Mother of Pakistani-American war hero says Trump ignorant of Islam, sacrifice

'I didn't say anything because I was in pain,' Ghazala Khan wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece

WASHINGTON: The mother of a American Muslim soldier who was killed in Iraq castigated Republican Donald Trump on Sunday as ignorant of Islam and of sacrifice after he questioned her silence during her husband's speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Ghazala Khan, whose son, US Army Captain Humayun Khan, was killed in 2004, bristled at Trump's implication she was silent because she, as a Muslim woman, had not been allowed to speak.

"Donald Trump said that maybe I wasn't allowed to say anything. That is not true," she wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece, adding that she decided not to speak at the convention because of her pain over the 2004 death of her son.



"When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant," she wrote.

"Donald Trump said he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesn't know what the word sacrifice means."

Earlier on Thursday, father of Humayun accused Trump of vilifying patriotic American Muslims while “sacrificing nothing” himself, in a steely rebuke that electrified the Democratic convention.



Khizr Khan admonished the Republican presidential nominee for his plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

“Tonight we are honored to stand here as parents of Captain Humayun Khan and as patriotic American Muslims with undivided loyalty to the country,” he said, stirring delegates who had watched a video tribute to his son in captivated silence.

Trump on Sunday tweeted that Khan's son had died twelve years ago: "Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our "leaders" to eradicate it!"

Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our "leaders" to eradicate it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2016

Trump said he had been "viciously attacked" by Khan at the convention. "Am I not allowed to respond?" he asked. "Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!"

I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2016