A Muslim republican showed her true colours during a Fox News interview on Tuesday.
Saba Ahmed, the president and founder of the Republican Muslim Coalition, appeared on Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File wearing an American flag as a hijab in a show of patriotism and to highlight an important truth that many a times is not acknowledged by the instigators of hate against the Muslims: the existence of an American Muslim identity.
Ahmed won praise not only for her bold decision to wear the American flag as a hijab to make a political statement, but also for keeping her cool during the discussion on presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent comments on shutting down all mosques after the Paris attacks last week.
She appeared on the show along with a spokesperson for Trump, Katrina Pearson, who responded to Kelly’s comments of “opening up a dangerous door if we get the government getting to go into a religious institution and decide what amounts to hate speech,” by saying: “Well we don’t have the right to plot terrorism or kill Americans.”
She goes on to give examples of Boston bombers belonging to the mosque in Cambridge and other examples of how mosques, in her opinion, have played a central role in the planning of terrorist attacks.
To this, Kelly interrupted Pearson by pointing the difference between religious and political activities, and Ahmed, who remained incredibly poised the entire time, simply replied stating the sole purpose of mosque, which is a place where Muslims go to pray, her tone reflecting her thoughts on the absurdity and senselessness of the debate.
“The mosque has nothing to do with the terrorists. Yes, there are people who misuse the religion for their perverted ideology, but that has nothing to do with my faith,” she continued.
The discussion concludes with Kelly summarising Ahmed’s views that the solution to this problem lies in going “after the individuals”, instead of the mosques where millions go to pray and not plan acts of terror.
More than the discussion itself, Ahmed’s attrite made headlines following the show’s airing.
Ahmed told The Huffington Post that she “was supposed to wear a purple scarf,” but changed her mind “at the very last minute” after hearing a guest on an earlier segment make anti-Islamic comments while in the Fox News makeup room.
“I just wanted to show that American Muslims are patriotic as well,” she said, adding that the fact that she had to defend her constitutional rights during the segment was “absurd.”
“These are fundamental rights,” she said, “For us to be debating about this… is absolutely ridiculous.”
Asked what advice she has for Muslim-American children growing up in 2015, she said, “Be proud to be Muslim Americans. Be proud of your faith. Be proud of your country.”
