Obama's Special Envoy for the Islamic World

US President Barack Obama has appointed Rashad Hussain, a White House deputy associate counsel, to be his special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). The 31-year-old intellectual personifies the new beginning that Obama is hoping to establish with the Muslim world. Janek Schmidt presents Rashad Hussain

photo: &copy Bogazici University, Turkey
Respected intellectual and hafiz:</i> Rashad Hussain, Barack Obama's special envoy to the OIC

​​Barack Obama regarded the summit meeting between the USA and the Muslim world, which ended in Qatar last Monday, as being so important that he even sent to the Emirates his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as Richard Holbrooke, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan.

The President reserved the most important news, however, for his video speech to the summit participants, namely, the appointment of his advisor Rashad Hussain to the post of US representative to the Muslim world.

A significant political signal

Hussain will thereby serve as Obama's envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). With a membership of 57 states, it is the largest Islamic association in the world. Even so, the OIC, which sees itself as the collective voice of all Muslims, remains weak and divided as a result of internal partisan feuding. Nonetheless, Obama's appointment decision reflects a significant political signal.

The appointment of Hussain, whose parents immigrated to the USA from India, is further proof of Obama's effort to involve as many segments of society in his government as possible. In addition, the 31-year-old son of immigrants personifies the new beginning that the President is hoping to establish with the Muslim world.

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, created the position of American envoy to the OIC and filled the post in 2008 with the Pakistan-born Sada Cumber. Yet, while Cumber's prominence was based on his success as a businessman in Texas, Hussain is a respected intellectual.

During his studies, the lawyer scaled the highest academic heights. While working towards his Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy and Politics, which he completed in only two years, he was admitted to the elite Phi Beta Kappa student fraternity. His Master's in Administration and Islamic Studies at Harvard was crowned by a Doctorate in Law at Yale. This provided him with the credentials for a position as legal council at the White House, where he has served until now.

Countering Islamists with their own arguments

It was here where Hussain played a crucial role in the preparation of the landmark speech to the Muslim world, which Obama gave in June 2009 in Cairo. Hussain's basic outlook on the issues could already be seen in 2008. At the time, he recommended in a paper for the Brookings think-tank that Islamists should be countered with their own arguments.

Instead of promoting Western freedoms, which many Muslims reject as immoral, American politicians should instead stress the incompatibility of Islamic values and terrorism. Hussain has recommended certain Arab organizations as appropriate partners in dialogue, such as the Aal al-Bayt Institute in Amman, whose Islamic scholars have frequently spoken out for religious tolerance.

The importance of religious dialogue is something Obama also seems to value. In his video message to Qatar, he stressed Hussain's abilities in this area.

His envoy is a respected member of the Muslim community in the USA, said Obama, explaining, "He is a hafiz." This means that he is not just someone who can speak a few words of broken Arabic, but a scholar who can recite the whole Koran.

Janek Schmidt

© Süddeutsche Zeitung / Qantara.de 2010

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

Qantara.de

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