THE NEW BEGINNING - ISLAM AND THE WEST BY: PROFESSOR SYED WARIS SHERE
A historical speech ever delivered by an American President in Cairo designed to improve better U.S. relations with the Islamic nations. President Barack Obama in his address said that the United States and the Islamic world must confront violent extremism across the globe for the sake of humanity. According to Boston Globe, Obama's much-anticipated remarks before an often-applauding audience of 3,000 at Cairo University - and to an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims around the globe - intertwined quotes from the Holy Quran with soaring oratory. "America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition," Obama declared in his 55- minute address, the longest of his presidency, adding, "The interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart." President Barack Obama called for a better relations between the United States and the Muslim world. According to the Times of London, no one in the Arab world can remember anything quite like it. President Barack Obama quoted from the Koran, recalled his own experiences of living in Indonesia, and emphasised his family's connections to Islam. Above all he showed great humility, a respect for Islamic traditions and the Muslim world. Quoting verses from the Holy Qur'an, the United States President, Barack Obama called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims". "We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world - tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate," Obama said. "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect," President Obama said.
It is the first time an American leader drawn so much applause from an audience in the Muslim world, or dared to quote the Holy Quran so often. He said, we meet at a time of great tension between the United States and Muslims around the world, tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. 'America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition — in fact, they overlap and share several principles,' President Obama said. "President Barack Obama succeeded in delivering a message of respect to Muslims across the world," said an editorial in the United Arab Emirates-based Gulf News. "His familiarity with Islam and his ability to quote comfortably from the Holy Quran is bound to resonate in this part of the world. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of coexistence and cooperation but also conflict and religious wars. President Obama wishes to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap and share common principles, principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. In his address the President said, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: "I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be." All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time.
The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart or whether we commit ourselves to an effort, a sustained effort to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children and to respect the dignity of all human beings. President Obama's mission on this historical visit in the heart of Islamic culture was to tell Muslims that the United States is "not, and never will be, at war with Islam," reiterating a statement he made in Turkey earlier. President Obama noted that Thomas Jefferson kept a copy of the Holy Quran in his personal library, and he told the audience that "there is a mosque in every state of our union." According to New York Times, Obama's speech in Cairo, which he called a "timeless city," was perhaps the riskiest of his presidency, as he used unusually direct language to call for a fresh look at deep divisions, both those between Israel and its neighbors and between the Islamic world and the West. Paul D. Wolfowitz, a former top Bush administration official who was an architect of the war in Iraq and is a strong supporter of Israel, offered general praise for Mr. Obama's address. "I could have used less moral equivalence, but he had to get through to his audience, and it's in America's interest for him to get through," Mr. Wolfowitz said. Fareed Zakaria a prominent foreign affairs analyst has noted that the way in which President Obama was able to use the symbols and symbolism of Islam and his familiarity with it was very powerful. He was able to convey to the audience and to the world that he knew Islam and understood it. President Obama has the opportunity to create facts on the ground that will change the dynamics of politics in a major Arab nation, Zakaria said. Many Arabs regard Obama as the ideal American leader.
