“They go after Christian churches but they don’t tend to go after mosques,” Trump said.
Rabat – President Donald Trump is facing accusations of Islamophobia after saying American authorities will treat Muslims during Ramadan differently than they did with Christians during Easter.
Trump cast doubts on April 18 over whether authorities would implement the same coronavirus-induced restrictions on public gatherings on Muslims like they did on churches during Easter.
“There could be a difference,” Trump suggested.
Trump made his remarks when he was asked about a tweet from conservative writer Paul Sperry, who suggested Muslims would receive special treatment during Ramadan amid COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Sperry tweeted, “Let’s see if authorities enforce the social distancing orders for mosques during Ramadan” like they did with Christians during Easter.
Trump retweeted the tweet, saying he has been seeing “a great disparity in this country.”
“We’ll have to see what will happen,” he added.
Despite social distancing guidelines against religious gatherings, some churches in the US still met for Easter.
In response to an Al Jazeera question, the president said he believes in fairness.
“It does not matter what your faith is but our politicians seem to treat different faiths very differently,” Trump said.
Taking his assertions further, Trump said the Christian faith is treated “much differently than it was, and I think it’s treated very unfairly.”
Muslims in North America will observe the first day of Ramadan on April 24.
During a normal month of Ramadan, Muslims gather at mosques in the evening to perform “taraweeh” prayers.
Despite the importance of the prayers for Muslims, the Islamic Society of North America and Muslim medical experts have been urging the suspension of group prayers, among other gatherings, to avoid spreading COVID-19.
The US, the epicenter of the pandemic, has more than 770,000 COVID-19 cases, including 41,114 deaths.
Pew Research Center estimated the number of Muslims in the US at 3.45 million in a 2017 study.
According to the statistics, Muslims make up 1.1% of the US population.
“Based on the same analysis, Pew Research Center also estimates that there are 2.15 million Muslim adults in the country, and that a majority of them (58%) are immigrants,” the center wrote.
Another study from Pew Research Center in 2019 found that while all religious groups suffered discrimination in the US at some points, a majority of American adults believe that Muslims are subject to discrimination in the US.
A majority of 56% said Muslims are “discriminated against a lot.”
“Among U.S. Muslims themselves, many say they have experienced specific instances of discrimination, including being treated with suspicion, singled out by airport security or called offensive names,” according to a 2017 survey of Muslim Americans.
