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Imam who praised Hezbollah booted from inauguration benediction
An imam who refused to acknowledge Hezbollah as a terrorist organization was removed as a speaker at President Donald Trump’s inauguration after previously being slated to deliver a benediction.
Imam Husham Al-Husainy, who leads Karbalaa, a prominent Islamic education center in Dearborn, Mich., was asked by Hannity in a 2007 Fox News interview whether Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. “First of all — first of all, Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization,” Al-Husainy replied. “And I’ve got nothing to do with that. But there is a biblical meaning of Hezbollah. It is in Judaism and Christianity and Islam meaning people of God and that means yes.”
The U.S. designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. Al-Husainy appeared on Hannity’s show, alongside liberal journalist Alan Colmes, on the heels of delivering an invocation at the Democratic National Convention winter meeting in January 2007, where he gave “remarks that have raised so many questions,” Hannity said at the time.
In the interview, Hannity asked, “Will you believe, will you admit that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, sir?”
“That is your explanation,” Al-Husainy answered. “Is it?” Hannity asked. “But Hezbollah — sir, you give me time to explain,” Al-Husainy continued.
“This is a yes or no. Is Hezbollah a terrorist organization? Yes or no? Is Hezbollah…” Hannity asked. “No,” Al-Husainy said.
“No. They’re not?” Hannity asked again. “What are you talking about? What are you talking — which question do you want me to answer?” Al-Husainy said.
Though he was listed on an earlier version of the inauguration program , Al-Husainy did not appear alongside other religious leaders — Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University; Senior Pastor Lorenzo Sewell of the 180 Church in Detroit and Rev. Father Frank Mann of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn — at the benediction in the Capitol rotunda.
A spokesperson for the newly inaugurated 47th president did not immediately respond to an inquiry from JI asking why Al-Husainy was removed from the lineup. Trump did not include an imam in his inauguration ceremony when he first took office in 2017.
In a controversial move, an imam who praised Hezbollah has been booted from giving the benediction at an inauguration ceremony.The imam, known for his outspoken support of the militant group Hezbollah, was scheduled to deliver the closing prayer at the event. However, after his past comments praising Hezbollah came to light, he was swiftly replaced with another religious leader.
Many have expressed outrage at the decision to remove the imam, arguing that it goes against principles of freedom of speech and religious diversity. Others, however, believe that his past statements in support of a known terrorist organization make him unfit to participate in such a public event.
The incident has sparked a heated debate about the line between freedom of expression and national security concerns. It remains to be seen how this controversy will shape future discussions around religious leaders and their roles in public events.
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Imam Husham Al-Husainy of Dearborn to speak at Trump inauguration
In the months before the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, a Dearborn cleric emerged as one of the leading public voices in support of the push to topple the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
“Death, death to Saddam!” chanted Imam Husham Al-Husainy through a megaphone at a pro-war rally broadcast by C-SPAN in Washington, D.C., in October 2002, countering a nearby anti-war rally as the crowd echoed his remarks. “Saddam must go.”
In ensuing months, Al-Husainy became a fixture in the Iraqi American community in Dearborn that was being courted by the Pentagon and other U.S. government agencies to help convince the public that invading Iraq would promote democracy. A native of Iraq, Al-Husainy held similar events in metro Detroit, meeting in Dearborn with opposition leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who later became interim prime minster of Iraq. Al-Husainy traveled to London for an international conference of Iraqi opposition groups and was in northern Iraq in February 2003 meeting with people who opposed Hussein’s rule. A Shia Muslim cleric, Al-Husainy leads the Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center, a Dearborn mosque on Warren Avenue that was a spiritual home for many Iraqi refugees who had fled Hussein’s rule after a failed Shia uprising in 1991.
“I want to build a bridge of communication, between Christian and Muslim, West and East, American and Arab,” Al-Husainy told the Free Press in April 2003, a couple of weeks after the U.S. invaded Iraq.
Al-Husainy, 70, will once again be in the national spotlight, as he prepares to speak at the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump on Monday, one of four faith leaders to deliver a benediction after Trump’s address. Another local cleric, pastor Lorenzo Sewell, who hosted Trump at his Detroit church in June, is also set to give a benediction, as well as a rabbi and Catholic priest, both from New York.
