On Wednesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) quoted a violent passage from the Quran calling for false accusers to receive a flogging of eighty lashes. She was responding to a Quran quote condemning adultery with another quote condemning those who falsely accuse “chaste” women of adultery. Her response was particularly rich given her recent marital history.
Omar tweeted “Subhanallah,” a celebratory phrase that roughly translates to “May Allah be exalted!” A Twitter user rained on her parade, tweeting a Quran quote condemning adultery.
“‘Nor come nigh to fornication/adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).’ — Qur’an, Sura 17 (Al-Isra), ayat 3,” Retawa Agnihotri tweeted.
Omar responded with the tweet about flogging.
“‘And those who accuse chaste women, and produce not four witnesses, flog them with eighty stripes, and reject their testimony forever. They indeed are the Faasiqoon (liars, rebellious, disobedient to Allaah)’ [al-Noor 24:4],” she tweeted.
“And those who accuse chaste women, and produce not four witnesses, flog them with eighty stripes, and reject their testimony forever. They indeed are the Faasiqoon (liars, rebellious, disobedient to Allaah)”
[al-Noor 24:4].
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 1, 2020
In this tweet, Omar did not just appear to endorse the Quran’s extremely harsh physical punishment for a false accusation, she also effectively claimed to be “chaste” and not guilty of “fornication/adultery.”
That’s rather rich, considering the story of Tim Mynett, a 38-year-old political consultant Omar married earlier this month. Mynett’s ex-wife Beth, a 55-year-old physician, separated from the man last April after he made a “shocking declaration of love” for Omar. The Mynetts lived together for six years before marrying in 2012. They have a 13-year-old son.
After news about the affair broke, Omar’s husband, Ahmed Hirsi, announced his intention to divorce the congresswoman. During the affair, Omar allegedly used over $200,000 in campaign funds to illegally bankroll Mynett’s travel. And yes, this is the same Ilhan Omar who appears to have legally married her own brother in an immigration fraud scheme, as PJ Media’s David Steinberg uncovered.
Ilhan Omar is probably the last person who should be tweeting violent Quran passages about flogging people who falsely accuse chaste women of adultery.
Maajid Nawaz, a Muslim reformer who was once a member of a radical Islamist terror group, called Omar out for citing such a violent passage.
“Seriously Congresswoman? You’re a US lawmaker, considering ISIS & other Islamists have only recently implemented such scripture with horrific results, how appropriate do you think it is for you to be publicly citing this passage advocating lashing other human beings, so publicly?” Nawaz tweeted.
Seriously Congresswoman? You’re a US lawmaker, considering ISIS & other Islamists have only recently implemented such scripture with horrific results, how appropriate do you think it is for you to be publicly citing this passage advocating lashing other human beings, so publicly? pic.twitter.com/MdvaKTXshX
— أبو عمّار (@MaajidNawaz) April 1, 2020
As Robert Spencer has pointed out, the Somalian terror group al-Shabaab has stoned women for adultery, and early Islamic texts clearly condone such a harsh penalty for unfaithful women. Should Omar return to her native Somalia, her life would be in danger.
With one tweet, Omar has shown her willingness to support violent Quranic torture and her willingness to punish an innocent person in order to protect her own besotted reputation. What a fine “progressive.”
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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