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Al Watan, Oman

When 'Hussein' is the Most Beautiful Word

"When Obama says that word 'Hussein', his will be the most beautiful voice the world's Muslims have ever heard from or about America."

By Atef Abdul Jawad

Translated By James Jacobson

December 19, 2008

Oman - Al-Watan - Home Page (Arabic)

On Wednesday [Dec. 17], Barack Obama confirmed what we reported here a few weeks ago, which is that he will use his full, three-word name when he takes his constitutional oath as America's new head of state at noon on January 20th. His name is Barrack Hussein Obama. Obama justified the use of his full, three-word name, saying the he wants to continue the tradition followed by former America presidents of using their full names when taking their constitutional oaths. But the truth is that some U.S. presidents used their full names and others were content to use just two, like former presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

I hope that America's new president, Barrack Hussein Obama, gives us another reason for wanting to use his full name. The best reasons are that our names are given to us by our fathers and, whatever they may be, we must feel and express pride for them; and that these names were also a tribute to our own fathers, grandfathers and heritage. But Barack Obama still seems shy when it comes to discussing his father’s Islamic heritage. We say to Obama today: The American people elected you president; they know you are the son of a Muslim man from Kenya and that your middle name is Hussein. There is no reason to disguise the truth of your ethnic and religious roots. Your decision to use your full, three-word name when taking the oath of office is a decision we salute. But you must tell us the true reason. It's not historical tradition, because there is no historical tradition followed by all former U.S. heads of state. It's because you're proud of your name and your father and of both heritages, racial and religious, in which Black and White, Christianity and Islam, are combined.

Obama said during his campaign that he wanted to improve relations with the Islamic World and restore the image and reputation of the United States. He said that he would begin building this bridge by giving a speech in one of the capitals of the Islamic world. Obama stated his intention this week, without getting specific about which "Islamic capital" he would choose.  

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

But we don't think the bridge-building between America and the Islamic world will begin with this speech. We believe it will begin at noon on the 20th of January, when Obama is sworn-in by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court with his full three-word name, Barack Hussein Obama." It will be at this moment that Obama connects 300 million Americans in the United States and over a billion Muslims around the world. Muslims will see in Obama’s unique name a few obvious truths about the American people: that in the United States, one can be elected president with a Black Muslim father from Africa; and that in spite of the exceptions, America is a country open to all religions and races.

    [The Telegraph, U.K.]

Barack Obama went to primary school in Indonesia where he learned of, read and studied Islam. Obama's White Christian mother married an Indonesian Muslim man after Obama’s father abandoned her and returned to Kenya in pursuit of political glory in his native land. In Indonesia, Obama heard the sound of prayer five times a day. The voices, echoes and the spiritual meanings penetrated the mind of the boy, to the point that he even said in a press interview that these sounds of prayer were the most beautiful he has heard in his life.

There will be no muezzin’s voice [the man who announces the hour of prayer] at the ceremony when Obama is sworn in, but his voice will echo his middle name: "Hussein." When Obama says that word, his will be the most beautiful voice the world's Muslims have ever heard from or about America. This will be the first brick in a bridge, which we hope will continue to be built between America and the Islamic world.

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US December 25, 12:47am]