It’s believed this will be the first time in history a Muslim leader will speak at a presidential inauguration. There have been Islamic clerics who spoke at events later in the week after the inauguration, such as an interfaith service at Washington National Cathedral, but not at the inauguration ceremony itself.
The selection of Al-Husainy to speak at Trump’s inauguration illustrates the complexities of politics and religion as Republicans seek to solidify their growing support among Arab Americans and Muslims in Michigan, a swing state. After demonstrating in support of war in Iraq, Al-Husainy later became more critical of U.S. foreign policy as it switched to focusing more on the threat from Iran. He now says that he supports Trump because he sees him as more for peace than President Joe Biden has been.
More:Detroit pastor hosting Trump defends visit amid criticism of conservative events in city
More:Trump, Harris vie for Arab American, Muslim votes in Michigan as Yemenis gain spotlight
“I support peace, no war,” Al-Husainy said on a Republican press call in October 2024, along with Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi and Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, who both endorsed Trump and appeared with him on stage at rallies. “This is a strongest country in the world, and it deserves to have a strong leader where he can bring peace in this world.” Al-Husainy blasted Biden for not stopping the “killing, bloodshed” in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen.
Since Trump was elected, there have been ceasefires reached in Lebanon and Gaza, which some Arab American leaders credit Trump for.
Trump’s selection of Al-Husainy has sparked outrage from some pro-Israel and conservative groups and media sites, which accuse him of being sympathetic to Iran and Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia group the U.S. has labeled as a terrorist organization. Al-Husainy was once allied with conservative and pro-Israel groups in supporting the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, but is now on opposing sides.
“It would send a terrible message and place a black mark on President Trump’s new term to give an antisemite and Hezbollah apologist a prominent platform at the Trump inauguration,” the Zionist Organization America said in a statement Wednesday.
Leaving Iraq for freedom in U.S.
Al-Husainy said he left Iraq about 46 years ago when Hussein came to power. He opened the Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center in 1995 in a building that was once a popular Dearborn nightclub called Club Gay Haven. Starting in 2004, Al-Husainy has organized and led the annual Arbaeen procession through the streets of Dearborn, a tradition of Shia Muslims that recalls the death in battle of a grandson of Islam’s prophet killed in battle against a tyrant in Karbala, Iraq, which his mosque is named after. The Arbaeen event now draws thousands annually, including Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who marches alongside others.
Wearing a white turban and traditional robes, Al-Husainy became popular decades ago with Muslim American youth for his English-language lectures, speaking at mosques, interfaith events and protests. He talks in an excited manner at times, his pitch rising as he describes Islamic traditions and how they can apply to life in America. His mosque is often decorated with paintings of prominent Shia clerics and descendants of Prophet Mohammed. The Free Press has interviewed and met him numerous times over the past 25 years. He did not return voicemails left for him this past week.
Asked by the Free Press in April 2003 if he may return to Iraq after Hussein is removed, he said: “We’ll see. Half of my life was in Iraq. Half my life in America. I’ll go wherever I can serve better.”
In addition to rallies against Iraqi ruler Hussein, Al-Husainy has also led or taken part in several pro-Palestinian and anti-ISIS protests over the decades, speaking out against Israel and Saudi Arabia. In July 2002, he was once ticketed for participating in a pro-Palestinian rally, which was condemned by other Arab American leaders. Former Dearborn District Judge Bill Runco threw out the ticket and Al-Husainy thanked him, saying it was an example of Muslim-Christian partnership.
Endorsed Trump for peace
While initially supportive of President George W. Bush at the beginning of the war, he later became critical of him and didn’t attend Bush’s rally in Dearborn with Iraqi Americans in April 2003.
