The Aftermath Of Ben Carson's Muslim For President Comment

Ben Carson’s comment last week about not supporting a Muslim president elicited the usual response from liberals and Muslim activists alike. Some have called for Dr. Carson to drop out of the upcoming presidential race including- not surprisingly- the Council On Islamic American Relations (CAIR). According to CAIR he is unfit to lead. But criticism was not only being levied against Dr. Carson from the left, fellow Republican would-be-president Ted Cruz (Tx) called the comment unconstitutional.

After the firestorm, Dr Carson took time to clarify what he exactly meant by saying he would not advocate putting a Muslim in charge of the nation.

“We don’t put people at the head of our country whose faith might interfere with them carrying out the duties of the Constitution,” the retired neurosurgeon told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “If you’re a Christian and you’re running for president and you want to make this [country] into a theocracy, I’m not going to support you. I’m not going to advocate you being the president.”

“Now, if someone has a Muslim background, and they’re willing to reject those tenets and to accept
the way of life that we have, and clearly will swear to place our Constitution above their religion, then of course they will be considered infidels and heretics, but at least I would then be quite willing to support them,” Carson added.

and

“Those Republicans that take issue with my position are amazing,” the Facebook statement said. “Under Islamic Law, homosexuals – men and women alike – must be killed. Women must be subservient. And people following other religions must be killed. I know that there are many peaceful Muslims who do not adhere to these beliefs. But until these tenants are fully renounced … I cannot advocate any Muslim candidate for President.”

He’s absolutely right. Even some Muslims agree with him. Secular Muslim Asra Q Nomani wrote an enlightening article for The Daily Beast in support of Carson explaining that there are far too many Muslims looking to mix “mosque and state.”

Ben Carson’s blunt remarks about a Muslim president triggered much outrage, even after he partially walked them back. But secular Muslims like me, who reject political Islam, understood what he meant: He doesn’t want a Muslim as president who doesn’t believe in the strict secular separation of mosque and state, so that the laws of the state aren’t at all touched by sharia, or Islamic law derived from the Quran and hadith, the sayings and traditions of prophet Muhammad. Neither do we. We really don’t want a first lady—or a president—in a burka, or face veil.

Her commentary is well worth the read.

Unfortunately, there are far too few secular Muslims. In fact, the trend seems to be going in the opposite direction, as evidenced in the following story shared by Nomani regarding a New Jersey school board meeting where Muslims were demanding a last minute school cancellation for the Muslim holy day Eid al-Adha:

At the meeting, the local NBC news segment showed an older woman yelling in Arabic that the holiday was her “right,” followed by a young Muslim woman, wearing a headscarf and smiling eerily as she said, “We’re no longer the minority. That’s clear from tonight. We’re going to be the majority soon.”

The thinly veiled threat was as disturbing to me as it might be to other Americans. Unspoken is the sharia ruling that Muslims engage in no work or school on the day of Eid-ul Adha, but, instead, as the prophet Muhammad is quoted as saying in a hadith, “O people of Islam, these are days of eating and drinking.”

If a Muslim thinks we have troubles, then we most definitely do, and thankfully Ben Carson has the courage to voice that.