In a rather disturbing op-ed piece in the NYTimes earlier this week,
Edward N Luttwak suggested that Barack Obama, whose father was Muslim,
was an apostate. He suggests that due to his apostacy, he would in fact
not be viewed favorably in the eyes of the Muslim world, and that he
would receive death threats whenever he would travel to a Muslim
country.

Here are a couple of Letters to the Editor from today’s NYTimes denouncing such claims.

To the Editor:

Like the Jewish legal tradition, Islamic law is a conversation
represented in dynamic and diverse schools of thought. Edward N.
Luttwak speaks of an essentialized Islamic law that does not exist.

Nevertheless, there is no dispute among Muslims that Islam is not an
ethnic affiliation, nor is it passed through the gene pool. A Muslim
parent is morally responsible for raising his or her child within
Islam; children, for their part, have no legal culpability. There is no
legal obligation by a child to affiliate with the Muslim community.

Islam does not consider Barack Obama ever to have been part of the Muslim community. Apostasy has no relevance here.

Ingrid Mattson
Hartford, May 12, 2008

The writer is president of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest umbrella Muslim group in the country.

To the Editor:

People in Muslim countries are aware that Senator Barack Obama is
not a Muslim, and yet he enjoys wide support in those countries. That
support has nothing to do with Mr. Obama’s being a full, half or
non-Muslim; it is rooted in the fact that he promises to change the
kind of policies that have led to such a negative view of America by
people in other countries, both Muslims and members of other faith
communities.

Zaid Shakir
Berkeley, Calif., May 12, 2008

The writer is a professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the Zaytuna Institute.

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