Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim Mayor, said he hopes Donald Trump does not win the U.S. presidential election. In an interview on Wednesday for CNN Khan said that America needs someone that, instead of dividing, unites the people.
He said that Trump is trying to divide, not only American communities but America from the rest of the world.
In another interview with The New York Times, Mr. Khan said that his Conservative opponent, Zac Goldsmith, tried to divide the people between London, choosing to have a campaign similar to Trump’s. Goldsmith tried to use Khan’s religious beliefs against him since he is a practicing Muslim. He said that London chose unity over division.
The results of the election should show Trump that Islam is compatible with Western values, said Khan. The effects of the London’s mayor election do not only affect the Republican candidate in the United States, he said, since he understands that people will start seeing him as a role model. He, then, added that he wishes not to be a spokesman for Muslims or Islam, but for the people in London.
Khan was born in London after his parents emigrated from Pakistan. He belonged to a working-class family and had seven siblings. With hard work and perseverance, he first became a well-known human rights lawyer. In 2005, was elected to the British Parliament.
When he was growing up, he experienced racial abuse and judgment due to being Muslim. Nonetheless, he said his daughters have not.
Trump against Khan
Trump has previously said that Muslims should not be allowed in the United States, creating fear and making them all seem like people in ISIS. To that statement, Khan said that Trump is acting like an extremist and is being ignorant about the Islam.
Khan said that not every Muslim has the same values as Daesh and ISIS and that these groups actually hate the fact that he became mayor of London. He added that it is because it contradicts what the groups say, which is that Western liberal values are incompatible with Islam.
Khan is, both, proudly Western and proudly Muslim. He says he loves the West and America, which goes against Trump’s beliefs that all practicing Muslims hate the United States. He has said, during the interviews, that he loves America and has been to all the Disneylands. He also said that the America Trump wants is not the one he loves.
Trump said on Monday that he would make an exception for Khan to go to the United States, referring to the ban on Muslims he proposed. Khan answered to that statement in the interview, saying that he does not believe he is exceptional.
Khan said that many Muslims in England would love to visit Disneyland and invest in the United States. He added that he thinks is ignorant from Trump to make such suggestion of banning Muslims.
“It is possible to be a Muslim and to live in the West. It is possible to be a Muslim and to love America,” he said.
Khan supports Clinton
Khan was open during the interview and said he hopes Hillary Clinton wins the presidential elections. He said that he is a proud feminist and he thinks Clinton could be an inspiration for his daughters and all women.
“Just imagine the message it sends to my daughters and to girls around the world that the president of the United States is a woman. Not any old woman, a woman with the gravitas, with the experience, someone who is a unifier,” he said.
Source: CNN