Leading US imams and scholars urge Muslim voters to snub Kamala Harris over Gaza
A group of leading Muslim American scholars and imams have signed a letter calling on Muslim voters to spurn Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming election over US support for Israel's war on Gaza.
The letter comes as polling within the Muslim American community shows a major departure from the Democratic Party over the Biden-Harris administration's unfettered support for Israel's war on Gaza, which they along with rights groups and legal experts view is a genocide against Palestinians.
"We may not know what the future holds, but we know this: we will not taint our hands by voting for or supporting an administration that has brought so much bloodshed upon our brothers and sisters," said the letter, released on Monday and seen by Middle East Eye.
The letter calls on Muslims to instead vote for any of the third-party candidates, including the Green Party's Jill Stein whose support has swelled among the Muslim American community in recent weeks.
"We want to be absolutely clear: don’t stay home and skip voting. This year, make a statement by voting third party for the presidential ticket," the letter said.
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"Equally important, vote all the way down the ballot for candidates and policies that stand for truth and justice, ensuring your voice is heard at every level."
The letter, written and released in collaboration with the Abandon Harris campaign, was signed by more than three dozen religious leaders from all around the country, including Imam Dawud Walid, Dr Shadee Elmasry, Imam Omar Suleiman, Dr Yasir Qadhi, and Imam Tom Facchine.
An Appeal for Courage Letter by Umar Farooq
It comes after an umbrella group of major Muslim groups in the US released a similar call urging members to vote third-party, whether it be for Stein, Dr Cornel West, the Party for Socialism and Liberation's Claudia De la Cruz, or the Libertarian Party's Chase Oliver.
While the last month has seen a surge in Muslim American support for third party candidates, there have also been groups urging Muslims to vote Democrat.
The Uncommitted Campaign, a movement that gained media attention for its call to withhold votes from President Biden during the primary elections over the war on Gaza, released a statement earlier this month saying that while it could not officially endorse Harris, voters should not cast their ballot for any other candidate but her.
And Emgage, a Muslim American group that rose to prominence during the 2020 election, officially endorsed Harris last week.
Hudhayfah Ahmad, the communications director for Abandon Harris, said Monday's letter is a sign that groups supporting the Democratic Party are swimming against the tide of the majority of US Muslims.
“Over the past few weeks, we have seen several organisations claiming to represent the Muslim-American community either directly endorse the Harris-Walz ticket, as Emgage has done, or offer indirect support, like Uncommitted," Ahmad told Middle East Eye.
"This letter, signed by respected Muslim-American religious scholars, represents voices our community turns to for guidance in local mosques and at national Muslim conventions. It is a clear stance on where the overwhelming majority of the Muslim-American community stands: against genocide. And more signatures are on the way."
State oppression operates 'beyond party lines'
The presidential election will take place on 5 November, and polls show the race between Harris and former President Donald Trump is tight.
National polls have Harris leading by several percentage points, while Trump is ahead in key battleground states such as Michigan and Wisconsin.
With the polls still not showing either candidate with a strong lead, and with the Democrats fearing a second Trump presidency, social media has been inundated with attacks against voters choosing not to vote for Harris, accusing them of paving the way for Trump’s return to the Oval Office.
The imams who have signed the letter say the calls for Muslims to uncritically support Harris is fear-mongering.
'It is about prioritising our faith and humanity, taking a stand for justice, and rejecting anyone who has supported, enacted, or promised to perpetuate such evil'
- The letter from Muslim American scholars and imams
"None of this is an endorsement of Donald Trump's vile, racist agenda, which includes advancing the apartheid and genocidal interests of a foreign state while falsely claiming to put America first," the letter said.
"Rather, it is about prioritising our faith and humanity, taking a stand for justice, and rejecting anyone who has supported, enacted, or promised to perpetuate such evil."
The imams and scholars say they are "fully aware" of what would happen if Trump came into office. In his previous term, he enacted the "Muslim ban" and made major political and economic concessions to Israel, while also brokering agreements between Israel and the leaders of several Arab countries that sidelined Palestinians.
In the US, Trump drastically cut the number of refugees allowed in the country and endorsed the surveillance of the Muslim American community.
In their letter, the religious leaders say the Biden administration has done little to reverse many of these policies, going so far as to build on some of Trump's actions.
"However, we also recognise that the oppression of tens of millions within these borders is not limited to one political party - it is a systemic issue designed to repress those pushed to the margins," the letter said.
"From the violent suppression of anti-genocide encampments to the inhumane treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, and the state-sanctioned murder of Imam Marcellus Khalifah Williams, we understand that the oppressive hand of the state operates beyond party lines."
A US-funded 'attack on the tenets of our faith'
Since the beginning of the war on Gaza, after Hamas and other Palestinian groups launched a major attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people, the administration of US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris offered unequivocal support to Israel's bombing and later ground invasion of Gaza.
The US administration also shielded Israel from scrutiny at the United Nations, blocking several diplomatic attempts to put forth a call for a ceasefire.
The administration has also publicly dismissed the case brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice and chastised the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor’s attempt to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Muslims in the United States looked at the footage of the war with horror, as Israeli forces bombed schools and UN shelters, and laid siege to hospitals. The current death toll is more than 41,000 Palestinians killed, though experts believe this is a severe underestimate.
Palestine is an issue that tops the list of priorities for many Muslims, given the majority Muslim population in the occupied Palestinian territories and Gaza. Israeli forces have also attacked Christian Palestinians and bombed the oldest church still in use in Gaza.
Occupied East Jerusalem is also home to Masjid al-Aqsa, the third-most revered site in Islam after the Kaaba in Mecca and Masjid an-Nabbawi in Medina.
On multiple occasions, Israeli soldiers also made a point of attacking the Islamic faith in their ground operations in Gaza and during their raids on the occupied West Bank.
'Zionism is an existential threat to Muslims in America because it primarily relies on anti-Islamic tropes'
- Imam Tom Facchine
More than 500 mosques in Gaza have been destroyed, and Israeli forces have killed around 300 Islamic scholars and sheikhs, including Quran instructors, Islamic preachers, and imams, the Palestinian Ministry of Religious Affairs said in May.
In December, footage showed Israeli soldiers sitting in a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin, where they mocked the Muslim call to prayer. Another video in May showed an Israeli soldier burning copies of the Quran while standing inside the ruins of a mosque in Gaza.
"This isn't just another tragedy; it is a deliberate, calculated genocide and an attack on the very tenets of our faith, funded with our tax dollars and carried out with the full support and complicity of the Biden-Harris administration," the letter said.
Signatories such as Imam Tom Facchine, resident scholar at the Utica Masjid in upstate New York, say they hope the high turnout against both Democrats and Republicans in the election will send a message that pro-Israel politics and Zionism, the ideology behind the creation of the state of Israel, are no longer issues that help politicians win elections.
"It's actually very simple. Zionism is an existential threat to Muslims in America because it primarily relies on anti-Islamic tropes and exploits the levers of power to criminalise and silence support for Palestine," Facchine told MEE.
"This election we will attach a political cost to supporting Zionism and the genocidal occupation or Palestine. From now on it will cost you your elected office to support the genocidal Zionist occupation. To politicians we say: be warned and plan accordingly."
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