Ilhan Omar Suggests Sharia Flogging for Critics Who Question Her Adultery
Democrat lawmaker blasts 'flog them with eighty stripes' following criticism
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Far-left Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has suggested her critics should receive the Sharia punishment of flogging after her alleged extra-marital affair was called into question.
The Minnesota congresswoman was criticized on Twitter for allegedly committing adultery with Democratic political consultant Tim Mynett - who she is now in a romantic relationship with after completing their respective divorces.
The calls for Sharia punishment stemmed from Wednesday remarks from Rep. Omar on Twitter.
The Democrat "Squad" member and practicing Muslim blasted news that President Donald Trump had warned the next two weeks of the coronavirus outbreak would be “very painful” for Americans.
“Subhanallah!” Omar tweeted in response to the news, using an Arabic exclamation.
After Omar was called out for allegedly breaching her Muslim faith by having an affair, the congresswoman quoted a verse from the Qur'an that suggests her critics should be flogged “with eighty stripes” for being “disobedient to Allaah.”
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Omar was retweeting a post from Axios about Trump's message to the public.
Subhanallah! https://t.co/MysfOONOw4
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 1, 2020
The post quickly drew a negative response from other users.
One Twitter user replied by invoking the Quran’s prohibition against “fornication/adultery.”
"Nor come nigh to fornication/adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils)."
— Retawa Agnihotri (@RetwaA) April 1, 2020
— Qur'an, Sura 17 (Al-Isra), ayat 3
Omar responded directly to the critisim and fired back with a reference to the Muslim holy book’s stance against accusing a woman of unchastity without sufficient evidence.
According to Omar, Muslims are commanded to reject such “testimony” and to flog the offender “with eighty stripes” for being “disobedient to Allaah.”
“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)”
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 1, 2020
[al-Noor 24:4].
Omar earlier this month announced her Islamic and legal marriage to her campaign consultant Tim Mynett, whom she was accused of having an affair with while both she and he were still married to their previous partners.
Omar has also been dogged by evidence-based speculation that she previously married her brother to get him a U.S. visa.
Some commentators, including a number of Muslims, criticized Omar for seeming to publicly advocate a primitive form of Islamic justice, according to The Pluralist.
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
Others, like The Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro, who is an Orthodox Jew, were simply dumbfounded.
Didn't see the "let's give lashes to people who say mean things to me on Twitter" take coming, but there it is https://t.co/K3gFV1UiY0
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 1, 2020
Blogger Stephen Miller couldn’t get over Omar’s suggestion that she is a “chaste woman.”
People are focusing on a member of congress endorsing flogging with this tweet but I just can't get past the 'chaste woman' part of this. https://t.co/CWvEMHbHoq
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 1, 2020
In a related Twitter fracas, commentators debated whether Omar’s initial tweet — saying, “Subhanallah!” — was an expression of joy.
Yasmine Mohammed, an ex-Muslim human rights activist, alleged that Omar was “praising Allah that Americans will be going through a very painful time.”
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However, Siraj Hashmi, a Muslim writer and editor for the conservative Washington Examiner, pushed back, saying “subhanallah” is a generic expression of surprise.
This is a somewhat unfair interpretation of Ilhan Omar's tweet.
— Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) April 2, 2020
It's like parsing the difference between "Good God!" ("subhanallah") and "God help/protect us" ("Allah yahmeena")
I've used "subhanallah" plenty when reacting to bad news. https://t.co/IE9JtCLlMc
Omar, who had made the same argument, expressed disbelief at being defended by Hashmi.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 2, 2020
Facing some backlash from fellow conservatives, Hashmi said he was similarly shocked to be defending Omar.
He later asked for the congresswoman’s phone number, which she declined to provide.
✍🏽not✍🏽a✍🏽chance✍🏽son✍🏽 https://t.co/1iduhAmP0W
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 2, 2020
Omar has previously faced criticism for seeming to downplay the deaths of Americans at the hands of Islamic radicals, including in the Sept. 11 attacks.
But she and her allies have dismissed such allegations as “Islamophobic.”
