Losing his religion: Is Obama at risk?
May 12th, 2008A lead op-ed in the New York Times today by Edward N. Luttwak draws attention to Obama’s irtidad, his decision to leave the Muslim faith he was born into. According to Islam, which defines the children of any Muslim father as Muslim themselves, Obama’s conversion to Christianity is an act of apostasy. “Indeed,” writes Luttwak, “it is the worst of all crimes that a Muslim can commit, worse than murder…”
Blogs from The Daily Howler to the San Francisco Sentinel are abuzz with this “new” finding–that Obama as president would be at risk of assassination. Luttwak notes that Muslim law “prohibits punishment for any Muslim who kills any apostate, and effectively prohibits interference with such a killing.” The security ramifications are huge, Luttwak claims:
At the very least, that would complicate the security planning of state visits by President Obama to Muslim countries, because the very act of protecting him would be sinful for Islamic security guards. More broadly, most citizens of the Islamic world would be horrified by the fact of Senator Obama’s conversion to Christianity once it became widely known — as it would, no doubt, should he win the White House. This would compromise the ability of governments in Muslim nations to cooperate with the United States in the fight against terrorism, as well as American efforts to export democracy and human rights abroad.
So, ye citizens of the Islamic world: is this alarmist writing, or a real concern? My interpretation is that this is alarmist thinking. Foreigners of all religions receive exemplary treatment in Muslim countries most of the time; the isolated incidents to the contrary that I have personal experience with involve Israeli-Palestinian politics (the few Jews left in Syria), extremist elements (the kidnapping of an international reporter), and cultural ignorance on the part of the foreigners (miniskirts in Cairo). Obama, as someone who technically converted out of Islam (his father had reportedly renounced the religion previously and did not bring up his son as a Muslim), presents a slightly more sensitive and definitely more high-profile case.
However, actions speak louder than birth circumstances. If indeed Obama is committed to a less expansionist Middle East policy, he should be welcomed with open arms Muslim or ahl-al-kitab or otherwise. At the very least, the same respect accorded other leaders is his due. The reaction of fundamentalist extremist Muslims is less clear, but isn’t it always? I can’t imagine such groups hold much love for President Bush. An American president will likely receive the same mixture of respect, adulation, contempt and outright violent sentiment regardless and his or her religious history is a footnote at best.
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Alarmist writing indeed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-eteraz/obama-islam-smear-changes_b_101337.html
when are you people going to ask muslims what the religion of islam is about, instead of fox news or the rand coporation.
If a muslim leaves islam, there has historically been two punishments , death or banishment.
however to leave islam, (AND PUBLICLY DO IT). That person has to be
a) sane
b) an adult – passed puberty
c) have choosen ISLAM as their religion as an adult
Islam is not an inheritance. It is a concious decision to believe, a decision that is taken when you are an adult.
Muslim means Mu (the one ) slim (who submits)
There are two types of Muslims
Muslim with a capital M , is the adult who conciously submits to the will of Allah
muslim with a lowercase m, is the animals, the plants, the planets , the angels who all submit to Allahs laws as a matter of course. The Muslim child is a muslim of the lowercase m
“Islam is not an inheritanIslam is not an inheritance. It is a concious decision to believe, a decision that is taken when you are an adult.”
fred,
Can you then explain to me why there exists two kinds of apostates:
1. Murtad Fitri
2. Murtad Milli
Also, check out this case
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/18/asia/AS-GEN-Malaysia-Custody-Struggle.php
Your interpretation of Koranic text is inconsistent with mainstream Islam as it practiced outside of America. I understand that there are some proponent of Reformist Islam in America but from what I see they are being bashed by mainstream Islam currently.
The question of whether or not Barack Obama is an apostate is irrelevant. Should he become president (Oh, please, not McCain or Hillary), there will be ample rationales for the now 20% of the American public that believes he is a Muslim, the 10% who think he is an Arab, and of course the legions of people around whe world who will hate him because he is the President of the USA, to all “git theer gunz”.
There will also undoubtably be fatwas of death against him for his “apostasy”, from the same learned pillars who gave us the “Hurricane Katrina is God’s punishment”,and “the Tsunami is God’s punishment for immorality” releases. As we all know, no amount of calm, rational debate is going to sway the “educated” opinions of the above noted folk.
Hopefully there will finally be some real technological advances for rendering a fellow bulletproof while still photogenically visible by the time he takes office.
You guys do realize that there was already an “apostate” leader that existed before?
Argentina’s Carlos Menem who was the PM I believe during the 70s and 80s. He was born a Muslim but converted to Catholicism due to constitutional rules on forbidding non-Catholics from running. He has visited a slew of Arab and Muslim nations (including Saudi Arabia) yet no one made a big deal about his apostasy.
This is fear-mongering at its finest, worthy of the trash bin.
ROFL @ OP
Lots of likeminded comments today in Letters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/opinion/lweb14muslim.html
Quran 16:106 Whoso disbelieveth in Allah after his belief – save him who is forced thereto and whose heart is still content with the Faith – but whoso findeth ease in disbelief: On them is wrath from Allah. Theirs will be an awful doom.