An Oklahoma lawmaker continues to draw fire for comments about Muslim-Americans and the Quran that some find racist.
Rep. John Bennett recently posted on Facebook that “The Quran clearly states that non-Muslims should be killed…be wary of individuals who claim to be Muslim American, be especially wary if you’re Christian.”
Adam Soltani is Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Oklahoma (CAIR).
He tells KRMG “I believe (Bennett) is a bigot, I believe he is a racist, and I believe he is trying to incite the fear of Muslims in Oklahoma for his own political gain.”
He said Bennett refers in his post to a passage in the Quran in Chapter 47, Verse 4, “which was revealed during a time when the Muslims -- 1,400 years ago, now this is in the deserts of Arabia, we’re facing a decade or more of persecution -- and the verse says when you meet the unbeliever in battle, strike them on the neck. It’s referring to warfare time, and it’s referring to defending themselves.”
Soltani continued: “And one thing he completely misunderstood about it, he states that ‘nonbelievers’ includes Christians and Jews. And that’s not true, because actually he read an English translation, bu the didn’t go to the source, in order to talk to a Muslim to find out what it really means. But in Arabic terminology it refers to idol worshippers or pagans, because that’s who were persecuting beleivers at the time.”
As for being “wary of Muslim-Americans,” Soltani said that’s what’s “concerning to me and concerning to our entire community of about 40,000 Muslims in the State of Oklahoma. Because why should anyone be wary of contributing members of society, people who are here working, contributing, paying tax dollars, wanting to see a better life for them, for their families, for people of other faiths?”
KRMG called Bennett for comment, but he did not respond to our request for an interview.
Even some Christian leaders are taking Bennett to task for his comments, as well as Dave Weston, Chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, who has supported Bennett.
Reverend Dr. William Tabernee, Director of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, released a statement saying “on behalf of all those churches I want to apologize to the Islamic community for what some tiny minority of people have done.”