David Seaton's News LinksThere are scurrilous and totally unfounded attacks circulating in the Internet accusing Barack Obama of being a crypto-Muslim and an enemy of Israel. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I think that is stupid for anyone to say or to suggest that Barack Obama is not a friend of Israel, a Christian, or that he in any way supports the Palestinians. Everything he says or has said, does or has done, his every vote in the Senate, bears this out. I repeat, that this line of attack is both ignorant and stupid.
What I do find strange is that at the same time some of Obama's most enthusiastic supporters think that, in spite of his support for Israel and his conspicuous Christianity, that simply because of his color or because he is famously named "Barack Hussein" that this is going to simultaneously have some enormous "healing" or soothing effect on America' relations with the Islamic world.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
As I have had it explained to me, if your father and grandfather were Muslims and if you have a Muslim name, but profess another religion publicly and support the enemies of Islam (Israel) that makes you an apostate. Here is a quote from the Wikipedia article on the subject of apostasy.
So really, we cannot have it both ways*. It seems to me obvious that for the United States of America to elect a president named "Barack Hussein", who is a practicing Christian and a supporter of Israel would be seen by Muslims as the ultimate provocation and the fulfillment of the most paranoiac fantasies of the most extreme Salafists.
They would say that this is what America does to Muslims: not only does it persecute Muslims, it takes the son and grandson of Muslims and turns him into the chief killer and persecutor of Muslims. A Muslim version of Damien.
The bottom line is that you can't have it both ways. It is one thing if somebody named "John" or "Hillary" bombs Pakistan or Iran and supplies the Israelis with weapons and quite another if someone with "Hussein" anywhere in his name does it... It's adding insult to injury.
I think that Obama's supporters should make right wing voters and people like Daniel Pipes see what a unique occasion the presidency of Barack Obama would give them to take yet another opportunity to mortally offend Islam. DS
*For the curious here is a link to Namoura
I think that is stupid for anyone to say or to suggest that Barack Obama is not a friend of Israel, a Christian, or that he in any way supports the Palestinians. Everything he says or has said, does or has done, his every vote in the Senate, bears this out. I repeat, that this line of attack is both ignorant and stupid.
What I do find strange is that at the same time some of Obama's most enthusiastic supporters think that, in spite of his support for Israel and his conspicuous Christianity, that simply because of his color or because he is famously named "Barack Hussein" that this is going to simultaneously have some enormous "healing" or soothing effect on America' relations with the Islamic world.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
As I have had it explained to me, if your father and grandfather were Muslims and if you have a Muslim name, but profess another religion publicly and support the enemies of Islam (Israel) that makes you an apostate. Here is a quote from the Wikipedia article on the subject of apostasy.
The four major Sunni and the one major Shia Madh'hab (schools of Islamic jurisprudence) agree that a sane adult male apostate must be executedIf you look up the subject in Google you will find some 1,160,000 entries referring to the subject. Laws to this effect are on the books of several Muslim countries at this very moment.
So really, we cannot have it both ways*. It seems to me obvious that for the United States of America to elect a president named "Barack Hussein", who is a practicing Christian and a supporter of Israel would be seen by Muslims as the ultimate provocation and the fulfillment of the most paranoiac fantasies of the most extreme Salafists.
They would say that this is what America does to Muslims: not only does it persecute Muslims, it takes the son and grandson of Muslims and turns him into the chief killer and persecutor of Muslims. A Muslim version of Damien.
The bottom line is that you can't have it both ways. It is one thing if somebody named "John" or "Hillary" bombs Pakistan or Iran and supplies the Israelis with weapons and quite another if someone with "Hussein" anywhere in his name does it... It's adding insult to injury.
I think that Obama's supporters should make right wing voters and people like Daniel Pipes see what a unique occasion the presidency of Barack Obama would give them to take yet another opportunity to mortally offend Islam. DS
*For the curious here is a link to Namoura
5 comments:
good point. btw, do you also wonder how often cunningham uses the full name of candidates cunningham is sure will be elected next president? he hasn't been using hilary's full name, or thompson's, tancredo's, hickabee's, duncan whatsisname's full names, has he? cunningham knew bho would become pres before anyone else.
Wonderful.... but, who is Cunningham?
Bill Cunningham is the dipshit talk show host who makes a living out of referring to Obama as "Barack HUSSEIN Obama", was hired by McCain as the opening act at a campaign stop, and then apparently took McCain completely by surprise by repeatedly referring to Obama throughout his routine as ... "Barack HUSSEIN Obama".
yeah, saying that a guy with the name hussein will have cause for tectonic shifts in middle eastern perceptions of the US is overstating it greatly.
HOWEVER...
the problem with your statement is that you group all muslims together and you basically imply that a majority of muslims hold the fundamentalist views of al-qaida.
you need to separate muslims as separate individuals who have their own capacity for reason and Islam as a set of beliefs. Islam is a set of beliefs that most muslims, that i know take more as a code of ethics, and are against jihadi fundamentalism and sharia. Yes i know there are fundamentalists as there are with Christians, but not violent fundamentalists who blow sh*t up.
My father is Muslim, my mother is Christian and Im a Christian and was born in Iran and have family in Lebanon. I still go to Iran in summertime every year and have studied in Iran. So i know what I'm talking about. A majority of Iranian citizens are very westernized and hate their president, especially the students though they are not allowed to express it out of fear, and most intellectuals and scientists have already fled Iran because of this president.
And i have first hand accounts much elderly people in Iran, and even Imams as well as Christian Arab priests and ministers who think America won't ever elect Obama because of his middle name Hussein. But these same people also say that they would look at America differently if it were able to elect a man who had such a name and say it would be a positive step, much in the same way it would be a positive step for america to elect a black man or a woman as president. But these same people also say that Obama could never be elected because of his color first, regardless of name.
A lot of muslims in lebanon, jordan, pakistan, and iran do not think the way you imply at all. these are the most westernized and democratically leaning muslim nations, and will be crucial in curbing radicalism. A lot of my friends in Iran and Lebanon aren't anti-Israel as the American news media portray them to be, and neither are the students that I travled and studied with abroad who were very strict Muslims. They basically express that both palestinian and israeli safety and peace is contingent upon each other and most students in Iran know this. Yes there is some anti-semitism but they dont want their president to blow up israel. That is the basic sentiment among those I know. Though Iranian news media restricts such sentiments because the president is a borderline tyrant.
Anyway, it's offensive to surmise that you think that a majority of the people of Muslim countries that Obama would be Damian. You think that all muslims think in armageddon terms and that they can't make rational decisions or think about their religion in the context of real events and history and science... just like Christians do, or Catholics.
And if what you said was true, then one of the most populous Muslim states, Pakistan would never had elected or REVERED such a leader as their FEMALE prime ministers Benazir Bhutto. And do i even have to cite all the things the Qur'an says about a woman's place and purpose?
Certainly I respect what you say, but obviously people with your views (and background) are not the ones anybody is worrying about.
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