Is Barack Obama a Muslim?

Is Barack Obama a Muslim?
Ben Shapiro
8-25-10

Is Barack Hussein Obama a Muslim?

No.

But there's a reason 24 percent of Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim: Obama spends an inordinate amount of time stumping for Islam. Obama's not Muslim. But he proselytizes for Islamic goals and dreams like a member of the faithful.

He routinely cites his background to establish his Islamic bona fides with the Muslim world. "I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims," he told a Muslim audience in Cairo. "As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. ... I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed." This is language that falls short of embracing Islam as a believer, but is geared toward telling the Muslim world, "I am on your side." Acknowledging his Muslim parentage on Muslim soil, speaking of Islam's "revelation," talking about living in a Muslim country -- that sort of rhetoric has a purpose.

Obama's first interview after his election was with Al-Arabiya. In that interview, he proclaimed that the United States had to "start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating." He then followed up this blatant pandering and pathetic apologetics with the explanation that his job was to "communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect."

In Cairo, Obama said his job as president of the United States is to "fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear." That's certainly not the job of the president of the United States. It is not even the job of the most ardently tolerant Christian. Is it any wonder that so many people believe Obama to be an emissary of Islam?

Obama's bow to the Saudi king reinforced American perceptions that he was in bed with Islamism. American leaders do not bow before foreign leaders. Period. But not only did Obama bow, he specifically bowed to the leader of the Muslim country where Mecca lies. Then the White House ridiculously attempted to claim that the bow never happened in the first place.

Obama has consistently sided with Muslims against American allies. He has thrown Israel under the bus by requiring concessions on "settlements" even as he does nothing about Palestinian violence. He has endorsed the idea of a "contiguous" Palestinian state, which by definition would mean splitting Israel in half. He has barred Israel from taking action against Iran even as Iran goes nuclear. He has backed a UN resolution condemning Israel's nuclear weapons and ignoring Iran's. He has supported Raila Odinga, a radical Muslim politician in Kenya who has pledged to rewrite Kenya's Constitution to recognize Shariah as the only true law and establish Shariah courts in every Kenyan divisional headquarters. He has abandoned Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, an anti-Islamist in Bangladesh who has been imprisoned and prosecuted for supporting Israel's right to exist. He has endorsed the mosque two blocks from Ground Zero despite the fact that the imam of the proposed "bridge-building" mosque is a radical Islamist who refuses to condemn Hamas and believes that the United States is responsible for 9/11.

Obama administration officials also act as though they're members of the Saudi public relations staff. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in an interview with Al Jazeera that his "foremost" mission was to "find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering." Obama counterterrorism adviser John Brennan calls Jerusalem "al-Quds."

It bears repeating: Obama's not a Muslim. But there are only two possible reasons why he would draw himself this close to the Muslim world in speech and deed. First, he could be duping the Muslim world, keeping his friends close and his enemies closer. This seems utterly unlikely as his most sincere statements seem to come with regard to the Muslim world. Second, he could feel true kinship with the Muslim world based on his childhood experiences and his Marxist multiculturalism. This rings true.

For the last time: Obama's not a Muslim. He's a sellout to the radical Muslim world. If a swath of the American people mistakes a president who sells out to Islamism for a Muslim president, there's only one person to blame: Obama himself.
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To read another article by Ben Shapiro, click here.

So is Obama a Christian? Click here.