O’Malley Speaking at Mosque: ‘San Bernardino Does Not Define Islam’

Any More Than 'Charleston Defines Christianity.'

Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley visited a mosque in Sterling, Va., on Friday to express his solidarity with the Muslim community following remarks by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, who called for Muslims to be temporarily barred from entering the United States.

“I know that our young people understand that the tragic murders that took place in San Bernardino does not define Islam any more than that horrible murder that took place in Charleston defines Christianity,” O’Malley said.

In June, nine people were gunned down at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., during a prayer meeting in what was described as a hate crime. The suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Roof was arrested and charged with the shooting massacre. During a bond hearing for Roof, several of the victim’s families said they forgave Roof and called on him to repent for his sins and ask for God’s mercy on his soul.

Last week, 14 people were killed and 17 injured in a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. At first, authorities weren’t sure whether to characterize it as workplace violence or terrorism. The shooting massacre took place at a social services center for the disabled, where one of the gunmen, Syed Rizwan Farook, worked. Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik – who also took part in the attack - were later killed in a gun battle with police. Authorities later learned they had been radicalized.

On Monday, Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” His campaign said in a statement that the ban is in response to a level of hatred among “large segments of the Muslim population” toward Americans.

"Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life," Trump said in the statement.

“In these times I suppose where fear and division is in the air, it easy for unscrupulous politicians or hate preachers - no nation is immune from the scourge of hate preachers – to turn us upon ourselves, but that sort of language that you hear from Donald Trump is not the language of America’s future,” said O’Malley.

O’Malley said we “share a solidarity as Americans and as children of one God.”

“I know the language of America’s future. I speak to our young people under 30 every single day, and I rarely find among them any that feel like Donald Trump,” he said.

As governor of Maryland, O’Malley said every year he hosted Iftar events in the governor’s mansion. Iftar is “the meal eaten by Muslims to break their fast after sunset every day during Ramadan.”

“I know that my Muslim neighbors make America strong. They are our doctors. They are our engineers. They are our lawyers,” O’Malley said.

“We need each other, and we particularly need our American Muslim neighbors. I know that there have been many acts of violence. I know that there are acts of ignorance that have been encouraged by some in our political discourse, but the larger arc of our history - as I was listening to the imam - there’s a larger arc of love and generosity and respect for one another,” he said.

“And so I know that our young people understand that the tragic murders that took place in San Bernardino does not define Islam anymore than that horrible murder that took place in Charleston defines Christianity,” O’Malley said.

“Every generation always faces challenges, and we face challenges too - thus the changing nature of conflict in the world - but the world has never needed America to act like America more than right now, to appreciate that we’re all in this together, that each of us has a dignity and a freedom and a calling and that each person is needed,” he said.

“And so I say to you here today that together inshallah we shall overcome these challenges,” O’Malley said in closing.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “inshallah” means “if Allah wills” or “God willing.”

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