Obama gets Muslim question in small-town cafe

The Baltimore Sun ^ | 12/22/2007 | John McCormick

[Beckwith]

PLEASANTVILLE, Iowa – In a small-town café here this afternoon, Sen. Barack Obama was asked a question that typically only circulates on the Internet.

As he sat down to have a slice of pie with a small group of potential voters, an elderly woman asked him about things she has heard about him being Muslim.

Of course, he is not. But Internet messages continue to suggest otherwise.

"I've always been a Christian," the Illinois Democrat responded. "I have never practiced [Islam]."

[Beckwith]

In his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," Obama mentions studying the Quran. His teacher, Tine Hahiyary, said that she remembered that he had studied "menjaji" (recitation of the Quran)." Classmate Rony Amiris described Obama as being a very devout Muslim, saying, "Barry was previously quite religious in Islam." Another classmate, Emirsyah Satar, now the CEO of Garuda Indonesia, was quoted as saying, "He (Obama) was often in the prayer room wearing a 'sarong'. (See 1971 and 1972, above.)

Obama converted to Christianity in 1992, the year he married Michelle.

And note his Clintonesque response, "I have never practiced."

The newspaper editors had to add the word, "Islam."

The Obama File

[rhombus]

Actually I could care less if he once was a Muslim. I care much more about the same old warmed over socialism from the 60s that he’s pitching as somehow new ideas.

[abstracTT]

he is his own sleeper cell.

[bill1952]

Were he president, I would be VERY concerned with any emotional or real connection to islam, or being a muslim.

The rearrangement of military dispositions and foreign policy(s) would benefit the muslim world greatly, and specifically the arab part of it.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

Even more important...with Obama’s Muslim background (lets be honest...he has a Muslim background)...is that if he is now a Christian....that will not sit well with the Islamic Terrorist world

Muslims believe that converts from Islam to another religion is heresy...and punishment is death. Do we want Islamic Terrorist nutballs always threatening our President, if Obama were to be elected? Would Islamic Terrorist States take the US serously if a “heretic” was our President?

[rhombus]

I think Obama hasd demonstrated that Socialism is his number one religion. Your concerns about the “...rearrangement of military dispositions and foreign policy...” benefiting the Muslim world can equally be applied to all Democratic candidates and a few Republican candidates as well.

[no-to-illegals]

an elderly woman asked him about things she has heard about him being Muslim.

another planted question? A Freeper?

What would Mohammad say / do with this question, if running for President of the United States?

And what is to keep Obama from declaring his roots, if elected?
Wouldn't the muslims world be proud of America?

And can this author, of the article, be declared brain dead?

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

"I have never practiced [Islam]."

Interesting choice of words, there Hussein.

[nina0113]

Can somebody just ask him flat-out if he’s ever recited the shahada? Yes or no, Barack?

[Bernard]

Even more important...with Obama’s Muslim background (lets be honest...he has a Muslim background)...is that if he is now a Christian....that will not sit well with the Islamic Terrorist world

Only one thing to do; ask Ron Paul if this is just as bad as us, "being over there", as grounds for an attack.

[Dixie Yooper]

What would Mohammad say / do with this question, if running for President of the United States?

Mohammad would have cut off the head of anyone foolish enough to put him on the spot.

[Does so]

"I have never practiced [Islam]."

Interesting choice of words, there Hussein.

It's lawyerly.

[no-to-illegals]

Is Obama taking names? This guy, Obama, is too lawyerly for me. Obama reminds me of someone with too much food in his mouth, attempting to speak though the turkey, without the ham.

[Red Badger]

What's shahada?...............

[AdvisorB]

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_561539395/shahada.html

[no-to-illegals]

or to add a revision....
Obama reminds me of someone speaking to turkeys, promising ham to all, while holding the ax behind his back.

[giotto]

Of course, he is not

Of course, he is. His father was Muslim, and, as I understand it, by Islamic law that makes Barack Obama a Muslim. Although the father later became an atheist, once a Muslim always a Muslim. I don't question Barack's veracity. He says he's a Christian, so I have no reason to doubt that he is. But according to Islamic law, he is a Muslim. I am mostly concerned about the fact that billions of Muslims around the world would see him as our first Muslim President.

[knarf]

This is what I found

[JasonC]

If he ever was, and converted, then personally fine for him, but it still has a consequence. Half the Islamic clergy on the planet would sign a fatwa saying he should be killed for it. But I agree, the objection to him is his useless leftist (and I'll add, pacifist) policies.

[nina0113]

The muslim profession of faith: “There is no God” etc. Say the words, and you are officially a muslim, no turning back without becoming an apostate. It is impossible that Obama will not know the word “shahada.”