WASHINGTON — The inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American president is lifting the morals of its young Muslims who now feel more motivated about effecting change in their own country.
"I feel like I can advance now in my career and that my younger siblings will have more doors open up for them," Nimrah Bakhsh, a resident of Glendale Heights, Illinois, told IslamOnline.net.
"Hillary Clinton broke the glass ceiling for women. Obama broke the glass ceiling for humanity. He crossed the threshold."
Obama, 47, writes a new chapter in American history on Tuesday, January 20, being inaugurated the nation's first African-American president.
He will be inaugurated by his full name; Barack Hussein Obama.
When the son of a Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas launched what he called his "improbable quest" for the White House on the steps of the old state capitol in Springfield, Illinois, in 2007, he was seen as the rank outsider.
But Bakhsh, who has a Pakistani background, says she has supported Obama from day one.
His Obama's rich history has moved her to become a believer in change and motivated her to truly identify herself as American.
Sehrish Siddiqui, a 26-year-old law student from Germantown, Tennessee, also believes that Obama’s win would open more doors for America's disenfranchised.
"The fact that I am an identifiable practicing American Muslim female of Asian descent makes me a minority in many ways," she told IOL.
"This milestone reinforces my belief that all minorities that are currently experiencing hindrances and obstacles in our society can overcome them and have the opportunity to advance and improve this country."
The vast majority of America's estimated seven million Muslims, voted for Obama in the presidential elections.
Muslim President?
Hina Hussain, a law student at George Washington University, also believes that Obama brings a sense of optimism for minorities.
"It is impressive and inspiring that just forty years ago in this country African Americans were fighting for basic civil liberties and now the first bi-racial President has been elected."
On the eve of his inauguration, Obama marked civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr Day with a series of community events.
"Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same mall where Dr King's dream echoes still. As we do, we recognize that here in America, our destinies are inextricably linked," he said in a statement.
Muslim converts like Serena Sans are equally enthusiastic about President Obama.
"For me I see [in Obama] a break from the norm, something different," the English tutor from New York told IOL.
"I feel that people really relate to Barack Obama. A lot of different people are seeing parts of themselves in him."
For many Muslims, Obama's win raises the hope that one day one of them might have a shot at the presidency.
"His middle name is Hussein. He’s associated with Islam and Muslims. It made people raise the question, so what if he was Muslim?" Bakhsh, the Illinois Muslim, said.
"Now a 7-year Muslim can dream about one day becoming president too."
Since the 9/11 attacks, US Muslims have become sensitized to the erosion of their civil rights amid complaints of discrimination and stereotyping because of their Islamic attires or identities.
And despite the fact that Obama’s association with Islam has sparked a controversy throughout the election process, Bakhsh feels that something positive has come out of all this.
"Muslims received more attention and it created the opportunity for more discussion."
More and more American Muslims are starting to discuss politics and what they can do to make a difference.
They are talking about how they can effect change in their own country and credit Obama with opening their eyes to the political process.
"His win shows that change can really happen," says Takeya Alamin, a 23-year-old community activist in Champaign, Illinois.
"Who knows, 20 years from now, what role we’re going to play here in America as Muslims."
Samuel Zwemmer who said in his book "The Islamic World Today": "We should convince Muslims that the Christians are not their enemies, and publish the Holy Bible in Muslims' language, because it is the most important Christian reference." He added: "We should evangelize some Muslims to work at Christianizing the people of their own nation, for a tree is best cut by a wood cutter from its own forest."
W00t, gO-bama! We've got to act like idiots and give him no chance of living up to his repuation! All hail kind Caesar Obama, all the dreams of Americans and people put together in one man!!!1one
Or, in other words, all this mindless praise is just setting up to be the biggest disappointment in US history. He is a president, not a Saviour.
01-26-2009, 07:51 PM
President Obama Lifts Muslim Morale
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