Linda Sarsour Asks Muslims To Form "Jihad" Against Trump, Not To Assimilate

How will this go over in the media? How will the Left explain this away? Will this cause the Right to overheat?

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/v...rm_jihad_against_trump_not_to_assimilate.html



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Linda Sarsour Asks Muslims To Form "Jihad" Against Trump, Not To Assimilate

Posted By Ian Schwartz

On Date July 6, 2017



Activist Linda Sarsour, co-chair of the 2017 women's march against Donald Trump, called for a "jihad" against the president at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention in Chicago over the weekend. Sarsour was a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention.


Sarsour is a supporter of the BDS movement against Israel and opposes bans of sharia. She also is a somewhat frequent MSNBC guest and has appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show.


"I hope that we 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 in the other side of the world, but here in these United States of America where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House," Sarsour said.


"Our number one and top priority is to protect and defend our community, it is not to assimilate and please any other people and authority," she said. "Our obligation is to our young people, is to our women, to make sure our women are protected in our community."


"Our top priority and even higher than all those other priorities is to please Allah and only Allah," Sarsour declared.


Ben Jacobs of The Guardian tweeted Sarsour "was a vocal surrogate for Bernie Sanders during the 2016 primary and a DNC delegate."


Ben Jacobs ✔ @Bencjacobs

Sarsour was a vocal surrogate for Bernie Sanders during the 2016 primary and a DNC delegate https://twitter.com/rcpvideo/status/883045882366758913 …

2:06 PM - 6 Jul 2017

26 26 Retweets 24 24 likes


Sanders tweeted on January 23, 2017: "Thank you @lsarsour for helping to organize the march and build a progressive movement. When we stand together, we win. #IMarchwithLinda"


Bernie Sanders ✔ @BernieSanders

Thank you @lsarsour for helping to organize the march and build a progressive movement. When we stand together, we win. #IMarchwithLinda

5:01 PM - 23 Jan 2017

7,702 7,702 Retweets 27,298 27,298 likes



FULL SPEECH: Linda Sarsour addressing at 54th Annual ISNA Convention

 

Ship her out...........

 

poor choice of words.

several times.

this speech did NOT help me support her more.

if anything, i support her less.

she done ****ed up.

 

Inevitable:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...704e4b0615b9e90732b?ncid=edlinkushpmg00000313

WOMEN 07/06/2017 09:58 pm ET
Linda Sarsour Said ‘Jihad’ In A Speech And Conservatives Freaked Out
The term continues to be misunderstood.
By Antonia Blumberg
Conservative news sites are targeting activist Linda Sarsour again, this time for using the word “jihad” in a speech to a mainly Muslim audience.

Speaking in Chicago at the annual Islamic Society of North America convention over the weekend, Sarsour, an organizer of January’s Women’s March, discussed what it means to be a patriot in the United States.

In her speech, which was posted online Monday, Sarsour discussed leaders like Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali who helped shift culture by being unapologetically themselves.

“These are people who dissented against our government and against the very policies that oppress the community that they came from,” she said.
Linda Sarsour ✔ @lsarsour
People conveniently forgot that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a non-violent leader & activist and called "most dangerous leader."
1:07 PM - 6 Jul 2017
784 784 Retweets 1,629 1,629 likes
A number of conservative outlets zeroed in on a particular section of Sarsour’s speech, in which she used the word “jihad” to describe efforts to resist unjust policies.

The word “jihad” has long been misused and misunderstood by both Muslim extremists and people seeking to spread hatred against Muslims. But for the majority of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, “jihad” is a word that literally means “to struggle.” It’s a concept within Islam that represents a commitment to serve God, and to be good to yourself and your neighbors. It can be personal, like struggling to get through a rough workday, or overarching, like striving to seek justice for all people.

As Sarsour recounted in her speech, the Prophet Muhammad is said to have described the best form of jihad as “a word of truth in front of a tyrant, ruler or leader.”

“I hope that we when we stand up to those who oppress our communities, that Allah accepts from us that as a form of jihad,” she went on. “That we are struggling against tyrants and rulers not only abroad in the Middle East or in the other side of the world, but here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House.”

In an article that emphasized Sarsour’s relationships with the Democratic Party, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the conservative site RealClearPolitics accused the activist of calling on Muslims “to form ‘jihad’” against President Donald Trump.

Sarsour said such framing of her speech aims to “play off the lack of knowledge that ordinary Americans have of Islam.”

“They are targeting me because I am an unapologetic Muslim American and because I am an effective leader,” she said in an email to HuffPost.

Muslim activists and organizations have worked to educate the public about the true meaning of “jihad” since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when the term entered mainstream awareness in the U.S. There have been bus advertisements, videos, blogs and social media campaigns aimed at educating people about the word’s proper meaning.

