Another Muslim in Secular Positions is Not Strength, But Party Bias
(Translated)
News:
The Washington Post reported that Ghazala Hashmi, an Indian Muslim woman, launched her first political campaign in the American state of Virginia. The article boasted that if elected lieutenant governor of Virginia, she would be the first Muslim woman in the country to hold a state-level position.
Pictures were published alongside the article showing her taking a selfie at a Hindu Gurdwara temple as part of her election campaign.
Hindu Delegate J.J. Singh (D-Loudoun) praised her, saying, "She will be the first Indian to hold a state-wide position. We are really showing the rest of the country that Virginia is in a position to embrace diversity, we are not divided on the basis of bigotry."
Ghazala expresses that her faith and ethnicity are not the driving force behind her election campaign. She is seeking the part-time position of lieutenant governor to serve as an initial barrier to what she described as the chaos of President Donald Trump's administration, not to be the first to unleash anything. Historically, she launched a campaign under the slogan "Ghazala Hashmi is an American name," seeking to attract immigrant voters and keep pace with the country's demographic changes.
She currently enjoys support from South Asians and Muslims who want to see her make history, as well as attacks from Republicans who exploit her religion.
These attacks often link her to the polarizing candidate for mayor of New York City, Zahran Mamdani, who is also a Muslim immigrant of Indian origin.
Since 2018, when Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) became the first two Muslim women in Congress, a small, albeit growing, list has won elected office.
By 2023, there were 95 elected Muslim women, according to the latest data from the Jetpac Resource Center and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
South Asians have also increasingly strengthened their political influence in recent years, with at least six Indian-American members joining Congress in the "Samosa Caucus," as they call themselves - including its newest member, Representative Suhas Subramaniam (D), from Northern Virginia.
"But these are not normal circumstances," commented Sahar Aziz, a professor of law at Rutgers University and author of "The Racial Muslim." Aziz added, "Every time a Muslim runs for office, they face punishment through election campaigns and fear campaigns and threats to their physical safety."
Prominent Muslim politicians such as Tlaib and Omar, members of Congress, have been described as "terrorists" or anti-democratic. In 2021, supervisors of a debate for the position of Democratic lieutenant governor of Virginia apologized after asking the only Muslim candidate in that primary election whether he could guarantee that his religion would not stand in the way of his elected office, a question that was not asked of any other candidate.
Comment:
The layers of contradiction with Islam in this article are so many that they deserve to be addressed one by one.
1- Being the first Muslim woman to represent a regime that seeks to kill Muslims and erase Islam in its internal and external policies is not something that is appreciated in the Islamic mindset. It is clearly forbidden and detested by God Almighty, not only because of the rulings regarding how women obtain political power, but also because of supporting the enemies of Islam, compromising Islam, and abusing it. ﴿Let not believers take disbelievers as allies rather than believers. And whoever [of you] does that has nothing with Allah, except when taking precaution against them in prudence. And Allah warns you of Himself, and to Allah is the [final] destination.﴾.
2- The integration of Muslims into fictitious positions of power is actually a policy of compromising Islam in favor of prevailing secular and capitalist ideas. In this way, Muslims are used to undermine the true essence of Islam by making them role models in following part of Islam (the Qur'an and Sunnah) and leaving the rest. In this way, the false "wolf" leadership is covered with an Islamic "sheep"skin!
3- Hiding the true version of Islam behind the American version of it to create a division with other Muslims worldwide and a hatred of complete allegiance to God Almighty. Anyone who does not accept "renewal" is an extremist and must be exposed as unpatriotic. In this way, nationalism replaces the authentic creed (the Islamic creed).
4- The ridicule of Muslims who compromise their principles is not hidden, and God Almighty humiliates those who replace mixing with disbelief with pure ideas. The "samosa" referring to these Indian Muslims is a reflection of that.
5- Muslim women face a real danger in these supposedly "free" democratic countries. There is no safety and dignity except in the Khilafah, and the application of the correct political foundations inherited by the honorable caliphs after the Prophet ﷺ.
These explanations are sufficient to reject the play and farce of actors in a scenario written by people who have nothing but malice and hatred for the truth, and we, as Muslims, have only one voice in this matter; which is not to support false political distractions.
Written for the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
Umrana Muhammad
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
