As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam – at places like Al-Azhar University – that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.
I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America’s story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, “The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.” And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights, started businesses, taught at our Universities, excelled in our sports arenas, won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers – Thomas Jefferson – kept in his personal library.
So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.
Please focus your comments on the content and argument of the text of the speech itself. Many thanks.
So no running up a side alley on Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli, I guess?
This is an interesting and helpful contribution. Two points, however, one of which is to comment on what is missing from the speech and the other the context of the speech.
The first is that I believe Obama has missed an opportunity when talking about religious freedom that he has not said anything of any substance about the need for tolerance toward Christians in predominantly Muslim country that matches the tolerance of Muslims in those lands that are historically Christian. I can understand why he omitted it, but it is something that the Muslim world needs to hear, learn from, and change.
The second is his comment about the Al-Ahzar University and Islamic learning. I have been fascinated in recent weeks to read Philip Jenkins’ book ‘The Lost History of Christianity.’ This is an exciting read about the Gospel’s spread eastward from Jerusalem in the first millennium, and then its decline. He succinctly makes the point the Islamic learning was in fact rooted and grounded in the Christian learning that it discovered when I moved into areas where the church was or had been strong.
Please note the “word terrorists” has been replaced by “Violent extremists” in at least five instances here, and I also heard this (I think) on NBC News last night.
“…the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers – Thomas Jefferson – kept in his personal library.” Good thing T.J. didn’t cut that one up like he did his Bible.
“And when innocents in Bosnia and Darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our collective conscience.” I guess innocents=Christians in Obama-speak.
“Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice…” oh, dear…
“But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind…”
If there were just some way I could hush Limbaugh,
“…and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people;”
With the understanding that taxation is not stealing,
“the freedom to live as you choose.”
With the possible exception of the unborn.
[blockquote]“…the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers – Thomas Jefferson – kept in his personal library.â€[/blockquote]
As I recall, Jefferson acquired said Koran as an investigative measure when he wanted to learn about the ethos of the Barbary pirates that were raiding our shipping vessels and ransoming our sailors at the beginning of the 19th Century. Perhaps it’s not politic to remind the audience of that.
The continuing health and happiness of the Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian communities in lands conquered by Islam give ample proof the President’s thesis.
Wonderful speech, wonderfully delivered. I hope and pray it truly does start us on a new course with the Middle East. Pray for peace, but also work for peace.
Haven’t had time to do a thorough analysis. In general, I’d give him a B on content and a B-/C+ on delivery. I’ve been led to expect a golden-tongued orator. Delivery was clear but not inspiring. As to content, first pass, some good points, and a few omissions and straw men set up and knocked down, but not bad, overall. If it changes Arab perceptions, it will be okay. Many people here get their only news from CNN/Reuters/NY Times and therefore think of Bush as the monster with horns. That’s unfair, but it is their perception, so if this moves the view of America in a positive direction that will be a good result. However, I didn’t spot anything likely to resolve the Israeli/Palestinian matter.
In effect, is President Obama not basically inviting the Muslim to become secularists, as *we* in the West are (pretty much all, to varying degrees)?
How is that different from cultural imperialism? (Not that I’m agin’ it, I just wonder…)
[i]I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible.[/i]
Um, we tried diplomacy, in fact 17 UN sanctions had been made against Iraq, and they ignored them all. Also, the Democrats in congress and the senate had urged Pres. Clinton to militarily intervene in Iraq, and he ignored it. So why is Bush to blame for doing what the Democrats wanted Clinton to do??
[i] I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States,[/i]
So did the Bush Administration
[i]and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year. [/i]
And your own party opposes this idea without a clear plan as to what to do with the TERRORISTS housed there.
[i]Palestinians must abandon violence.[/i]
lotsa luck! We’ve been calling for that ever since this group of terrorists started calling themselves “Palestinians”. Every Israeli-Palestinian peace accord has been broken by the Palestinians, not by Israel.
[i]Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society.[/i]
Many Israeli convoys were attacked when they were bringing food and medicines into Gaza and the West Bank. That’s why they STOPPED doing so.
[i]This last point is important because there are some who advocate for democracy only when they are out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others.[/i]
um, have you looked into your own administration lately?
[i]It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation;[/i]
try “CHINA”
[i]our mastery of pens and printing[/i]
Guttenberg were Muslim???? [i]
our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed[/i]
What about Pausteur and Lister?.
[i]Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires;[/i]
ever hear of Rome? Chartres? Notre Dame (France, not Indiana)?
[i]timeless poetry and cherished music[/i]
Greek, and Western poetry and music, even Eastern and Oriental are better know. Muslim poets? I can think of Rumi and Gibran. Music? Are not instruments forbidden?
