Barack Obama & Islam

I've watched the following video, of Barack Obama bowing to the Saudi King, a few times now, and it still makes me nauseous. More than that, it makes me wonder - what is it with this man? What is his agenda?

US Presidents don't bow to royalty - the King is a fellow Head of State (as is our Queen, whom he did not bow to), therefore his equal. Besides, only a monarch's own subjects are generally obliged by protocol to bow or curtsy.
Before Barack Hussein Obama was elected President of the United States, there was much speculation about his background.

Many of his opponents were particularly concerned about his religious faith, and there were a lot of accusations floating around that he was a 'secret' Muslim.

His campaign responded:

Barack Obama Is Not and Has Never Been a Muslim. Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ.

As you can see from the link, anyone who brought this up was dismissed as spreading 'vile' slurs (not sure King Abdullah would be too impressed with such usage) against the great man, an evil, Right-wing wingnut to be ignored.

Now, for the record, I don't believe that Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, and I don't believe that he is a secret Muslim either. You can't blame people for being curious, though - he plays on his own background and origins pretty much every time he opens his mouth, and so do many of his supporters.

I do know, however, that his campaign lied about him ever having been a Muslim. At the very least, there is a very good case for claiming he spent a fair portion of his childhood as at least a nominal Muslim:

1. Obama’s father was a Muslim polygamist.
2. Obama’s step-father was a Muslim.
3. In Indonesia he was registered in school as a Muslim.
4. Occasionally he went to the Mosque for prayers
5. He took religious classes and studied the Koran in Arabic.

These are all facts. The Obama campaign tried to pretend that his natural father was an atheist, but he was buried as a Muslim.

Check the link for more details, but here is a brief quote about Obama's time in Indonesia:

According to Tine Hahiyary, one of Obama’s teachers and the principal from 1971 through 1989, Barry actively took part in the Islamic religious lessons during his time at the school. His teacher was named Maimunah and she lived in the Puncak area, the Cianjur Regency.“I remembered that he had studied “mengaji” (recitation of the Quran)” Tine said.

Our guy in Jakarta writes: “The actual usage of the word ‘mengaji’ in Indonesian and Malaysian societies means the study of learning to recite the Quran in the Arabic language rather than the native tongue. “Mengagi” is a word and a term that is accorded the highest value and status in the mindset of fundamentalist societies here in Southeast Asia. To put it quite simply, ‘mengaji classes’ are not something that a non practicing or so-called moderate Muslim family would ever send their child to.

Interesting. But why, apart from the fact that the Obama campaign tried to smear anyone who raised these issues, is this relevant?

It's relevant in my opinion because Obama definitely seems to have something of an agenda when it comes to Islam. Take the following story from 'The Frozen North':

The Obama administration apparently want to hire more Muslims, so they’ve drawn up a list of likely candidates. All this was done “under the radar” because Obama didn’t want people to realise how closely he really wanted to work with practitioners of Islam. This was reported in the Denver Post, and picked up by Pamela at Atlas Shrugs.

The usual suspects are calling it 'peace' and 'reconciliation'. Of course, it's simply all about diversity and vibrancy and inclusivity, etc etc etc.

Is it? Well, you read the following incidents, all of which have happened since Obama's inauguration on 20th January 2009, and you decide.

“The person who made me proudest of all,” Obama wrote, “was Roy. Actually, now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago he decided to reassert his African heritage. He converted to Islam, and has sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol.”

On February 27th, Barack Hussein Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth.”

From Canada Free Press via Vlad Tepes:

Although Obama played the Christian card while campaigning, he is playing the Muslim card now in such a blatant fashion that even I am astounded.

Here is his record to date after inauguration,

Obama’s first call was to Mahmoud Abbas who is not even a head of state. Obama was delivering a message to Israel and the world.

Obama’s first interview, within days of inauguration, was with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya Networks In it her stressed his own Muslim ties and his hopes for a Palestinian state. His message was “U.S. not your enemy”

“And as I said during my inauguration speech, if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us,”

On February 10th, Obama ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in migration assistance to the Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza.

In February, he pledged to provide $900 million in aid for rebuilding the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

On March 19th Obama delivered a customary speech to the Iranian people on their New Year but sold them out by referring to the Islamic Republic of Iran which amounted to an acceptance of the regime.

Obama is reaching out to the Taliban to cut a deal.

Obama is looking to hire a select group of Muslims for the White House.

Obama has been reaching out to Syria for some time now but in the last two months he has matched words with deeds. He has lifted sanctions on Syria and intends to meet personally with Assad hereby bringing him in from the cold. He wants to see if Syria is serious about peace, which means breaking from Iran, in which case he will force Israel to give up the Golan.

Obama has also been calling Erdogan and Gul in Turkey looking to improve relations with Turkey. He praised Erdogan for his efforts at peace making between Syria and Israel and wants him to continue. He is looking to Turkey to help with Iran and Afghanistan and to permit US forces to exit Iraq through Turkey.

One more not on the list - on 31st March 2009 the US announced that it would join the UNHRC despite the accusations of anti-Semitism and a unhealthy fixation on Israel, reversing its previous course of action.

It's not a pretty picture, is it? As I write this, Obama is busy 'reaching out to the Muslim world' in Turkey, by insisting that Americans become closer to the Muslim world and Turkey be allowed to join the EU.

This all amounts, as far as I'm concerned to a major re-alignment in American foreign policy and diplomatic relations. Not only that, it is an attempt to re-align the entire Western world so it looks towards appeasing Islam and Muslim demands rather than its own culture, institutions and traditions, all in the name of peace and tolerance.

Even if Obama does not have Muslim sympathies, I think we can safely say where his sympathies do not lie - with us here in the West.