Obama names Indian-American Muslim as special envoy to Muslim world
Obama's choice of Indian Muslims, while breaking out of the traditional Anglo-Saxon, or Jewish political stranglehold on US state appointments especially in foreign relations field, cautiously avoids more pronounced Muslim and Arab identifications of his new opening to the Muslim world. Indian Muslims as a community have been a neglected lot and have not only suffered maligned neglect from the Brahmin headed ruling class in India, but have been sidelined by the world Muslim narrative writers too. Obama's choices will focus new light on a 150 million strong Indian Muslim community that had surprisingly remained moderate but deeply committed to their religious beliefs. The new generation with grounding in both secular and religious education is coming forth with very balanced responses to new world challenges. Impacting US foreign policies, their contribution to a more humane and inclusive world ethos would be and should be welcomed by one and all.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
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From THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI
Obama names Indian-American Muslim as Special Envoy to Islamic world
Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN, 16 February 2010, 02:04am IST
WASHINGTON: An Indian-American Muslim who is a product of the liberal, syncretic cultures of India and the United States has been appointed
The White House on Friday named Rashad Hussain, an Obama acolyte who is son of Indian immigrants from Bihar, as the US envoy to the 57–member OIC, following up appointments of several Indian-Americans, including at least two other Indian-American Muslims, to high level posts.
One of the appointees, Srinagar-born Farah Pandit, who is the State Department’s Special Representative to Muslim communities, arrived in New Delhi on Monday on a visit aimed at furthering Washington’s engagement with Muslims around the world. Obama has also named Dr Islam Siddiqui, an immigrant from Uttar Pradesh, as the Washington’s chief agricultural negotiator, although the nomination is currently held up in the Senate.
White House officials said that as Special Envoy to the OIC, Hussain will ''deepen and expand the partnerships that the US has pursued with Muslims around the world'' since Obama's speech in Cairo last June in which he reached out to the Islamic world.
''As an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff, Rashad has played a key role in developing the partnerships I called for in Cairo. And as a hafiz of the Qurân, he is a respected member of the American Muslim community, and I thank him for carrying forward this important work,'' Obama, whose middle name is also Hussain (which he gets from his father, although the President is a practicing Christian) said in a statement.
Born in Wyoming, Rashad Hussain grew up outside Dallas, Texas, where his parents still live. His father, Mohammad Hussain, is a retired mining engineer from Bihar, while his mother, Ruqaya, is a gynaecologist. His older sister, Lubna, is also a physician, while his younger brother, Saad, is a medical student. The accomplished Indian-American Muslim family offers a different perspective from the dark vision that fundamentalist, grievance-filled Muslims offer.
Hussain completed a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where his thesis was titled, “Assessing the Theistic Implications of Big Bang Cosmological Theory.” He also holds a Masters degree in Arabic & Islamic Studies from Harvard University, and got his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal.
Between Harvard and Yale, he worked as legislative aide on the House Judiciary Committee, where he reviewed the USA Patriot Act and other bills. In January 2009, President Obama named him deputy associate counsel to the White House after he had served as a trial attorney at the US. Department of Justice.
Incidentally, Obama also has appointed at least three other Indian-American legal luminaries to administrative posts. He chose Preeta Bansal, 42, as Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Management and Budget, and Neal Katyal, 38 as Principal Deputy Solicitor General, the number two position in the Office of the Solicitor General in the Department of Justice. He also named Ferozepur-born Preet Bharara as the US Attorney for Manhattan.
But Rashad Hussain’s appointment was particularly sweet for Indian Muslims who have won high praise in the US (including from former President George Bush) for their liberal, syncretic values that contrast sharply with the dark vision of many of their co-religionists in the region. Bush often expressed admiration for the fact that India's 160 million-plus Muslims were largely immune to grievance-laden extremists types that proliferate in neighboring Pakistan, something which is constantly being challenged.
Hussain’s appointment delighted Indian-Americans, including one fellow Indian-American who was also in line for the job. ''Rashad is greatly influenced by the Indian ethos of pluralism and inclusiveness. As a Special envoy to the OIC, he will initiate a positive relationship between America and the Muslim nations, I am proud of his heritage; an Indian, Muslim and an American,'' said Mike Ghouse, a Dallas-based inter-faith activist from India who has known the Hussain family and who was also under consideration for the post.
Hussain’s appointment is also politically and diplomatically significant in the context of New Delhi’s own uncertain ties with the OIC. The OIC has not accepted India as a full-member it having the world’s second largest Muslim population after Indonesia, mostly on account of Pakistan’s historical insecurities and fears.
