US Imam rallies Americans to oppose Trump's xenophobia

A US Imam has delivered a powerful speech calling on Americans to oppose President Donald Trump's divisive anti-Islam policies and champion human rights.

Omar Suleiman, President of Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, told a packed crowd in Dallas, Texas this week to resist Trump's "Muslim travel ban" and xenophobic rhetoric.

"We're better than this and we will show the President and we will show those that feel empowered by the xenophobia and want to take America back down this dark route, not on our watch, it will not happen," Suleiman said.

"It is not just the Muslim community today that is under attack here, it is not just immigrants that are under attack - it is everything that this country stands for that is under attack," he added.

The cleric compared Trump's controversial executive order to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and the denial of entry to Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust.

Trump's order bars refugee arrivals for at least 120 days and suspends visas from seven Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - for 90 days.

"Donald Trump is inadvertently mobilising our communities like never before. He is creating his worst nightmare," Suleiman said.

"Complacency would have left us in isolation and made us more uncomfortable in our echo chambers. Now we are forced out of our comfort zones to build coalitions with like-minded Americans of all colours and faiths that do not want to see our country take this path," he added.

"Let me say to you that Donald Trump will never make me hate you. And I hope that no politician will ever make you hate me," he concluded.

A Texas mosque was set ablaze shortly after the "Muslim ban" order was signed by Trump, sparking fears that Islamophobic arsonists targeted the place of worship.

Advocacy groups have recorded a 67 percent surge in hate crimes since Trump won the presidential election last November.

Jewish centres around the US have received bomb threats this week, with 14 centres in 10 states reporting them, according to the JCC Association of North America.