After a crime committed by an Afghan refugee against an American Republican guard near the White House, President Trump decided to halt the process of receiving and admitting Muslim refugees. Without doubt, I will hear voices condemning this decision, and others accusing Trump of hatred toward Muslims and Islam. But it is necessary to clarify certain concepts that have been obscured due to Muslims’ ignorance of their own religion. For this reason, I consider Trump’s decision to be correct, because what many Muslims overlook is that America is, according to the juristic conception, considered a “Land of War.” As Muslims, we are in a state of explicit hostility with the U.S. administration from Palestine to Yemen—regardless of our own regimes that are submissive and subservient to Washington.
Based on this, seeking refuge in a “Land of War” is impermissible; economic migration to the West is religiously invalid, because a Muslim remains in his own country or migrates to a Muslim land. To go and live in the camp of the “enemy,” according to that conception, means supporting and strengthening that enemy. Moreover, no country in the world can fully assess the psychological state of incoming refugees in order to avoid the possibility that some of them might turn into criminals at any moment during the asylum process.
Therefore, Trump does not hate Islam; rather, in my view, he is justified in his stance toward backward Muslims who are constantly fighting among themselves and who have become a permanent source of tension for America and the world. My position may be shocking, but I am completely convinced of it. Conflicts are resolved locally, and we should not flee our homelands; anyone who flees—whoever they may be—is a coward. A culture of citizenship requires that we remain in our countries and engage in peaceful struggle to achieve our demands for good governance and a just distribution of opportunities and wealth. And it is Trump’s right to preserve America’s national and religious identity. For we, as Muslims, would never have allowed millions of non-Muslims to seek refuge or migrate to our lands, and this is in order to safeguard our own religious identity.
