MUCH INK has been shed on the perils that Muslim support poses for the candidature of Barack Obama, the Democratic presumptive nominee for US presidency. But few have bothered to spell out what such backing says about Muslims in the US – and elsewhere – or even what it means for the future of US-Muslim world relations.
Support for Obama cuts across sectarian, ethnic and generational divides within the American Muslim community. It is not simply a passive preference for an anti-Iraq war votary over the Republican presumptive nominee John McCain, or even over Hillary Clinton, Obama’s erstwhile challenger for party candidature. Instead, Muslims are keenly, actively interested in having him as the first black guy to run the White House. Saif Shahin reflects on the issue in his column at Qatar Tribune. |