From Backing Biden in 2020 to #AbandonBiden Campaign: Muslim Americans Refuse to Support Biden in 2024
"We have the means, we have the numbers, and we have the power. "
Since Biden’s support for Israel in its efforts to defeat the Gazan terror group Hamas, America’s Muslim voters, starting in Minnesota, have launched an #AbandonBiden campaign. Meanwhile, this campaign has been adopted by Muslim leaders from swing states, such as Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, aiming to prevent a second term for Biden. On his 𝕏 (formerly known as Twitter) page, Imam Tom Facchine (Yaqeen Institute) writes that the Democrats need to be punished.
In Michigan, Arab community leaders are encouraging voters to select “uncommitted” on their ballots during the upcoming presidential primary elections. The reason for this cold treatment of President Biden and the Dems is the fact that the U.S. has supported Israel in its fight against Hamas since the attacks on October 7th last year. Muslim voters feel disappointed, to say the least, but also know they have grown in influence and size over the past decades, which means they have the ability to make their voices heard. In a video from the last presidential election campaign, by Emgage USA, in which well-known Muslim politicians such as Linda Sarsour and Rashida Tlaib are also involved, the given message is clear:
“We have the means, we have the numbers and we have the power.”
Elections 2020
During the last elections, the Democratic Party tried to gain, and succeeded, the votes of the American Muslim eligible voters, to help Biden get elected. This campaign was named “One Million Muslim Votes” and was the largest Muslim mobilization program in the history of the USA according to the organizers. During an online panel discussion from the same video I mentioned above, panelist Salam Al-Marayati said that the next administration will need to be held accountable for promises they are making during the election campaign, concerning “socio-economic, racial justice and human security.” Mister Al-Marayati also stated that it is an Islamic responsibility to make sure that the voters’ tax dollars are used for just purposes.
The Emgage Million Muslim Votes promotional video can be viewed here:
Biden also appears in this video, speaking to Khurrum Wahid, chairperson of Emgage USA, who tells Biden that Muslim Americans want to partner with him to fix -as he put it- the societal harm of the Trump presidency. Then Wahid promises Biden that:
“We have a swing-state strategy, we will deliver for you Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Florida. We will activate large groups of voters in Texas and Arizona and we will ask everyone we know to vote for Joe in November.”
In return, Biden expresses his desire that schools spend more time teaching students about the Islamic faith. He also claimed during this conversation that Muslim communities were the first to feel, as Biden put it, Donald Trump’s assault on black and brown communities with his vile Muslim ban. According to Biden, under former president Trump America has seen an uncontainable rise of Islamophobia, and he also claims Trump has put Islamophobic people in key positions in the government, making Muslims part of a perceived racial conflict in America, but also around the world when he promised to speak on behalf of persecuted Muslims all over the world.

Islamic extremism
Whether Biden has been such a great advocate for persecuted Muslims around the world is arguable. To the best of my knowledge the Uyghur Muslims in China and Muslims living in the Russian Federation, specifically Donbas and Crimea, are still facing harsh discrimination without any help or even condemnation from the responsible authorities from the West. What is interesting however, is that under the Biden administration the Islamic terror groups from Yemen, the Houthis, had been removed from the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) groups, only having to re-designate them again after recent attacks on the Red Sea earlier this year.
The Houthis are guilty of several war crimes such as recruiting thousands of child soldiers of which approximately two thousand have been killed, despite their promise to put an end to this evil practice in 2022. Houthis have also abducted, raped, and forced minor girls to marry their commanders, some girls as young as twelve. Overall, under their reign, women’s rights have gone down the drain, leaving women and girls harassed and suppressed. All of this was known before the attacks by Houthis this year, and yet, the Biden administration chose to remove the Houthis from this list.
Fulani militants who, according to International Christian Concern, are possibly the greatest threat to Christians and the overall security in Nigeria and who were designated the fourth deadliest group in 2014 by the Global Terror Index, were removed from the list of Countries of Particular Concern as soon as Biden came into office. And again, this January, when the U.S. State Department published its annual report, Nigeria, where more Christians are being killed for their faith than in all other countries combined, was not listed as a country of concern. The Fulani militants were not mentioned as an entity of concern, just shortly after 200 Christians in Plateau state were slaughtered on Christmas Eve in 2023.
Shift of loyalty
As it seems, Biden has lost the loyalty of the American Muslim voters by standing with Israel in its struggle to eliminate Hamas from Gaza. Whether the absence of the Muslim vote will be of influence for the actual elections for a second term, is hard to tell, but the same campaigners who previously incited their fellow Muslims to get Biden in the White House are now making every effort possible to make sure he will not win again.
Global Impact
Mixing religion, any religion, with state affairs and even geopolitical decision-making, can be a slippery road with serious consequences for both Americans working and living abroad, as well as other nationals. For example, many would argue that Western countries today are living in post-Christian societies. For Islamic extremist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, however, the West is the equivalent of Christianity. This is why ISIS back in 2015 made a video in which it addressed “the Nation of the Cross” before beheading 21 Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya. This “Nation of the Cross” is, in their view, the Christian West.
Groups like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and others often hold Christians living in the Middle East and North Africa accountable for actions of Western nations, or as accomplices of the West. Mark Durie, an expert in Islamic theology, explained why the Coptic martyrs were wearing orange overalls; they are what Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo Bay are made to wear and since “Christian” nations did this to Muslims in the West, the Copts were treated the same way, being viewed as henchmen of Western nations.
Mixing politics and religion can be a dangerous cocktail when you try to win over the loyalty of people or a community solely based on their religious beliefs. In the end, it is a fragile relationship in which you have to make promises to favor a certain group or community over others, which in the long run can only damage all sides, or, as Jefferson once wrote:
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
As is usually the case, the attention of politicians is directed toward gaining votes rather than what is right. This is why Biden kowtows to domestic Muslims (who enjoy all the benefits of American protections) who can affect his reelection bid, and ignores those in China and Donbas (who are actually persecuted) who cannot.
It is also why he calls out Trump. Trump can certainly act like a horse's ass, but on Muslim affairs he exposes Biden as the hypocrite he is. Actions speak louder than words, and despite Trump's divisive rhetoric, did Biden or any other president manage to oversee the Abraham Accords? He helped facilitate normalized relations between 4 Muslim countries and Israel, and Saudi Arabia was close but backed out after he lost the election. Had that been allowed to continue, what would Oct. 7th and its aftermath have looked like? It's a legitimate question. Biden can call Trump all the "anti-whatever" names he wants, but facts are facts.
Can't wait for 2028 when neither of these two divisive, elderly bozos will be involved, and maybe voters will return to sanity with some fresh blood to choose from. In the meantime, despite any personal distaste, when it comes to Muslim relations, Trump has the better track record. Regardless of any of Biden's bluster.