The Thinking Muslim Podcast explores key issues in depth with esteemed Muslim thinkers, academics and scholars.
The ongoing slaughter in Gaza and now the carpet bombing of Lebanon has at its backdrop the US elections. Both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have clearly stated their intentions to back Israel, and it is hard sometimes to place a cigarette paper between them. Some have sought to characterise Harris as a better candidate, suggesting she will be ready to restrain Israel, although with little evidence, and others have conceded her stance to be not dissimilar to Biden – but the other side, Trump, would be worse. They evoke the ‘lesser of the two evils’ argument to suggest that for Muslims, holding your nose and voting is better than not voting.
Not withstanding the fact that those using the lesser of the two evils argument previously asked American Muslims to vote for Clinton, Bush, Obama and Biden – all of whom seem to compete with Shaytan on how much evil they could dispense. But the height of evilness has been the execution of this genocide, which has been on the watch of the Democrats. So how should American Muslims respond to the genocide. Should they abandon Harris? I am planning to visit the US very soon inshallah and will be meeting with American Muslim leaders and others as I attempt to piece together an answer to these crucial questions. But to begin the conversation, I have invited back onto the show Sami Hamdi to share his thoughts.
Timestamps:
- 0:00 – Introduction
- 03:00 Is there a Harris bounce in the polls
- 07:06 If Harris loses, Zionism loses?
- 13:34 Why is AIPAC worried?
- 20:00 Shifting US public opinion
- 26:58 Muslims in swing states
- 30:01 Supporting Trump
- 38:19 Third-party candidates
- 48:21 Should we endorse Jill Stein
- 57:39 The lesser of the two evils
- 1:18:00 Are US Muslims ready for sacrifice
- 1:39:40 Non-Muslim allies