The U.S. and the Muslim World: Deconstructing President Obama’s Cairo  Speech

A panel discussion was organized by IRD on “The United States And The Muslim World: Deconstructing President Obama’s Cairo Speech”.  Speakers included Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Dr. Rukhsana Qamber, Director, Centre for American Studies, Quaid-e-Azam University, Mr. Tayyab Siddiqui, Former Pakistani Ambassador to Egypt, Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad, Executive Director, IRD, IIUI, Mr. Junaid Ahmad J.D., Visiting Fellow University of Cape Town, South Africa, and Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik, Rector, IIUI.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed welcomed the change in the language and diction in President Obama’s speech at Cairo University on 4 June, 2009 and observed that the ultimate test of President Obama’s “nice words” about Muslims will be the actual shift in United States policy towards the Middle East and the Muslim world. Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said that President Obama is acutely aware of the new geostrategic realities and his Cairo speech is reflective of the changing policy of the United States in world affairs. He identified three significant aspects in President Obama’s speech: First, President Obama rejected the view that Islam and Muslim are enemies of the United States or, for that matter, the United States considered Muslims as inherently hostile toward America. Second, President Obama seems to be moving away from “Israel First” policy to the “America First” policy in the Middle East. Finally, President Obama, for the first time, acknowledged genuine Iranian grievances and called for constructive dialogue and diplomatic negotiations to resolve US-Iran conflict.

Dr. Rukhsana Qamber, Director, Centre for American Studies, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad presented a detailed textual analysis of President Obama’s Cairo speech and observed that both in terms of its discursive contents and specific policy statements, the Cairo speech was unlike any other that we have heard from any American Presidents in recent history. She noted that the President Obama did not use the word “terror” or “terrorism” at all in his speech and that itself is a great step forward in redefining the nature of international conflict.

Mr. Tayyab Siddiqui, Former Pakistani Ambassador to Egypt highlighted the differences in candidate Obama’s election campaign rhetoric and his actual policies. He observed that litmus test of President Obama’s promises in Cairo will be his administration’s performance in the resolution of the Middle East conflict and in his ability to withstand the pressure of the pro-Israeli lobby in Washington.

Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad, Executive Director, IRD observed that the outcome of the recent visit of the Israeli Prime Minister to the White House clearly indicates that President Obama’s agenda in the Middle East in not dictated by the proverbial Israeli lobby.  President Obama is deeply aware of the centrality of the Palestine issue and is genuinely committed to a two-states solution of the Arab Israeli conflict.

Mr. Junaid Ahmad J.D., Visiting Fellow at the University of Cape Town, South Africa observed that the core of the issues that defines the strained relationships between the United States and the Muslim world is not some “abstract notions of Islam” but the actual policies of the United States that have caused tremendous suffering and devastation in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.  It is true that President Obama’s narrative is qualitatively different from that of President Bush but, at the same time, “the essential moral biases in U.S policy towards Arab-Israel conflict can still be seen in President Obama’s speech in which Israeli victimhood takes precedence over the Palestinian sufferings”. Mr. Junaid observed that President Obama has an added advantage of “succeeding the most despised American President in recent history.”

Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik, Rector, IIUI stated that Muslim masses should stop looking towards Washington and London or even to their own rulers for the solution of their problems and rely instead on their own political power and spiritual strength as a moral community. Quoting extensively from the poet philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal, he observed that Muslim monarchs and dictators are the greatest obstacle in the realization of Iqbal’s ideal of creating a just social order and self-reliant Muslim Ummah.