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About Those 14 "Muslim-American Leaders" Who
Met with Obama
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For the first time in his six years as president, Barack Obama met
behind closed doors with an exclusively domestic group of Muslims for
about an hour on Feb. 4. They covered the boringly predictable topics,
judging by the official
readout, accounts
by participants,
and news
reports.
What about the guest list? It includes a curiously unimpressive and
motley collection of modestly accomplished individuals of little renown:
- Diego Arancibia,
Ta'leef Collective
- Bilqis
Abdul-Qaadir, Indiana State University
- Azhar Azeez,
Islamic Society of North America
- Maya Berry,
Arab-American Institute
- Hoda Elshishtawy,
Muslim Public Affairs Council
- Rahat Hussain,
Universal Muslim Association of America
- Sherman Jackson,
University of Southern California
- Farhana Khera,
Muslim Advocates
- Farhan Latif,
Institute of Policy and Understanding
- Mohamed Magid,
Adams Center
- Haroon
Mokhtarzada, Webs
- Kameelah Mu'Min
Rashad, University of Pennsylvania
- Dean Obeidallah,
radio host
- Arshia Wajid, American
Muslim Health Professionals
Some thoughts on these participants:
It hardly needs to be said, but I'll say it anyway: Almost all the
guests are Islamists while not a single anti-Islamist made the cut.
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One of the
organizations represented, the Arab-American Institute, isn't even
Muslim.
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Eight participants are affiliated with organizations, though one of
them, the Arab-American Institute, is ethnic, not Islamic. Has the White
House staff not yet learned that not all Arabs are Muslims, and especially
not all Arab-Americans?
Six participants do other things: a basketball coach (Abdul-Qaadir), a
professor (Jackson), an imam (Magid), a businessman (Mokhtarzada), a
"comedian" (Obeidallah), and a university chaplain (Rashad).
Hard to see how these folks are "leaders."
A White House decision to tone down what is by nature a controversial
meeting probably explains the absence of notable religious figures such
as Zaid Shakir, Siraj Wahaj, or Hamza Yusuf. This would also explain the
absence of big names from Muslim-American institutional life such as
Nihad Awad or Louis Farrakhan.
The list contains several surprises: Two lowly staffers represented
MPAC and Ta'leef. The obscure Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir represented basketball,
rather than the famed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Hakeem Olajuwon. And where
are such Muslim-American stars such as Muhammad Ali, Farouk El-Baz, Omar
Sharif, McCoy Tyner, and Ahmed H. Zewail?
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Bilqis
Abdul-Qaadir, Muslim-American leader?
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MPAC made the cut but not the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR); the latter must be seething, especially as it is hoping for U.S.
government assistance to get off the UAE's terrorism list. This fits
a long-term pattern of preferring tamer Islamists over more aggressive
ones. Same story with ISNA and Islamic Circle of North America.
In conclusion, this meeting appears to have been pro-forma, part of
the political preparation for the "Summit
on Countering Violent Extremism" to be held at the White House
on Feb. 18. The president invested an hour to protect his standing among
his Islamist constituency.
Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org,
@DanielPipes) is president of the Middle East Forum. © 2015 by Daniel
Pipes. All rights reserved.
This
text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an
integral whole with complete and accurate information provided about its
author, date, place of publication, and original URL.
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