Al-Husainy told the Free Press he supported John Kerry in 2004 and Trump in 2016, but in 2020, raised concerns about the Trump administration’s military strike in Iraq that killed Iran’s top military general, Qassem Soleimani, designated as a terrorist by the U.S. On Oct. 21, 2024, he came out publicly in support of Trump on a GOP press call that was organized “to highlight Kamala Harris’s failures to bring peace and stability in the Middle East in advance of her campaign event today with former Congresswoman Liz Cheney,” said Victoria LaCivita, a communications director with the Trump campaign in Michigan. Cheney spoke later that same day in Royal Oak at a rally for Harris. A daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, a key leader in the U.S. invasion of Iraq, she was often slammed by Trump for being pro-war. Meeting with Arab Americans in Dearborn on Nov. 1, Trump repeatedly attacked Cheney, contrasting her with his message of peace.
“Liz Cheney is a disaster,” Trump said in Dearborn, surrounded by Arab American supporters. “All she wants to do is blow people up. She’s a war hawk. ” Trump said when he is president, “you’re gonna have peace in the Middle East.”
Al-Husainy said that many Arab Americans have fled dictatorships, like he did when he left Iraq after Hussein took power in 1979.
“So if we don’t now get involved, more puppets and more dictators will be there,” he said. “We have seen so much assassination, whether in Lebanon, whether in Palestine, whether in Iraq, whether in Yemen. So do you need to see more assassination? No, we need to see more democracy. We need to see more elections. We don’t want to see more puppets over there.”
Al-Husainy has also been outspoken on social issues, saying he opposes same-sex marriage, marijuana and transgender identity, finding common cause with some conservative Republicans.
He said he supports Trump “because I found him closer to the Bible and Torah and the Quran.” Al-Husainy expressed concern about the legalization of marijuana by voters in 2018, saying religious people failed to show up to defeat the ballot proposal that legalized the drug.
“I urge the community, please to vote, get involved,” Al-Husainy said on the GOP call. “They did not (in 2018) and here we go: marijuana is all over, we’re losing some of our youth. And if they don’t get involved in this election, some of the children, the boys will turn to girls and the girls will turn to boys. So when you … vote, you have to go for three reasons: Vote to satisfy your conscience and to obey God and to bring peace in this world.”
Leading the faithful
During the Iraq war, Al-Husainy gained national attention, appearing on national TV news stations such as Fox News, C-SPAN and CNN. Twenty years ago this month, CNN anchor Aaron Brown broadcast live from the mosque he leads, the Karbalaa center, when Iraqi immigrants were voting in Iraq’s elections. In September 2009, he and other Arab American leaders met with CIA Director George Tenet at the Bint Jbeil Cultural Center in Dearborn as part of the intelligence agency’s outreach efforts.
But he also kept up with his religious duties, usually delivering the weekly Friday sermons at his mosque. He often draws comparisons between Judaism, Christianity and Islam, linking together their prophets and messengers.
And every year, he’s leading the way at the Arbaeen processions, whether it’s held in the freezing cold during the winter or the heat of summer. The holiday is held 10 days earlier each year.
In January 2009, he and thousands of others trudged through snow-covered sidewalks from the Karbalaa center to Hemlock park. The two-mile procession featured colorful flags in honor of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Islam’s prophet, and recitations of religious poetry.
“We are here as lovers of Imam Hussain, lovers of freedom, of justice, of democracy,” Al-Husainy told the Free Press during the procession. “Imam Hussain is still alive with us, even though he was martyred 1,400 years ago. His spirit is still alive.”
Contact Niraj Warikoo:nwarikoo@freepress.com or X @nwarikoo
Imam Husham Al-Husainy, a prominent Muslim leader from Dearborn, Michigan, has been invited to speak at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony. This marks a historic moment as Imam Al-Husainy will be the first Muslim cleric to address the nation at such an event.Imam Al-Husainy is known for his dedication to promoting peace and understanding among different faiths and cultures. He has been a vocal advocate for social justice and human rights, and has worked tirelessly to bridge the gap between the Muslim community and the rest of society.
His presence at the inauguration sends a powerful message of inclusivity and unity, and serves as a reminder of the importance of respecting and embracing diversity in America.
We look forward to hearing Imam Al-Husainy’s words of wisdom and guidance as he delivers his message of hope and unity to the nation on this momentous occasion.
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Imam Husham Al-Husainy, Trump inauguration, Dearborn, Muslim leader, political event, interfaith dialogue, religious speaker, community engagement, Middle Eastern-American perspective
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