The response to Sarsour’s comments this week, however, shows that the misunderstanding persists.

The Muslim journalist Ismat Sarah Mangla tweeted:


Ismat Sarah Mangla ✔ @ismat
This uproar against Sarsour for using the word "jihad" in a speech is why we need more religion reporters in America, who can provide
3:47 PM - 6 Jul 2017
7 7 Retweets 16 16 likes
Ismat Sarah Mangla ✔ @ismat
Replying to @ismat
much-needed context. "Jihad" does not mean holy war. It means to struggle. It is a benign concept in Islam.
3:47 PM - 6 Jul 2017
7 7 Retweets 18 18 likes
Sarsour’s address was mainly concerned with urging the Muslim community to stand united in the face of injustice against themselves and other marginalized groups, and encouraging Muslims to invest in local organizing efforts.

That conservative sites singled out Sarsour’s comments on “jihad” isn’t surprising. Since emerging as a highly visible organizer and activist in the wake of Trump’s election last year, Sarsour has been targeted by right-wing and anti-Muslim sites baselessly accusing her of supporting terrorism. She also routinely encounters hateful messages and has received death threats.

Watch Sarsour’s full speech below:

 

There is no duty to assimilate. There is not some patriotic responsibility that supersedes a perceived duty to be true to ones cultural or ethnic or national identity. Normally it happens at its own pace, in the course of several generations, but if people are willing to accept a little social isolation or some potential economic ramifications, to retain their cultural roots, language or customs, its fine by me. I don't care if the Vietnamese, Mexican, or European immigrants dress, or talk or act like Americans. I only care that they obey our laws.

 

sorry, but "jihad" is no longer a benign term, especially in The West.

 

I think this is a very honest admission from a Muslim extremist and progressive activist. So much of the left's narrative revolves around these poor oppressed Muslims fleeing their war torn countries to come to the West, where they simply go about their business and blend into our cultural soup, when in reality, Muslims are, above all, loyal to their religious identity.

 

This is everything you need to know about Islam in the west:

"Our number one and top priority is to protect and defend our community, it is not to assimilate and please any other people and authority,"

 

Seems its what she truly believes so how is that a poor choice of words?

 

We are a Constitutional Republic. Sharia law and our country does not mix. She does not what to assimilate aka not follow the Constitution. Her very belief system runs counter to our laws what do you not understand?

 

There is Jihad and Offensive Jihad neither would work under our Republic

 

I understand that you are driven to drawing silly conclusions by an ill defined phrase in this 'sharia law'. We have no clue whether her desire to not to assimilate interferes with her ability or willingness to follow the constitution. It depends on how she wants to employ sharia law in her life and how she prioritizes it. There are proper uses of religious law in personal decisionmaking. For example a Muslem here, may use its precepts to decide issues in a lawfully drawn will and testament. We know that at times opponents of sharia seem to have a problem staying on the right side of that document. http://www.morelaw.com/verdicts/case.asp?s=OK&d=52753.

We also know that batei din.The Beth Din of America (BDA) a series of Jewish law and rabbinical courts has managed to find a successful role here in the United States without falling afoul of secular challenge. http://www.nylslawreview.com/wp-con...012/11/NYLS_Law_Review_Volume-57-2.Broyde.pdf ,
" in America committed to living in accordance with both secular and religious law, For some time, batei din struggled to find their footing within the American legal system. Secular courts were initially uncomfortable upholding and enforcing decisions issued in accordance with what was essentially foreign law. Today, however, the BDA provides a sprawling network of Jewish law courts that function as arbitration panels (and more), offering litigants access to a religious forum marked by the characteristic expedience and affordability of the arbitration process. More significantly, the BDA has gained widespread acceptance among America’s secular courts, which, to date, have never overturned a BDA-issued decision. As the Muslim community in America embarks upon a quest to develop and refine its own religious court system, it should regard the BDA precedent as a useful navigation tool."

I urge everyone to read this law review article by Prof. Michael J. Broyde,a law professor at Emory University, while it shows a complicated, almost treacherously tricky roadmap, it appears to be one that has been traversed before. Any application of Sharia or Batei Din will require legal expertise in our secular jurisprudence ant this code of religious law, and a willingness to compromise enough to satisfy the Federal Arbitration Act.

 

BDA doesnt supercede nor replace our laws. Sharia law would.. Nice attempt though. Keep defending her i understand you and her approve of Maddow so it makes sense.

 

Stop guessing about me. You are not going to do a very good job. I get that you are frightened but we don't have to live in the shadow or your fears and neither should Muslim Americans. First lets see your evidence whereby any application of sharia law superseded or 'replaced' a constitutionally drafted ordinance or statute in any of the fifty states as opposed to applications of Sharia that were upheld as consistent with the constitution and secular laws. As long as appellate courts are upholding what they are doing, its all good for everyone, but when they lose, well they lose.

