A group of conservative Muslims say they were left out by their fellow delegates and made to feel unwelcome at the Texas Republican National Convention in Houston over the weekend.
As reported by texas tribuneat least four Muslim delegates attended the convention hoping to find common cause with other social conservatives, only to be met with hostility from attendees who bought into the Texas Republican Party’s rhetoric of “ending” Sharia law and fighting the so-called “Islamization” of Texas.
Muslims make up about 2% of Texas residents, with significant population centers in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan areas.
Plans by some Muslims to create planned communities were recently derailed after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation banning so-called “Sharia compounds” in the state. abbot claimed A development plan for Epic City, northeast of Dallas, would require residents to abide by Sharia law, the religious and moral teachings of Islam, and would discriminate against non-Muslims on the basis of religion.
Although planned community supporters claim they simply wanted to create Muslim-friendly communities and ruled out imposing religious tests on prospective residents, the proposal infuriated conservatives and pressured Texas lawmakers to pass a ban by casting Muslims, and Islam more broadly, as a threat to American society and individual freedoms. Since then, anti-Muslim sentiment and opposition to the alleged expansion of “Sharia law” have mobilized many Texas conservatives.
Although the convention’s theme was party unity, Muslim delegates did not receive a warm welcome. Over the weekend, they said they were told to convert to Christianity, threatened with expulsion from events and even told to leave the country.
On June 13, outgoing Republican Party Chairman Abraham George addressed Muslim delegates from the podium. At the time, some Republicans tried to expel Mr. Abbott from the convention over his alleged ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. specified Along with the Muslim Brotherhood, as a foreign terrorist organization seeking to impose Islamic law and support terrorism around the world.
“When they say Sharia-free, it means there are no Muslims, there are no Islamic practices,” Hussein said. texas tribune. “No one is asking the state to enforce sharia law.”
After the panel discussion, Scarborough approached Hussein and told him he should convert to Christianity or leave the country. Hussein broke down crying in the corner. Mr Scarborough later, after feeling he had pushed Mr Hussein too far, sat next to him, put his arm on the back of the seat and offered to pray with him.
Similarly, Samar Halabi, the only woman wearing a hijab at the convention, said one attendee told another delegate not to sit near her. Another attendee approached Halabi and asked him to leave the country, causing Halabi to burst into tears.
Her husband, Amjad Muftaseb, an engineer and businessman, argued that Muslims are inherently conservative and that more should join the Republican Party.
“We believe in Adam and Eve,” he said. “We don’t believe in multiple genders. We don’t drink alcohol. We don’t gamble. We’re against pornography.”
But Muftaseb soon found himself targeted for helping establish a CAIR chapter in Houston with Tarek Hussein, Mohammed Hussein’s father. Convention members tried to remove both men as delegates, even changing rules to allow the Republican Credentials Committee to expel delegates with ties to “terrorist organizations.”
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
