Thoughts from an American Muslim Obama Supporter

Assalamu alaikum, I wanted to blog more about the Presidential election (as if there’s not enough of that going on at the moment), not so much to talk of the “historic” nature of it, as we all know that, but to express my thoughts as an American Muslim, and to touch on some reactions I’ve seen by Muslims.

Firstly, I supported Obama, with reservations. Perhaps I could have, and maybe should have, taken the high road and supported a third party candidate such as Cynthia McKinney, and I gave a lot of thought to that. However, I live in Florida, which is considered to be a swing state, so my thinking was that if too many people went for the third-party candidate, it could have swung the state for McCain, and I knew I didn’t want that. Other people living in other states perhaps made other decisions, based on their conscience and the political conditions where they were. However, for me, it was all about not seeing a McCain-Palin administration. And also the fact that I actually liked many of Obama’s policy positions.

He is a very eloquent speaker (something that is a refreshing change from the past 8 years imho), his background has the potential to bring many different kinds of people together, not to mention also giving him the insight that I don’t think any other Presidential candidate could have had. He’s not a perfect candidate (and I don’t think any of them are), but I think he’d at least listen to people’s concerns.

As a Muslim who voted for Obama, I didn’t see him as the “mahdi”, I didn’t have this vision of grandeur in my head that my life, and the lives of others, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, would all of a sudden, miraculously, get better upon his election and/or his assumption of the office of President come January 20th. And I have to admit feeling indignant when I see “oh he’s appointing a Zionist as his chief of staff”, or “Muslims shouldn’t have voted at all, now they deserve what they’re going to get”, and other sentiments along those lines. Or this idea that Muslims just blindly supported Obama, because his middle name was Hussein, or because he spent time in a majority Muslim country, or because he has Muslim family members, etc. And this “Muslims deserve what they get” stuff really bothers me, I mean, do you really want worse for your Muslim brothers and sisters than what we’ve already had?

I’d like to know, exactly, what should Muslims do in this country? If we don’t vote, or otherwise make our voices heard, then we risk being marginalized, pushed aside, being spoken for, and having people with agendas antithetical to us as Muslims framing the discourse. I’d like to no what the “anti-voting”, “voting is haram” crowd expects us Muslims living in the US to do? Aside from making hijra, of course. Because as 9/11 showed us, keeping to ourselves, awaiting the day when we could “make hijra to that glorious Muslim eutopia”, or awaiting the establishment of the kalipha, or awaiting the coming of the mahdi, never got us anywhere. And not that those three things aren’t laudable goals that Muslims should strive for (the eutopia part notwithstanding), while we’re waiting on those things, we also need to learn how to live in the here and now, the reality of the situation, the time, and the place we happen to find ourselves in. And not some eutopian dream, based on fantasy.

And in this country, having a voice that’s media-savvy and politically astute, that’s what gets your voice heard and your message out there. So imho, not that it means much, but Muslims should first endeavor to rely on Allah, strive to change the condition of their own selves, then perhaps Allah will give us the tools with which we could cope with the reality in which we find ourselves.

As far as the issues regarding Obama’s cabinet and governing choices and how they will affect Muslims both here and abroad, I’m taking a wait and see approach as far as that goes. Because as much as we want to say Zionist this (and nothing like that word to get Muslims’ attention), and “he’s not good for the Muslims” that, could you honestly say that any other candidate who actually had a chance at the Presidency would have been any better for us?

It almost seems as though some of us aren’t happy either way it goes and we just want something to complain about! As if we’d have rather had McCain-Palin in the White House, and let me tell you, that scares me more than Rahm Emanuel’s “Zionist” leanings, or any other problems or faults that we’re already finding in the upcoming Obama administration, before it’s even had its first day in office.

Let’s just wait and see what happens, and just be vigilant. Because even if Cynthia McKinney were elected, imho, even she would do something that some Muslims wouldn’t like, there’d be some cabinet pick they’d call her out for, some policy decision they’d have an issue with. So to me, it’s all about who’s going to be better or worse for the Muslims, and Americans, in general, as much of the time, I tend to focus on domestic issues anyway, and not necessarily who’s going to be the “perfect candidate” for us, because let’s face it, there just isn’t one. Even if a Muslim were elected to office some of us would still find a reason to complain.