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Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
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May 7, 2018
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The
Divisive, Hateful People Among CNN's Influential American Muslim List
IPT News
May 7, 2018
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 CNN's website
published a bright, happy feature last week on "25 Influential American Muslims." The people
profiled and given brief videos to discuss issues ranged from political
figures and religious leaders to entertainers, "and they all have
remarkable stories to tell," the network said.
In most cases, it's obvious that those featured carry influence in their
fields. What's not always clear is whether that influence is positive.
For example, one political leader believes Jews disproportionately
control American foreign policy. At least two clerics espouse harsh
anti-gay sentiments rooted in their religious beliefs. Another hates the
state of Israel so much, it's a disqualifying trait in any potential friend
or ally.
CNN provides almost no context or background on those controversies, one
of which directly and unfairly tarred one of the network's top anchors. The
list was generated by interviews with more than 100 Muslim Americans, CNN
said.
It offered no information about how those 100 people were selected, or
what diversity in opinion or religious devotion they offered. But it's
likely that those people skewed toward religious conservatism.
Only two of the 11 women profiled as influential are shown without
hijabs. That might present a misleading image of Muslim life in America. In
a 2017 Pew poll of Muslim Americans, only 44 percent said dressing modestly is an
"essential" part of what it means to be Muslim.
Among the 25 people CNN showcased, none is more controversial than Linda
Sarsour. The network briefly acknowledges this, writing that "Sarsour has faced criticism for
aligning with questionable characters and sharply denouncing Zionism."
Granted, the format does not allow for a detailed analysis, but
"questionable characters and sharply denouncing Zionism" hardly
covers the depth of Sarsour's radicalism and hate. She has allied with some
of the most extreme clerics in the United States and spoke at a 2015 Nation of Islam rally led by Louis
Farrakhan.
She praised
Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator
in the first World Trade Center bombing case, as her "favorite person
in this room" and a mentor who "taught me to speak truth to power
and not worry about the consequences."
Wahhaj described America as "a garbage can ... filthy and
sick" and once discouraged Muslims from becoming politically active
here, because "your leader is for Allah."
When CNN anchor Jake Tapper criticized Sarsour and others in the Women's March who
lauded fugitive cop-killer Assata Shakur, last summer, Sarsour chose not to
respond with an explanation, but instead lashed out, accusing Tapper of being part of the
"alt-right."
"Nothing is creepier than Zionism," she wrote on Twitter.
Zionists cannot be feminists, she argued. And in lashing out against two women critics,
she wished to "take their vaginas away."
Sarsour, a national co-chair of the Women's March, has such strong
influence that people are breaking from the movement because of the
divisive leadership she and her colleagues have provided. The Women's March For All
says it broke off "to return trust and faith to the #WomensMarch
movement of America." It aims to restore unity "in eradicating
division by bringing together under one umbrella all individual groups and
chapters that stand firmly for the empowerment and civil rights of ALL women
and stand firmly and unequivocally against bigotry..."
When it comes to Israel-bashing, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., is
another influential American Muslim. Ellison is the first Muslim elected to
Congress and, also like Sarsour, can't seem to escape connections to Louis Farrakhan.
He insists he is not opposed to Israel, but in private comments during a
2010 fundraiser obtained
exclusively by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Ellison
complained that Israel and its supporters control U.S. foreign policy:
"The United States foreign policy in the Middle East is governed by
what is good or bad through a country of 7 million people ... Does that
make sense? Is that logic? Right?"
Ellison first tried to dismiss the recording as "edited and taken out of
context" and then
as "clip tapes and smears that the right wing is shooting at
me." What he never did was say whether he still believes what he said
at the time, or, when and why he changed his mind.
But he is influential.
Two of the imams CNN singled out have their own record of intolerance
aimed at gays and lesbians.
For example, CNN describes Omar Suleiman as "The rising star," and an unnamed Muslim is quoted
praising him as one of the "few imams who blend the spiritual and
worldly aspects of the job" well.
But the Simon Wiesenthal Center considers him an anti-Semite, and he emphasized the
Quran's view that homosexuality is never to be accepted.
"When Allah describes homosexuality as a repugnant shameless sin
and details his punishment of a people that practiced sodomy, how can
anyone who believes in Allah not find it immoral?" he asked in a video posted last year.
"If as Muslims we don't take a clear stance on this," he
added, "we will be forced to conform and watch this disease destroy
our children."
Other examples of his other retrograde views can be seen here.
This raises the question of whether CNN would run a feature of other
religious conservatives, including people with similar views but failing to
make any mention of it.
Similarly, influential imam Suhaib Webb is cited for his social media
savvy, but CNN says nothing about his outlandish comments.
Islamophobes, he said in 2016, intend "to create a Muslim genocide in
this country. Omar Mateen's massacre of 49 people at Orlando's Pulse nightclub
"was a gift to them," he said.
He then described a need to find a way to talk "around our
positions" toward gay people:
"Our inability to craft, calibrate a language around gay
Americans, to calibrate a language around our positions. Yes, religiously
we believe it's forbidden. But politically you need to have another
language."
In that same talk, Webb urged young Muslims to reject more liberal
applications of their faith, rejecting the "very slick, if you will,
appealing, irresponsible leftist message within the Muslim community, who
if left unabated will leave us with zero orthodoxy. And what it will leave
us with is just kind of the gift wrapping of Islam without the basics and
fundamental principles which make us as Muslims and allow us to enjoy a
life of faith and service for the right reasons."
In other talks, Webb expressed what applying orthodoxy means: He has claimed
that effeminate men are cursed and that Muslims should fight gay marriage.
He complained
that American girls are "bad people" who they "don't wear
any clothes." He accuses Jews of trying to kill Jesus and of being
Muhammad's greatest antagonists, and he tells his congregation that
animosity toward Jews is understandable.
He's an influential spiritual leader. This is his message as he
understands his faith.
Webb's CNN video includes a different message. Muslims, he acknowledged,
"are not monolithic."
CNN may have tried to demonstrate that point in its list of influential
Muslim Americans. But it fell short. Too many of those showcased accuse
others of hate while failing to look in the mirror. It would have been
great to hear from reform advocates, ex-Muslims or more secular Muslims
whose influence reaches beyond their identities.
That's a list that could trigger an interesting, and influential,
conversation.
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