President Obama has extended an olive branch to the Muslim world including Iran in an interview with the Arab al-Arabiya television network recently. During this interview President Obama spoke of his family ties and affinity with the Muslim community. Many think that he could have had a head start on his efforts to relate to Muslims if he had highlighted his Muslim associations during the presidential campaign. While he garnered 53% of the popular vote in the recent election, one wonders what that percentage might have been if he had made his intent to reach out to the Muslim community his top campaign issue.
A Muslim is defined as a follower and adherent to the religion of Islam; a monotheistic religion which its founder Mohammed considered to be an improved version of Christianity and Judaism combined. A review of Islamic literature reveals that the Koran picks up where the Bible leaves off.
Specifically, Islam recognizes the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Gospels but believe they were corrupted and have lost their credibility. That is why Muslims say that the Koran was revealed to their prophet Mohammed, who they claim is the greater and final prophet that succeeds Jesus.
President Obama has displayed extreme courage with his recent peace offerings in light of several factors.
Firstly, consider the current plight of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, i.e. C.A.I.R. This organization, which is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, is one of the major Islamic advocacy organizations operating in the United States. C.A.I.R. was established in the US in 1994 and maintains 32 offices in 20 states.
Very recently the F.B.I. has severed contacts with C.A.I.R. due to the revelation of their financial support of Hamas, the Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. President Obama has openly declared that Hamas is a terrorist organization funded largely by Iran. The primary objective of Hamas is the complete annihilation of Israel.
It is ironic that prior to the revelation of the terrorist funding activities undertaken by C.A.I.R. the F.B.I. had for years worked with them at the national level by addressing concerns about hate crimes directed towards Muslims and other civil liberty issues after the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks.
The question continues to surface, i.e. who is the victim and who is the perpetrator?
It is also very ironic that the charitable organization used by C.A.I.R. to funnel funding to Hamas is the HLF, or The Holy Land Foundation. That name is almost as deceptive as the acronym C.A.I.R. which has now been described by the F.B.I. as little more than a “front organization” for Hamas.
A second issue that reflects President Obama’s courage is that as a Christian he knows that he is admonished to reveal his faith to Muslims knowing that a few may accept and even adopt his faith whereas the majority will reject it altogether. However, he also knows very well that those that reject it do so in accordance with their own free will with absolutely no repercussions from the Christian community. On the other hand any Muslims that choose to convert to Christianity will be subject to the death penalty imposed under their own Sharia law.
President Obama’s Muslim counterparts have already consigned him to Hell for his Christian beliefs. The Koran is very explicit concerning this issue. In fact Islam teaches that there are multiple levels of Hell and the third level, named Hotama, is designed specifically as the eternal destiny for Christian infidels.
So it can be seen that President Obama has indeed stepped out on a very slippery slope with his peace offerings. If he continues to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization, he will offend the Muslims. If he doesn’t condemn C.A.I.R. he will be in direct opposition to his own F.B.I. findings. If he defends his Christianity, he will be condemned as an infidel and enemy by the Muslims. If he compromises with the Muslim world on dividing Israel as a way to achieve peace with them, he will definitely compromise the word of God contained in the Bible on which he swore his presidential oath.
President Obama needs the support of all Americans. We all hope that his level of wisdom can match the level of his vision for peace.