This Fourth of July, American Muslims across the country will be celebrating the birth of our nation and its political freedoms. I will personally be hosting a traditional halal barbeque with my friends and neighbors that will be capped off with some festive fireworks – a benefit of living in the great Commonwealth of Virginia.
Inshallah (Arabic for “God-willing”), this will be the first Fourth of July cookout that my four-year-old son will remember as he gets to eat glazed honey smoked ribs, chicken tandoori, and red, white and blue layered flag cake* with sparklers atop. This year we will make sure to have the National Symphony Orchestra’s Independence Day Concert playing on the background. On this day I am usually found listening to the Boston Pops in a small coastal town just south of Boston at my mother’s house, but wanted to spare my family from Interstate 95’s holiday traffic.