Let’s address the elephant in the room.
Along with so many of my fellow Virginians, my faith is important to me. It’s a huge part of who I am and it’s why I’m committed to serving humanity. Our campaign motto, “compassion through action”, is inspired by my faith and by a Bible verse. But, unfortunately, I’ve faced bigoted attacks and death threats because I’m an American Muslim.
Frankly, as a public figure who is also an American Muslim, getting hateful messages tying me to terrorism pretty much comes with the territory. That’s a terrible thing to say, but over the years I’ve tried to deal with stuff like that with compassion and grace. I just never thought that messages attacking me for my faith would come from my very own U.S. Congressman.
Rep. Rob Wittman, who has been in office for over a decade, is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads and mailers attacking me for my faith. He’s calling me radical and trying to tie me to terrorism.
I’ve been here before and that type of bigoted stuff has real world consequences. In 2018 I received death threats for my faith from a man radicalized by anti-Muslim hateful rhetoric. It was investigated and the person was eventually convicted of his dangerous crime. This was serious.
But again, in 2019, when I ran for state senate, I received a credible death threat because my opponent ran ads on Facebook trying to tie me to terrorism. At the time, my kids were aged; 10, 6, and 3. And in 2020, Rob Wittman is using the same dangerous playbook and putting my life and the life of my wife and children in danger. Our nation is intensely divided and Rob Wittman is adding to that division with dangerous fear mongering.
But understand why he’s doing this. It is because he doesn’t want to talk about his abysmal record or the issues impacting people in the First District.
Like Christianity, my faith teaches me to love thy neighbor and to turn the other cheek. I am working, as I have my entire life, to bring people together with compassion and justice.
And Rob Wittman, let me tell you something, ‘Qasim Rashid’ is an American name. I am a US Citizen. My flesh and blood served in the US Marines to fight for my freedoms and your freedoms.
At a time when 200,000 Americans have died, our economy is in a recession, our small businesses are being destroyed, and we still don’t have reliable broadband, Wittman decides to resort to tired, outdated, and nativist Islamophobic attacks. This is a cowardly excuse for avoiding the issues that impact people’s lives — and it’s not what our district or our nation deserve.
Friends, I wouldn’t be speaking out if this wasn’t serious. It’s important to respond to these hateful and dangerous attacks. I’ve been here before and it was scary for me and my wife.
I have three young kids who call me dad. I am Ayesha’s husband. I am the middle child in a family of 6. I’m the proud brother of a US Marine Veteran. I’m a friend to many. I’m an immigrant. I’m a Muslim. I’m American.
I’m running for U.S. Congress to fight for the issues that matter to every-day First District voters.
I believe in the more perfect union our Founding Fathers envisioned, one of compassion and justice. Maybe that’s not important to Rob Wittman, but it has always been important to me.
If you see those attack ads on TV or those mailers and it makes you question my faith. Know this: my faith is grounded in exactly what Jesus Christ taught, to love God and to love and serve ALL humanity with compassion through action. Luke 10:27. May the Almighty enable We the People to build our more perfect union, together. God bless you.
