February 27, 2008
Barack Obama and the Muslim call to prayer
On this day in 2007, Barack Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth.” In an interview with The New York Times, Senator Obama recited, “with a first-class [Arabic] accent,” the opening lines of this prayer:
“Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that Muhammad is his prophet... “
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/opinion/06kristof.html?_r=1&pa
“I was a little Jakarta street kid,” he said in a wide-ranging interview in his office (excerpts are on my blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground). He once got in trouble for making faces during Koran study classes in his elementary school, but a president is less likely to stereotype Muslims as fanatics — and more likely to be aware of their nationalism — if he once studied the Koran with them.
Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”
Unless I'm mistaken, Hamas and the Arabs believe this as well; and, if that's the case, shouldn't we take it on their authority?
Marxistobama's biggest worry is that we might actually learn what he means by "change".
My fellow Americans, my fellow Muslims,
I witness that there is no god but Allah. I witness that Muhammad is his prophet.