American Muslims for Trump Founder: Trump Shouldn’t Apologize to Khan Family

American Muslims for Trump founder Sajid Tarar was at home in Baltimore watching the final night of the Democratic National Convention on television last Thursday when the parents of an Muslim-American soldier killed in combat took the stage.

Tarar told NBC News he was “completely shocked” when U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan’s father, Khizr, took out a copy of the Constitution from the breast pocket of his jacket, held it in the air, and asked GOP nominee Donald Trump if he had ever read it.

“Mr. Trump is a graduate of [the] University of Pennsylvania, one of the very prestigious schools, and just portraying the picture he’s the dumbest person on the planet, and that even in a high school they teach you the Constitution, that was a shock,” Tarar said.

Many agree that Khizr Khan’s speech at the DNC was one of the most powerful of both conventions, grabbing attention on social media and with Khan making appearances on multiple political TV programs. But Trump’s comments soon after — when he speculated about whether Khizr Khan’s wife, Ghazala Khan, was silent on stage because of her Muslim faith — also made headlines and drew the ire of Muslims Americans throughout the country.

But Tarar sees things differently. While Tarar said he was proud of Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient Humayun Khan and the sacrifice he made, losing his life after a car bomb exploded in 2004 outside his base in Iraq, he disagreed with his father’s using the DNC platform to skewer the Republican nominee without having ever met him.

He also said Trump shouldn’t apologize to the Khans … “For what? For punching back when he was punched [in] his face?” said Tarar, adding that Trump has a right to defend himself against verbal attacks.

Tarar continued, “[Trump] has continually said Mr. Khan is a hero, Mr. Khan is a hero. What else do you want?”

many Republicans are saying Trump needs to refocus his attacks on Clinton — a point Tarar agrees with.

“Mr. Khan is not his opponent,” he said.

Tarar, a National Diversity Coalition for Trump member, said his own mission remains teaching Muslims how to be loyal to America and also to “soften up their image, telling mainstream Americans that all of us, we are not bad people.” He hopes to do that through American Muslims for Trump, which he said has more than 400 Muslim supporters.

“I love this country more than my life, and I mean it,” said Tarar, who came to the U.S. from Pakistan as a law school student in the 1980s.

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