Muslim Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar has suggested individuals who are disobedient to Allah should be flogged with 80 lashes.
In a post on Twitter today, Omar cited al-Noor 24:4, a passage used by extremist groups such as ISIS to justify public lashings for rebellion against Islam.
The Minnesota congresswoman’s tweet read: “And those who accuse chaste women, and produce not four witnesses, flog them with eighty stripes, and reject their testimony forever. They indeed are the Faasiquoon (liars, rebellious, disobedient to Allaah) [al-Noor 24:4]”
Omar cited the passage in response to a Twitter user who implied the congresswoman was in violation of her own professed religion, saying:
“Nor come nigh to fornication/adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).” – Qur’an, Sura 17 (Al-Isra), ayat 3″
“And those who accuse chaste women, and produce not four witnesses, flog them with eighty stripes, and reject their testimony forever. They indeed are the Faasiqoon (liars, rebellious, disobedient to Allaah)”
[al-Noor 24:4].
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 1, 2020
Last year Omar was accused of having an affair with a married man and father who worked as a political-consultant with her campaign.
Omar has also been accused of marrying her brother in order to commit immigration fraud and obtain American citizenship. The congresswoman has said the allegation is “absolutely false.”
Despite the practice being widely condemned, floggings are still used as a form of punishment in Islamic nations such as Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Sudan, and Somalia, which is Omar’s country of birth.
