A Muslim cleric who refuses to call Hezbollah a terrorist organization and has a “significant history of extremism” has been chosen to deliver the benediction at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next week.
Husham al-Hussaini, imam of Karbala Islamic Education Center in Dearborn, Michigan, is one of four religious leaders listed in the Inauguration Day program obtained by The Washington Reporter on Monday. He is scheduled to speak immediately after President Trump's speech on January 20th. address.
of middle east forumA conservative nonprofit group focused on Islamic issues described al-Hussaini as a “radical anti-Semite and pro-Hezbollah Shiite imam” with a “significant history of extremism.”
The group claims al-Hussaini hosted a rally at the Karbala Islamic Education Center in 2015 where he “wished Saudi Arabia dead” condemning its military intervention in Yemen.
According to Islamic watchdog groups, al-Hussaini also attended a pro-Hezbollah rally in Dearborn in 2006, during which he held up a photo of then-Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on stage. It is said that
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon in September last year.
A year later, after Al-Hussaini gave a controversial speech at the 2007 Democratic National Committee Winter Meetings. FOX News host Sean Hannity slams Imam For suggesting that the U.S. military is an “oppressor and occupier.”
Al-Hussaini denied making any secret references to the U.S. or Iraq wars when he asked God to “help us stop war and violence, oppression and occupation” at a DNC event.
When asked by Hannity to “admit that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization,” Al-Hussaini refused.
“That's your explanation,” he responded during a 2007 appearance on “Hannity and Colmes.”
“Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization and I have nothing to do with it,” al-Hussaini added.
“But Hezbollah has a biblical meaning. It means People of God in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and it means Jesus,” he explained, adding that whether the group is a terrorist organization or not. He fended off Hannity's repeated attempts to force an answer.
The U.S. State Department designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization in October 1997.
Al-Hussaini, an Iraqi-American, announced his support for Trump, 78, in a telephone conversation with Republican media last October. detroit free press.
Regarding his support for the 45th president, Al-Hussaini said, “I support Donald Trump because he is against same-sex marriage and he is the most Christian candidate in the election.'' “He will bring us back to conservative values. And as a Muslim, I will support anyone who opposes same-sex marriage.”
President Trump has not called for a federal ban on same-sex marriage.
The newspaper attempted to contact Al-Hussaini for comment.
Trump's transition team did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment.
