Is ilhan Omar a muslim
Executive summary
Ilhan Omar is widely reported in reputable sources as a Muslim and is listed among the small number of Muslim members of Congress; Pew Research counts her as one of four Muslims in the U.S. House for the 2025–27 session [1]. Multiple biographical and news profiles note her Somali background and upbringing in a Muslim family practicing Sunni Islam [2] [3].
1. Background: Somali roots and a Muslim upbringing
Omar was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and left the country as a child during the civil war; biographical profiles say she was raised practicing Sunni Islam with family in Somalia before coming to the United States as a refugee [2] [3]. Black Women’s Religious Activism notes she was raised practicing Sunni Islam alongside her grandfather and father [2].
2. Institutional recognition: counted as a Muslim member of Congress
National research on religion in Congress explicitly lists Ilhan Omar as one of the Muslim members of the 119th Congress, naming her alongside André Carson and Rashida Tlaib [1]. That Pew Research Center compilation is a quantitative, institution-level source that treats her religious identification as Muslim [1].
3. Omar’s public role on religious freedom and Muslim issues
Omar has sponsored and backed resolutions and public statements framed around religious freedom and has explicitly defended the rights of Muslims facing discriminatory policies, including opposition to travel bans and actions seen as targeting Muslim communities [2] [4]. Her public advocacy and legislative record on religious freedom reinforce how she is perceived and how she frames religious identity in policy debates [2] [4].
4. How opponents frame her religion — and why that matters
Omar’s religion has been a focus of partisan attacks. Recent coverage documents inflammatory remarks by political opponents and the former president that singled out her Somali heritage and hijab, often mixing religious imagery with claims about her immigration or loyalty [5] [6] [7]. These attacks use religion as a political tool, and multiple outlets report that some allegations invoked alongside those attacks — such as claims about illegal entry or marriage fraud — lack verified evidence in public records [6] [7] [8].
5. What the sources do and do not say directly
Major biographical sources and news aggregations treat Omar as a Muslim [2] [3] [1]. They describe her upbringing in a Muslim family and list her among Muslim members of Congress [2] [3] [1]. The assembled sources do not include a personal, contemporaneous quote from Omar in these snippets explicitly stating “I am Muslim” or giving a current personal description of religious practice; they report background, roles, and how others classify her [2] [1] [3].
6. Competing perspectives and reliability of claims
Most reputable demographic and biographical sources categorize Omar as Muslim [2] [1] [3]. Right-leaning commentary and some political attacks emphasize her hijab or Somali origin to question her loyalty or status; fact-checking and reporting cited in the search results note that some allegations tied to those attacks (for example, claims of marriage to a brother for immigration) lack verified evidence [6] [7] [8]. Readers should treat politically motivated claims about personal matters separately from consistent biographical and institutional reporting on religion.
7. Bottom line for your question
Available reporting and institutional data identify Ilhan Omar as a Muslim and list her among the small number of Muslim members of Congress, citing her Somali background and upbringing in Sunni Islam [2] [1] [3]. Attacks that weaponize her religion or ancestry appear frequently in political coverage, but the sources provided treat her religious identity as a matter of public record rather than controversy [5] [6] [7].
Limitations: these sources summarize reporting and institutional lists; they do not provide a direct contemporary quote in these snippets in which Omar self-identifies in exact words, and they do not explore her private religious practice beyond upbringing and public advocacy [2] [1] [3].