In the 2007 Fox News interview, Imam Husham Al-Husainy wouldn’t call Hezbollah a terrorist organization
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 12: Gunnery Sergeant Cecilia Kozlowski stand-in for Melania Trump, Master Sergeant Matthew Nall stand-in for President-elect Donald Trump, Musician Petty Officer 1st Class Nate Buttram stand-in for Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Master Sergeant Matthew Nall stand-in for President-elect Donald Trump review troops during an inauguration rehearsal on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) will be sworn in on January 20. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
An imam who was previously ridiculed by Fox News host Sean Hannity for his refusal to acknowledge Hezbollah as a terrorist organization is among the religious leaders scheduled to deliver benedictions at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
Imam Husham Al-Husainy, who leads Karbalaa, a prominent Islamic education center in Dearborn, Mich., was asked by Hannity in a 2007 Fox News interview whether Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. “First of all — first of all, Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization,” Al-Husainy replied. “And I’ve got nothing to do with that. But there is a biblical meaning of Hezbollah. It is in Judaism and Christianity and Islam meaning people of God and that means yes.”
The U.S. designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. Al-Husainy appeared on Hannity’s show, alongside liberal journalist Alan Colmes, on the heels of delivering an invocation at the Democratic National Convention winter meeting in January 2007, where he gave “remarks that have raised so many questions,” Hannity said at the time.
“Mr. Husainy, what you said was, ‘Stop the war, the violence, the oppression and the occupation,’” Hannity said, playing a clip from the DNC speech. “Yes, sir,” Al-Husainy responded.
Hannity pressed Al-Husainy, “Who were you calling an occupier, if not for the United States? You were calling the United States an oppressor and an occupier, and now you seem to be backtracking…”
“Those were not my words,” the imam responded, adding, “because one-third of this globe is occupied by one people or another. There is so many kinds of occupation. Political, psychological.”
Later in the interview, Hannity asked, “Will you believe, will you admit that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, sir?”
“That is your explanation,” Al-Husainy answered. “Is it?” Hannity asked. “But Hezbollah — sir, you give me time to explain,” Al-Husainy continued.
“This is a yes or no? Is Hezbollah a terrorist organization? Yes or no? Is Hezbollah…” Hannity asked. “No,” Al-Husainy said.
“No. They’re not?” Hannity asked again. “What are you talking about? What are you talking — which question do you want me to answer?” Al-Husainy said.
During the interview, Al-Husainy denied allegations that he appeared at pro-Hezbollah rallies in Dearborn and in Washington, D.C. “That is false. First of all, I’ve never been in Washington for that, sir,” Al-Husainy told Hannity and Colmes. “Second, we were in Dearborn, and Dearborn is about a quarter million of Middle East people, Muslims and Christian and Arabs and Jews. As a matter of fact, on my right side was a rabbi, on my left side were priests, and we were all together going for the sake of peace, for the sake of cease-fire, for the sake of.”
Trump did not include an imam in his inauguration ceremony when he first took office in 2017. A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from Jewish Insider about the decision to include Al-Husainy.
During the election, Trump leaned on figures — including Al-Husainy — to convince undecided Arab Americans to join his coalition, an effort to gain an edge with voters in Michigan, a key battleground state. “I just want to see the world be more stable,” Al-Husainy told the Financial Times one week before the November election, expressing belief that Trump would end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and favoring his conservative views over that of Vice President Kamala Harris. “I find him closer to the real biblical logic,” Al-Husainy said of Trump.
Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate since 2000 to win the majority-Arab city of Dearborn.
As Inauguration Day draws near, Trump’s transition team announced that the benediction on Jan. 20 will also feature prayers from Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University; Senior Pastor Lorenzo Sewell of the 180 Church in Detroit; and Rev. Father Frank Mann of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.
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