The president, who is a Christian but whose Kenyan Muslim father came from a family that includes generations of Muslims, stressed his Muslim roots in a way that he never did during his presidential campaign last year. "He said things that if previous presidents had said them, it wouldn't have mattered, but because he is who he is, it changed the climate in which he said them, made it more meaningful," said Ron Kaufman, who was a political adviser to former President George H.W. Bush. "The fact that a Barack Hussein Obama said these things, he can say them in a way that the moderate Muslims would listen," Kaufman said. President Obama's Harvard Law School education served him very well in talking about the rights of individuals. In an editorial, the Financial Times called Obama a born leader. "There is no bombast or chauvinism or phony sentiment in Mr. Obama's oratory. He inspires, yet his appeal is always to the intellect; still he holds an audience of this size spellbound. It was the performance of a born leader. President Barrack Obama has proven to be the best gift that the United States could have given to the world. The New York Times reports, "Again and again, Muslim listeners said they were struck by how skillfully Mr. Obama appropriated religious, cultural and historical references in ways other American presidents had not. He sprinkled the speech with four quotations from the Holy Quran and used Arabic greetings." He "structured his speech almost like a Friday Prayer, blending a political, social and religious message." The Washington Post reports the "55-minute address electrified many Muslims in the Arab Middle East," and praises the President's use of "spare language and a measured explanatory tone," while the Los Angeles Times says "few world leaders today can match Obama's eloquence and charisma," adding that although the speech "didn't provide enough concrete solutions to wipe away doubt...it did suggest...that the president is a conciliator, not a warrior, and that America, especially in Iraq, had made mistakes." The Jordan Times reports that "several intellectuals" it interviewed yesterday said Obama's speech "was marked by courage and balance, adding that it will help push peace efforts in the Middle East forward as he renewed commitment to creating a Palestinian state and assured the Israelis of continued US support at the same time." The Egyptian Gazette says the President received "thunderous applause" from the audience as he "sought to share the blame for tense relationships between the US and some Muslims" in his address. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said: "It was a remarkable speech, a speech that without any doubt is going to open a new page in the relation with the Arab-Muslim world and I hope in the problems we have in so many theatres in the region." President Obama can end "years of tension and confrontation" between the West and Islam, Arab League chief Amr Moussa said. "The general relationship between the West and Islam was very much affected by policies in the last few years," the secretary-general of the 22-nation bloc told the BBC. "
The relationship between the West and Islam - the years of tension and confrontation should come to an end now." UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the speech would have a "positive impact" on the moribund Middle East peace process and "herald the opening of a new chapter in relations between the United States and the Islamic world". President Barack Obama is a powerful figure on the world stage. About 80 percent of people in France, Germany, Italy and Spain have a positive view of President Obama. President Barack Obama is a great communicator and has the potential to become one of the greatest political speakers of modern times. He deserves to be ranked beside Lincoln and King, men of words whose greatest triumphs came amid the most dreadful adversity. After the last Presidential election, the New Yorker literary critic James Wood published a close reading of his victory speech in Chicago, tracing the allusions to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, and exploring his use of history, his fondness for repetition, and the "plain but musical" flow of his language.
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About the Author: Professor Syed Waris Shere is an educator and author of 8 books including "IN SEARCH OF PEACE" and "THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE". Professor Shere is a resident of Canada and is a graduate of Aligarh Muslim University.
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Get Your Insightful Stories, Aligarh Memories and Views published Here. Just Mail it to amunewsandviews@gmail.com
A historical speech ever delivered by an American President in Cairo designed to improve better U.S. relations with the Islamic nations. President Barack Obama in his address said that the United States and the Islamic world must confront violent extremism across the globe for the sake of humanity. According to Boston Globe, Obama's much-anticipated remarks before an often-applauding audience of 3,000 at Cairo University - and to an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims around the globe - intertwined quotes from the Holy Quran with soaring oratory. "America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition," Obama declared in his 55- minute address, the longest of his presidency, adding, "The interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart." President Barack Obama called for a better relations between the United States and the Muslim world. According to the Times of London, no one in the Arab world can remember anything quite like it. President Barack Obama quoted from the Koran, recalled his own experiences of living in Indonesia, and emphasised his family's connections to Islam. Above all he showed great humility, a respect for Islamic traditions and the Muslim world. Quoting verses from the Holy Qur'an, the United States President, Barack Obama called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims". "We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world - tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate," Obama said. "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect," President Obama said.
It is the first time an American leader drawn so much applause from an audience in the Muslim world, or dared to quote the Holy Quran so often. He said, we meet at a time of great tension between the United States and Muslims around the world, tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. 'America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition — in fact, they overlap and share several principles,' President Obama said. "President Barack Obama succeeded in delivering a message of respect to Muslims across the world," said an editorial in the United Arab Emirates-based Gulf News. "His familiarity with Islam and his ability to quote comfortably from the Holy Quran is bound to resonate in this part of the world. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of coexistence and cooperation but also conflict and religious wars. President Obama wishes to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap and share common principles, principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. In his address the President said, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: "I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be." All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time.
