Is Barack "Hussein" Obama Muslim?

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I have taken notice that there is a buzz on the Internet about Barack Hussein Obama previously practicing Muslim in his younger days. He is a member of the United Church of Christ and says he has never been a Muslim, but false rumors about Islamic ties are circulating on the Internet. A Black Muslim is that possible? But what’s wrong with being a Muslim? Not all Muslims are terrorist you know, this is a stereotype, which most people actually believe is true. This is how most people look at race and Islam from the media’s point of view, which causes most people's minds to think towards that direction. Many white Americans see Islam as a religion of people of color, mostly Arab and Indian, which is not true. Like in any other religions people of all race may adopt into a religions belief that is not of there own ancestry culture.

Barack Hussein Obama is a mixture of culture and race. Born on August 4th, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, University of Chicago lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before running for public office and serving in the Illinois Democratic Senate from 1997 to 2004. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 and he could be the next President of United States of America in 2008. I have now come to realize that Obama has a strong chance of getting elected as President of USA and as the first Black President in US history. Since he started leading over Hillary Clinton , Obama has done his best to clear any misunderstanding about his Islamic past. Much of the controversy is over Hussein, his Muslim-sounding name, which he and the Democrats rarely uses in public.

Obama says that his father Obama Senior, a black man from Kenyan was raised as a Muslim in his childhood but later became an atheist and married a Christian white woman, Stanley Ann Dunham (an American). Although Obama claims Senior was an atheist, Senior was buried as a Muslim. After their divorce, Obama's mother took Obama away. From age’s six to ten he settled in Jakarta, Indonesia where his Obama’s mother got married again, to a man who was also a Muslim. Though Obama denies that he was ever a Muslim, records suggest that Obama did study at Madarsa and also used to go to Friday prayers at the mosque.

During the campaign, questions have been raised about his Muslim ancestry, that whether he is really a Christian and how much he has tried to conceal about his past. Which is what I do not understand, but if he wants to be president and make changes as he is claiming he will do. He should be honest and not be ashamed of his Muslim background. His father was a Muslim and he grew up in a Muslim society. Obama's grandfather was a Muslim. Obama's father was a Muslim. Obama's stepfather was a Muslim. His African relatives are Muslims. So, what’s the big deal if he is? Aren’t we the country filled with people of many ethnics or is a White mans country and no other race or religion can challenge their government. Which they say is separated from church and state.

For over 20 years, Senator Obama has been a faithful member of Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ. When I visited the Trinity’s website, "there is a statement of the TUCC is based upon something called the systematized liberation theology that began in 1969 with the publication of Dr. James Cone’s book, “Black Power and Black Theology.” Dr. Cone believes that black Christians should not follow the “White Church,” as it had failed to support them in their struggle for equal rights in America". I think that most white Christians would disagree. The congregation follows a Black Value System, the "soldiers for black freedom." I think he seems to inject race in his campaigns to much, it’s as if he seems to talk one way for whites and one way for blacks.

Some individuals may say that Barack Hussein Obama is a man is not a Muslim, nor has he ever been. He was sworn into the senate on his own Christian Bible. But in Islam, the son of a Muslim is a Muslim. Obama by birth and blood is most definitely was a Muslim. He says he never been a Muslim, but if he attended a Muslim school. Guess what their teaching or their “practices” are……Islam. All Indonesian students are required to study religion at school and Obama being a Muslim, would have been required to study Islam daily in school. He would have been taught to read and write Arabic, to recite his prayers properly, to read and recite from the Quran and to study the laws of Islam.

School documents listed Obama as Barry Soetoro as an Indonesian citizen and his religion was listed as Islam. He should say he was a Muslim in his younger days but then converted to Christianity. Instead of doubting that you never practiced it when you did. If it wasn’t at home he practiced it, then it was in the school.

On one of the website freedomenemies I visited, in Obama’s autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," Obama mentions studying the Quran. His teacher Tine Hahiyary said that she remembered that he had studied "menjaji" (readings of the Quran)." "Mengagi" is a word and a term that is accorded the highest value and status in the mindset of fundamentalist societies in Southeast Asia.

"Classmate Rony Amiris described Obama as being a very devout Muslim," saying, "Barry was previously quite religious in Islam." Obama was commonly known at home and school as "Barry." Emirsyah Satar, now the CEO of Garuda Indonesia was quoted as saying, "He (Obama) was often in the prayer room wearing a 'sarong'.

Amiris now the manager of the Bank Mandiri, Jakarta,recently said, "Barry was previously quite religious in Islam. His birth father, Barack Hussein Obama was a Muslim economist from Kenya. Before marrying Ann Dunham, Hussein Obama was married to a woman from Kenya who had seven children. All the relatives of Barry's father were very devout Muslims"

Yet, on his official campaign website, Obama has posted this statement, "Barack has never been a Muslim or practiced any other faith besides Christianity." Obama continues to deny the fact that he was ever a Muslim. In the alternative, Obama would apparently have us to believe that one can somehow embrace Christianity without having to renounce Islam.

For example, there is a photograph circulating on the Internet of Senator Obama dressed in traditional local garments during a visit to Kenya in 2006 is causing a stir in the presidential campaign over what constitutes a smear. The photograph portrays Obama wearing a white turban and a wraparound white robe presented to him by elders in Wajir, in northeastern Kenya. Mnsbc news says that “Clinton staffers” were circulating it. Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said in a teleconference with reporters. "None of us have seen the e-mail in question. Just want to make it very clear that we were not aware of it, the campaign didn't sanction it and don't know anything about it,” He also said “Everybody knows that whether it's me or Senator Clinton or Bill Clinton that when you travel to other countries they ask you to try on traditional garb that you have been given as a gift." That is right because when ever one travels to a foreign country and wear the traditional close, it’s considered to be a sign of respect to the traditions of their culture.

I think if he ever was Muslim he shouldn’t deny who he is, just like how she doesn’t deny the fact he is half white. Although he much more part of the Black community. He claims he’s black but he doesn’t mention too much about his father religion or who he was. No one will hate him for it. No one really cares except his campaign operation. But the longer he keeps denying the truth about his past the more people will remain interested in him. Even if Obama at one point had to change his religion if he ever intended later to run for the office of President of the United States because America would never elect a Muslim to be the President of the United States.