Obama’s Speechless Speech!

Anwar Ul Haque

President Barak Hussain Obama’s speech in the historical city of Cairo was speechless! He as usual was bold, brave, candid, composed, articulate, assertive and frank. Above all he tried to speak as much as truth as he can. Of course it was not possible for him to cross the lines laid down by the masters of United States of America. There he has to simply accept the “facts”!  America has yet to reach a shore where unadulterated truth could be uttered without serious implications. The destination is quite far but there is sliver lining. Let us have that dream which is far greater than the dreams of Martin Luther Kand Malcom X. In order to realize that dream no one knows how many valleys of sacrifices need to cross.

Obama truthfully and openly admitted the fact that it was Islam who brought Europe and America in its womb out of darkness. It was Islam who founded all modern sciences and led to renaissance and industrial revolution. This is not the first time anyone recognized the great contribution of Islam toward modern development of human sciences and civilization. There had been several Jews and Christian writers who admitted the fact but certainly Obama is the first American President who admitted this in a public meeting. Barack’s  appeal for mutual respect and coexistence was soon echoed by Israel’ Barak who asked Israeli Prime Minister to accept a Palestinian state in order to avoid Israel becoming apartheid two nation state instead of being single nation state.

No human being in today’s civilization can say he or she is not indebted to Islam and Quran. If you have gone to University, hospital, bookshop, drug store or if you are using Arabic digits 1-9 instead of I-IX, decimal system, chemistry, physics, astronomy, medicine, surgery or if you are wearing glasses, watch or seeing beautiful maps with clearly marked altitudes etc. etc. or if you are travelling on concrete well lighted roads and are using plastics, various chemicals, colors and pigments and stainless steel etc. etc. you are definitely have a stamp of Quran on each one of these whether you like it or not. Therefore if Michael Hart’s book rate Muhammad (Peace be upon him) the most influential person of all time it is quite understandable. How Muhammad (PBUH) who could not read or write has so much influence on human history and development? Of course through Quran; a must read book. A miracle given to Muhammad (PBUH) being the last Prophet so that it can be checked out, checked and verified all over the world all the time> for this it was made fresh frozen and granted immunity from the effects of age, time and human incursions!

Obama rightly quoted Quran when he said saving one life is like saving entire humanity and killing one innocent is like killing entire humanity. All Muslims believe in this Quranic notion. Those who do not are simply not Muslims. It should be noted that word “Muslim” is not after a tribe or a Prophet. The word Muslim means one who is obedient to the God All Mighty and one who possess peace. It has nothing to do with color, race, position or place. Then why make people drift from each other and not let them come together and enjoy the potential contributions of each other?  To say that schism and conspiracies don’t exist is like saying that human beings don’t dream or think evil and saying that human beings are not intelligent! When you combine the two you have schism or conspiracy. To deny this basic fact through mere pressure of propaganda is absolutely sickening and damaging to the humanity. To hold all people who claim to be Muslims for the sins and crimes of a few is the worst form of human bias based on fabricated and manufactured facts and evidences. Why these criminals are in the first place not agents of the hostile forces to Islam and Muslims as they are benefitting only them through defamation of Islam and Muslims?

Obama’s speech reflected true Islamic perspective. We can’t hold all Christians responsible for Hitler’s grave crimes against humanity. Similarly we can’t hold Islam or Muslims for the acts of a few criminals who are acting against the explicit Islamic teachings and emphasis on learning and education. In chronological order the very first word “Iqra” of Quran means read! And in the very first few verses revealed to Muhammad (PBUH), there is emphasis on importance of pen; “He taught man through pen, taught him what he knew not” The word Quran itself is derived from the Qra i.e. he read. The Holy Quran regards man (and woman) as Governor on earth and for that Governance there is absolute need for knowledge and in order to keep tract on the right track one has to guard himself and herself from evil temptations.

We all condemn all sorts of terrorism, no matter who practices it and at what level it is practiced. Human beings deserve and crave for peace and not for fear and terror. In order to achieve we have to be truthful and open and remove barriers created on the humps and bumps of our own crooked and evil thoughts. We must not quote out of context references i.e. taking the Quranic injunctions of wars and paste on peace time teaching. We must be honest otherwise we will drift apart and develop hatred toward each other. Obama’s extempore and well thought of and well composed speech made many speechless. It deserved to the status of the President of United States of America and people weren’t reading his lips!

Anwar Ul Haque, MD is a USA trained consultant pathologist and past faculty at the University of Iowa with deep insight in the international affairs and comparative religions. He is a free lancer writer. He does not accept any remuneration for spreading the light of truth. He can be reached at 03335129849 (Islamabad). His post address is House 116. St. 49 F 11/3 Islamabad Pakistan. His email is haque8888@gmail. com and auhaque@nayatel. pk