Obama's Muslim outreach

Tuesday, he became the first president in history to use the word "Muslim" in his inaugural address. From the steps of the U.S. Capitol, President Obama said:

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

Then today, in an appearance at the National Cathedral that marked the official end of four days of inaugural celebration, the new president and first lady attended the National Prayer Service, where Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, joined ministers and rabbis in offering prayers for the new administration.

And that has critics complaining that Mattson, a convert to Islam, is a front for an organization that supports the Palestinian militant group Hamas and that Obama should steer clear of any association with her or her organization.

"She has also made statements that refuse to condemn Hamas and Hezbollah," notes terrorim expert Steven Emerson. "She has made statements that essentially legitimize Osama bin Laden's actions by claiming that he would be peaceful if only he had a peaceful outlet to express his views."

In May 2007, federal prosecutors listed the organization as one of hundreds of co-conspirators in a case alleging that the Holy Land Foundation of Richardson, Texas, funneled more than $12 million to the Hamas. Emerson concedes that though the Islamic Society of North America was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood, none of the alleged acts of terrorism it supported happened on Mattson's watch.

The dust-up could signal the difficulty facing Obama in reaching out to Muslims. The president, a Christian whose father was a Muslim, deflected an urban legend during the campaign that he too was a Muslim. And his outreach to Muslim nations during his inaugural address -- followed by a round of calls this morning to Palestinian, Israeli and Arab leaders -- met with a cautious reception.

"It is very good that Obama wants to find a 'new way forward' with the Muslim world, but first he has to change U.S. policy over Israel and the Palestinian conflict," Maskuri Abdilah, head of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, told AFP. "This is crucial because this problem is the root of all violence and tension between the Islamic world and the West."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Win McNamee / Getty Images

Comments

[Abdulameer]

Obama is off to a very bad start regarding his attitude toward Islam. In addition to supporting Islamic supremacism by featuring Ingrid Mattson, he made two distgurbing references to Islam and Muslims in his inaugural address:

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers."

AND:

"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. "
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Just what kind of mutual interest and mutual respect can there be with people who profess this:

FROM THE KORAN:

--The unbelievers are your inveterate enemy. (4:101)
-- Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve. (8.55)
-- Mohammed is God's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another. (48:29).
-- It is unlawful for a believer to kill another believer, accidents excepted. (4:92)
-- Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. (5:51)
-- Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God's religion shall reign supreme. (8:40)
-- Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God's religion reigns supreme. (2:193)
-- The true believers fight for the cause of God, but the infidels fight for the devil. (4:76)
-- We will put terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. (3:151)
-- I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers. (8:12)
FROM THE SAYINGS OF MUHAMMAD:
-- Muhammad said to the Jews: "If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. “
--Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.' "
-- Mohammed said, "I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.."
-- Mohammed said, "Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him."
-- Mohammed said, " No Muslim should be killed for killing a Kafir" (infidel).
-- Muhammad said: Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war,.."
YUSUF QARADAWI, the spiritual leader of the Muslim brotherhood and the most popular and influential Islamic religious authority in the world today, is on the recommended reading list of local mosques. Among other Islamist-supremacist things, he wrote:

“Islam came to be followed, not to follow; to be dominant, not subordinate."

“Islam came with its complete, comprehensive and eternal sharia (law) for the whole of mankind.”

ABUL MAUDUDI, the most important and popular Islamic writer of the 20th Century, wrote: “The goal of Islam is to rule the entire world and submit all of mankind to the faith of Islam. Any nation or power that gets in the way of that goal, Islam will fight and destroy.”
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The statements about Islam above are from the most highly revered and respected Islamic sources, not from "Islamophobes"! Does Obama agree with these statements? Does he disagree with them? Does he even know about them? Isn't it part of his professional duties as president to know about Islam?

Most Moslems do not practice what the Koran and Muhammad require of them, although many Moslems do work toward Islamic supremacy in America, in accordance with the Koran's teachings. Even the ones who do not want Islamic supremacy will never protest against and deny the validity of the aggressive, intolerant and subversive Islamic teachings above.

[LA-renter]

To my peace-loving, white Protestant ears, Obama's paragraph on the "Muslim" world sounded like pandering to American hawks and Jewish Americans.

Did you really see that statement as "extending a hand"?

It sounded like... George Bush to me.

[Iowa]

John - Why not turn the page on the guilt by association game and work to unite this nation for a change? Why are you taking a fairly positive development, one in which Obama embraces Muslims, and making it a liability for him by quoting debunked terrorism expert and serial liar Steven Emerson?

If you're going to use Emerson as your primary source and only him, then at least please be fair and transparent by telling your readers that after the Oklahoma City bombings Steve Emerson went on TV and claimed that Muslims did it. Then he claimed that he received death threats from Muslims and that the FBI was investigating it -- The FBI said Emerson lied, and that they had investigated no such thing.

Also - you wrote that there was a "dust-up". A debunked, anti-Islamic hate monger making noise because Obama reached out to Muslims is not a dust up.

Please, I beg you. Do your job in a fair way. Don't go fishing for stories and don't apply the lowest common denominator.

