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| Khizr Khan admonishes Trump at Thursday night's DNC |
Not surprisingly, Donald Trump wasted little time releasing the usual assortment of predictably angry pedestrian statements via his Twitter account today in an effort to try and counter the effects of the beating his already questionable reputation took over the course of the Democratic National Convention this past week.
Hillary Clinton delivered a carefully measured speech, but if any single message resonated equally with both Republicans and Democrats last night, it was the harsh rebuke Khizr Khan issued directly to Trump from the podium.
Khan, an American citizen who immigrated from the United Arab Emirates, is the father of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who died in Iraq in 2004 after running towards a suspicious car packed with explosives that was approaching his position; as the Washington Post reported, he ordered his men to take cover but was killed instantly when the car exploded - earning him a posthumous Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
In a moment that will surely be remembered as one of the most emotional of the 2016 presidential race, Khan confronted Trump's hate-filled anti-Muslim hysteria and asked the Republican candidate if he'd ever read the U.S. Constitution before offering to lend him his copy (pictured above).
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| Trump arrives on Capitol Hill in July |
But there are only seven Articles.
When Khizr Khan told Trump, "You have sacrificed nothing. And no one.", I'm not sure anyone has more effectively captured the mind-numbing hypocrisy and empty wind-bag rhetoric of Trump's concocted pseudo-patriotism.
Obviously I'm biased politically, but I find myself agreeing with the post-convention observations of conservative columnist David Brooks in his New York Times op-ed piece today titled, "The Democrats Win the Summer", in which he remarked:
"Trump has abandoned the Judeo-Christian aspirations that have always represented America's highest moral ideals: toward love, charity, humility, goodness, faith, temperance and gentleness."
With the convention concluded, Republicans must now come to grips with the reality that they've selected such a man to represent their party.
The drastic contrasts between the DNC in Philly and the overall tone of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland were highlighted by some excellent speeches in Philadelphia over the past week, particularly those by Senator Corey Booker, Bill Clinton, Vice-President Joe Biden, and of course President Obama's remarks on Wednesday night.
Hillary Clinton definitely delivered one of the most effective speeches of her career, but it wasn't the most electrifying speech of the DNC convention.
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| Capt. Humayan Khan |
Even after a rocky start with the Debbie Wasserman-Schultz drama, the Democrats still clearly managed to pull off the better convention, and come off as the party better prepared to take the White House in 2017.
But the highlight of both conventions will be two Muslim-American parents standing up to call out Trump's anti-Muslim hatred for what it is - wrong and decidedly un-American.
And in the process, remind Republicans that amongst the graves of the thousands of military veterans that fill the hallowed ground of Arlington Cemetery in Virginia are people of all faiths, races, ethnicities and genders as Mr. Khan reminded us.
Including Captain Humayun Khan - a real patriot.
Unlike the one Trump pretends to be.
2 comments:
Show us khizr khan profile----he came to the US during 1980---what has he personally done since then. He is a muslim- the Koran preaches and death to 'infidels'---that be us who are not of the Islamic beliefs.--Does he personally belief in all facets of the Koran.
Give us the details on khizr khan !
Big Ed,
Given the level of media exposure Khizr Khan has received since last Thursday, your questioning who he is is a valid one. He and his wife Ghazala were born in Pakistan and moved to the coastal city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Two of their sons were born in the UAE, another was born here in America after they moved here.
What has he done since 1980? Khizr Khan has law degrees from both Punjab University in Pakistan and Harvard University; and he is currently a practicing lawyer. So like many Americans, he's been working, writing and raising his sons with his wife.
He is a devout Muslim who has written extensively on the different levels of Shari'ah law; and what they mean in both religious and practical terms - not as some kind of radicalized terrorist.
If you'd like to read more about his writings on Shari'ah law, I'd highly recommend that you take some time to read an article in The Daily Caller published today:
dailycaller.com/2016/08/01/khizr-khan-has-previously-written-extensively-on-sharia-law/
As the article observes, I think it's important to note that Khan concludes that:
“it has to be admitted, however, that the Quran, being basically a book of religious guidance, is not an easy reference for legal studies. It is more particularly an appeal to faith and the human soul rather than a classification of legal prescriptions.” Khan added that, “the major portion of the Quran is, as with every Holy Book, a code of divine exhortation and moral principals.”
So clearly he does not believe Shari'ah Trumps (no pun intended) local, state and federal laws, in fact, in the article he also notes that:
“The Shari’ah-was completed during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammed, in the Quran and Sunnah. This brings up an important fact which is generally overlooked, that the invariable and basic rules of Islamic Law are only those prescribed in the Shari’ah (Quran and Sunnah), which are few and limited,”
The Koran or Quran does not advocate death to infidels, respectfully, I think it's important not to make the assumption that just because some individuals and groups who have been radicalized within certain strict sects of Islam that use the Koran to justify violence; that all Muslims think that way. The vast majority of Muslims do not hold such beliefs.
I don't think anyone who watched Khizr Khan and his wife at the DNC speak, could view them as anything other than patriotic American citizens.
Remember Ed, starting in 1480, the Spanish Catholic monarchy under Ferdinand II and Isabella I along with other many other self-professed Christians used the Bible to justify the heinoous atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition
That doesn't mean the Bible advocated torture, the expulsion of Jews, the arrests of some 150,000 people, or the execution of some 3,000 people based on their religious beliefs.
Some Christians have used the Bible to justify murdering doctors who perform abortion procedures, or to condemn same sex couples - the Bible doesn't advocate any such nonsense.
Neither does the Quran.
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