In a few days, we Americans will become accustomed to the “F” word for the next four (or more) years. There exists a possibility that for the first time in the 250 years of its existence as a republic, a fascist will be installed as president of the United States!

It sounds ominously hysterical, hyperbolic and overblown, but wait for the dawn of a gloomy November 6. We would realize that the day before, we said farewell to our taken-for-granted constitution, freedom and democracy.

Are you ready to give the reign of our country again to a twice-impeached, four-times indicted, convicted felon, who has been accused by more than 20 women for groping and sexual assault, found liable for rape, lies glibly and fantasizes publicly about the genitalia of a dead golfer? Yet, a large swath of men and women views him as Christ’s Second Coming.

Here is a man who created an aggressive and violent cattle-like cult, gullible enough to fall for every merchandise he hawks, including a Bible. Imagine what he would do if he was entrusted with the Shroud of Turin!

Do you really wish to return this man to the White House who calls his motherland the world’s garbage can, utters profanity laced with contempt and malice every time he speaks and equates playing golf to navigating complex international crises?

So Imam Bilal Alzuhairi’s recent carte blanche endorsement of such a person as “peace candidate” is myopic and perilous. His off-the-cuff comments, such as, “We, as Muslims, stand with him because he promises peace — he promises peace, not war”, and “We are supporting him because he promised to end war in the Middle East and Ukraine”, exposes his naivety in geopolitical matters.

Before he decided to throw his full support behind a such a consummate liar and immoral grifter, who in the last decade has plunged the country and the world into an abyss of no return, Imam Alzuhairi should have read up on the Balfour Declaration, Mein Kempf and the Project 2025 manifesto.

In contentious times like the present, our religious preachers should confine themselves to delivering sermons from the pulpit and not pontificate on politics, especially if speaking on behalf of their congregation without expressed permission.

Barely a month or so ago, in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, his favorite candidate had mused about real estate prospects on the ashes of plundered Gaza, saying that “as a developer, it could be the most beautiful place — the weather, the water, the whole thing, the climate. It could be so beautiful.”

Apparently, it does not stir Imam Alzuhairi a bit that, instead of talking about ending the Israeli genocide, usurpation, occupation and illegal expansion on Palestinian land, rebuilding the bombed and ravaged homes and infrastructure, or returning more than 2 million displaced people in Gaza to their homes, this mobster is dreaming up of a real estate bonanza on the bodies of more than 42,000 dead civilians?

Vote for him, if you like his vision of autocracy, vows of retribution against the “enemy within” and sweeping immunity guaranteed by his loyal lackeys in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Abdul-Majeed Azad

Columbus, OH