been misrepresented in the years since 9/11" because you have allowed extremists to use your religion for evil purposes with no repercussions from you.
America welcomes those who wish to join in the American dream. We are a nation of immigrants. Because of that we wish to bring freedom and peace to all nations, not bring the problems of our ancestral homes here to America.
