The Hajj, the grand Pilgrimage to Mecca, has just ended after having attracted a record four million Muslims from all over the world for a week of worship in the vast Arabian desert. I attended this year for the first time and experienced one of the most remarkable and transformative events known to humanity. Believers of every race, nation and age brought together to transcend our differences and unite before God.

But there was one topic that was on everyone’s lips as we sat together under a tent in the pilgrim camp at Mina – the improbable election of Barack Hussein Obama to the Presidency of the United States. Everyone I spoke with expressed wonder at God’s will in bringing such remarkable change after eight years of George W. Bush. Most were hopeful that Obama could restore to America its prestige as the moral leader of the world, squandered so recklessly by an Administration that redefined the meaning of the word “hubris.”

There was much that I learned from the Hajj on a personal spiritual level. But I also gained insight on the state of Muslim public opinion toward US foreign policy. These are lessons that would be helpful for our incoming President to keep in mind as he attempts to re-imagine America’s relationship with the Islamic world. Here are some of my thoughts:

Muslims are America’s allies against Al-Qaeda

One of the most consistent themes that I heard during the weeklong vigil at Mecca was the profound abhorrence for violence against civilians in the name of Islam. Whether I spoke with a Syrian neurosurgeon or a Saudi taxi driver, a deep-rooted rejection of Al-Qaeda and its brand of extremism was evident. This was particularly poignant due to the horrific events playing out in Mumbai at the height of the Pilgrimage. Indian pilgrims I met sorrowed for their besieged countrymen, many expressing horror that the streets they regularly walked in Mumbai had become a battlefield.

President Obama must recognize that the vast majority of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims reject murder in the name of Islam and are America’s allies against terrorism. The United States must engage with this not-so-silent majority and work with it to defeat the extremists. Part of that engagement process will be to listen to these Muslims as well and address their grievances. My conversations with fellow believers at the Hajj reaffirmed that Muslims reject terrorism – and they also reject political oppression. Whether it be the suffering of innocent Muslims in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, or at Guantanamo Bay, Muslims have valid grievances that are too often ignored by Americans. Obama must understand that the security of America requires a two-pronged approach – allying with mainstream Muslims against Al-Qaeda, while addressing the political grievances that are allowing extremists to recruit among the disenfranchised.

Saudi reform should be encouraged

As an American Muslim raised in Brooklyn, Saudi Arabia is another planet as far as I am concerned. The Kingdom’s synthesis of modern skyscrapers and medieval ideology is mind-boggling. And yet the nation is changing for the better. The new king Abdullah has proven to be a wise statesman, working to disempower the old fundamentalist elites who have been enemies of reform. King Abdullah surprised and delighted the Muslim world in March 2008 when he held a conference in Mecca inviting religious scholars of every branch of Islam, both Sunni and Shia, to work together to promote an Islam of compassion and human brotherhood. A few weeks later, he stunned the world by hosting an interfaith conference in Madrid, bringing together Jews, Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus with Muslims to work toward global peace. And he is beginning to rein in the mutawwin, the feared religious police who serve as the fundamentalists’ enforcers.

The King is slowly but surely pulling his country into the 21st century. But the fundamentalists should not be counted out just yet. The religious establishment may strike back against the Abdullah’s efforts to liberalize the Kingdom, and the prospect of civil war in Saudi Arabia one day is not impossible. What President Obama will have to do is work with King Abdullah to strengthen the modernizing elements within his regime. The most important reform Obama can encourage is to break the monopoly of fundamentalist religious scholars on interpreting Islam inside the Kingdom. The Kingdom must welcome Muslim thinkers of every school of thought into its Council of Senior Ulama, the clerical body that is the final authority on religious matters.

