FRIDAY sermons have been a weekly mainstay of your correspondent’s life since boyhood. But none have ever felt as worthwhile as this one, delivered to the assembled congregants, some 80 Muslims who had gathered in this college town in the middle of Trump country on November 18th. Even the little ones, who usually harangue one another and jostle and fidget throughout the whole service, sit somberly.
The bespectacled imam, a mild-mannered family friend, speaks with uncharacteristic steel. He’s a man more given to scholarship than sanctimony, a doctor who has memorised the entire Koran and quotes the poetry of Muhammad Iqbal at great length. But today, his words are hard and unflinching. “Hate has now gone mainstream,” he proclaims, unexpectedly political. He notes that Michael Flynn, the man Donald Trump has chosen to be his national security adviser just that day, has publicly called Islam “a cancer”. He warns of troubled times ahead.
Since Mr Trump’s surprising election victory two weeks ago, the apprehension among America’s Muslims, who number some 3.3m, has never been higher. And not without reason. Kris Kobach, a member of Mr Trump’s transition...Continue reading
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