Posted on 04/20/2008 6:41:29 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Barack Obama is not a Muslim, but a recent survey found that about 10 percent of Americans believe he is. That perception has been fueled by a campaign of rumors and innuendo. It's a campaign that has caused pain in many Muslim communities, including one in Pennsylvania, which holds a key presidential primary Tuesday.
Obama had a Muslim stepfather. As a child, he learned about Islam and sometimes went to mosque. Nevertheless, he's a devout Christian.
But his middle name, Hussein, has been used by opponents to imply that he's a Muslim.
In February, radio host Bill Cunningham spoke in Cincinnati at a campaign event for Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
"At some point the media will quit taking sides in this thing and maybe start covering Barack Hussein Obama," Cunningham said. McCain quickly condemned Cunningham's comments.
There are other examples. Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa, speaking on a local radio station last month, said: "I will tell you, if he is elected president then the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida and the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11th."
The trickle-down effect of such messages over radio, TV, the Internet and e-mail can be felt in West Philadelphia, in the city's Muslim community.
'No Shame to Be a Muslim'
"We felt sad," says Abdul Musaitif, who runs a Muslim pizzeria in Germantown. "It's no shame to be a Muslim."
Musaitif, a Palestinian from Ramallah, is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. He decries the idea that a reference to Obama being a Muslim could be seen as an accusation. But he says this is just the latest piece of negativity he has witnessed.
He adds: "They say this is a [democratic] country."
Musaitif also owns the butcher shop next door. His employees are all Muslim, and all the meat he serves, including pizzas, burgers and bacon, are halal — pork-free and Islam sanctioned. Despite everything though, Musaitif says he still feels very American.
"I've been here 24 years; my kids [were] born here," he says. "Everything I own is here."
Standing beside him is Khalil Abdul Jabbar. An African-American convert, he now wears the sort of garb — a long black tunic, prayer cap and unkempt beard — that singles him out as a devout Muslim. He says he's not surprised that labeling Obama a Muslim is considered a smear.
'One Bad Apple'
Jabbar says, "They'll say that ... 'his middle name is Hussein. We don't know about him becoming president because he might have ties.' What kind of ties? It has nothing to do with that. Once again, it's about the generalization of one bad apple with the entire group of people — it happens all the time in this country"
Germantown's Muslims have carved out a solid presence among businesses a little less pious. A bar is still open in the morning. There's music pumping into the street outside. A family emerges from a liquor shop pushing trolleys stacked with cases of wine and vodka.
But there's also an Islamic bookstore playing Quranic verses at full volume, and a boutique selling veils. Fatima Umbeke is going through the racks. She hates the negative attention Islam has gotten in this fracas over Obama's religion.
"It upsets me, you know ... that somebody would feel that way about a religion, and it's a religion of peace," she says. "But that's people for you."
'A Certain Fear Mongering'
For his part, Obama has repeatedly condemned the rumors, which have spread like weeds via e-mail.
"These e-mails are obviously not just offensive to me, somebody who is a devout Christian, who's been going to the same church for the last 20 years," Obama said on 60 Minutes last month. "But it's also offensive to Muslims, because it plays into, obviously, a certain fear mongering there."
The fear mongering, the feeling of distrust and suspicion is part of a wider problem, says Dalia Mogahed, who polls Americans for Gallup.
"Our data shows that only 34 percent of Americans say that they have no prejudice against Muslims," she says. "That figure compares to 74 percent who say they have no prejudice against Jews. So while anti-Semitism is certainly not a relic of the past, anti-Muslim sentiment is at an alarmingly high rate right now in America, and because of that it's used as a political tool against politicians."
Last month on 60 Minutes, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama's Democratic opponent, was asked about whether she believes he is a Muslim.
"No, no. Why would I?" she said. "There is nothing to base that on, as far as I know."
'It's Dirty Politics'
Obama says he believes American voters are smarter than some give them credit for.
Helena Murray agrees.
"His middle name is Hussein ... I'm aware of that, but I just think, once again, it's dirty politics," the retired Lancaster schoolteacher says while flower shopping west of Philadelphia. "I was a women's libber and I was somebody that wanted a woman in the White House, but I prefer Obama now."
Well.....
"It upsets me, you know ... that somebody would feel that way about a religion, and it's a religion of peace," she says. "But that's people for you."
I guess 9/11 might have something to do with it.
But that's people for you.
Obama is also white, he is as much white as he is black. He should have run as the "bi-racial" candidate and not the "black African/American" candidate. But, I guess his white heritage is the part of him he hides and hates, and his spiritual advisor, Wright, has dammed. If he so obviously keeps his "whiteness" in the closet so he can appeal to blacks, it is easy to believe he would work just as hard to hide his true religious roots and beliefs.
No more than being a Nazi.
ML/NJ
How can they overlook this man's discriminatory hiring policies?
It's funny that the MSM is already pulling out the race/religion card. I can read the headlines already....
"One Hundred And Twenty Five Years After Slavery Was Abolished Obama Loses, America Still Not Ready For A Black President"
I attended two catholic universities for 6 years, but I am not a catholic.
A devout Christian doesn’t sleep through 20 years of sermons, which he must have done if he never heard the Rev Wright preaching his hatred of white America.
Obama is a Muslim-sympathizer and an anti-Semite.
It does seem strange, since his Mother is American, that
he doesn’t have at least one american name.
He’s not an apostate until he says, “I believe: Mohammed was not the messenger of God, and the Qu’ran is not the word of God.” (And I’d prefer it if he’d add, “...and quite frankly I don’t think Allah is God, quite the opposite, if you get my drift. Judge by his works.”)
By the way, most folks fixate on his “Hussein” middle-name, since it’s so familiar as a Muslim name (as are other derivatives of the H-S-N root, such as Hassan).
But what about his first name, Barak? That just happened to be the name of the Prophet’s magical winged horse, with its breasts of a woman and the tail of a peacock, that took Mohammed on his night’s voyage to Jerusalem and Paradise.
To my eye, being named for the one who carried the Prophet forth on his signature journey is much more symbolic than having a commonplace H-S-N appellation.
“Barack Obama is not a Muslim”
Wrong.
“As a child, he learned about Islam and sometimes went to mosque. Nevertheless, he’s a devout Christian.”
Wrong again.
I truly believe that as a child, Mr. Obama WAS a “Muslim”, or was [as a child] being molded into becoming a practicing Muslim. At some point afterwards, he may not have REMAINED Muslim, but he certainly exists today as a Muslim apostate.
Cannot Mr. Obama recite the Muslim call to prayer near-perfectly? Did he not once say that the call to prayer at sunset was one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard?
ANYONE who can do and say that IS NOT a “devout” Christian. And I ain’t one myself.
I didn’t bother reading the rest of the article. The author has poisoned his argument in the first two paragraphs.
- John
I haven’t forgotten.
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