Dearborn Imam Was Invited to Be Part of Trump Inauguration Program, But Then Was Left Out

Dearborn Imam Husham Al-Husainy

Dearborn Imam Husham Al-Husainy said he was invited to deliver a benediction at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday. But in the end he was left out of program without explanation, the Detroit News reports.

Imam Al-Husainy of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Dearborn told The Detroit News lhe had ccepted the invitation to at Monday's ceremony.

Those who did pray included Lorenzo Sewell, pastor of Detroit's 180 Church; Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York; the Rev. Franklin Graham; Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University; and the Rev. Frank Mann of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, the News reports

While there was no official explanation, there had been renewed criticism of the imam's past remarks, including an interview with Fox News television host Sean Hannity in 2007 in which he refused to label Hezbollah, a political group and militia, as a terrorist organization. The U.S. labels it a terrorist organization. 

The Zionist Organization of America in a statement last week urged the Trump inaugural committee to cancel the plans for Al-Husainy to speak, citing in part his refusal to call Hezbollah a terror group, the News reports.