Visitors honor fallen Muslim soldier Humayun Khan at Arlington

The grave of a fallen Muslim American soldier has received many visitors since his father sang his praises at the Democratic National Convention last week.

Khizr Khan’s emotional speech struck a nerve with patriotic Americans on both sides of the proverbial aisle and compelled many to find U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan’s gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.

The tombstone has been adorned with flowers, letters and tiny American flags — all expressions of love and gratitude for the young man’s valor, patriotism and sacrifice. He died at the age of 27 while saving his fellow troops during the Iraq War in 2004.

On Thursday night in Philadelphia, Khan rebuked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his comments on Muslims and his proposed ban on them entering the United States. If Trump had it his way, Khan said, his son never would have been allowed into the country.

“Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America — you will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities,” Khan said to thunderous applause. “You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”

Jennifer Lynch, a public affairs officer at Arlington National Cemetery, said more than 400,000 people have been buried at the cemetery, which averages about 4 million visits each year.

“Everyone is a hero here, and we encourage people to come and visit all of the people that are buried here. Every one of them has a story of their sacrifice to the country,” she said in a phone interview with Yahoo News.

She said that the cemetery is “not a political place,” noting that campaigning and similar activities are prohibited.

Though Khan’s suggestion was for Trump to visit the military cemetery to better appreciate the diversity of men and women buried there, many others have heeded his call.

Trump did, however, respond to Khan’s accusation that he has not sacrificed anything.

“I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve done, I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot,” Trump said during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” that aired Sunday.

Khan, a Pakistani immigrant, had also suggested that Trump read the U.S. Constitution to learn about how it guarantees liberty and equal protection under the law for all Americans.

“You are asking Americans to trust you with their future: Let me ask you — have you even read the United States Constitution?” Khan said, while brandishing his pocket edition of the Constitution. “I will gladly lend you my copy!” (Sales of the Constitution skyrocketed as a result of this moment.)

Trump is accustomed to lashing out at his political opponents when he’s attacked, and his response this time around was not much different. Though he acknowledged that Capt. Humayun Khan was a hero, he also criticized and ridiculed his parents across several platforms.

“While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things,” Trump said in a statement Monday.

In the Stephanopoulos interview, Trump said Khan was “very emotional” and speculated that perhaps he would not allow his wife, Ghazala Khan, to speak at the convention.

“I saw him. He was, you know, very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me. His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me, but plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet. Looked like she had nothing to say. A lot of people have said that.”

In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Ghazala Khan responded to Trump by saying that her husband had asked if she wanted to speak during the convention, but she wouldn’t have been able to with the huge picture of their dead son displayed prominently on the stage.

“I cannot walk into a room with pictures of Humayun. For all these years, I haven’t been able to clean the closet where his things are — I had to ask my daughter-in-law to do it,” she wrote. “Walking onto the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?”

Other notable groups and politicians have also piled on Trump.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday called upon Americans to honor and be humbled by Gold Star families (those who lost a loved one while serving in the military) for making a sacrifice others could not imagine.

Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW), the nation’s largest major war veterans organization, released a statement saying that Trump was out of line for ridiculing a Gold Star mother.

“Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression,” VFW National Commander Brian Duffy said in a statement.

“There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed,” he continued. “Giving one’s life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard.”