To the Editor:
Re "President Apostate?," by Edward N. Luttwak (Op-Ed, May 12):
Middle Easterners are fascinated by American politics. The prospect that Barack Obama could be elected president inspires awe, not charges of apostasy, as Mr. Luttwak claims.
I have spent about half of the last two years in the Middle East (Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon) conducting book research. I have been struck by the profound disappointment that United States policy typically evokes among old and young, including ultra-pious and lax Muslims. These people do not see Mr. Obama as a lapsed Muslim but as a potentially empathetic American leader who grew to maturity as a Christian.
Moreover, most Muslim scholars apply the epithet "apostate" to adult conversion from Islam to another faith.
Augustus Richard Norton
Boston, May 12, 2008
The writer is a professor of anthropology and international relations at Boston University.
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To the Editor:
Like the Jewish legal tradition, Islamic law is a conversation represented in dynamic and diverse schools of thought. Edward N. Luttwak speaks of an essentialized Islamic law that does not exist.
Nevertheless, there is no dispute among Muslims that Islam is not an ethnic affiliation, nor is it passed through the gene pool. A Muslim parent is morally responsible for raising his or her child within Islam; children, for their part, have no legal culpability. There is no legal obligation by a child to affiliate with the Muslim community.
Islam does not consider Barack Obama ever to have been part of the Muslim community. Apostasy has no relevance here.
Ingrid Mattson
Hartford, May 12, 2008
The writer is president of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest umbrella Muslim group in the country.
To the Editor:
Yes, the election of Senator Barack Obama would be "welcomed by the Muslim world" — indeed in nearly all of the world — as signaling America's rejection of President Bush's misguided and incompetent foreign policy.
Moreover, Muslims and non-Muslims around the world are captivated by the story of a man of color running, so far successfully, for the presidency. In their eyes, an Obama victory in November would demonstrate that America is truly a land of opportunity for all.
A surge of good will would likely result, though I doubt that this possibility will sway many voters.
Kenneth M. Cuno
Urbana, Ill., May 12, 2008
The writer teaches Middle Eastern history at the University of Illinois.