President Trump gave a speech on Islam to 55 Muslim leaders on his trip to Saudi Arabia. And I think he handled this difficult assignment quite well.
He actually treated Islam like a religion. He addressed his audience in religious terms that Muslims would understand.
Instead of condescending platitudes informing Muslims that their religion is actually a religion of peace, he talked about God’s judgment.
From David Martosko, Trump’s speech warns terrorists their days are numbered | Daily Mail Online:
Donald Trump insisted in a speech addressing global ‘Islamic extremism’ that Muslim leaders must scare would-be terrorists into submission, warning them about the impact suicide bombings will have on their immortal souls.
‘Religious leaders must make this absolutely clear: Barbarism will deliver you no glory – piety to evil will bring you no dignity,’ Trump said in a sumptuous Saudi ballroom that put Mar-a-Lago to shame.
‘If you choose the path of terror, your life will be empty, your life will be brief, and your soul will be fully condemned,’ he said.
‘Heroes don’t kill innocents,’ a confident Trump declared at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Riyadh. ‘They save them.’
The president urged 55 world leaders from Arab and other Muslim nations to ‘drive out’ terrorists from every corner of their lives – including mosques – in a zero-tolerance approach that lines up with his 2016 campaign rhetoric.
‘Drive them out!’ he said. ‘Drive them out of your places of worship, Drive them out of your communities. Drive them out of your holy lands, and drive them out of this earth,’ he trumpeted. . . .
Trump insisted that fighting terrorism is ‘a battle between good and evil,’ not between ‘different faiths, different sects, or different civilizations.’. . .
And if the world doesn’t unite to fight ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and other groups, he said, ‘not only will we be judged by our people, not only will we be judged by history, we will be judged by God.’
[Keep reading. . .]
Photo of Mr. & Mrs. Trump arriving in Saudi Arabia. U. S. State Department. Public Domain.
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