Will Trump Govt Picking 2 Controversial Muslim Preachers Dent India-US Ties?

Ismail Royer & Shaykh Yusuf were appointed to the White House Advisory Board on the Religious Liberty Commission.

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf (left) and Ismail Royer (right). 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint) 

A political storm has erupted over the Donald Trump government's appointment of two individuals with controversial backgrounds to the White House Advisory Board on the Religious Liberty Commission.

Ismail Royer, who admitted to have been part of a training camp run by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan, and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, who was named in a chargesheet by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) for making speeches which allegedly influenced terrorists, have found themselves in prominent positions in the religious body.

The move, apart from being condemned by right-wing circles in the US, may be a cause of concern to New Delhi — more so as it comes at a sensitive time with the recent India-Pakistan conflict and Trump's claims of having mediated a ceasefire between the rivals fresh in everybody's memory.

How will these appointments impact India-US ties? Will New Delhi lodge an official protest with Washington? We decode with the help of experts. But first, a little more about Royer and Yusuf.

Who Are Ismail Royer and Humza Yusuf? 

According to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) press release on his sentencing, Ismail Royer admitted to "aiding and abetting" a number of individuals in gaining entry to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan operated by Lashkar-e-Taiba, where they trained in the use of various weapons.

"Royer admitted to helping co-defendant Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Hamdi gain entry to the Lashkar-e-Taiba camp, where Al-Hamdi received training in the use of a rocket-propelled grenade in furtherance of a conspiracy to conduct military operations against India," says the DoJ.

Born Randall Todd Royer in the US, he converted to Islam in the early 1990s and pursued a career in Islamic advocacy. Apart from the LeT, Royer is said to have had associations with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, al-Qaeda, and the Virginia Jihad Network.

According to the DoJ, he pleaded guilty to facilitating the use of explosives and firearms in 2004 and was sentenced to 20 years of incarceration. He was, however, released in 2017 after serving 13 years behind bars.

In his letters from prison, published by Pulitzer Centre, Royer goes to the extent of justifying his involvement with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

He writes, "The government has made a major mistake in adopting the approach of treating ALL Islamic movements, with certain rare exceptions, as actual or potential threats. My group of friends and I, for example, never thought for an instant, or even discussed, any kind of anti-American actions. It was and is the last thing on our minds. Lashkar-e-Taiba is focused exclusively on Kashmir, and within the Islamic milieu is involved in the intellectual struggle AGAINST al Qaida."

While confirming his appointment, the White House said that since converting to Islam in 1992, Royer "has studied religious sciences with traditional Islamic scholars and spent over a decade working at non-profit Islamic organizations". They further said that he has worked with non-profits to "promote peace between faiths".

On the other hand, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf is the co-founder of the Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California which is the US's first accredited Muslim liberal arts college and teaches Sharia Law.

Born Mark Hanson, he, too, converted to Islam and was consecutively ranked as “The Western world’s most influential Islamic scholar” in The 500 Most Influential Muslims, according to the White House.

During Trump's first term in office, Yusuf served as an advisor to the Center for Islamic Studies in California and was also associated with the State Department's Commission on Unalienable Rights.

Shortly after his appointment, Maha Hilal, the then co-director of Justice for Muslims Collective, had called on American Muslims to condemn Yusuf in an article for Al Jazeera.

"If Yusuf wants to join the ranks of human rights abusers, at the end of the day, that is his prerogative. But he cannot do so as our representative. If we continue to remain silent, we will be complicit in the very violence that he is enabling," she had said.

"It is incumbent on Muslims to speak out against Yusuf. Holding him accountable could set a precedent in our community so all those who have enjoyed a form of immunity due to their elevated status no longer feel above reproach," Hilal added.

In 2016, India's NIA mentioned Yusuf's name in a chargesheet against alleged ISIS recruit Mohammad Farhan Shaikh. According to the chargesheet, Farhan Shaikh and others suspects arrested claimed to have watched the speeches of Hamza Yusuf and other preachers like Zakir Naik.

Of late Yusuf has faced criticism from within the Muslim community in America for his alleged silence on Israel's massacre in Gaza as well as the change in his stance on racism within the US. He is often accused of pushing Muslims towards political quiescence.

When questioned about the 'Black Lives Matter' movement by Al Jazeera in 2016, he said that the US is one of the "least racist societies in the world".

"The United States is, in term of its laws, one of the least racist societies in the world. There are twice as many whites that have been shot by police but nobody ever shows those videos. It’s the assumption that the police are racist and it’s not always the case," he was quoted as saying.

Hypocrisy or Administrative Sloppiness? Take Your Pick

While some critics have called the US government out for "hypocrisy", having appointed these men with alleged terror links despite advocating zero tolerance for terrorism, others have blamed the Trump administration's vetting process.

"If these allegations are true, they highlight the typical sloppiness of the Trump government and point to their lack of attention and unprofessionalism," says Sumit Ganguly, Director of the Huntington Program on US-India Relations at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

These appointments come close on the heels of another "sloppy" moment.

The Trump administration had faced considerable flak after an incident came to light where former National Security Advisor (NSA) Mike Waltz allegedly included the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine in a Signal group with high-ranking officials in which military attack plans on Yemen were being discussed. The controversy, which came to be known as 'Signalgate', led to Waltz' ouster barely three months into his appointment.

Meanwhile, some say that Trump himself doesn't seem to have had a role in appointing Royer and Yusuf to the government body, and that the decision was taken by members of his administration without his knowledge.

"I doubt Trump enters into these areas of decision making. As far as he is concerned, these are trivial appointments," says Ganguly.

Yet Another Thorn in India-US Ties? 

Meanwhile, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has not yet reacted to the appointments of the two controversial figures. However, there is considerable speculation that New Delhi may raise this matter through official or unofficial channels.

"The fact that both these men [Royer and Yusuf] have some baggage from the past, there is a possibility of concern in New Delhi," says Michael Kugelman, South Asia analyst and columnist with Foreign Policy magazine.

However, he added that the US government's response would be that regardless of their past, the two appointees have now become supporters of religious tolerance and diversity.

"I think the administration would say that these two individuals strongly embrace religious freedom and condemn terrorism. Nevertheless, their alleged past associations could well be raked up by the Indian government."

Michael Kugelman

What makes the appointments even more bothersome is that they come at a highly sensitive time — just days after the conflict between India and Pakistan that came in response to the horrific Pahalgam terror attack, which the Resistance Front, a proxy for the LeT, claimed to have carried out.

As mentioned above, Ismail Royer, one of the new appointees, has past links with the LeT.

Trump had repeatedly claimed to have mediated a ceasefire between the two countries — which was outright rejected by New Delhi. The claim, however, saw a fervent response from Pakistan, which hailed the US' alleged role in the ceasefire and called President Trump a "peacemaker".

Given Trump's purported reputation of taking offence by personal differences, could the 'flip-flop' between New Delhi and Washington have had anything to do with the appointment of these men, considered inimical to India?

"While it is true that Trump harbours grudges and is quick to assume insults even when none is intended, my honest view is that in this particular case, the appointments were already underway ahead of the India-Pakistan conflict," Ganguly said.

However, he added that regardless of Trump's non-participation in the decision-making process, these appointments are sure to dent India-US ties — whether in a big or small way, that remains to be seen.

"There's no question about it."

(The Quint has reached out to the Ministry of External Affairs regarding the US' appointment of Ismail Royer and Humza Yusuf. This article will be published as and when they respond.)