At a White Home occasion marking the Nationwide Day of Prayer, President Donald Trump stood flanked by non secular leaders of each stripe—Christian pastors, Jewish rabbis, Hindu swamis, Buddhist monks, and Muslim imams.
However in typical Trump vogue, what started as a rigorously choreographed second of non secular unity quickly veered into marketing campaign path chaos, as he launched into an unscripted anecdote involving imams, demise, and what he mistakenly referred to as “38 virgins.”
“I really like them. They had been nice,” Trump mentioned, recalling a gathering with Muslim leaders in Michigan through the 2024 marketing campaign. “They mentioned, ‘We don’t need to die.’ I mentioned, ‘You need to die?’ They mentioned, ‘We don’t need to die.’ I mentioned, ‘What in regards to the 38 virgins?’ They mentioned, ‘That’s nonsense.’”
The road triggered predictable mockery on-line. “It’s 72 virgins, not 38,” one X consumer deadpanned. “Trump’s math works in mysterious methods.” One other joked that the quantity downgrade was the most recent instance of the previous president’s famed deal-making skills—“negotiating paradise down by 47%.”
The “72 virgins” idea itself is a broadly misunderstood and infrequently misrepresented trope. It originates from a disputed hadith in some medieval Islamic texts and isn’t talked about within the Quran; most mainstream Islamic students regard it as symbolic, apocryphal, and even satire, not doctrinal theology. Nonetheless, the concept has been weaponised by extremists and misused within the West as a crude stereotype to color Muslim beliefs as inherently violent or absurd.
However behind the giggle traces lies a much more consequential actuality: Trump’s rising enchantment amongst Muslim voters, particularly in Michigan’s Arab-American communities. It’s a political realignment that few pundits predicted—and one which helped tip a crucial battleground state in his favour.
Earlier, through the 2024 election, many Arab and Muslim American voters, notably in battleground Michigan, made a shocking shift towards Donald Trump. In Dearborn, a metropolis with one of many largest Muslim populations in the USA, Trump gained 42% of the vote, a exceptional soar from the roughly 26% he garnered in 2020.
Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, burdened by the Biden administration’s dealing with of the Gaza battle and broader Center East coverage, secured simply 36%, whereas Inexperienced Occasion candidate Jill Stein obtained 18%. Trump’s deliberate outreach to Muslim leaders, his vows to “finish the wars,” and his emphasis on non secular liberty struck a chord with voters pissed off by Democratic overseas coverage and progressive cultural agendas.
For a lot of Muslim Individuals, notably in Yemeni and Palestinian communities, Trump’s platform, whereas flawed, felt extra aligned with their priorities than the Democratic establishment. It was a calculated, interest-based vote slightly than an endorsement of his persona, however in a decent state like Michigan, it made all of the distinction.
