Can the writer name one Islamic country where the government does not show bias against other religions? Even in Attaturk's secular Turkey Christian churches can't own the property their churches are built upon. The call for the West to be more tolerant of Islam would be heard better if Islam was more tolerant of non-believers. Think the thousand of fundamentalist madrassahs opened by the Saudi's teach the Quran in the native language and not Arabic by rote, their Pakistan graduates have no job skills other than jihadist for the Taliban. When moderate Islam takes the fundamenalists to task for their atrocities, only then will the west view Islam in a better light. It is up to moderates like the writer to get this done.

Syphony 's logic and the quotations from Sheikh Ali Vs Sheihk Ahmed, nothing is in congruence with Sheikh Ahmed's comments. If Sheikh Ahmed beleives his words, he should consume pigs which I think he doesn't, if he doesn't, then he beleives that jews have the right to life and limb and Koran never says for destructions of jews. So much of Lunatic Sheikhs from Arab world. The good thing is they hide in a bunker from thier own secular government. The only thing that they can do is to spread hatefull messages using sony casetes.

Sheikh Ahmed is a Hitler dressing imam's clothing. They should be stopped by thier own governments.

Xumaandiid.

A Muslim is a Muslim is a Muslim. Despite racial, ethnic, geographical, language and custom differences, the bottom line is that through the Koran’s and the prophet Mohammedan’s teachings, the political agenda of Islamic supremacy is built into the religion.

The intent and goal is the same today as it was centuries ago – The creation of a world-wide Islamic theocracy, where all are subject to Shariah law.

When the U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq, 600 Muslim members of the American armed forces (out of a total of 3,500) resigned. Their reasons: they could not raise arms against brother Muslims. While this was an honorable decision on their part, it highlighted the fact that there is a 'Muslim world' separate from the West. The commentator makes the mistake in ascribing geographical boundaries to that world. Islam sees the whole world as God's domain. Muslims living in the West see themselves as part of a global brotherhood -- the uluuma. Their loyalty is to their faith and their fellow Muslims, while their commitment to America is somewhere much lower on the list. Whether they live in America, Canada, Europe or Australia, Muslims sees themselves as Muslims first, last and always. President Obama's speech was addressed as much to them -- whether they live in Bangor or St. Louis or Spokane -- just as it was to Muslims living in Cario, Baghdad or Jakarta.

When anyone, including President Obama speaks only about the contribution of Islam to the worldw without mentioning the misery Islam has also brought to the world I'M OFFENDED. It's not a one way street. Islam takes pride in killiing "infidels" and they've killed more innocent humans than Hitler and his NAZI's. No one ever praises Hitler and his NAZI's for anything while pretending not to notice he murdered 6 million innocent men, women and children. No one would dream of anything that ridiculous. But today even the German people are at the front of the line when it comes to correctly condemning Hitler for the evil deeds he inspired and carried out. Can anyone imagine a day when most of the world's Muslims will come forward and apologize for the millions of humans Islamic radicals have murdered for the past 1,400 years? ONLY WHEN MUSLIMS DISAVOW THE TEACHERS AND TEACHINGS IN THE QURAN THAT HONOR MURDERERS AS MARTYRS AND HEROS WILL THE WORLD BE ABLE TO ACHIEVE LASTING PEACE. I really don't want to hear about the "GOOD" Islam has contributed until Islam acknowledges the bad that has been done and apologizes for it.
Budmanx

Islam contributed to Europe's enlightenment? HA! I guess in the sense that jihad united the Europeans to form up the crusades after hundreds of years of jihad. Okay I can see that. Sharia law and the koran are as anti-American, anti-free speech, anti-freedom, anti-anything non-muslim as it gets. While islam can thrive in western societies the same can not be said for Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity in pure islamic lands.

A few postings back, NanaBrown says that because the Muslim world is not homogeneous, therefore "no generalization can apply to them all." This is false. There is one generalization that can be applied to them all, and it is a very important one. ALL Moslems must believe that the Koran is Allah's literal word -- perfect, complete, immutable and valid for all of eternity. Even if they have never read the Koran, and even if they do not follow the Koran in their daily lives, they must believe this in order to retain their identity as Moslems.

Well, Mr. Bayuni raises an interesting cultural point.

However, I remember some high government official in Malysia, not Arab and half a world away from the Middle East, making a scathing anti Semitic attack on Israel.

Living on the other side of the planet in South East Asia, he has probably never met any Israelis nor even any Jews.

Yet he spouted the same Islamist anti Semitic rhetoric that you would encounter in a mosque in the Middle East.

I think that the Islamic culture may transcend local culture and color politics in the Muslim world no matter what part of the planet you are on.

Mr. Bayuni might want to consider that.

