Barack Obama being raised Muslim

Submitted by Thermus (United States), Aug 31, 2008 at 04:04

The implications of Barack Obama being raised Muslim in the way that Dr. Pipes seems to have substantiated above will have no bearing on US relations with the Muslim World ... Although there is not a formalized rite of faith confirmation in Islam, it is well known that pre-pubescent Muslims are not understood to be religiously accountable or responsible.

Unless Obama was "Muslim" after puberty and then decided that he rejected the singular Divinity of the Abrahamic God and the prophethood of Muhammad, he would by no means be considered an apostate under Islamic law as it is understood by the vast majority of the Muslim world. In fact, even if he did do the above, the understanding of the majority of scholars would not immediately dub him an apostate either. In the end, he's probably just going to be viewed as someone who had Muslim heritage of a vague and loose type and hardly anything akin to an apostate. His status as a minority is actually more important to the Muslim world and Third World, in general.

This analysis is well-done in showing that yes, Obama definitely had some loose Muslim framework to his upbringing early on, but does not show us why any of this should matter or have any bearing on what the Muslim world would think of Obama as a president. On the contrary, McCain's position that an American Muslim shouldn't ever be president of the US is much more damaging.

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