For years, Imam Mohamed Magid has been a familiar face at interfaith and government events in Washington.
He has met with former President Barack Obama to discuss fatherhood and hosted members of Obama’s administration at the large complex of Islamic centers Magid leads in Northern Virginia. Last year, the FBI gave that complex, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, a community leadership award for strengthening ties between local Muslims and law enforcement.
From 2010-14, Magid led the Islamic Society of North America, whose conferences draw thousands of Muslims each year, and the genial Sudanese-American regularly makes the list of the world’s 500 most influential Muslims.
All of which underscores how unusual it is to see Magid become the subject of fierce criticism from fellow American Muslims.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee announced that Magid will take part in an interfaith prayer service Saturday morning at the Washington National Cathedral. The imam, who will recite the Islamic call to prayer, is one of 26 spiritual leaders scheduled to participate in the service, a modern inaugural tradition. In a new twist, Saturday’s event does not include any sermons from any religious leaders.
Many Muslims have been sharply critical of Trump, accusing him of stoking suspicion about their religion by saying “Islam hates us,” proposing a registry to monitor Muslims and pledging, at one time, to bar Muslims from entering the United States. (That plan may be modified to “extreme vetting,” Trump’s team says.)
Hussam Ayloush, who heads the Council of American-Islamic Relations’ Los Angeles chapter, compared Trump to the proverbial emperor without any clothes and urged Magid not to “hand him a towel.”
“In the face of unreluctant and unrepentant defamation and animosity toward Islam and Muslims (and many other communities) by this Trump team, a symbolic participation that does not involve any opportunity to preach or make a statement does not qualify as engaging or correcting the wrongdoers, but rather enabling them and providing them with a token cover for their bigotry,” Ayloush said in a statement.
Ayloush also said that Magid’s role in the prayer service “undermines the courageous and principled activism of so many Muslims and allies” who have challenged Trump’s rhetoric and proposals.
In response, Magid said the role of religious leaders is “to share the truth and values of Islam to everyone, including those in power. “
“Do not assume that the efforts to engage those who have misconceptions of Islam are in any way contradictory to other efforts to influence public opinion,” the imam said. “Rather they go hand in hand.”
Muslim-Americans need to share their message both through public protests and private meetings with government officials, Magid said, implying that the Prophet Mohammed would agree.
“Many people came to do harm to Prophet Mohammed, and after engagement and getting to know him they changed their mind in a positive manner.”
