The Republican presidential candidates "showed their fears about Islam and radical Islam" during Thursday's debate in South Carolina, but they also "all showed their ignorance about Islam," Saba Ahmed of the Republican Muslim Coalition told
Newsmax TV on Friday.
"What got me most upset was how blatantly they thought they knew what they were talking about when they talked about Islamic jihad, which is supposed to be just a struggle serving God," Ahmed, the coalition's founder and president, told "The Hard Line" host Ed Berliner.
"They only, in their minds, associated that with terrorism, but practicing Muslims have to do jihad every day in terms of struggling to live their lives to serve God.
"Unless we understand what we're talking about, you can never solve the problems — and none of them have actually identified the rail-root causes of terrorism," she added. "They all are misguided and ignorant about Islam.
"We have a lot of work to do among the Republican presidential candidates."
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That particularly includes front-runner Donald Trump, who has advocated banning Muslims out of terrorism concerns. Ahmed told Berliner that she was "disappointed" that the developer stood his ground on the issue in the debate.
The coalition is hoping to meet with Trump later this month in New York, she said.
"I'm just waiting to get a confirmation — and we really hope to change Donald Trump's mind on Muslims," Ahmed said. "Blanket religious discrimination and an illegal ban based on just religion is completely unconstitutional.
"He needs to look into what policies he's advocating for," she said. "There's no basis for banning people based on religion."
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