Former US president Bill Clinton has strongly condemned rising anti-Muslim hatred and discrimination in the United States. He said he was deeply upset and weary of a culture that belittles and demeans people because of their Islamic faith.
He made the remarks while speaking at an event titled “Multiple Faiths, One Florida” at the Koinonia Worship Center in Florida. During the speech, Clinton quoted a message from the Quran that urges people of different backgrounds to know and learn from one another.
“I am seriously upset that people are putting others down because they are Muslim,” the former US president said.
Recalling his daughter’s interest in Islam, he said she had read the entire Quran from beginning to end at the age of 15 and later encouraged him to read it too.
Clinton quoted verse 13 of Surah Al-Hujurat, which says humankind was created into different nations and tribes so that they may know one another.
He cited the verse to stress the importance of building mutual respect and goodwill between communities instead of hostility. “We are all flawed human beings, so every faith has some bad people in it,” Clinton added.
Clinton’s remarks came after a recent controversial comment by Donald Trump about Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Michigan.
Political opponents have been trying to link El-Sayed, a former public health official running to become the first Muslim senator in US history, to extremist groups. According to several reports, Trump called him a “jihadi”, in an attempt to stir religious feeling.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report