 

Those damn evangelical christians won't assimilate either! They home school their kids, brainwash them with creationism, are against science and LOVE to become politically involved with their religion.

Let's toss them out too!

 

You are mistaken. Evangelical Christians are the environment to be assimilated into, the fact you don't like them notwithstanding.

 

Brooklyn, NY

 

Here's more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ws-conservative-wrath/?utm_term=.2a6c5e430470

Morning Mix
Muslim activist Linda Sarsour’s reference to ‘jihad’ draws conservative wrath
By Samantha Schmidt July 7 at 6:39 AM

Linda Sarsour, a lead organizer of the Women’s March on Washington and one of the most high-profile Muslim activists in the country, gave an impassioned speech last weekend that at first gained little attention.

Speaking to a predominately Muslim crowd at the annual Islamic Society of North America convention in suburban Chicago, Sarsour urged her fellow Muslims to speak out against oppression.

In her speech, Sarsour told a story from Islamic scripture about a man who once asked Muhammad, the founder of Islam, “What is the best form of jihad, or struggle?

“And our beloved prophet … said to him, ‘A word of truth in front of a tyrant ruler or leader, that is the best form of jihad,'” Sarsour said.

“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 on the other side of the world, but here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House.”


In an interview with The Washington Post early Friday, Sarsour said she was advocating solely for peaceful, nonviolent dissent.

But since videos of the speech began circulating, conservative media outlets have accused the activist of urging Muslims to wage a holy war against the Trump administration.

“Linda Sarsour calls for Muslims to wage ‘jihad’ against Trump,” a Conservative Review headline said. The article called Sarsour’s references to jihad “a particularly vague, yet terrifying, segment of her speech.”

“Linda Sarsour Calls for ‘Jihad’ Against Trump Administration,” Breitbart wrote.”The context of Sarsour’s remarks indicate that she meant a jihad using words,” Breitbart clarified in its own article. “However, the term has also been used to describe violent struggle, including terrorism, against non-Muslims or against governments described as enemies.”

Sarsour vehemently rejected that interpretation. “For people to out of nowhere claim that I would be calling for some sort of violence against the president is absolutely ludicrous,” Sarsour told The Post. “That’s just not who I am. That’s never been who I am.”


Some on social media argued that by using the word “jihad” Sarsour should have known the general public would interpret it as a violent term connected to Islamic extremism.

“Jihad, while co-opted means something very specific to a lot of people,” writer Yashar Ali said on Twitter. “If you want to use it … expect the blow back.”

Once again, Sarsour was thrust into the crosshairs on social media. On Twitter, conservatives called her a “terrorist sympathizer” and claimed Sarsour should be placed on a terrorist watch list or be investigated by the Secret Service. Others threatened her and even called for her deportation. (Sarsour, a daughter of Palestinian immigrants, was born and raised in Brooklyn.)

Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a Fox News story and said, “Who in the @DNC will denounce this activist and democrat leader calling for Jihad again trump?”

Meanwhile, Muslims and non-Muslims alike came to Sarsour’s defense. Soon the hashtags #istandwithlinda and #myjihad spread on Twitter, with many Muslims sharing their own personal interpretations of jihad.

[Twitter posts]
Jihad is a central concept in Islam, and the Arabic word literally translates as “struggle” or “striving.” While the word is indeed used by some to refer to a physical military struggle to defend Islam, most Muslims use it to refer to a personal, spiritual effort to follow God, live out one’s faith and strive to be a better person.


Over the years, Muslim advocacy groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations have taken out ad campaigns and other efforts to promote a peaceful interpretation of the word jihad and denounce its connections to violent Islamist extremism.

As a controversial activist in the national spotlight, Sarsour knew her speech was public and might be heard and shared widely. But her intention in that moment was to speak directly to Muslims in an effort to motivate and encourage them, she said.

Muslim leaders, Sarsour said, should not have to feel the need to “police the ways in which they worship in this country.”

“I should be able to speak to my own community, my own faith community, use my scripture and … not be criminalized for being a Muslim in America,” Sarsour said. “I’m not going to limit who I am and how I speak because people are ignorant and racist.”


Linda Sarsour speaks onstage during the Women’s March on Washington on January 21. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Sarsour is accustomed to hostile messages and even death threats on social media, particularly since the Women’s March. Those threats escalated this spring when the City University of New York School of Public Health selected her to give a commencement address. Protesters, including conservative media personality Milo Yiannopoulos, called for her removal as the speaker.


“It doesn’t actually matter what I say … their blood boils at the mention of my name,” Sarsour said of many far-right conservatives. “The irony of these attacks,” she said, “is that the very people who claim I follow a violent religion are waging violence on me.”