CHLAI88 says: "... there is no such thing as a Muslim world or any other world. Such worlds only serves to draw boundaries and borders in our minds against another group who doesn't look and behave like ourselves. We like to build walls..."

President Obama uses the phrase "Muslim world", as do many analysts. Many Muslims use the term. You can't wish it away on the basis that you don't like it, that it serves purposes which you oppose.

The term is not pejorative. You have to deal with it in order to understand what is happening around you. Montedoro here has provided examples that can be used to define "Muslim world", as it is generally used, no matter what your political leanings are. In short, "Muslim world" describes an organism, something that has significant unifying elements. Using the term will help you to identify the unifying elements, notice varieties, and separate out disparate elements. You will do well to learn a working definition of "Muslim world" and use it in informed discussion.

If you believe that the world (the entire world) is better off without this term having any denotation (real examples), then work toward that kind of a world. To remove the word from discourse does not remove the reality - except in the Orwellian sense.

If you go to the doctor and the doctor says you have cancer, you would be foolish to say "There is no such thing as cancer." If you want to maximize your chances of survival, you'd better admit that cancer exists, that you have it, and then you enable yourself to get more information and figure out what there is to do about it.

I fully agree with the author that there is no such thing as a Muslim world or any other world. Such worlds only serves to draw boundaries and borders in our minds against another group who doesn't look and behave like ourselves. We like to build walls when we think of others and so we brand them by some slogan. By separating along such lines, it makes it easy to just lump a few bad sheep with a greater group. Just like Muslims see the wars in the Middle-East as a Christian crusade, the Christians see Islam as a religion of terrorists. Perceptions are totally skewed and nothing can be further from the truth. Obama in Cairo tells us it is the deeper truth we seek that will tear down these walls.

The author is sorely confused. He writes: "There is no such thing as the "Muslim world" except in the minds of those fixated by Huntington's outmoded view of a world divided by major religions." This is just plain false. Of course, there is a "Muslim world." The very existence of the Organization of the Islamic Conference is proof of that. The OIC, consisting of ALL Moslem-majority countries, is a political organization based on religion. That is the very definition of "Muslim world". They act in unison on a number of issues. More proof? ALL of the Moslem-majority countries subscribe to the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam -- and reject the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Each declaration enshrines the values of its civilization, and the two sets of values are mutually exclusive. More proof? Look what happens throughout the Moslem world when some kafir is believed to have desecrated a copy of the Koran, or when some cartoons are published which Moslems deem to be insulting to Muhammad -- in many Moslem countries, independent of ethnicity, race or language, we see riots, arson, murder and calls for more murder.
So, yes, there is a "Muslim world", based on religion and Islamic values as set forth in the Koran and the sayings of Muhammad.

I've heard the comment "The only real Arab is a Muslim, and the only real Muslim is an Arab".

Any thoughts?

I think it absurd to claim that Islam had much of anything to do with the emergence of the Englightenment in European history. How could theocracies(which is all that Islam produced)have anything to do with a secular society. Or if Islam encouraged the rise of the Englightenment in Europe why hasn't the Middle East even to this day embraced the essentials of a modern enlightened society. For just one example, the lack of the most basic freedoms in Saudi Arabia and many other Muslim lands.

I have sent a comment earlier but it hasn’t been posted and I wonder why.
Muslims and Islam are demonized by many bloggers. But as it has been pointed out by Obama and by Endy Bayuni, Muslims make a billion and a half of the world population and logically –even without knowing their societies- cannot be a homogeneous group, and no generalization can apply to them all.
Islam and Muslims in general are not more violent than other religious groups. The small number of violent Muslims is the product of international, social and economic contexts. Islam has definitely been hijacked b y extremists for political reasons_ as has been Judaism and Christians and their people just applauded, or kept silent, until hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians were killed and millions displaced. These are facts, not whining. Politicians know that. Enlightened people know that too.
So please let’s go beyond prejudice and misinformation from all sides and try to build a better world for all of us!!

And as for so-called secular Turkey? Well, non-Muslims there live in fear of pogroms and discrimination. Just like under the Ottomans.

Islam has never accepted the possibility of a country with a Muslim majority not putting Islam into a domineering position vis-a-vis other religions. Muslims in countries where they are a minority can claim to be democratic but when they become a majority they persecute non-Muslims. Just look at Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Iran, not to forget Pakistan. Islam never has abandoned the intention to islamicize the whole world.

Beyouni from Indonesia wishes to disassociate his country from the Arab Muslims. The Arabs, on the other hand, while they love to include the number of non-Arab Muslims among “their” Ummah, they are not particularly eager to identify with them. The Arabs consider themselves as the original Muslims while all others are later converts. The Prophet is from them and the scriptures were”revealed” in their language. There is, though, a common denominator that identifies them as an entity, yet the non-Arab Muslims have the advantage of not carrying the historical baggage that seems to weigh down the psyche of the Arabs, which is further paralyzing them.

