Queen Rania

In the name of God, the most merciful, the compassionate. Thank you, Senator Amy Klobuchar, for those very kind words. It's a true honor to be here.

Like millions of Muslims, my day began before sunrise with the first of our five daily prayers. Fajr, the dawn prayer, takes place before my first cup of coffee, and yet it's still my favorite time of day. I think it's because the the dawn is a time in between.

The sky holds no color and all colors. The day is empty, yet filled with possibility. And for a moment, we're suspended between dark and light, between sleep and wakefulness, between contemplation and action.

For me, it's a time that underscores the sacred that we find in the shades of gray, the beauty inherent in nuance and texture, the gift and grace of open minds and open hearts. This moment stands in dismaying contrast with so much of what we're seeing all around us. No matter our faith or background, I think we can all agree that polarization is a defining feature of the day.

The in-between, the shades of gray, have been forced into black or white, saturating into their most extreme expression, losing any detail or dimension. In this polarized environment, people feel increasingly obliged to commit to one side, left or right, in or out, for or against, idolize or cancel. And rather than spurring productive engagement, it's forcing false political choices.

Either obsess over an issue or an outcome, or don't bother caring at all. The factors pushing us to the extremes have been exhaustively discussed. Globalization has left too many people behind.

Migration has fueled a mindset of threat and scarcity. The pandemic permanently altered our sense of stability. And through it all, social media has narrowed our field of vision.

With so many storms, we seek security. One response is to cling to identity, and many have found religion to be a refuge, a safe place to hunker down. But religion isn't a shelter for hiding.

It's a launchpad for living. Whether we call ourselves Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, or however we identify, religion isn't just about who we are, but what we do and how we do it. Religion is meant to help guide our way in the world, and it's meant to help center our lives, to rejoice in the in-between, the simple daily normalcies of everyday life, far away from the extremes.