Potomac Primaries and a Changing America
The Democratic and Republican primaries will be held in Maryland, DC and here in Virginia tomorrow, insha Allah. Obama is looking very strong across the country. With John McCain - who wants more wars for a hundred years - having all but wrapped up the GOP nomination, some Virginia Republicans are considering crossing over to vote for Hillary because she is perceived as the weaker candidate. The “Keep her in it, so we can win it” strategy.
From what I can see, the Muslims in this area are pretty solidly behind Barack Obama because he is against the war in Iraq (and more wars) universal health care, and will implement a different economic policy. If he can win the nomination, and the Presidency, I wonder how this will play in the Muslim world. This article from a couple of months ago has a pretty interesting take
What does he offer? First and foremost: his face. Think of it as the most effective potential re-branding of the United States since Reagan. Such a re-branding is not trivial—it’s central to an effective war strategy. The war on Islamist terror, after all, is two-pronged: a function of both hard power and soft power.
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We have seen the potential of hard power in removing the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. We have also seen its inherent weaknesses in Iraq, and its profound limitations in winning a long war against radical Islam. The next president has to create a sophisticated and supple blend of soft and hard power to isolate the enemy, to fight where necessary, but also to create an ideological template that works to the West’s advantage over the long haul. There is simply no other candidate with the potential of Obama to do this. Which is where his face comes in.
Consider this hypothetical. It’s November 2008. A young Pakistani Muslim is watching television and sees that this man—Barack Hussein Obama—is the new face of America. In one simple image, America’s soft power has been ratcheted up not a notch, but a logarithm. A brown-skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy, is now the alleged enemy. If you wanted the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonization of America that fuels Islamist ideology, Obama’s face gets close. It proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can.
This is not why many are supporting Obama, but one can not deny that this would be one of the underlying pluses to electing him. The extremists thrive on irrational anger, demagoguery and misleading propaganda to recruit so they paint a picture of an inherently racist America in which all of the people are anti-Muslim bigots that are determined to throw all Muslims into concentration camps. They want to paint a picture of an America in which there is an active inquisition and a Muslim can not walk the streets freely or is beaten for praying or practicing their religion. They want to paint a picture of a Jim Crow-like America against Muslims. These nuts know that most people would never go along with their horrible crimes, so they appeal to their emotions. These maniacs hope that we will never stop and think. When people stop and think, they step away from these extremists as is happening in Iraq.
Of course there are anti-Muslim bigots, but I honestly believe that they are in the minority. As more time passes - without another terror attack - these anti-Muslim bigots will return to the fringes where they belong. Let me add that normal people pray that there is not another terror attack by the maniacs (say Ameen!), but the irony is that the anti-Muslim bigots and the extremist nutters are two sides of the same coin in that they both wish for another attack. The anti-Muslim bigots want to establish the Jim Crow America that the nutters portray. Another attack would keep the venomous anti-Muslim bigots relevant and the vile nutters would be orgasmic at more bloodshed.
As I wrote here, the emergence of Obama has already further demonstrated the willingness of the American people to look in the mirror and change. This would be a powerful message. A masjid was burned to the ground in rural Tennessee, but the general community has rallied around them - denounced the crime - and are helping to find the perpetrators. The maniacs will no doubt use this incident to recruit of course leaving out the part about the community helping to solve the crime.
In the past, the police and community would not have helped at all. Men that had multiple gun wounds to the head were declared to be “suicides”. The entire community would come out and lynch a person simply for being different or walking on the wrong side of the tracks. Today, this is not only almost unheard of, but people are horrified and embarrassed to hear of such a thing. There are masjids in places as rural as Oxford, Mississippi and the Muslims there are not harassed or beaten and are free to worship daily as they please. This is the picture of America that the extremists do not want Muslims to see.
There is still a long way to go, but there is a willingness to change. I will be voting for another step in that direction tomorrow, Insha Allah
Filed under: Changing World | Tagged: Barack Obama
Mr. Nelson,
I agree with you to the fullest ! No more war ! please! If we have another Republican in that office, I’ll be sick!
This primary race has also fascinated me. Never in my wildest thirty something years that I would see a Black man like Barack Obama being taken so seriously . When I looked at Super Tuesday and just when ABC news said that he had my homestate of Georgia, Alabama,Delaware and so on, I just got misty eyed. Now my nephews( I’m childless) will be able to look in their history books or to tell their kids the story of seeing theri favorite presidential candidate doing well in their class
I also feel sad and embarrased that there are some in this world people who cannot see past color and religion. What on earth does their background have to with their abilities of running our country? Before the beginning of class,millions of children are asked to pledge of alleigence to the flag. When the our citizens treat a person like a nobody because of their race/religion what are they really standing for?
Honestly, It wouldn’t matter if Hillary if Barack was running the Whitehouse. I just don’t want any Republicans to run it because , like many of us, and having hoards of people in my family enrolled in the military, I do not want to look on the news to see them or anyone else dying over this senseless war on terror.
Another BULLSEYE, Tariq! Takbir! ALLAAH-U-AKBAR!
I dunno… has having a black woman (Condoleezza Rice) as the “face” of our foreign policy helped us at all?
As-Salaamu alaikum;
Powerful piece, Brother. …..I could not have said it better. It is time for Change for a Change.
We need to reposition America to lead the world on our positives not our negatives.
February 12th IS SUPER TUESDAY for us in the Potomac Primary region….May Allah get us all to the polls.