I live in Cairo. For some idea of the "objectivity" of Symphon's source, MEMRI, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_Media_Research_Institute. There are many reasons for the government's actions re pigs, none of them particularly valid and most, if not all, political or economic.

The Koran states that Allah cursed some Jews by transforming them into apes and pigs.
Egyptian Sheikh Ali Abu Al-Hassan says that the Jews that Allah turned into pigs did not reproduce. Egyptian Sheikh Ahmad Ali Othman says that the Jews that Allah turned into pigs did too reproduce, and that all living pigs are descendants of the cursed Jews, and therefore Muslims are obligated to slaughter them. (!!!!!)

Egypt is currently exterminating its entire pig population, ostensibly to protect itself from swine flu. But the pigs pose no health threat, so says modern medicine. The destruction of the pigs destroys much of the Coptic Christian community. Is the Koranic obligation just being used as an excuse for Muslims to destroy Christians? That's even worse, isn't it?

Muslims cannot deny the Koran; they must believe that Allah turned Jews into pigs. They can argue about whether the pigs reproduced, about whether all living pigs are Jews, about whether the Egyptian government is correct to destroy the pigs on a Koranic basis or on the basis that Islam is superior to all other religions and so is right to diminish Egyptian Christians.

This is a tough dilemma. However it turns out, it shows that there is indeed a clash of civilizations, an incompatibility that isn't going away. You can't wish it away by saying that it's outmoded; the incompatibility is expressing itself right now.

Muslims, please express and support your opinion - are you with Sheikh Ali or are you with Sheikh Ahmad?

I am not making this up. See http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD235909 for details.

If there are Muslims in the world that believe that the Jews and other infidels have the right to live on this planet with them in peace then they should stand up and say so. They should march, all Muslims who condemn Islamist barbarians who seek out and kill all who will not submit. The Taliban wants us all under their oppressive thumb.
Obama reached out and bent down and over to the Muslim world. Did that cause them to speak out against those who perpetrate murder of innocent children and enslave women? I haven't heard of any such uprising to take back the religion they say was highjacked. Read Because They Hate, by a Lebanese Christian Bridgett Gabriel. She found out and spoke out about the lies told to her as a child. She is enlightened but those who live here have their heads in the sand in spite of 9/11 and the first World Trade Center bombing, and the USS COLE and the Marines killed in Khobar Towers and the constant attacks all over the world by these fanatics.

That’s not all he left out.

Obama travels to Cairo, Egypt, for a world beating speech and his handlers set him up to meet with none other than Jew hating Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt. He is a familiar face to millions who have seen him reveal secrets of the past on TV programs about Egyptian archeology. In February he revealed a secret about himself and his innermost beliefs. In an Egyptian TV interview Hawass said this about the Jews:

“For 18 centuries they were dispersed throughout the world. They went to America and took control of its economy. They have a plan. Although they are few in number, they control the entire world.”

The interviewer continued, asking Hawass how it is possible that Jews “have taken control of the entire world.” In response Hawass explained:

“The reason is that they are always united over a single view. They always move together, even if in the wrong direction. We, on the other hand, are divided. If even two Arab countries could be in agreement, our voice would be stronger. Look at the control they have over America and the media.”

You can read the transcript and watch the video of Hawass’ outrageous statements over at MEMRI. http://tinyurl.com/akugv7 and http://tinyurl.com/c8277p.

What else does Hawass have to say about Jews? In an article for the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, which is distributed around the world, Hawass wrote that:

"The concept of killing women, children and elderly people... seems to run in the blood of the Jews of Palestine. [In fact,] it seems to have become part of the false faith of this people, who is tormenting us in our [own] homeland.”

“When I speak of the Jewish faith, I do not mean their [original] faith, but the faith that they forged and contaminated with their poison, which is aimed against all of mankind... The only thing that the Jews have learned from history is methods of tyranny and torment - so much so that they have become artists in this field. They have done to the Palestinians what Pharaoh and Sargon [of Akkad] did to the Jews..."

http://tinyurl.com/d2jo4v

So there we have it. Obama goes to Egypt and meets with a world famous Egyptian archeologist who also happens to be a hater. A hater of Jews, a hater of history and a hater of the truth. Oh, the irony. How could Obama meet with him? Didn’t he know? Didn’t his people check out the background on Hawass?

There is a Muslim world, they are the ones who sit and watch as non-Muslims are oppressed under Islamic rule. My message to this author is that Islam is a disgrace to humanity and we owe you nothing. So stop whining.