The believers I met on Hajj were united in their desire to see Saudi religious scholars bring their interpretations more in line with mainstream Muslim thought, especially in the area of women’s rights. One of the reasons I wrote my novel Mother of Believers about the Prophet’s wife Aisha was to show how active and influential women were during the birth of Islam, a tradition that has been ignored and suppressed by modern fundamentalists. Aisha was a scholar, a poet and a warrior who led armies into Iraq on an armored camel. She would have been shocked by the extreme limitations on women’s rights in the Kingdom.

President Obama will be in a position to help King Abdullah’s reform efforts. As someone who has known Muslims since childhood, Obama should be well aware that the fundamentalists are a small, if troublesome, minority in Islam. Now that King Abdullah has begun the long and painful process of moving his country out of the Middle Ages, he must be supported by the United States.

The center of Muslim power is moving East

One of the most remarkable things I noticed during the Pilgrimage was how many believers had come from Southeast Asia. I was delighted by the presence of huge numbers of faithful from Indonesia and Malaysia, which are rapidly becoming the future centers of Islamic influence. Speaking with many Southeast Asian Muslims, I realized that cultivating Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation with over 200 million believers, will be pivotal for America’s relationship with Islam. The fact that Obama studied in Jakarta as a child is a remarkable basis to solidify a strong friendship between our countries. Indonesian Muslims embrace a deeply tolerant interpretation of Islam and the White House must promote Indonesian voices in its efforts to build bridges with mainstream Muslims. There have been reports in recent days that Obama is planning to give a speech in a major Muslim country, and Indonesia should be placed at the top of the list of candidates.

Similarly, Obama should reach out to Malaysia, another Southeast Asian Muslim country with a moderate religious outlook. Malaysia will be particularly helpful in helping the United States to learn from the lessons of Islamic finance. Malaysia pioneered the idea of Islamic investment, which rejects the principal of interest that has been the cornerstone of Western finance – and will possibly be its death knell. As the world reels from the collapse of the interest-based lending system, Islamic alternatives will become increasingly popular. The Malaysians have been leaders in this now $700 billion dollar industry, and their adherence to a dual system, allowing Islamic banks to operate seamlessly alongside the traditional Western system, has many lessons for Americans seeking to find alternatives to the current financial malaise. President Obama should sponsor a conference on Islamic investment, bringing together Islamic finance experts from Malaysia, Dubai and the Persian Gulf states to work with Wall Street and develop new ways for American investors to prosper.

The Hajj represents the best of Islam

The Hajj is a chaotic event, with millions of people who speak different languages and have different cultural traditions thrown together in relatively close quarters. And yet I was heartened to see how gracious and patient people were with each other, merchants from Ghana helping elderly villagers from India perform rituals that transcended the differences between them. This was the Islam that I loved, the religion of peace and human cooperation that is almost never depicted in the media. It would be hard for any observer to imagine that the same religion that inspired millions of human beings to meet in the wilderness and embrace each other with love could also be used as the rallying cry for murder and madness. The fundamental disconnect between Al-Qaeda’s cruelty and the joyous heart of Islam was nowhere more evident than in the countless acts of kindness and generosity that I witnessed in Mecca.

President Barack Hussein Obama has the chance to ally with this Islam of joy and peace, for the good of the United States and the world. Let’s hope he takes it.

>> As an American Muslim raised in Brooklyn, Saudi Arabia is another planet as far as I am concerned. The Kingdom’s synthesis of modern skyscrapers and medieval ideology is mind-boggling. <<

"Hey American Muslim. How you hanging? Hows the Christmas Shopping going for you?"

Another idiot "American Muslim"! No clue of anything outside of America! I wonder if he knows that King Abdullah is not a democratically elected leader like Obama!!!

>> The Malaysians have been leaders in this now $700 billion dollar industry, and their adherence to a dual system, <<

"Hey again idiot Muslim". Have you heard of Anwar Ibrahim, or like most Americans you only see the $ signs when it comes to Malaysia???

