But he also said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was “highly confident” Mateen had been “radicalized” while consuming online propaganda and that he had claimed allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a series of calls during the attack.
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Nihad Awad, executive director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, above, said of the Muslim community: ‘We are sickened and heartbroken by this appalling attack’.
The comments were Obama’s most direct acknowledgment yet that the attacks like the one in Orlando may be a new fixture of American life – the sort of observation that could only be delivered by a second-term president with seven months left in office.
Christian West Howard owns several rental properties in the Orlando area and is offering them up free of charge to victims’ families who need a place to stay.
In an avalanche of social media posts, interviews and statements, American Muslims conveyed despair and outrage at the attack on a LGBT club known for embracing all people. I have clearly said we face terrorist enemies who use Islam to justify slaughtering people. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe campaign by Equality Florida, the largest LGBT rights group in the state, has pulled in more than $1.3 million.
It was an unusual setting for a gathering of religious leaders. Whether it be against herself or the LGBTQ community, Shaikh is asking for unity and understanding.
She says the latest shooting is really a call to come together, not just for Muslims, but for all religions, sexual orientations, and races.
“We wish to respond to evil with good, as our faith instructs us, and send a powerful message of compassion through action”, Florida Muslims said on the fund-raising website. “We teach peace and justice”.
And as concerns over backlash against the Muslim community continue to grow, local Muslims say they’ll continue to condemn all acts of terrorism. Like the rest of America, Muslim-Americans are groping for answers and trying to make sense of this heinous act.
Yet, to many Americans, the shooter is seen as representative of Islam.
Shawn Ahmed, who runs The Uncultured Project, an anti-poverty organization, has been tweeting about what it means to him to be gay and Muslim.
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio, June 13, 2016. It’s no secret that overseas men who are gay – and merely suspected of being gay – are targeted for execution; today, that threat has reached the United States.
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“While we do not typically serve hospitals in the Orlando area, the Red Cross is providing a small number of blood products to support Florida hospitals in response to the shooting, and we stand ready to provide additional blood and blood products as needed”, the American Red Cross said in a statement on Sunday.
