BARACK OBAMA'S OUTREACH TO THE MUSLIM WORLD

BY: WARIS SHERE

Less than a year after taking office, Barack Obama, 48, won the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize award, an honor that came after he made history by becoming the country?s first African-American president. "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Barack Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population," the citation said. Obama is the third sitting U.S. president -- and the first in ninety years. Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel prize in 1919, and Theodore Roosevelt was the recipient in 1906. The enthusiastic approval of the present President seems to be a slap at the former President George W, Bush, from a committee that severely criticised him for taking unilateral military action in Iraq. The committee praised Barack Obama for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples" during his short time in office and singled out for special recognition Obama's call for a world free of nuclear weapons. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei says he "cannot think of anyone today more deserving of this honour." "In less than a year in office, he has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself."

According to Mohamed Elbaradei, Obama "has provided outstanding leadership on moving towards a world free of nuclear weapons." "He has shown an unshakable commitment to diplomacy, mutual respect and dialogue as the best means of resolving conflicts." President Obama embodies the new spirit of dialogue and engagement on the world's biggest problems: climate change, nuclear disarmament and a wide range of peace and security challenges, said Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general. In his 1895 will, the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel suggested that the peace prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses". In this respect President Barrack Obama has proven to be the best gift that the United States could have given to the world. Earlier this year, President Obama went to Cairo to make a historical speech on relations with the Muslim world, badly tarnished by President George W. Bush's order to invade Iraq.

As of now the world Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly one in four people on the globe practises Islam, according to a study. President Obama wishes to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap and share common principles, principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. In his address the President said, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: "I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be." President Obama's Harvard Law School education served him very well in talking about the rights of individuals. In an editorial, the Financial Times called Obama a born leader. "There is no bombast or chauvinism or phony sentiment in Obama's oratory. He inspires, yet his appeal is always to the intellect; still he holds an audience of this size spellbound. President Obama can end "years of tension and confrontation" between the West and Islam, Arab League chief Amr Moussa said. "The general relationship between the West and Islam was very much affected by policies in the last few years," the secretary-general of the 22-nation bloc told the BBC. "The relationship between the West and Islam - the years of tension and confrontation should come to an end now. "The New York Times has rightly noted that Barack Obama's oratory conforms to the tripartite ideal laid down by Aristotle, who stated that good rhetoric should consist of pathos, logos and ethos - emotion, argument and character. It is in the projection of ethos that Obama particularly excels.

According to the Times of London, no one in the Arab world can remember anything quite like it. President Obama's mission in the heart of Islamic culture was to tell Muslims that the United States is "not, and never will be, at war with Islam,". Barack Obama was surprised and deeply humbled by the honor, and planned to travel to Oslo to accept the prize, which he so richly deserves. "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize," he said. "I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century." The Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland had a high praise for President Barack Obama and for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples", citing his outreach to the Muslim world and push for nuclear disarmament.