‘Dehumanizing:’ Alabama GOP candidates accelerate attacks on Muslims

Corey Saylor said that attacks on Muslims like himself, while not new, are just political attacks and are not unique to people of the Islamic faith.

“It seems to be, you can’t look anywhere without having some politician trying to compete with others on how hard they can bash on the practice of a faith that’s been in the United States since pre-colonial times,” said Saylor, director of research and policy for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), who has practiced Islam for over 35 years. “That’s really unfortunate, because it’s politicians ignoring the issues that are really of concern to Americans, such as gas prices going up, grocery prices going up. Is my Social Security going to be funded? And simply just saying, look at the Muslims, look at the Muslims, and trying to spread fear.”

In recent months, Alabama Republicans have ramped up attacks on Muslims, a small percentage of the state’s population. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, seeking the GOP nomination for governor, has made ever more aggressive attacks on people of the Islamic faith that have led CAIR to put him on a list of anti-Muslim extremists. 

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Wes Allen, running for the GOP nomination for Alabama lieutenant governor, attacked former Alabama Republican Party chair John Wahl for attending an interfaith event during Ramadan earlier this month at the Anniston Islamic Center. 

“You will never find me in an Islamic Center or a mosque,” Allen said in a post on Facebook. “I am a committed Christian. I want no part in Islam and the vast majority of Republicans in this state and across this country agree with me.”

Wahl, who entered the lieutenant governor’s race last-minute after an endorsement from President Donald Trump, said in a statement posted to Facebook Tuesday afternoon that the event was for all faiths and he went to share his Christian faith.

“I would remind Wes that Jesus did not stay in the synagogue – He went to the well to speak to the Samaritan woman, He entered the homes of the rejected, and He commanded us all to go into all the world,” the statement said. 

Messages seeking comment from Allen, Wahl and the Anniston Islamic Center were left Wednesday morning. 

Saylor said the attacks were “the type of speech that you see when you’re preparing a population for really extreme policies.”

“It’s dehumanizing, and it makes people afraid of that population, and tries to paint them as an immediate threat,” he said. 

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, CAIR called on Allen to visit a local mosque and to meet with Muslims in the state, saying his comments “reflect an alarming misunderstanding of both Islam and the importance of interfaith engagement in a diverse, democratic society.

“By attending a service at the Islamic Center, John Wahl demonstrated a commitment to know and serve the people of Alabama,” Britton O’Shields, CAIR-Alabama staff attorney, said in the statement. “Attending an interfaith dinner is not an endorsement of any religion, but rather a demonstration of mutual respect.”

Recently, Tuberville posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, that “the enemy is inside the gates,” including an image of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York with a picture of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim and the first person of Asian descent to hold that position.

Tuberville has also claimed that the Quran, the holy book of Islam, “calls on Muslims to wage a ‘jihad’ or holy war against nonbelievers.” The senator has also attacked an Islamic school in Hoover, calling Islam a “cult.” Schools officials said Tuberville’s comments put students in danger.

Tuberville introduced legislation in Congress called the “No Sharia Act” that prohibits courts from enforcing foreign law in the U.S. The bill also voids and prohibits family law from enforcing foreign law in family courts.

A message seeking comment from Tuberville’s campaign was left Wednesday afternoon.

Former U.S. Sen. and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Jones, who has called Tuberville’s comments “vile”  said in an interview Wednesday morning that Alabama politics have reached a new low.

“This really doesn’t have to do with a voting bloc here or voting bloc there. It has everything to do with who we are as Alabamians,” Jones said. “Do we believe in the Constitution of the United States and freedom of religion, or not? Do we believe that people should have dignity and respect in their communities, or not?”

According to the Pew Research Center, about 1% of Alabama’s adult population in 2024 identified as Muslim. Jones said that he and the rest of the state are tired of hateful rhetoric, and that it dates back to segregation.

“Right now, it’s directed at the Muslim community, but in the past, it’s been directed at the Jewish community. In the past, it’s been directed at the Black community,” Jones said. “People are tired of that. We’re all in this boat together, and we need to start acting like it.”

Rev. Carolyn Foster, director of faith-based and community engagement for Greater Birmingham Ministries, said in an interview Wednesday that Allen’s comments were “a statement of ignorance of his own faith.

“Because that is not what the Bible teaches,” she said. “That is not what Jesus taught.” 

Foster said that she hopes that both Republican candidates will take time to get to know “folks you have ‘othered,’ because you will find that you have more in common than you have different.” 

“They’re not just anti-Muslim, they’re also anti-immigrant. They’re also anti-poverty, anti-voting rights, just anti, period. When you wrap all of that up, it is really about their fear of the ‘other,’” Foster said.