Horror and fear swept through Muslim countries after Donald Trump was confirmed as President of the Unites States after months of anti-Islamic rhetoric. The Republican made his most controversial remarks about Islam in December last year, sparking anger among the world's 1.5billion followers of Islam when he called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. after a mass shooting in California.
Muslims across Asia were struggling this morning to accept the news the populist candidate will take office in the White House, saying that ISIS would be happy he won the presidency race. 'Americans have just screwed the world yet again,' said Syed Tashfin Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi who has several close friends in the US. Thousands in the country watched in shock as the results rolled in and Facebook lit up with horrified reactions.
'I'm very afraid, will there be more wars? Will America attack Muslim countries again?' asked Indonesian activist Alijah Diete as Donald Trump edged closer to a shock victory in the US election.
Trump sensationally won the White House race this morning as Hillary Clinton phoned him at 2.30am local time to concede she had lost. She made the private call shortly after sending her campaign chairman to give her supporters exactly the opposite message, that it was not over - a humiliating and bizarre end to a political career which had put her on the verge of being the first female president.
Zuhairi Misrawi, an Islamic scholar from moderate Indonesian Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, reacted to the news by saying it would be seen as a powerplay for terrorists across the globe. 'When the United States uses hard power, extremists gain a momentum,' he said. 'Those who will be the happiest when Trump wins are ISIS.'
A teacher at a school in the United Arab Emirates told MailOnline when he broke the news of the result to his class, children told him they would never be able to go to America again. He said: 'It's so sad. They are genuinely worried. 'I didn't think it would have this sort of affect.'
A senior Pakistani government official, speaking anonymously, called the news 'absolutely atrocious and horrifying' while others in the country also lamented the results. 'I am disappointed to see Donald Trump winning because Hillary Clinton is a good woman, she is good for Pakistan and Muslims all over the world,' said Ishaq Khan, 32, speaking at an Islamabad market. 'She was talking about world peace - but Trump was talking about fighting against Muslims.'
The Republican made his most controversial remarks about Islam in December last year, sparking anger among the world's 1.5billion followers of Islam when he called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. after a mass shooting in California.
The bizarre ending to Clinton's political career came after Trump confounded pollsters at every turn, capturing one 'swing' state after another in a line of toppled dominoes that stretched across three time zones and now ends at the White House.
The last to fall was the Keystone State - after Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Wisconsin all went to the Republican. That gave him 274 votes in the electoral college - the winner is the first to achieve 270.
Nikken Suardini, who works for a law firm in the capital Jakarta, was concerned about the proposed Muslim ban, saying: 'If he is elected president he will block Muslims from entering the US - well, that's just not fair.'
There was also concern that tough anti-Islamic policies under Trump could fan Muslim extremism globally at a time when the world is struggling with a growing threat of Islamic militancy.
Some observers were more sanguine as the 70-year-old maverick appeared heading for the White House, hoping that his populist rhetoric was aimed at winning votes and would not be translated into tough xenophobic policies if he enters the White House.
Tahir Ashrafi, a senior Pakistani
government cleric, said: 'We hope that Trump's remarks against Muslims were
only to boost his campaign and he will realise that Muslims are a large
population in the U.S.' A spokesman for Indonesian hardline group the Islamic
Defenders' Front said: 'Muslims are foreigners to him.'
The terrorist Muslim Brotherhood (MB)
group — praised by Democrats, President Barack Obama, and presidential nominee
Hillary Clinton — has reportedly denounced “racist” Republican Donald Trump’s
victory over the former secretary of state as a “disaster” for the Arab and
Muslim world.
On Wednesday, a day after Trump won the U.S. presidential election,
Mamdouh Al-Muneer, a spokesperson for MB who also serves as a member of the
supreme body of the Egyptian Islamist Freedom and Justice Party (FJP),
reportedly wrote on social media that the results of the elections were a
catastrophe and a “racist” has ascended to the White House, according to the
Middle East Monitor (MEMO).
“Goliath is coming himself, with his
horses and men… what our nation has witnessed in the last period is something
and what is to come is something different,” he added. “God willing it will be
for us not against us.”
The MB was founded in Egypt and has
expanded into the West — namely the United States, Europe, and Australia — in
addition to other countries across the world. Although various nations have
deemed the group a terrorist organization, including Muslim-majority states
like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the Obama administration has refused to join those
countries and has blocked Republican lawmakers from designating MB a terrorist
group.
The Washington Free Beacon has obtained
a declassified U.S. State Department document that shows that, as secretary of
state, Clinton supported Muslim Brotherhood member and former Egyptian
President Mohamed Morsi. Obama invited Morsi to the White House and has met
with other party representatives there. Current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi, as military chief, led the public movement to overthrow Morsi in July
2013.
