Poser to Muslims: Do you beat your wives?

Tusla, March 5: An Oklahoma lawmaker who once likened Islam to cancer asked Muslims to answer some written questions — including, “Do you beat your wife?” before agreeing to meet them.

Republican representative John Bennett’s office distributed the questionnaire on Thursday as the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations organised its annual Muslim Day at the Capitol.

His office gave the list of questions to three Islamic school students who came to his office and asked to speak with him. “(The prophet) Mohammed was a killer of pagans, Christians and Jews that did not agree with him,” read one of 18 questions on the form.

“Do you agree with his example?” The questions asked Muslims if they would denounce terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah and if they believed former Muslims should be punished for leaving Islam. One question asked Muslims if they agreed that Islamic law, known as Sharia, should rule over non-Muslims.

The questionnaire drew a swift rebuke from civil rights groups and Oklahoma’s CAIR chapter, which represents 40,000 Muslim residents.

“Nobody should be vetted with stupid, Islamophobic, hateful, bigoted questions before they can meet with their representative,” said Adam Soltani, executive director of CAIR-Oklahoma.

Bennett, a former US Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, made headlines in 2014 when he made anti-Islam comments on social media.

He has earlier referred to Islam as “a cancer in our nation that needs to be cut out.”

Recently, Mr Bennett came under attack when he posted a news story on Facebook critical of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and added the comment, “2 words ... Firing squad.”