Comments by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump proposing a ban on Muslims entering the US and by fellow candidate Ben Carson saying a Muslim should not be elected US president have been decried by many as racist and Islamophobic.
But Saba Ahmed, an attorney and the president and founder of the Republican Muslim Coalition, says that while she found them “hurtful”, they would not stop her from urging other American Muslims to vote for the Republican party, and even for Trump.
Ahmed, who lives in the Washington DC, area, says she left the Democratic party in 2011 because she could not reconcile her own views with what she considers to be the party’s “liberal values” and “incompatibility with Islam”.
Despite what appears to be a firmly anti-Muslim sentiment among some US conservatives and elements of the country’s Christian religious right, Ahmed says she believes that Islamic values are most closely aligned with those of the Republican party and that American Muslims would be better off voting for it.
Al Jazeera spoke to her about the current political climate as the election campaign continues.
All Islamic states ban non-Muslims from becoming citizens.
So, Trump’s TEMPORARY ban on Muslim immigration is probably something some American Muslims can identify with.
Most Islamic states criminalize some birth control and most abortions.
So, the Republican Party’s stance on defunding PP is also probably something some American Muslims can identify with.
Meanwhile the DNC is pro-homosexual agenda, something most American Muslims cannot identify with.
The DNC is pro-abortion, again, something most American Muslims cannot identify with.
And the whole idea of redistributing the wealth is definitely something American Muslims mostly oppose since they make just slightly more income than the average American.
But it is a mixed bag.
The entire RNC pack is far more openly pro-Israel than the DNC.
@Nanny G: This group reminiscent of mid 1930’s Germany’s Jews For Hitler and a Southern organization Blacks For David Duke which formed to support Duke’s Congressional run.
It’s rumored that the North American Union.funded both of these organizations—can’t be confirmed