Sunday, March 01, 2009

Our First Muslim President

I used to get a real kick when some leading African-American Democrats would claim President Bill Clinton was the first African-American president because he "displayed almost every trope of blackness": "single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas?" Then along came Barack Obama and Bill Clinton was just another racist for comparing Obama's candidacy to Jesse Jackson's in the early part of the presidential race.

Conservatives have been resoundingly condemned as religious bigots for suggesting that Obama is the first Muslim president. After all, his Kenyan father and grandfather and Indonesian adopted father were all Muslims. Obama was raised as a Muslim in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country. And when he joined a Christian church as an adult, he chose the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church, which has more in common with Islam than mainstream Christianity. Well, lo and behold, American Muslims themselves consider Obama the first Muslim president. Asma Gull Hassan candidly writes for Forbes about "My Muslim President", while adding that any conservative who cites her column is just a "right-wing zealot" trying to smear Obama as a Muslim traitor in the White House:

I know President Obama is not Muslim, but I am tempted nevertheless to think that he is, as are most Muslims I know. In a very unscientific oral poll, ranging from family members to Muslim acquaintances, many of us feel, just as African-Americans did for the non-black but culturally leaning African-American President Bill Clinton, that we have our first American Muslim president in Barack Hussein Obama.

I know it's odd to say this. At first, I thought I was the only Muslim engaging in this folly, and I am reluctant to express it lest right-wing zealots try to use "Muslim" as a smear and cite my theory as proof of an Islamic traitor in the White House or some such nonsense. But, since Election Day, I have been part of more and more conversations with Muslims in which it was either offhandedly agreed that Obama is Muslim or enthusiastically blurted out. In commenting on our new president, "I have to support my fellow Muslim brother," would slip out of my mouth before I had a chance to think twice.

"Well, I know he's not really Muslim," I would quickly add. But if the person I was talking to was Muslim, they would say, "yes he is." They would cite his open nature and habit of reaching out to critics, reminiscent of the Prophet Muhammad's own approach, and also Obama's middle name, Hussein. Most of the Muslims I know (me included) can't seem to accept that Obama is not Muslim.

Of the few Muslims I polled who said that Obama is not Muslim, even they conceded that he had ties to Islam. These realists said that, although not an avowed and practicing Muslim, Obama's exposure to Islam at a young age (both through his father and his stint in Indonesia) has given him a Muslim sensibility. In my book, that makes you a Muslim--maybe not a card-carrying one, but part of the flock for sure. One realist Muslim ventured that Obama worships at a Unitarian Church because it represents the middle ground between Christianity and Islam, incorporating the religious beliefs of the two faiths Obama feels connected to. Unitarianism could be Obama's way of still being a Muslim. (And let's not forget that the church Obama worshiped at for so many years had a minister who reminds most Muslims of their own raving, excitable ministers. Even if Obama really is Christian, he picked the most Muslim-esque minister out of the bunch to guide him.)

The rationalistic, Western side of me knows that Obama has denied being Muslim, that his father was non-practicing, that he doesn't attend a mosque. Many Muslims simply say back, "my father's not a strict Muslim either, and I haven't been to a mosque in years." Obama even told The New York Times he could recite the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, which the vast majority of Muslims, I would guess, do not know well enough to recite.

I think many of us Muslims see Obama as Muslim, or at least of Muslim heritage, because his background epitomizes one of the major Muslim experiences--a diverse upbringing that eludes any easy classification as specifically one religion or one culture. So many of us Muslims around the world have Islam in common, but an altogether different culture from one another. Many Muslims share a culture with a Christian, Hindu or Buddhist community but not the same religion. When faced with such diversity, there are no hard and fast rules for Muslim identity.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

"After all, his Kenyan father and grandfather and Indonesian adopted father were all Muslims. Obama was raised as a Muslim in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country."

I see facts don't mean a thing to you. He was never adopted for one. He was raised in a Muslim country for four years as a child. You have something against all Muslims?

Most of his childhood he was raised in the U.S. He chose Christianity when he moved to Chicago and met Rev. Wright, a hero, a former Marine who was the cardiology technician the military chose to assist on LBJ's life saving heart surgery. He was decorated for his service.

Unlike Bush or Clinton or Cheney, Wright not only served as a Marine, he gave up his college deferment and volunteered. Semper fi!

Gary R. Welsh said...

According to his Indonesian school records, Barack Hussein Obama became Barry Soetoro, adopted son of Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian citizen of Muslim faith. Notwithstanding Wright's service in the Marines, he later travelled with Louis Farrakhan to meet Col. Muammar Qadhafi in Tripoli in 1984 while he was waging a terrorist war on Americans and westerners.

indyernie said...

There you go again Gary. Providing facts only adds confusion to the left wing agenda. The lefties will never believe that Obama is unqualified because of birth or for any other reason.

Unknown said...

I don't care a whit if he is a muslim or not.

I just want to know why he won't prove that he is an AMERICAN.

7th CD guy said...

The facts???? The facts only get in the way of telling the story. MSM hasn't used facts in years. The facts are bring! Only "Wag the Dog" stories are worth reading.

IndyPaul said...

The erroneous commentary aside, the piece is a nice commentary. Many different cultures claim Obama, including the Irish:

Moneygall is a small village in County Offaly , Ireland . It has a population of approximately 300 people, has a Roman Catholic church, five shops, a post office, a national school, a police station and two pubs.
President-elect of the United States Barack Obama's great-great-great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, emigrated from Moneygall to New York City at the age of 19 in 1850 and eventually resettled in Tipton County , Indiana. Kearney 's father had been the village shoemaker, then a wealthy skilled trade.
And now for the SONG...Crank up your speakers. http://www.oneeyedparrot.org/obama.html

Gary R. Welsh said...

Don't forget that Barry is related to Dick Cheney, Paul.