Another one of those yuppy-go-lucky, deer-in-the-headlights "American" Muslim type articles. The love-fest and fantasizing of what Obama will do for them (predicated on wishful thinking) is no different than the parents, uncles, and older folks of these people who were so full of hubris and pride at having been the "decisive vote" in having "elected Bush" in 2000. They have now all gone eerily silent on that front.

I look forward to re-reading garbage like this after Obama has dropped a few bombs in Afghanistan, some marines have massacred some more civilians in Iraq, or Obama decides to invade Pakistan (As he has already stated he would).

Kw

HYPOCRISY NUMBER ONE:

>> improbable election of Barack Hussein Obama to the Presidency of the United States. <<

Why don't you use the name "Barack Obama", thats what 99% of the people in the USA use. Why mention his middle name?

IDIOCY NUMBER TWO:

>> Obama must understand that the security of America requires a two-pronged approach – allying with mainstream Muslims against Al-Qaeda, <<

And who are you to represent the interests of Muslims worldwide to Obama? What are your qualifications for making these statements? That you just made Hajj and met some middle-class hajis who told you some mumbo jumbo opinions about America and now you are an expert on American Foreign Policy??

HYPOCRISY NUMBER THREE:

>> The new king Abdullah has proven to be a wise statesman. <<

Would you as an American be willing to have Bush's son or daughter automatically elected to the US Presidency without any public say??? Why not?? You don't seem to mind the same when it happens in Saudi??? Yet you glow with pride about "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" who has less chance of being the King of Saudi Arabia than say King Abdallah's parrot or his family dog.

IDIOCY NUMBER FOUR

>> The most important reform Obama can encourage is to break the monopoly of fundamentalist religious scholars on interpreting Islam inside the Kingdom.<<

Why don't you write to King Abdullah about this!!!!! Why have a "kaffir prince" from across the globe reform Islam in the Holy lands when you have a "wise Muslim King" already there IN THE Holy Lands to do the deed???? Odd. Very odd.

IDIOCY NUMBER FIVE

>> Saudi religious scholars bring their interpretations more in line with mainstream Muslim thought. <<

What is "mainstream Muslim thought" exactly? Are you aware that a vast number of Muslims the world over, from Egypt to Pakistan to Indonesia to even America, follow Saudi Religious Scholars. Does 10% Muslims following Saudis make Saudi religious scholars "extremist" per your suggestion. Do you have a precise figure of how many percent of the Muslims world-wide follow this "mainstream Muslim thought"?? What if it turns out to be say 30%. Then what? By that definition, then the Shia would also have to be "eliminated" per your "Religious Engineering" methods? Yet you gloat about Shia-Sunni dialogue in the same article???

IDIOCY NUMBER SIX:

>> As someone who has known Muslims since childhood, Obama <<

Have you read Obama's biography!!!! You are a complete idiot my friend, I am sorry to say. Please explain exactly what Obama knows about A. Muslims from his childhood and B. even more preposterously, about Islamic extremism from his childhood experiences?????

I won't even bother about your bull about Indonesia and Malaysia after what you just wrote. Goes to show, anybody can go to hajj and write a book thereafter on Islam and Politics. No brains needed or expertise needed. Hollywood, Bollywood credentials a plus.

>>I won't even bother about your bull about Indonesia and Malaysia after what you just wrote.

What, SE Asia can't be a center of Islam? For what reasons?

>>> Are you aware that a vast number of Muslims the world over, from Egypt to Pakistan to Indonesia to even America, follow Saudi Religious Scholars.

How so? If that is the case, I don't remember any other nation of Muslims banning women from driving or having street worthy moral police.

>> Do you have a precise figure of how many percent of the Muslims world-wide follow this "mainstream Muslim thought"??

I think he's referring to those Muslims who don't want to take hostages or blow up embassies to further political goals. Those Muslims who don't want to impose a moral police on society or promote a global jihadist cause.

>> >>I won't even bother about your bull about Indonesia and Malaysia after what you just wrote.
>> What, SE Asia can't be a center of Islam? For what reasons?

