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She's Muslim and a Republican - despite Donald Trump

Saba Ahmed, the head of the Republican Muslim Coalition, explains why she still believes in the GOP, even in the face of the latest attack on her community by the party's presidential front-runner.
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Donald Trump's pledge at a rally to bar Muslims from entering the United States has upset many, including Republican Muslim Coalition president Saba Ahmed. (Randall Hill/Reuters and Twitter)
As It Happens6:21She's Muslim and a Republican - despite Donald Trump

A lot of people are displeased with Donald Trump. But Saba Ahmed probably has more reason than many to be angered by his latest remarks about Muslims.

Ahmed is both Muslim and Republican — one of the few. Wanting to call Trump on his anti-Islamic rhetoric, she founded The Republican Muslim Coalition in Washington.

She recently appeared on Fox News wearing a Stars-and-Stripes head scarf to debate one of Trump's spokespeople.

I didn't become Republican because of Trump or Cruz or Carson or any of them.- Saba Ahmed, Republican Muslim Coalition

"I hope Donald Trump gets some basic lessons in constitutional law," Ahmed tells As It Happens host Carol Off. "He can't discriminate based on religion and we hope that he'll come around and change his stance."

Trump said in a speech in South Carolina that, if elected president, he would ban all Muslims from entering the United States.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump points to a supporter at a Pearl Harbor Day rally aboard the USS Yorktown Memorial in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, December 7, 2015. (Randall Hill/Reuters)

"He's targeting the gullible majority," she says. "The people you saw at that rally are mostly conservative Christians and most of them are unfamiliar with Muslims."

She hopes that Muslims like her can change that by returning to the GOP.

Support for the Republicans among Muslim Americans stood at about 70 per cent in the 2000 presidential race. After 9/11 and the Bush administration's so-called "war on terror," it collapsed to less than five per cent.

But Ahmed believes that the Republican's traditional values align with those of conservative Muslims like herself.

She says she will continue to support the party, even if Trump wins the nomination.

"I didn't become Republican because of Trump or Cruz or Carson or any of them," she says. "But I hope that the damage they are causing will be contained and they will change their rhetoric."

As for her American flag head scarf, she says she and other Muslim women plan to wear them at an upcoming rally to protest an attempt to stop the expansion of a local mosque.

"It's to show their patriotism because, apparently, a lot of other people will be carrying Confederate flags there," she explains. "We just want to show that we belong to the American flag and that we will be defending our country as well."

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