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Obama's Call to the Faithful
President Obama's superlative speech at Cairo University will be much analyzed. It was, as expected, an address that was rational, intelligent, eloquent, and fair. In stark contrast to George Bush's catch phrase, "clash of civilizations," Obama made every effort to weave common threads between the West and the Islamic world. He won his first applause with the phrase "holy Koran," and in that vein more applause followed whenever he praised Islam and the glories of its past.
Overall, it was a cobweb-clearing speech. The content wasn't exceptional. Before Muslims assumed the role of bogeyman after 9/11, any tolerant educated person realized that Islamic civilization has a great heritage. Nor is it news that the Muslim world is far more complex than the picture painted by a tiny minority of fanatical extremists. Yet to hear an American president reiterate these things had a powerful emotional effect.
The heart of the speech, once we get past its effort at reconciliation, was Obama's candid talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the social obstructions in Arab society. It was bracing to hear him say that "Israel isn't going away," just as it was moving to hear the words, "peace be upon them" when he referred to Muhammad and Abraham. In one stroke Obama set America's policy toward the Arab world back on a sensible, moral, even idealistic path.
Yet there is a glaring problem that the speech didn't confront directly, which is the inability of "good" Muslims to stand up for change. "Good" is equated with devout, and that's a huge obstacle to reform. The Muslim world has not liberated its core values from the dogmas of religion. In the name of devotion to God women are denied even basic rights; terrorists march under the banner of faith; mullahs control credulous masses of believers; education for the average citizen is totally centered on the Koran. All of these are backward trends. They run counter to the modern world. In fact, the overwhelming dominance of dictators and royal families in the Arab states doesn't begin to be consistent with democratic values that are two hundred years old in the West. Human rights are more or less non-existent. This is an appalling state of affairs, and no amount of tolerance from America's side alters that fact.
Therefore, as civilized as it was for President Obama to extend a hand to the faithful, Muslims cannot have it both ways. They can't demand respect while using religion as a reactionary force. In every Muslim country without exception, core social values have medieval roots. Atop the swelling masses of illiterate people, a tiny oligarch sits. This oligarchy is rich, secular, and westernized. It pays lip service to the mullahs and fears their power. but the oligarchy rarely lifts a finger to share its wealth and influence, to extend opportunities to average citizens, or to challenge the reactionary social forces that the jihadists represent. Their sole aim is to stay on top and suppress anyone who opposes what the elite wants.
Obama addressed multiple issues and threw light upon all of them. He didn't shy away from hot-button topics like women's equality, to the point that he chided Muslims for telling women how to dress in public. In all respects he told his audience what the modern world, and particularly the West, honestly thinks of them. Will they listen? The mullahs won't. The extremists won't. The illiterate will get only a vague sense that America isn't as hateful and fearsome as the demagogues have told them. But until the small sliver of privileged Muslims quit playing their hypocritical games, problems will only get worse. These are people who lunch in London restaurant and shop in Paris boutiques as often as they attend the mosque. Obama has delivered a wake-up call to them. If they don't change, then the religious backwardness of the Arab world will keep on blindly supporting its opposition to Israel, modernity, democracy, and a better future for ordinary people.
For more commentary on Obama's speech to the Muslim World, go to the Saban Center at Brookings' Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World and the Doha Network.
By
Deepak Chopra
|
June 4, 2009; 4:48 PM ET
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Posted by: picaman | June 8, 2009 10:27 AM
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This is a brilliant piece by Deepak Chopra. There is such a disconnect with the top 5% of Muslims who are well educated and wealthy and understand secular concepts like seperation of church and state and 95% of the deprived masses who are the cannon fodder of madrassas whose only understanding is a rote memorization of the Koran and the technique of pulling a trigger on an AK-47. The sad fact is the the 5% have abdicated their responsibity of educating the masses, largely as a way of keeping the status quo intact. The kulak Bhuttos and Sharif's send their children to Harvard and Oxford but keep the peasants in serfdom using a literate, orthodox interpretation of Islam as a way of "Getting Things Done." The same is true of the Mubaraks and Arafats. It is only when the harsh reality of the militias leaking over from Swat to Lahore hits them in the face do the kulaks realize that he who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind. The question is whether it is too late to stop this reactionary cycle. History will have the answers in fairly short order.
Posted by: teferet | June 6, 2009 10:32 PM
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Posted by: SanjeevBery | June 6, 2009 12:07 PM
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Mr. Chopra,
Well said:
"Muslims cannot have it both ways. They can't demand respect while using religion as a reactionary force. In every Muslim country without exception, core social values have medieval roots."
Mutual respect means MUTUAL respect. It goes both ways. So, let us see if Muslims reciprocate this opportunity for respect and peaceful coexistence with the world. Or will they squander it (like Pakistan's lost opportunity); or interpret it as a sign of weakness; or see it as an opportunity not for peace but to spread their superior Islam and Allah onto others by force if necessary.
Let us all watch carefully and objectively, but judge harshly.
Posted by: clearthinking1 | June 5, 2009 5:14 PM
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The Age of Inclusionism
Dear Deepak:
Thank you for such a great article around Barack Obama’s speech to the Muslim world in Cairo. I truly believe history will record that this speech was the beginning of what I call “The Age of Inclusionism. As Churchill said “now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
In my most recent book entitled “Finding The Elegant Solution In Any Situation” I talk about how true Inclusionism is largely untaught and unexamined in our western society. I outline how to incorporate it into our thinking whether that is with our spouse, a committee, a company or a religion. In this speech Barack Obama provided us with one of the best examples ever of how an inclusionary mind works.
There is a WIN beyond Win/Win… it is a place where “everyone is winning but no one really feels the need to keep score.” For the most part our world leaders are not there yet. President Obama is close and is beginning to plant the seed in all of us to reach for this level of thinking. It is, in my opinion, the only hope we have for creating a kind of world worth living in.
I look forward to seeing you again when you visit Vancouver
Your Friend With Gratitude,
Allan Hunkin
Speaker, Writer, Broadcaster
http://www.AllanHunkin.com
Posted by: AllanHunkin | June 5, 2009 3:56 PM
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What BO did not address and should have:
1a) 179 killed in Mumbai/Bombay, 290 injured
1b) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh
2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens, 1000’s injured
3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops, 3,440 KIA, 846 non-hostile) and 91,843 – 100,263 Iraqi civilians killed, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]
5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.
6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.
7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
8) UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.
9) The execution of an eloping couple in Afghanistan on 04/15/2009 by the Taliban.
Posted by: ccnl1 | June 5, 2009 3:33 PM
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"But the oligarchy rarely lifts a finger to share its wealth and influence, to extend opportunities to average citizens, or to challenge the reactionary social forces that the jihadists represent. Their sole aim is to stay on top and suppress anyone who opposes what the elite wants."
---And that's just in America