Obama's speech was full of lies, which I exposed here.

http://islaminaction08.blogspot.com/2009/06/lies-in-obamas-speech-exposed.html

Much is being said about socio-cultural plurality in the muslim world, and that this indicates no singular muslim world exists. Undeniably, there is significant difference in traditions and interpretations of islam across what might be called the "muslim world", but there certainly is an imagined Muslim world, the Ummah. Obama did well to address the muslim world at the level of vagueness that he did: distinctions between muslim communities were not relevant here, solidarity among the imagined muslim world was. While the differences do and will continue to affect regional and national foreign policies, complaints in muslim communities against the US very often find their source in similar/shared experiences.
Hopefully, we can all find a way forward together.

If the past offers some inspirations to move forward or some lessons to learn, we should take them with us for the present and for the future. Otherwise leave them behind forever. Obama might have gone through this. And he seems to be in the White House to remove some black spots from the minds of people at home and abroad. Optimism is the essence of his speech. But actions should gradually take over all the pleasing words he had delivered. Abraham Lincoln once told he had destroyed his enemies by making them friends. What an insight! And his bold step helped eradicate slavery. So any outcome is not expected overnight. In politics, political opportunism is dangerous. Even if he his like minded are sincerely on the move towards peace and tranquility, the hardliners from every part of the world await chances of his wrong steps. Religious interferences some times deviate the process of a good proposal or come as stumbling blocks. President Obama has to brave and take up all such challenges, if he really wants to translate his vision. So, let us, the peace loving citizens of the world, hope that all the long standing conflicts will come one by one in the funeral queue with an epitaph. By Prem Nizar Hameed

Hi all,

I apologize in advance if I have missed something but the author is not being 100% accurrate in his description of the contents of Obama's speech. What I heard and believe to have been said by Obama were references to Muslim communities. I do not recall at any point there being a reference to the Muslim "world." Just wanted to deliver this point of information. I am sorry if that invalidates the entire debate.

In future I would recommend debate topics based on facts.

As there is no more a "Muslim World" than there is a "Christian World", there is no excuse for our President's xenophobia than there was for Ross Perot's "you people" comments when he ran for President.

Amos Oz said it best when receiving the Goethe Prize in 2005, "The ultimate evil in the world is not war itself, but aggression. I believe that imagining the other is a powerful antidote to fanaticism and hatred. It is, in my view, also a major moral imperative."

IT's so nice to hear Muslims (Bayuni) chit-chat about themselves to an absolutely ignorant world. Talking to people who have NO IDEA how Islam spread it's way west across Northern Africa, north and east into Europe and Asia Minor and north from Morocco into Spain. Enjoy yourselves.

Article is well-written

However I must say forget about Obama, and on to you...well done on not mentioning the continient with the most diverse and largest Muslim population: Africa.

Again lets speak realistically...the way the media shapes Muslims is clear: blood-thirsty, violent, ego-centric, hyprocritical, Arab men who love to behead their women for nonsense reasons... in long robes who love to scream infidel to anything American or Causcasion. Again the ignorant fools in America that fall prey to the propaganda of the media dont give any rats about an Indian or Arab or anyone from the eastern hemisphere.

Its funny how violent news that comes from Africa or certain Asian countries like China, and to an extent Indoniseia are not easily linked to terriosm compared to any country in the middle east or southern Asia...

Its simple...Islam has orginated from Arabia, the Prophet of Islam is an Arab (May god bless him), and sadly the current-day arabs are losing the war on both sides ...with their relationship with other Muslims, and the West or non-muslims.

So again, Obama might sound a bit off, whether he is doing it on purpose or not, his got an agenda...but its comes off as completley wrong when someone like you is trying to prove a point by making an even bigger mistake by leaving out African Muslims for whatever reason...

Muslims are not only from Indonesia, America, or India...if that were the case, the pop. of Islam wouldnt even be close to 1.5 billion!

Points well made here. No "one size fits all" approach to a population of 1.5 billion Muslims could possibly make sense. While I think Obama's speech was a good start, I'm hoping he is smart enough to take a very nuanced approach, tailoring policies to fit very complicated realities on the ground.

I agree with JSKEVV's observation about separation of church and state. I'm a committed Christian (not a conservative-evangelical), but I think theocracies are very, very bad. Freedom of religion doesn't and shouldn't mean freedom from religion (that is, it is not the purpose of government to suppress religion). But freedom of religion definitely should mean freedom from religion in government. I have no problem with the people who serve in government being persons of faith, but a I have a big problem with government try to SERVE religion.

Very good article. Points out that you cannot paint everyone in a group with the same brush. One point I would also like to make is the need for separation of religion and government. While religion is free to influence government to the extent people of a country would like to allow, it should be seen as a necessity to keep a few religous leaders from dictating the complete will and direction of a government. I think this is a lesson for not only the Muslim world, but also for the Jewish and Christian (including the U.S.) worlds were decisions based on religion unduly influence the decisions and choices. This separation will make the world a a better place.