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Pipes on how the Muslim world perceives Obama

Aug 26, 2008 9:26 am By Raymond Ibrahim

Definitely not as a Christian; sometimes as a Muslim apostate. Always as the best thing for Islam, no matter how much he “distances” himself from the faith. “Obama through Muslim eyes,” by Daniel Pipes for the Jerusalem Post, August 25:

How do Muslims see Barack Obama? They have three choices: either as he presents himself, as one who has “never been a Muslim” and has “always been a Christian”; or as a fellow Muslim; or as an apostate from Islam.

Reports suggests that while Americans generally view the Democratic candidate having had no religion before converting at Rev. Jeremiah Wrights’s hands at 27, Muslims the world over rarely see him as Christian but usually as either Muslim or ex-Muslim.

Lee Smith of the Hudson Institute explains why: “Barack Obama’s father was Muslim and therefore, according to Islamic law, so is the candidate. In spite of the Koranic verses explaining that there is no compulsion in religion, a Muslim child takes the religion of his or her father… For Muslims around the world, non-American Muslims at any rate, they can only ever see Barack Hussein Obama as a Muslim.”

In addition, his school record from Indonesia lists him as a Muslim. Thus, an Egyptian newspaper, Al-Masri al-Youm, refers to his “Muslim origins.” Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi referred to Obama as “a Muslim” and a person with an “African and Islamic identity.” One Al-Jazeera analysis calls him a “non-Christian man,” a second refers to his “Muslim Kenyan” father, and a third, by Naseem Jamali, notes that “Obama may not want to be counted as a Muslim, but Muslims are eager to count him as one of their own.”

A conversation in Beirut, quoted in the Christian Science Monitor, captures the puzzlement. “He has to be good for Arabs because he is a Muslim,” observed a grocer. “He’s not a Muslim, he’s a Christian,” replied a customer. Retorted the grocer: “He can’t be a Christian. His middle name is Hussein.” Arabic discussions of Obama sometimes mention his middle name as a code, with no further comment needed.[…]

BUT THIS excitement also has a dark side – suspicions that Obama is a traitor to his birth religion, an apostate (murtadd) from Islam. Al-Qaida has prominently featured Obama’s statement “I am not a Muslim” and one analyst, Shireen K. Burki of the University of Mary Washington, sees Obama as “bin Laden’s dream candidate.” Should he become US commander-in-chief, she believes, Al-Qaida would likely “exploit his background to argue that an apostate is leading the global war on terror… to galvanize sympathizers into action.”

While simultaneously engaging in double-talk, by always praising Americans for picking such a candidate, thereby lulling America and its president, while biding more time for itself to regroup and go on the offensive — which is exactly when they will denounce him as an apostate.

In sum, Muslims puzzle over Obama’s present religious status. They resist his self-identification as a Christian, while they assume a baby born to a Muslim father and named “Hussein” began life a Muslim.

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