3 Muslim Reactions Sum Up Feelings Ahead of Trump’s Speech on Islam in Saudi Arabia

Last updated on: May 17, 2017 at 6:07 pm by Dilshad Ali

3 Muslim Reactions Sum Up Feelings Ahead of Trump’s Speech on Islam in Saudi Arabia 2017-05-17T18:07:55-04:00 Dilshad Ali

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Photo of my friend Zainab Chaudry of CAIR National at a protest march. Image source: Zainab Chaudry

Zainab Chaudry

CAIR’s Zainab Chaudry, who writes for Patheos Muslim, offered the serious and confounded take that I think many of us were feeling: How can this be? How can a president who has assembled one of the most Islamophobic cabinets ever, who has put an anti-Muslim travel into effect and has time and time again spoken of his opposition to the Islamic faith, give a speech on Islam? In Saudi Arabia no less? What does that say about Saudi rulers?

So the custodian of the two holy mosques is allowing Trump to address 50+ Muslim world leaders – IN Saudi Arabia – on the topic of “modernizing Islam.”

Let that sink in.

Never mind that there isn’t a broom sturdy enough or a bucket large enough to contain the filth against Islam that Trump has inspired.

Never mind that everything about this visit reinforces the falsehood that violent extremism is exclusive to Islam or predominantly plagues Muslims.

Never mind that whether Islam actually even needs “modernizing” is up for debate in an entirely different conversation.

What alternate reality are we in that the same politician who heavily invested in throwing muslims under the bus for political gain; who pledged to ban Muslims from entering the United States, and signed not one but two executive orders to initiate that process; who has never once condemned islamophobia despite repeated calls to do so after soaring rates of hate crimes and bias incidents; who has emboldened anti-Muslim bigotry to unprecedented levels – could ever be deemed fit or qualified to speak on Islam.

And what kind of Muslim leader would betray their people and compromise their own dignity and self-respect by accepting the invitation to sit in the audience and listen.

My mind and heart cannot process the extent of corruption and hypocrisy. This Ramadan, pray that Allah (swt) blesses our ummah with righteous, honorable, courageous, self-respecting, principled Muslim leaders who have integrity and are not spineless cowards.

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