| Obama’s stance on ‘Ground Zero’ mosque courageous | Send to a friend |
| Monday, 23 August 2010 10:45 |
 “…Let me be clear: as a citizen and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship… This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that all people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are. The writ of our Founders must endure.” President Barack Obama at a Ramadhan Iftar at the White House last week A news story that may have grasped the interest of most people last week on both the print and electronic media was the news that US President Barack Obama has staunchly defended controversial plans to build a mosque near ‘Ground Zero’ several hundred feet away from the site of Twin Towers, terrorist target of the 9/11 episode. For those who may have missed the story, here are excerpts: US President Barack Obama has staunchly defended controversial plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York. Opponents have protested against the construction of an Islamic cultural centre and mosque several hundred feet away from the site of the Twin Towers. Since a New York developer announced plans to build a 13-storey Islamic community centre and mosque about two blocks from the former World Trade Centre, prominent Republican politicians and a host of conservative pundits have attacked the project. These include some relatives of people killed in the terror attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001. But in a speech at an iftar dinner that has traditionally been offered by American Presidents in recent times during the Holy month of Ramadan, Mr Obama waded into a row of his guests which included US officials and American dignitaries saying that America’s tradition of religious tolerance distinguishes it from “our enemies”. “Al-Qaeda’s cause is not Islam,” President Obama said, “it is a gross distortion of Islam.” End Excerpts. It on the latter point by President Obama that I found remarkable and the fact that he was able to separate an act of terrorism from a religion of a given people and what is more separate emotion arising from stereotyping conjecture was in itself a mark of courage in leadership. I equally found President Obama’s remarks consistent with his watershed speech seeking a new beginning between the United States and the Muslim world at Cairo University early June 2009. For until the coming to power of Mr Obama, it had become increasingly difficult if not impossible, given the US spearheaded war against terrorism, to draw the line in the sand between terrorism as a purely criminal activity and associating this crime of terror with Islam as a religion. As President Obama had made it clear at Cairo and reiterated at his iftar offer last week that Islam never condones violence, more especially of innocent people – it is against the teaching of the Holy Qur’an, the guide of the Islamic faith. It would appear that it is on the horizon of this correct perspective grounded on knowledge and not ignorance of the faith of Islam and other faiths that President Obama has seen nothing wrong for a house of worship to be put up on private property even if it was close to a place where a tragedy took place that shocked the whole world. That those who attacked the Twin Towers may have carried Islamic sounding names does not connote that they were carrying that senseless attack in the name of Islam. This is the premise that President seems to be guided. But his stance is equally instructive to leaders elsewhere in the world that taking decisions requires a good degree of courage on the part of leaders especially where controversy surrounds a certain issue or a given leader’s “popularity” may be at stake. A leader must always speak one’s mind, in the positive or negative of a given issue with the ultimate objective of showing the way. This is more imperative for leaders in the developing world, where the role of a leader differs little to that of a teacher, as compared to leaders in the developed world whose citizenry is largely literate and civic enlightenment comparatively higher. It is inexcusable if not foolhardy for any leader to make vague utterances such as “naogopa” or I am afraid when matters of principles for a given nation’s very foundation are at stake. President Obama has argued his case very convincingly that it would be un-American to forbid a people to build a house of worship because that would fly into the teachings of the founders of the United States of America as the quotation at launch of this perspective says. One hopes that the majority of American people appreciate his stance. Mr wa Kuhenga is a senior Tanzanian journalist and author Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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