Obama names special envoy to the Muslim world, Islamic World News, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic World News

Obama names special envoy to the Muslim world

In case you were out of the house Saturday doing errands and forgetting to get your special someone a sweet something for Valentine's Day, President Obama chose that day to make a surprise announcement.

The announcement came in a special video which he taped for the U.S.-Islamic World Conference meeting now in Qatar. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was there Sunday.

But it was Obama who announced, as a continuation of his determined outreach to the world's Muslim communities, the appointment of a special emissary to the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference that bills itself as the collective voice of the Muslim world.

He's Rashad Hussain, a deputy associate counsel, who, of course, has a Harvard degree. Obama, who spent his childhood in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has made....

...several such outreaches -- such as his special Hajj message here in November -- with special taped messages on Muslim holidays and his trip to and speech in Cairo last summer. So far, the gestures have gone unrequited.

The president said:

As an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff, Rashad has played a key role in developing the partnerships I called for in Cairo. And as a hafiz of the Qur’an, he is a respected member of the American Muslim community.

One White House official called the move an "important part of the president's commitment to engaging Muslims around the world based on mutual respect and mutual interest."

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http://newageislam.com/obama-names-special-envoy-to-the-muslim-world/islamic-world-news/d/2466

War is not the answer; peace is not possible with Pakistan, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

War is not the answer; peace is not possible with Pakistan

Call the Pakistan bluff

By Vir Sanghvi, Hindustan Times

February 01, 2009

I’ve tried hard to understand the Pakistani response. After all, only a week before the Bombay incidents, we were talking about a no-first-use nuclear commitment from Islamabad and were hopeful that President Asif Zardari’s friendly statements marked the beginning of a new era in India-Pakistan ties.

Could it be, I wondered, that in our anger over Bombay we were being unreasonable in our demands? Were we expecting too much of Pakistan? Otherwise, why is it that even the so-called Pakistani thinkers and intellectuals who regularly appear at peace seminars and Track Two meetings are being so unsympathetic to India’s complaints?

The Pakistani position, insofar that I can understand it, has two primary components. The first comes from government sources and goes something like this.

Of course there are terrorists in Pakistan. But they are not part of the State machinery. Rather they are freelance jihadis who target Pakistan even more than they target India. Yes, Kasab is a Pakistani and so perhaps were many of the other Bombay attackers. But this, by itself, proves nothing. The 9/11 terrorists who brought down the World Trade Center towers were Saudi Arabians. Nonetheless, the United States did not take the attitude that this meant that the attacks had the support of the Saudi government. It recognised that the terrorists were as much against the Saudi regime as they were against the US administration.

http://newageislam.com/war-is-not-the-answer;-peace-is-not-possible-with-pakistan--/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/1164

German society must show willingness to truly and comprehensively recognise Islam, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

German society must show willingness to truly and comprehensively recognise Islam

They were accused of being incapable of organising themselves into a unit – because their organisational structures and religious issues were not transparent for outsiders – and of representing a conservative, even fundamentalist view of Islam.

These reproaches are all too reminiscent of the debates about the introduction of a special "naturalization test" for Muslim migrants twelve months ago. The goalposts for the social recognition of Muslims are constantly being shifted and the conditions they have to meet made harder to reach.

In order to have the same rights as others, Muslims in Germany repeatedly have to declare their commitment to the constitution, non-violence, and the equality of men and women. This pressure to justify their actions shows that Muslims are still considered to be backward and a threat to Western social order.

Muslims are confronted with these kinds of ascriptions on a daily basis. Nevertheless, despite the fact that it shaped the discussions significantly, this aspect was not mentioned at any stage of the conference.

http://newageislam.com/german-society-must-show-willingness-to-truly-and-comprehensively-recognise-islam/islam-and-the-west/d/87