May Peace Prevail……
AS SALAAMU ALAIKUM THIS POST ON VOTING SHOULD
MAKE US ALL READ, REFLECT AND PRAY BEFORE VOTING
P.S I DONT KNOW THIS IMAM BUT LOVE HIS WISDOM
Sh. Mahmoud Ibrahim al-Amreeki
Dar ul Islam / Iqaamatiddeen
The following are some commands from Allah and His Messenger (pboh) regarding our participation in a system of rule that legislates laws that are against what He (swt) has ordered us to do. Then some very important questions for you to consider.
On Rule
And he who does not rule by what Allah has sent down, it is they who are the disbelievers. Q 5 v.44
They desire to seek judgment from Ta’ghut although they are commanded to disbelieve in it. Q 4 v 60
Allah, The Exalted, emphasizes by oath the lack of faith of those who do not refer their disputes to the Messenger of Allah(pboh)…
Q 4 v 65
And when they are summoned to Allah and His Messenger (pboh) to judge between them, behold a party of them turn away. Q 24 v 48
Or do they have partners to Allah to legislate for them in the Deen that which Allah does not allow?
Q 42 v 21
And he who wants a Deen other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the world to come, he shall be among the losers. Q 3 v 85
On Kufr
And those who disbelieve turn away in aversion from that which they have been warned Q 46 v3
And who is more unjust that he who forges a lie against Allah, or who rejects truth when it comes Q 29 v 68
Reviling a Muslim is an act of disobedience and fighting him is Kufr. ( Bukhari & Muslim )
On Allegiance
O ye who believe, obey Allah and obey his messenger and the people in authority amongst you. And if you dispute over anything, refer it to Allah and His Messenger if you really believe in Allah and the Last Day. Q 4 v59
Questions you must ask yourself.
Would the Messenger of Allah (pboh) participate in a system of governance that would legislate to be allowed what Allah has made haraam ?
Was the Messenger of Allah (pboh) every governed by any man made system?
Does the survival of the Muslim community in America depend upon participating in a system whose international policies continue to decimate Muslim lands?
Would the Messenger of Allah (pboh) stand in front of the community of believers and ask them to advocate for a system of governance that allows men to marry other men?
Is participating in the voting process the only way to demonstrate that the American Muslim community is not a threat to other Americans ?
The Amish and the Jehovah’s Witnesses among others, have taken a principled position in this regard, they do not vote. Their loyalty is not questioned. Why then do we feel that voting and participating in the electoral process is the only way for Muslims to have legitimacy?
5000 Muslim children died a month in Iraq as a result of policies made by elected officials. Are you willing to stand before Allah and justify your participation in these deaths?
Is it the responsibility of every Muslim to implement Allah’s command in every aspect of life or just those areas of life that the un-believers are comfortable with?
Are Muslim leaders calling to the way of the Messenger of Allah (pboh) when they ask you to elect non-believers to govern over you with a system of governance not approved of by Allah?
The Children of Israel, after crossing the Red Sea asked Moses and Haroon to make for them a god like the gods of Pharoah, for this they were cursed. Is this what the Muslim leadership is asking of the community of believers ?
Lady,
Condoleeza Rice isn’t Barack Obama just like Clarence Thomas is DEFINATELY no Thurgood Marshall. Race or one’s background has nothing to with me voting for my pick for president. Obama is anti-war and I just like his position on it.I just wouldn’t vote for a person based on the racial background.
Condi may be a Black woman, but I didn’t agree with with her ideas on foreign affairs just as I don’t agree with Clarence because of his underminding of the civil rights cause. While I’m not going to judge a peron character by the political affiliation, I always want a political representative who works for the people, not against them. Too often,this is the problem that I have with Condi, Clarence and their political party.
As-Salaamu `Alaykum,
Excellent post, Br. Tariq.
In regards to the fanatics and the possibility of anti-Americanism declining if Obama becomes president, I’m not sure that this will be much of a factor.
Besides the hostile legacy that America has left behind in the Muslim world going back far prior to Bush, fanatics are simply going to be just that when their societies are primarily failed nation-states and opportunities for upward mobility are slim. Those factors helped lay the ground work for the extremists to begin with. Extreme circumstances breed extremists.
If these fanatics (political primarily and a few that are “religious”
have no problem targeting people in masajid that pray five times a day, I don’t think that they’ll give a hoot about an America president, who happens to have Hussein as a middle name.
And Obama has openly stated twice that if he were elected and had actionable intelligence of Al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan, he would launch a preemptive strike within Pakistan with or WITHOUT the approval of the Pakistani government. Yeah, such rhetoric is really going to win the Muslims over in Pakistan.
Regarding Iraq, the killing has declined, but I think that it is because the extremists are playing possum. The masses of the people were never aligned with the extremists.
I’m hopeful for historical reasons and the example that Obama can have for youth of color in our society, but I’m personally not excited about him outside of that.
But ALLAH knows best.
Wassalaam.
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Perhaps the Pakistani people should stop engaging in belief of idiotic conspiracy theories and try to stop the extremism that has cursed their country.
After all, the fanatics in western Pakistan have demonstrated to be a bunch of inept and illiterate savages.
Barring your racist comment referring to Pakistanis as “savages,” what in the world does your comments have to do with a President or future President of America respecting a nation’s sovereignty and adhering to international law?
No nation has the right to violate another’s sovereignty outside of having declared war against them, nor does any nation have the right to snub their nose at international law.
Danial, your comments are the finest example of the “American Exceptionalist” mentality.
I didn’t know that HIllary lost Texas. Intially, political officials said that she had the State. I was reading this on the aol POLITICAL MACHINE Section of their website saying this. If it is true, I know that Obama has to be happy guy.