Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” former NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said ISIS is not about religion, but instead “a play for money and power” and “any group can do this,” like the the Ku Klux Klan claiming they were Christian knights.

Abdul-Jabbar said, “It’s a play for money and power, and these people try to impose their will on people so people will listen to them, and they can be in charge. That’s all it’s about. It’s about they’ve taken on a fascist attitude and a fascist approach to everything. You do what we say or you die.”

“You can make parallels to things that have happened here in America. Like the Ku Klux Klan saying they are the Christian knights,” he continued. “The Ku Klux Klan and did not practice Christianity.”

“You can see that Any group can do this. There was an article in yesterday’s “New York Times” about the first crusade, and the first people that they sacked were Jews living in Europe. They devastated them, took all their wealth and kept on their way through the holy land. So people use that as an excuse. It’s not an excuse, it’s no excuse and oppressing one group means that we have to look out, all groups have to get together to fight that type of oppression, because we all should be free,” he added.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN