An Atlanta imam who urged Muslims to prepare for possible “active resistance” in the United States is among the community leaders endorsing Keisha Lance Bottoms (D-Ga.) for governor.
FOX 5 Atlanta reported Monday that Imam Nadim Ali joined 13 other community leaders and four Muslim organizations in endorsing Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, in her race against Republican healthcare executive Rick Jackson. The announcement followed a summer meeting with the candidate that discussed “issues important to Muslim residents” arranged by the Georgia Muslim Civic Table.
In an Oct. 20, 2023 sermon at the Community Masjid of Atlanta, documented by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Imam Emeritus Nadim Ali warned Muslims in the United States to prepare “mentally, physically and spiritually” for the possibility of engaging in “active resistance.”
He expressed hope that if “people are inclined towards peace,” Muslims “can be peaceful” but cautioned not to “be caught sleeping on the job” and urged preparation of “whatever we need to do materially.”
Nadim Ali: "Allah knows best where we will be in the next few years. Because the way this country is going, there will possibly be certain times where we will have to basically engage in active resistance. We don't hope for it, but we need to be not only mentally, but physically and spiritually prepared for it.
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"And so these are the times that we are living in. And the Islam prepares us for this. And so if people are inclined towards peace, then we can be peaceful. But we don't need to basically be of those be caught sleeping on the job. And that means preparation, that means whatever we need to do spiritually, whatever we need to do materially, to be able to deal with any resistance that come our way.”
Ali’s remarks, delivered shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that raped, killed, and kidnapped more than 1,200 people, urged listeners to “look at how the people are fighting” in Algeria and Palestine. He added that Muslims should not be harassed for “showing solidarity” with the Palestinian resistance.
Nadim Ali: "Because we can look at how the people are fighting. I mean, we look at what happened in Algeria, we look at what's happening in Palestine. We look at what happens in different parts of the world and how the oppressor will deal with the oppressed.
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"We should not be harassed for basically showing solidarity with the Palestinians and the resistance."
Top CAIR official endorses Bottoms
Another name on the Bottoms endorsement list, Edward Ahmed Mitchell, serves as national deputy director of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). His official biography says he led CAIR-Georgia from 2016 to 2020 and has served on the board of the separate political organization CAIR Action.
FOX 5 Atlanta’s endorsement announcement lists Mitchell individually. It does not list CAIR or CAIR-Georgia among the four endorsing organizations.
A University of Georgia and Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll, released October 20, shows Republican Rick Jackson leading Bottoms 46% to 45%, with 8% of likely Georgia voters undecided. The University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs surveyed 1,000 likely voters October 7-15 and reported a margin of error of 3.1%. The poll found Bottoms leading with independents 43% to 38%, while 18% remain undecided.