The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart or whether we commit ourselves to an effort, a sustained effort to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children and to respect the dignity of all human beings. President Obama's mission on this historical visit in the heart of Islamic culture was to tell Muslims that the United States is "not, and never will be, at war with Islam," reiterating a statement he made in Turkey earlier. President Obama noted that Thomas Jefferson kept a copy of the Holy Quran in his personal library, and he told the audience that "there is a mosque in every state of our union." According to New York Times, Obama's speech in Cairo, which he called a "timeless city," was perhaps the riskiest of his presidency, as he used unusually direct language to call for a fresh look at deep divisions, both those between Israel and its neighbors and between the Islamic world and the West. Paul D. Wolfowitz, a former top Bush administration official who was an architect of the war in Iraq and is a strong supporter of Israel, offered general praise for Mr. Obama's address. "I could have used less moral equivalence, but he had to get through to his audience, and it's in America's interest for him to get through," Mr. Wolfowitz said. Fareed Zakaria a prominent foreign affairs analyst has noted that the way in which President Obama was able to use the symbols and symbolism of Islam and his familiarity with it was very powerful. He was able to convey to the audience and to the world that he knew Islam and understood it. President Obama has the opportunity to create facts on the ground that will change the dynamics of politics in a major Arab nation, Zakaria said. Many Arabs regard Obama as the ideal American leader.
The president, who is a Christian but whose Kenyan Muslim father came from a family that includes generations of Muslims, stressed his Muslim roots in a way that he never did during his presidential campaign last year. "He said things that if previous presidents had said them, it wouldn't have mattered, but because he is who he is, it changed the climate in which he said them, made it more meaningful," said Ron Kaufman, who was a political adviser to former President George H.W. Bush. "The fact that a Barack Hussein Obama said these things, he can say them in a way that the moderate Muslims would listen," Kaufman said. President Obama's Harvard Law School education served him very well in talking about the rights of individuals. In an editorial, the Financial Times called Obama a born leader. "There is no bombast or chauvinism or phony sentiment in Mr. Obama's oratory. He inspires, yet his appeal is always to the intellect; still he holds an audience of this size spellbound. It was the performance of a born leader. President Barrack Obama has proven to be the best gift that the United States could have given to the world. The New York Times reports, "Again and again, Muslim listeners said they were struck by how skillfully Mr. Obama appropriated religious, cultural and historical references in ways other American presidents had not. He sprinkled the speech with four quotations from the Holy Quran and used Arabic greetings." He "structured his speech almost like a Friday Prayer, blending a political, social and religious message." The Washington Post reports the "55-minute address electrified many Muslims in the Arab Middle East," and praises the President's use of "spare language and a measured explanatory tone," while the Los Angeles Times says "few world leaders today can match Obama's eloquence and charisma," adding that although the speech "didn't provide enough concrete solutions to wipe away doubt...it did suggest...that the president is a conciliator, not a warrior, and that America, especially in Iraq, had made mistakes." The Jordan Times reports that "several intellectuals" it interviewed yesterday said Obama's speech "was marked by courage and balance, adding that it will help push peace efforts in the Middle East forward as he renewed commitment to creating a Palestinian state and assured the Israelis of continued US support at the same time." The Egyptian Gazette says the President received "thunderous applause" from the audience as he "sought to share the blame for tense relationships between the US and some Muslims" in his address. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said: "It was a remarkable speech, a speech that without any doubt is going to open a new page in the relation with the Arab-Muslim world and I hope in the problems we have in so many theatres in the region." President Obama can end "years of tension and confrontation" between the West and Islam, Arab League chief Amr Moussa said. "The general relationship between the West and Islam was very much affected by policies in the last few years," the secretary-general of the 22-nation bloc told the BBC. "
The relationship between the West and Islam - the years of tension and confrontation should come to an end now." UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that the speech would have a "positive impact" on the moribund Middle East peace process and "herald the opening of a new chapter in relations between the United States and the Islamic world". President Barack Obama is a powerful figure on the world stage. About 80 percent of people in France, Germany, Italy and Spain have a positive view of President Obama. President Barack Obama is a great communicator and has the potential to become one of the greatest political speakers of modern times. He deserves to be ranked beside Lincoln and King, men of words whose greatest triumphs came amid the most dreadful adversity. After the last Presidential election, the New Yorker literary critic James Wood published a close reading of his victory speech in Chicago, tracing the allusions to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, and exploring his use of history, his fondness for repetition, and the "plain but musical" flow of his language.
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| From AMU News And Views |
About the Author: Professor Syed Waris Shere is an educator and author of 8 books including "IN SEARCH OF PEACE" and "THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE". Professor Shere is a resident of Canada and is a graduate of Aligarh Muslim University.
_______________
Get Your Insightful Stories, Aligarh Memories and Views published Here. Just Mail it to amunewsandviews@gmail.com