Pressed by Islamabad, the OIC some months back appointed Abdullah Bin Abdul Rahman Al Bakr, OIC's assistant secretary-general for political affairs, who is from Saudi Arabia, as the special envoy on J&K to examine the human rights issues. That few OIC countries, least of all Saudi Arabia, are well known for their protection of human rights was lost on the organization.
Hussain’s appointment now comes as a huge embarrassment for a militarized, army-dominated Pakistan, whose espousal of a militant, intolerant brand of Islam to cement its national security is increasingly being questioned in Washington. In fact, Pakistani officials have been deeply resentful of what they see as the growing ''Indian'' influence in Washington and Congressional circles and launched a crude, toxic propaganda against Indian-American serving in the administration.
In a vicious attack last week, a Pakistani newspaper accused Preet Bharara, the Obama-appointed US attorney in New York, of carrying out a witchhunt against Pakistanis in the US because of his ''ideological beliefs'' going back to the sub-continent’s partition days. The paper also alleged that Bharara appointed a ''like-minded controversial Indian who is also known for his hatred and venomous propaganda against Pakistan, Anjan Sahni, as Chief of the Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit soon after he assumed the charge of US Federal Attorney of New York.''
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From AFP:
Obama names special envoy to pan-Islamic body
By Acil Tabbara (AFP) – 2 days ago
DOHA — US President Barack Obama on Saturday named Rashad Hussain as his special envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, aiming to build on pledges to restore ties with the Muslim world.
In a recorded video message to the seventh annual US-Islamic World Forum meeting in the Qatari capital, Obama said he wanted to deepen partnerships with the Muslim world "and to develop others."
"I'm proud to announce today that I am appointing my special envoy to the OIC Rashad Hussain," said Obama, who opened his message with the Muslim greeting of "Assalaamu Alaykum" (peace be with you).
"As an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff, Rashad has played a key role in developing the partnerships I called for in Cairo."
In June 2009, just a few months after his inauguration, Obama travelled to Egypt to deliver an address aimed at restarting US relations with Muslims worldwide after eight rocky years under his predecessor George W. Bush.
"I laid out a vision where we all embrace our responsibilities to build a world that is more peaceful and secure," Obama told the forum in Doha, organised by the Brookings think-tank's Saban Center for Middle East Policy and Qatar's foreign affairs ministry
Washington has since been "responsibly ending the war in Iraq," while "in Afghanistan and beyond, we are forging partnerships to isolate violent extremists, reduce corruption and to promote good governance and development," he said.
"It has only been eight months since Cairo, and much remains to be done. But I believe we've laid the groundwork to turn those pledges into action."
Obama, who has made the elusive search for Middle East peace a top priority of his administration, also renewed his commitment to seeking a two-state solution for the Palestinians.
"We remain unyielding in pursuit of a two-state solution that recognises the rights and security of Israelis and Palestinians," he vowed.
But he acknowledged the path ahead would not be easy, admitting "the United States and Muslims around the world have often slipped into a cycle of misunderstanding and mistrust that can lead to conflict rather than cooperation.
"Fully realising the new beginning we envision will take a long-term commitment. But we have begun," Obama said.
"Now, it falls to us all, governments and individuals, to do the hard work that must be done turning words into deeds and Writing the Next Chapter in the ties between us, with faith in each other, on the basis of mutual respect."
Hussain, who has been acting as Obama's deputy associate counsel, said he was honoured to have been appointed to the post.
"As part of his commitment to continue to seek a new beginning with Muslim communities around the world, and to expand upon the partnerships he outlined in Cairo, I am honoured and humbled that the president has asked me to serve as his Special Envoy to the OIC," he said in a statement.
George W. Bush formally named the first US envoy to the OIC in February 2008, appointing Texas entrepreneur Sada Cumber.
The OIC, based in the Saudi city of Jeddah, with its 57 members is the world's largest Islamic assembly.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to attend the conference on Sunday, and is due to hold talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan and others on key issues including Iran's nuclear drive and Middle East peace.
Speaking at the forum on Saturday, Erdogan criticised "the negative stereotypes... linking Islam and terrorism" and said "racism is as dangerous as anti-Semitism and Islamophobia."
At the 2008 US-Islamic forum, delegates voiced support for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, although some warned against expecting any radical policy change should he win the White House.
A year into his administration, Obama has yet to achieve any significant momentum on stalled peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and Muslim audiences are now less receptive to his promise of a "new beginning" with the Muslim world.