[zilzaal]

Steven Emerson is not a "terrorism expert." He is not credible. He is a fraud whose only goal is to remove any and all Muslims from the American public square. Please don't use him as a source.

[Ann]

The Islamic speaker at the prayer service has been "linked" recently to some highly questionable organizations: the State Department, the Pentagon, the FBI, the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, Is this an indication that Obama supports Bush's war of terror against the American people?

[steve rodriguez]

Now that Obama is President we can relax AQ will never hurt us anymore...The Messiah is here!!!!!

[Dildar]

Dear Johanna Neuman,

You quoted all the verses of Holy Quran out of context.
So next time when you write verses from Holy Quran, please write complete verse with the right context.

"It is the wish of a section of the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) to lead you astray but they shall lead astray (not you), but themselves, and they do not perceive" - Holy Quran (Chapter 3 verse 69)

By the way, Which book Adolf Hitler read and which book influenced US and its allies to kill lacs of innocent people in Iraq ? I am sure its not Holy Quran!

[Reality]

Freedom fighter for one is terrorist for others, We call people who support Zionist as Zionazi terrorists.

Mr Abdulameer , You are a moron, here are few quotes from Jewish Talmud for your reference :
The Jews refer to the remainder of Earths inhabitants, the non-Jewish peoples, as "Gentiles", "Goyim". Let's see what the Jewish Talmud teaches the Jews concerning the non-Jewish majority, i.e. those who are not part of Jahve's "Chosen People":

"The Jews are called human beings, but the non-Jews are not humans. They are beasts."

Talmud: Baba mezia, 114b

"The Akum (non-Jew) is like a dog. Yes, the scripture teaches to honor the the dog more than the non-Jew."

Ereget Raschi Erod. 22 30

"Even though God created the non-Jew they are still animals in human form. It is not becoming for a Jew to be served by an animal. Therfore he will be served by animals in human form."

Midrasch Talpioth, p. 255, Warsaw 1855

"A pregnant non-Jew is no better than a pregnant animal."

Coschen hamischpat 405

"The souls of non-Jews come from impure sprits and are called pigs."

Jalkut Rubeni gadol 12b

"Although the non-Jew has the same body structure as the Jew, they compare with the Jew like a monkey to a human."

Schene luchoth haberith, p. 250 b

"If you eat with a Gentile, it is the same as eating with a dog."

Tosapoth, Jebamoth 94b

"If a Jew has a non-Jewish servant or maid who dies, one should not express sympathy to the Jew. You should tell the Jew: "God will replace 'your loss', just as if one of his oxen or asses had died"."

Jore dea 377, 1

"Sexual intercourse between Gentiles is like intercourse between animals."

Talmud Sanhedrin 74b

"It is permitted to take the body and the life of a Gentile."

Sepher ikkarim III c 25

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I could post these kind of quotes from any religious book of world including bible.

[colin]

Obamas message to muslims only endorses the fact that he is either a muslim himself with an agenda or he is expanding the state of dhimmitude over the usa administration. He clearly has no conception of ~slamic ntention towards the west, and I fear he is heaping up coals upon us......as we weaken in the face of Islam.

May the true (non islamic) God help us all as Obama offers us on a plate to Islam.

[saji sithara]

now that obama is the prisident,lets wish him 2 the best us prisident,but it seems 2 me that he will b the worst prisident us ever had.clinton was ok.bush, got a shoes from iraq 4 implimenting democracy,thank god,bush said in democary people have the right 2 express,god only knows wat will happen to this man who expressed the iraqis first democratic right.if this is the right in democracy wat was the need 2 kill so many poor iraqiis,afganies,palastines,& other nationalities.will obama ask pardon for bushes mistakes,even pope asked him 2 avoid war in iraq.will he ask like the germens asked to the jews 4 the mistakes of hitler

[concerned american]

Speaking as a Muslim who has actually read Steve Emerson's work - he is NOT an Islamophobe. Rather, he works diligently to raise awareness against Islamists in the US. He made a mistake about Oklahoma. But at least there was context behind that mistake.
Islamist organizations like MPAC have no excuse for blaming 9/11 on Israel. That is just another indication that they use their position as "representing" Muslims to go on their pro-Arab, anti-Israeli rants.
I am Muslim, but not Arab. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict should not be a global Muslim concern. You either care about all human beiing regardless of faith, or you are a supremacist.
Hamas used children, schools, hospital, dressed in civilian clothes in this conflict with Iranian support.
Anyone that supports Hamas prefers some romantic idealized version of the Middle East with Israel wiped out from it, than actual health, food, education and basic safety for their families and children. Why else would they sacrifice all their future generations in perpetuity for a ridiculous, anti-semitic fueled fight over a piece of land smaller than the size of new jersey.

Islam is not evil, but some Muslims are.

[Nibir]

mr. Abdulameer quoted something from quran. but its not full. if u read the whole part it will be clear. one line doesn't indicate the whole meaning. if some responsible person can post whole part, it will be clear.

[Unemployed WASP]

What a mess this country is in. Obama will just make things worse.