Change requires goodwill, unity and generosity, not cynicism

Submitted by Prince AlyKhan (Canada), Nov 22, 2008 at 10:17

Mr. Pipes, your articles on Obama, Islam and the future of relations between America and the Muslim world are interesting and call into focus pertinent issues and questions. However, I find among the readers' responses a great deal of cynicism, mistrust and a general lack of goodwill towards the president-elect.

This is a time in world history where we need to reinforce, re-validate, reinvigorate and celebrate pluralism. To talk of whether Obama is a Muslim or not, or to judge Obama on the basis of his friends, early childhood, or other aspects of the past is useless and unconstructive. What would be more useful would be to study and try to understand: what is Obama's vision? And here I would point to two things: (1) Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope", and (2) "Blueprint for Change", a cornerstone of Obama's presidential campaign. Rather than speculate on what Obama believes, what is faith orientation is, what he plans to do for the privileged and the underprivileged, what are the political divides that Obama will seek to overcome and how he may go about doing this -- all of this and more can be found in the writings and speeches and papers that Obama and his team have authored.

I think your readership would be well advised to read or at least peruse the above mentioned sources. Love him or hate him, Obama will be the President of the United States come January 2009. We can't change that. What we can do is try to see how we can align our hopes, our aspirations, our beliefs and values which Obama so eloquently articulates in his book. Obama is someone who will build on foundations we all share. And he someone who has deeply studied the past in order to chart the course for the future. I think we should be all be encouraged by his forthcoming Presidency, despite whatever grievances we may hold towards either Republican or Democrats.

I see Obama as someone who is above such divides and, as a Muslim myself, I believe that Obama has the capacity, the knowledge and wherewithall to improve relations between America and the Muslim world. And I think he will take this cause seriously and will not look at the issues in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else in the Muslim world as haphazardly as the previous administration. If you doubt the above, again I would encourage you to go to the sources mentioned above with an open mind. Judge this man not by the colour of his skin, or by what media mongers might say, but by the content of his character which is so evident in his writings and speeches and his Presence. God bless.

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