close
close

Arab and Muslim media on Trump shooting: Dark jokes, even darker warnings

Editorials in many major newspapers in Arab and Muslim countries were relatively restrained in addressing the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, focusing primarily on the familiar problem of violence in America. Reactions on social media, however, were a different story, often reflecting the widespread view of Trump as an enemy of Muslims — if not of Islam in general.

There were two widely shared theories: one posited a Mo’amara (Arabic for conspiracy) that Iran, the most anti-American nation in the region, was behind the assassination attempt. Statements by top US intelligence officials that they expected “something” from Iran, while not being specific, were seen as further evidence.

The second concerned masrahiya (Arabic for staged event). In the 1999 film “Al-Walad Mahroos,” Adel Imam, an Egyptian actor known throughout the Arab world, played a security guard who is shot while protecting a political candidate during an assassination attempt, but survives. The guard then exploits his injuries to gain sympathy and a level of popularity that rivals that of the candidate himself.

The popular comedy is often cited on Arabic-language social media as an analogy to explain Trump’s growing popularity after the assassination attempt.

Many Muslims seemed convinced that Trump had staged the incident in Pennsylvania, with one commentator arguing that since Trump was “al-Shaitan” (Satan or the devil), he was clearly capable of doing so.

As mentioned above, more serious commentary was found in a number of major newspapers, particularly regarding the increasing political violence in America, a country often seen as eager to impose its standards on others.

An example of this came in an editorial in the National, an English-language newspaper in the United Arab Emirates: “The attempt on Trump’s life marks a horrific moment in America’s darkening political cycle… The country has seen an unacceptable rise in political violence in recent years.”

Qatar’s Gulf Times was even more blunt: “As ugly as it may sound, the attempt to assassinate Trump is somewhat normal, in the sense that it is consistent with a widespread pattern of resorting to brute force in American life.”

A columnist in the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat attempted to connect recent events with historical lessons that many Americans seem eager to avoid: “The violence in America began with the destruction of the native population by the white invaders … later with the importation of African slaves on the bottom of ships as if they were animals.”

Many commentators on Arab and Muslim social media launched personal attacks on Trump, particularly targeting the “Muslim ban” from the beginning of his presidential term.

Oddly enough, some Muslim commentators had apparently taken note of comments made by evangelicals at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which were used to make their point that Trump and his party are opposed to Islam. Commentators noted that Trump was being portrayed as a Christian martyr, falsely accused and convicted, just like Jesus.

Here are two comments, originally written in Arabic on WhatsApp:

Everything shows Trump’s hatred towards Muslims. May Allah his hatred unite us Muslims and wake us up from our current misery.

Funny enough, the Jews have the support of Christian Americans, but they don’t know that the Christians want Israel to disappear so that Jesus Christ can return.

There were also many more sobering comments suggesting that as Trump appears closer to retaking the White House after the assassination attempt, Muslims should expect a new travel ban and other forms of persecution from the US government.

JD Vance joked that the UK could become the first “truly Islamist” country with nuclear weapons, sparking angry reactions on Muslim social media.

One comment on the Arabic-language site Elaf cited Trump’s 2016 campaign promise to “eradicate radical terrorist Islam from the face of the earth.” A comment on Al Jazeera’s Arabic site recalled Trump’s proposal to institute an “ideological test” for Muslim immigrants and visitors to the U.S. A third comment, on the site Al-Itihad, noted that “Americans, looking for an enemy after the fall of the Soviet Union, targeted Islam.”

Trump’s infamous 2017 “Muslim ban” was officially called Executive Order 13769, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” It had myriad legal and logistical problems and never went into full effect. A revised order was issued, the list of affected countries kept changing, there was intergovernmental wrangling, and protests from U.S. allies in the Muslim world. President Biden rescinded the entire package as soon as he took office in 2021, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken declaring the whole affair “a stain on our national conscience.”

Now Trump hopes to reinstate the ban eight years later. As part of his pledge to act as dictator on “day one” of his administration, he has told supporters he would immediately begin “ideological screening” for all immigrants, excluding those who sympathize with Hamas and Muslim extremists.


Want a daily digest of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.


Many Pakistani social media posters, writing in English, said they expected further punitive measures from Trump in a second term. Several recalled this Trump tweet from 2018: “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan over $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking our leaders are fools… No more!”

Commentators also noted recent remarks by Senator J.D. Vance, Trump’s running mate, who suggested that the United Kingdom could become the first “truly Islamist” country with nuclear weapons under the newly elected Labour Party government. Vance’s alleged joke, presumably intended as a critique of immigration, provoked an angry response both in Britain and across the Muslim world. More moderate commentators simply noted that the Ohio senator had been elected to continue Trump’s anti-Muslim policies into the next generation.

Some commentators also reflected on the rise of Christian nationalism in America, noting that two-thirds of white evangelical Christians saw Trump as an ally in advancing their agenda and that new laws in Louisiana and Oklahoma, respectively, required the Ten Commandments to be posted in classrooms and Bible classes taught in public schools.

For many Muslims, the ironic question raised by recent events in America seemed obvious: Who are the real extremists?

read more

by Mohammad Ali Salih about Africa and the Arab world