Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.
FEED THE POOR
Feeding the poor and needy is an act that draws us closer to Allah. We earn His forgiveness, mercies and blessings through this act of charity.
“Anyone who looks after and works for a widow and a poor person is like a warrior fighting for Allah?s cause, or like a person who fasts during the day and prays all night. (Bukhari)
As his father was doubling down on his threat to destroy Iranian religious and cultural sites Donald Trump Jr. was proudly posting photos of his assault rifle featuring a symbol of a Christian religious war against Islam reportedly now used by white supremacists, according to a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, and the Chair of a specialist group on political violence and terrorism. It also has the word “Crusader” emblazoned on it.
The rifle also bears an image apparently of Hillary Clinton, the president’s former political opponent, behind bars.
There are three photos, which were posted to Instragram Sunday. Here are two:
Douglas Blackmon, a former Wall Street Journal senior national correspondent and bureau chief describes what’s now on Trump Jr.’s weapon as the Crusaders’ Cross.
So on the day @realDonaldTrump is threatening to blow up the Middle East, his son posts pictures of himself with a weapon bearing the “crusaders cross,” symbol of war with Islam in the Middle Ages, and today used by White supremacists? https://t.co/LMAx45vFhp pic.twitter.com/hUyow9fkQ0
— Douglas A. Blackmon (@douglasblackmon) January 6, 2020
Let me just repeat that back: the son of @realDonaldTrump has posted images of himself with a weapon bearing a widely used symbol of white supremacist groups……
2/3— Douglas A. Blackmon (@douglasblackmon) January 6, 2020
….which also happens to have been a major symbol of the medieval crusades/wars between Christian Europe and the Islam world….
While @realDonaldTrump is threatening to bomb civilians in Iran and claiming the right to occupy Iraqi territory.#IsThereNoBottom to this?
3/3— Douglas A. Blackmon (@douglasblackmon) January 6, 2020
Blackmon’s post was retweeted by Benjamin H. Friedman, an adjunct lecturer at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
Others on social media confirmed the image and its history, including Akil N Awan, a co-director of the Conflict, Violence and Terrorism Research Centre at the University of London.
Don Jr posted photos of himself brandishing a modified assault rifle with CRUSADER etched on it, lower receiver modelled after a medieval Crusader hemet & mag printed with Hillary’s face.
Crusader imagery on weapons & propaganda has been used by Far-Right terrorists since Breivik pic.twitter.com/hLdgUAL7au— Akil N Awan (@Akil_N_Awan) January 6, 2020
Noted journalist Soledad O’Brien posted out the silence from the GOP.
[Absolute silence from GOP leadership, and from business leaders.] https://t.co/1IsJzxkF2p
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) January 6, 2020
University College London Political scientist Brian Klass:
In today’s totally normal news for a democracy, the president’s son—who a significant percentage of Republicans favor as his successor—posted photos of himself shooting a gun featuring an image of a crusader’s cross & his father’s former opponent in jail. So insane & appalling. pic.twitter.com/zYvHnOZL6Z
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) January 6, 2020
Two more journalists:
And crusader symbols hella popular with neo-Nazis. Heck of a look.
— Jonathan M. Katz✍???? (@KatzOnEarth) January 6, 2020