Palestinian-American activist, Linda Sarsour, speaking at the Islamic Society of North American (ISNA) Convention over the weekend, sank her teeth into the Trump administration and called for a form of “jihad”.
In a surprising no-holds barred attack on the President, she claims that every morning when she wakes up and realizes who is sitting in the Oval office she is “outraged”. She promotes dissention by saying that “their” number 1 priority should be to defend “their” community rather than try to “assimilate” into the American society.
For those of you who don’t know, Sarsour has made a name for herself for being an outspoken Muslim activist who continues to support Shariah law. She began her speech by thanking Siraj Whaeej, a cleric suspected of being a co-conspirator in the bombing of WTC in 1993. ISNA itself has been under investigation in the past for having links to terrorist outfits.
During the whole 23-minute duration of the speech, Sarsour’s aim was firmly set on Trump. She talks about how the administration is inherently made up of Muslim-hating, hostile “white supremacists” and “Islamophobes”. She says that it is up to “us” to “defend” ourselves.
“Why sisters and brothers? Why are we so unprepared? Why are we so afraid of this administration and the potential chaos that they will ensue on our community?”
She continued with the rhetoric and called for a form of Jihad saying, “I hope that when we stand up to those who oppress our communities, that Allah accepts from us that as a form of jihad, that we are struggling against tyrants and rulers not only abroad in the Middle East or the other side of the world, but here in the United States of America.”
Clearly when she says jihad, she didn’t mean physical violence or war here. Jihad in Islamic terminology means “struggle” which in many cases relates to a social or spiritual struggle to improve one’s self.
But due to the prevalent use of the word by terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda in the past and ISIS now, the word has become synonymous with “holy war” and people were not forgiving.
When confronted by the criticism her speech was receiving, Sarsour defended her words on social media. She clarified that she did not mean violence, pointing to her history of being a non-violent activist. She drew parallels with Dr. Martin Luther King whose non-violent activism led him to being dubbed the “most dangerous leader” of the time.
People conveniently forgot that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a non-violent leader & activist and called "most dangerous leader." pic.twitter.com/FWl9uIG2nx
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) July 6, 2017
Does Sarsour deserve the title of “Champion of Change” as referred to by Obama’s administration? Should she be more careful about what she says? Let your opinions roll!
