Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) denounced anti-Islamist Muslims organizations on the floor of the Senate, calling them “anti-Muslim organizations” and saying that “they preach intolerance.”

Murphy made the remarks during the course of the confirmation hearings for President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

In the dystopian world that has become partisan politics in the U.S., Pompeo has been subjected to witch hunt-like tactics unlike any other presidential nominee in the past.

Ironically, the organizations Murphy named are some of the most respected organizations fighting against Islamist terrorism. In addition, they have been tireless advocate for Muslims and non-Muslim alike who do not believe in political Islam, i.e. a government run by Islamic sharia law.

One of the “anti-Muslim” organizations singled out by Murphy, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, is run by Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a religious Muslim himself.

In response to Murphy’s accusations, Jasser issued a pointed statement:

“Today, April 26, 2018, Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT) took to the floor of the U.S. Senate to smear American Muslim leaders in the Muslim Reform Movement as collateral damage in the course of his scorched earth partisan attack against Secretary of State-designee Mike Pompeo. On the floor of the Senate he said, ‘Mike Pompeo was deeply intertwined with this network of anti-Muslim organizations. There was a really interesting study that I hope some of you will take a look at that details this network of organizations. They have fairly innocuous sounding names, like the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, the Middle East Forum,The Investigative Project on Terrorism … Those sound like things that I might be for, but if you really take look at what they do, they preach intolerance.’ He labeled our organization among others as an “anti-Muslim” organization. Do we need to remind Senator Murphy, who obviously knows little to nothing about Islam, Muslims, or any of the dynamics within the American Muslim community, that declaring any group of organizations — let alone American Muslims as being anti-Muslim — is the equivalent of declaring takfir (the declaration by radicals that a Muslim has left Islam and is an apostate, an infidel, or an enemy of Muslims)? Does Senator Murphy really think it appropriate to say the same thing about us on the floor of Senate that would be said about us by theocrats on the floor of tyrannical Islamist governments in ‘Islamic Republics’ like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Sudan? Does he not understand that such declarations are essentially declarations of apostasy or death threats? It is a sad day in American discourse when a United States senator motivated by partisan extremism willfully slanders and maligns an American Islamic organization. Never mind that our AIFD happens to actually be dedicated to countering Islamist radicalization and leading efforts at reform in order to defend the homeland. The sad truth Senator Murphy ignores is that had he actually read the work we have done with former Congressman Pompeo (R-KS), he would have learned that we, for example, joined the congressman in exposing the radical Islamist ideology of a radical imam, Sheikh Monzer Taleb, preaching in Congressman Pompeo’s backyard in Wichita. To us, there is nothing more pro-Muslim. Unfortunately, Senator Murphy prefers to read from the scripture of American Islamist talking points handed to him and his staff. We demand an immediate apology from Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT) and a retraction of his statement labeling AIFD and other anti-Islamist, anti-Jihadist Muslims and leaders as anti-Muslim and intolerant. We certainly welcome any conversation with the Senator’s office and hope that in the future he would avoid using the talking points handed to him from separatist American Islamist organizations.

Clarion project wholeheartedly supports Dr. Jasser and joins him in his fight against Islamism – both in America and abroad – and condemns Senator Murphy’s shameful remarks.

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