In the past, critics have called Sarsour anti-Semitic, tried to connect her to terrorist groups and accused her of supporting sharia law.

The Palestinian American became a well-known activist in New York City as former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. She has advocated for criminal justice reform and has been a vocal supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. Sarsour was also involved with Sen. Bernie Sanders’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Earlier this year, she became the lead plaintiff in a CAIR lawsuit against the Trump administration travel ban “overtly” discriminatory and said it “officially broadcasts a message that the federal government disfavors the religion of Islam,” The Post reported.

All this has left Sarsour and her family feeling constantly on edge. She said she has had to hire private security for appearances and events. She no longer takes public transportation, she said. “I don’t feel safe in my own city.”

She’s even afraid to walk with her children through New York City. While accompanying her children to order takeout food recently, she avoided walking beside them, crossing to the opposite side of the street. “I don’t want my kids to be in the crossfire,” she said.

“There’s not that many visible Muslim leaders in our country,” Sarsour said. “People don’t want to be this visible because they know what comes with this visibility.”

 

So you did support her?

 

It has never been a benign word anywhere.

 

The West is beginning to understand exactly what jihad is really all about. Every "Kafir" should read the Sira. There is nothing subtle or benign about jihad.

 

True. And there is no requirement to welcome people who are not interested in assimilating. Oh, and if the cultural roots they'd like to retain include being able to kill infidels, that's not fine by me.

Everyone knows what she's talking about. Even her apologists.

It's a shame some people refuse to acknowledge the Christian principles on which this country was founded. Here's a hint for you, given our country just celebrated its birthday a few days ago: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. So let's see if you're paying attention: where do your rights come from?

No there isn't, and it's about time people started to understand its implications...

 

"....here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House.”

I presume that's the bit which tweaked the right wing emotional responses.

 

Rather idiotic to make an analogy between indigenous population who played a vital part in creating the USA as we know it, with some foreign religious movement that contributed almost nothing to the USA. Of course, unless you count bringing down NYC towers as a contribution.

 

Sorry but that is not your call to make. It is a Muslim term regardless of geography, and Muslims should be telling us what it means, not vice versa. The only reason it is not a more benign term in the west is because the fear mongers and bigots decided they knew better than Muslims what it ought to mean.

So lets look and see what are the options.
NOUN
greater jihad (noun) · greater jehad (noun) · greater jihad (noun) · greater jihads (plural noun) · jihads (plural noun)

1. (among Muslims) a war or struggle against unbelievers.
   • islam
     (greater jihad)
     the spiritual struggle within oneself against sin
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. 
   Meriam Webster

Definition of jihad
1 : a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty; also : a personal struggle in devotion to Islam especially involving spiritual discipline

1. 
   2 : a crusade for a principle or belief
   --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wiki says '
Jihad (English: /dʒɪˈhɑːd/; Arabic: جهاد‎‎ jihād [dʒɪˈhaːd]) is an Arabic word which literally means striving or struggling, especially with a praiseworthy aim.[1][2][3][4] It can have many shades of meaning in an Islamic context, such as struggle against one's evil inclinations, an exertion to convert unbelievers, or efforts toward the moral betterment of society,[1][2][5] though it is most frequently associated with war.[6] In classical Islamic law, the term refers to armed struggle against unbelievers,[2][3] while modernist Islamic scholars generally equate military jihad with defensive warfare.[7][8] In Sufi and pious circles, spiritual and moral jihad has been traditionally emphasized under the name of greater jihad.[9][3] The term has gained additional attention in recent decades through its use by terrorist groups.

The word jihad appears frequently in the Quran with and without military connotations,[10] often in the idiomatic expression "striving in the path of God (al-jihad fi sabil Allah)".[11][12] Islamic jurists and other ulema of the classical era understood the obligation of jihad predominantly in a military sense.[13] They developed an elaborate set of rules pertaining to jihad, including prohibitions on harming those who are not engaged in combat.[14][15] In the modern era, the notion of jihad has lost its jurisprudential relevance and instead gave rise to an ideological and political discourse.[7] While modernist Islamic scholars have emphasized defensive and non-military aspects of jihad, some Islamists have advanced aggressive interpretations that go beyond the classical theory.[7]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pThe Free dictionary
noun
1.
a holy war undertaken as a sacred duty by Muslims.
2.
any vigorous, emotional crusade for an idea or principle.


In no source that I have checked, is there only a malevolent or violent or warfare oriented meaning. It is from context that the options are derived, and the final arbiter is the person who chose to use it. She knows what she meant to communicate, and if it is all consistent with a bona fide dictionary definition, we should not be arguing with her.

From the context I read, she wanted to oppose Donald Trump and wanted other Muslims to oppose him and that was the struggle to which she referred. Well I want Dems and progressives to oppose Trump and I want to struggle against him and his ideas, so I can't complain when she wants to.