[i]elegant calligraphy[/i]
Again, I didn’t know the Irish Monks were Muslim (the Book of Kells)
[i]and places of peaceful contemplation [/i]
converted churches — such as Sancta Sophia — I suppose, as well as military fortresses.
[i]And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality. [/i]
Yes, the invasions of Constinople; the Holy Land; Turkey; Spain; Morroco; the Sudan; and Austria. How much more peaceful and just or lives would have been if the mean ol’ Westerners didn’t defend themselves with force of sword against the peace of the Muslim pen. We can look at the areas in which the invasions were successful as opposed to those where they were defeated for a sharp contrast.
Ok. As I said, his teleprompter needs a history lesson!
Jim, it is interesting to note that the Koreans had a movable type printing press two hundred years before Guttenberg. King Sejong developed a phenotic from of written language for korean that lead to the developement of a movable type printing press! Hanjul uses 28 letters!
So, library jim, your world view seems to be that Arabs and Muslims are always wrong and they’ve not produced a hint of culture. We Christians, however, are always right, have completely clean hands, and we’re geniuses. Because you can only name two Muslim poets, obviously they have not produced very much poetry. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you’ve mastered enough classical Arabic and Persian to make these sorts of assessments. Or perhaps you’ve only mastered Turkish and prefer those sources to make your broad, sweeping judgments.
It’s that kind of contempt for the Muslim world – and for the creativity of other human beings – that makes Muslims think that we think they are subhuman.
Fortunately, Obama has a sense of how to treat other human beings with dignity. Including people who don’t agree with him.
Ah, now I know I’m right — John Wilkins disagrees. LOL
Dave B.
That IS interesting. Thanks for the info.
John Wilkins – thanks for the inclusion of “facts”! Comments such as #10 help to demonstrate just how little we westerners know about Islamic culture. Treating them as if they’re ignorant and have made no contributions to civilization certainly don’t help.
[blockquote]John Wilkins – thanks for the inclusion of “factsâ€! Comments such as #10 help to demonstrate just how little we westerners know about Islamic culture. Treating them as if they’re ignorant and have made no contributions to civilization certainly don’t help. [/blockquote]
Then again, neither does treating them as if they were all suburban Methodist CPAs as Obama and others seem to want to. Self-delusion comes in many forms, and John’s, while superficially broad-minded, is really just a projection of one set of prejudices as opposed to another. Take it from one who’s been challenged by Mr. W as being an untutored knave, when I am anything but: It wouldn’t make the slightest difference if libraryjim was another Bernard Lewis.
Mark Steyn has a superb column on this self-delusion in [url=http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/06/04/what-price-our-pseudo-empathy/]MacLean’s[/url] where he launches an animadversion at Condi Rice and her assertion that Palestinians have the same dreams and aspirations as your average American:
[blockquote]Mr. Thomas asked the secretary of state a sharp follow-up: “Do you think this or do you know this?â€
“Well, I think I know it.â€
I think she knows she doesn’t know it. The last time I was in the West Bank the genial proprietors at most convenience stores had various heroic Martyrs of the Week pinned up on the wall behind the cash register, and the Education Ministry was giving first prize in its letter-writing competition to a seventh-grader from Jenin pledging to his deceased father to become a suicide bomber and “propel my living-dead body into your arms.†As to what mothers want for their children, I would be wary of deluding myself that I could “empathize†with Mariam Farahat, a mother of three, formerly a mother of six, triumphantly elected to parliament as “Um Nidal†(“Mother of the Struggleâ€) on the strength of having persuaded a trio of her sons to self-detonate over various surrounding Zionists. Granted, this makes university education much more affordable for her surviving offspring, yet call me unempathetic but I don’t get the feeling it’s a big priority.[/blockquote]
Islam has a lot to answer for, slavery is still practiced (Dafur), subjegation of women and (forced marriages), barbaric forms of capital punishment (the “punishments meted out on fridays in Rayidh to include beheading in the public square,dumping tons of stones on woman caught in adultery , cutting off hands etc), brutal rape of non islamic women because according to islam they dress like prostitutes so are free to be had by all (that is what caused the riots in Australia last year,rape of a life guard), attacking non islamic people like the guy that killed the marine in Arkanasa, targeting non combatants in war, issuing fatwas that allow the killing of those critical of islam (movie producer in Holland stabed in the street). Very few clarics condemn this and if they do it is not very loud! Saudi Arabia, 30 million dollars in aid for tsunmi relief in Indonesia, America provided 350 million! How does our failure of not recognizing islamic achievement compare to the weight of islamic problems on the other end of the scale?