True. Why can't Indonesia be a center of Islamic thought?

>> President Barack Hussein Obama has the chance to ally with this Islam of joy and peace, for the good of the United States and the world. Let’s hope he takes it.

I agree that the tone of the article is very very hopeful, but this assertion is a very reasonable Muslim hope, American or otherwise.

>> How so? If that is the case, I don't remember any other nation of Muslims banning women from driving or having street worthy moral police. <<

Wahabi/Salafi thought is followed by vast chunks of people in most Muslim countries. It does not have to be adopted by the secular brutal dictatorships in every Muslim nation to be considered either legitimate or burgeoning.

Now insofar as banning Women from driving or presence of moral police, I have no problem with either. Basically women driving encourages three evils A. Unnecessary Shopping, B. Working among menfolk C. Alienation from Neighbors and D. Consumption of Gasoline.

In Saudi, there is really no need for women to drive. Men make good money there and lots of employment is provided to poor immigrant men who support families back home. Women driving around will consume un-necessary gasoline, hurt the environment. I bet 2/3rds of women driving in the West is just waste of gas, and whatever they are out there for could easily be done by the local school bus or their husband on the way from work. So instead of getting together with their neighbors and raising children, these women are simply prancing around in shopping malls wasting time and energy. Not to mention some of them turning into soft-porn stars (TV personalities and secretaries of sleazy male bosses).

>> I think he's referring to those Muslims who don't want to take hostages or blow up embassies to further political goals. Those Muslims who don't want to impose a moral police on society or promote a global jihadist cause.<<

Heh. Then maybe he should ask Obama to go talk to the CIA and MI6. Since he considers himself "American Muslim" maybe he should start with the first word, American. Try to get Americans to stop policing the world and going on global jihad sprees. Why bother with the Muslim versions someplace overseas when you have the same people right here at home.

>> Wahabi/Salafi thought is followed by vast chunks of people in most Muslim countries. It does not have to be adopted by the secular brutal dictatorships in every Muslim nation to be considered either legitimate or burgeoning.

If that's the case, then the social norms would be the same as they are in Saudi. Which they aren't. Which is I why I'm asking you why those norms are not applied in other countries. Probably because majority of the Muslim world is not following the norms of the Saudi religious authority.

>> In Saudi, there is really no need for women to drive. Men make good money there and lots of employment is provided to poor immigrant men who support families back home.

You are really confused. First you talk about how America has a centrally planned economy, now you're saying that women don't drive in Saudi because there's no need for them to drive .. as if they can't make that decision themseelves lol.

Now you've gone further to say that you think American women waste their times in the mall and drive around doing nothing ... as if anyone can pass judgement on what other people can do with their own time. In the same vain, I can assert then that you are wasting other peoples time on the internet and you shouldn't be allowed access to the internet. You make false assertions and can't stick to a thought/topic .. so if that's the case you shouldn't be granted access. Not very reasonable, but consider the benefits .. hmmm .. ill-logic.

>> Heh. Then maybe he should ask Obama to go talk to the CIA and MI6. Since he considers himself "American Muslim" maybe he should start with the first word, American. Try to get Americans to stop policing the world and going on global jihad sprees. Why bother with the Muslim versions someplace overseas when you have the same people right here at home.

More scattered ill-logic. He is saying that he hopes the new American president will use this chance to ally with the Muslim majority. MI6 and the CIA and conspiracy theories have nothing to do with that. Its a completely good hope to have of his new president.

the article might look too ambitious but its nothing wrong to be ambitious as we want a better world especially for Muslim..

Why don't we talk and discuss like a modernized and civilized community instead of throwing harsh words to each other??

We as a Muslim want world to listen to our voices.. The truth of our religion is being played by media by accusing and labeling Islam and Muslim as terrorist..

We want an unbiased and neutral perspective from the media and non Muslims about any attacks or terrorism that happened around the world..

Speak with evidence is our desire..