A Preacher’s Reflections on Obama’s Address

By: Najeh Ibrahim

In the presence of more than 2.000 people, US president delivered his significant speech in Cairo university days ago. The attendances included students from around the Arab and Muslim worlds and Egyptian important figures.

The audience applauded more than thirty times. I found it telling. They admired Mr. Obama's eloquence, especially when remembering the prior administration’s disastrous policies.

Opinions varied following the speech. The majority believe it is a step forward while some think it has added nothing except a change of tone.

Analyzing the address, we must agree on some main points that some Arabs, especially Islamists, ignore:

First: Mr. Obama is the president of the United States and his mission is to fulfill his nation’s interests not ours. He is not asked to achieve our aspirations, liberate our lands, seek our prosperity or bridge the gaps between us.

Second: we must compare Obama's conducts and declarations to his predecessors’.

Third: it is wrong to think that this reconciliation attitude is a result of the American financial crisis for it existed in Bush’s era but did not change his conducts. What Obama has said was not out of weakness; it was out of convictions. Besides, the US is still the world supreme military, political, economic, scientific and technological power despite the financial crisis.

The most positive aspects in the president’s address, in my view, were:

He is the first American, or rather Western, leader to praise Islam as such. He is the only American and Western ruler to recite verses of Quran in public.

Some may ask what is the impact of this on his policies.

I reply it is enough to say that some Arab leaders, especially in Northwest Africa, never mention a verse of Quran, a Hadith or anything about Islam in their speeches. I would like to add that this address will greatly affect the American and western public.

We, al Jamaa al Islamiyya, and Muslims in general have failed to deliver a good image of Islam to the American and western citizen, the thing that Obama perfectly did.

We cannot forget the negative stereotypes that Bush and his administration planted in the minds and hearts of their people.

Obama’s speech is an invitation to the west to reconsider his attitude towards Islam and Muslims. This call will be widely accepted, God willing, because the caller is the president of the world supreme power who attracts both young and old generations by his charismatic character.

He is the first western leader to speak positively about hijab. Not only that but he steps forward when he call the European countries to respect Muslim women’s privacy and not to force them take off their veil.

He is the first American and western president to respect Muslim rituals and speak about facilitating methods for Muslims to perform zakat. I never expected him to mention zakat in particular simply because I have not heard any of the Arab rulers or their cultured secularists spoke about it in good terms. This signifies Obama's respect for Islam and his concern about American Muslims’ problems.

One of the good traits of Mr. Obama is that he is humble especially when he took off his shoes before entering the “Sultan Hassan” mosque and his praise to Al Azhar University, unlike his predecessor.

The tone of the speech may make extremist Christian Copts abroad stop blackmailing the Egyptian government especially if we knew that they have already asked the former administration to use military force against Egypt to end what they called “persecution of Copts”. This was after their call to cut the US aide to Egypt and to impose a political and economic blockade against it.

The speech may also limit the tricks of the so called US commission on international religious freedom, which is formed by the president usually of anti-Islamic members who are connected to Jewish personalities. The commission often makes false reports exploited by the American administrations to interfere in the internal affairs of Middle East countries as Egypt, Sudan and others.

Obama has given Taliban a real opportunity to start negotiations on the possibility of foreign forces departure from Afghanistan and Pakistan on one condition that the Taliban stop violent actions against Americans, which is a sensible request from a president to defend his people. The same applied to al Qaeda, which initiated a war against US by 11 September attacks that caused the occupation of Afghanistan and paved the way for that of Iraq. Now, al Qaeda can announce a ceasefire against the United States, which will be in its favor.

The president’s speech has negative aspects too. They stem from the same point that he, as an American leader, has fixed convictions that did not and will not change even if he wants to.

First: he talked a lot about the Jewish holocaust while he completely ignored the holocaust of the Gaza Strip which was carried out by Jews. Will he ask himself, are we, the Arabs and Muslims, responsible for the Nazi holocaust to bear its consequences?

Second: he did not mention at all the separation wall which made the Palestinians’ lives unbearable. He did not either call Israel to remove it.

Third: he criticized the Iranian nuclear activities whereas he neglected the Israeli weapons and he tried to cover this duality by saying he aspires a world empty of nuclear armaments, which is nonsensical and unbelievable.

Fourth: he did not apologize for his predecessor’s faults particularly in Iraq. However, I think such a character will not say sorry openly but he may say it implicitly and that was what he did.

Fifth: he deliberately ignored the problem of Jerusalem and the Palestinians’ right in it. He escaped by saying it will be for the followers of the three religions. This is unclear. It means that Jerusalem will stay under the Israeli occupation while Muslims and Christians will be allowed only to live in it, which is the real situation now. Obama forgot, intentionally or unintentionally, that Jerusalem is the main controversial issue between Israel and the Arab and Muslims.

Sixth: his strong disapproval of Hamas rockets that may harm civilians and his strong neglect of the Israeli phosphorous bombs, which are internationally prohibited, that killed thousands of Palestinian children and women.

Despite the defects, when we apply the three rules I mentioned earlier we will find Obama's address promising especially when remembering the foolish policies of Bush who called for new crusader wars.

I pray Allah may unite the Arabs and Muslims under one word to benefit as much as possible from Obama’s regime. May Allah guide us to the right path.

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