Ambassador Exchange

Does it really matter what royalties and celebrities say? As far as I know, people can say anything they wish to, but they’d better live up to it. On the other hand, I would look for inspiration in any uplifting quote I can put my fingers on. So here is my little vision of “global ambassador exchange…”

Dallas, Texas has been a lighthouse since the T. V. series “Dallas” sent its ambassadors, JR and his gang, to homes across the globe. Dallas still lives up to its spirit: it has welcomed other international ambassadors like Queen Noor of Jordan who came to speak at the Genesis Women’s shelter’s Mother’s Day luncheon earlier this month. This weekend, King Tut (exhibit) leaves Dallas to San Francisco where he will be residing until March 2010.

Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI visited the Middle East starting with Jordan, then the Holy Lands. Get the picture? The world is witnessing some ambassadorial exchange. Did I mention the Egyptian president will be visiting the US this month? Oh, and President Obama will be visiting Egypt June 4 before he heads to Europe? So what do all these celebrities have in common? Many things, but what interests me personally is their attempt to spread understanding under the umbrella of international communication.

Some say their missions are geared towards peace. Queen Noor says peace starts at home. The Pope is promoting peace (this is not the time to open old wounds about what he had previously said, for the record.) Others are planning to build a bridge of communications. President Obama has started his share, one brick at a time. Our former Dallas mayor, Ron Kirk, is the new U.S. Trade Representative and he is talking globalization. On a Fox 4 interview on May 16, 2009, he said that it was important to understand and visit the world outside the U.S. The excursion, he said, will make us interface with people with different cultures, faiths, and languages.

So what is globalization? (I’m borrowing some old prose from the internet.) Globalization is reading this blog using America’s Bill Gates technology which he got from the Japanese, through a computer that uses Philippine-made chips, Korean-made monitors, assembled by Bangladeshi workers at a Singapore plant, transported by trucks driven by Indians, and sold to you by a Chinese who drives a German car with a Dutch engine. The list goes on…

In other words, we no longer live like hermit crabs. We live in an open world that makes us interact with one another despite our diversities. And yes, as the previous Dallas mayor mentioned, the sooner we learn to understand each other the happier we will be. This applies to every community in my opinion. It is an all-inclusive package: borders are two-way streets; as citizens go out, foreigners come in (with a bundle of cultural and religious diversity.)

Our world is fertile ground for common understanding. Monotheistic faiths share more in common than people imagine. The Pope has spoken the truth when he said during his visit to the Holy Lands: “here the paths of the three great monotheistic religions meet, reminding us of what they have in common.”Our next excursion will uncover these commonalities.

How to build a bridge: Obama's mission

Picking up from where I concluded my last post, President Obama's quote about dusting ourselves off is inspiring. As a lover of history, I understand that in order to comprehend our own present and plan our future, we need to have a total understanding of history. History repeats itself. The bridge of communication that President Obama is promoting is adherent to the dreams and hopes of Muslims across the globe, including yours truly.

When President Barack Obama landed in Ankara, Turkey on April 6, 2009, he came with a mission and a statement: "the importance of Turkey, not only to the United States, but to the world." Why Turkey? Because of its strategic position as a crossroad between East and West lying across two continents: Asia and Europe, its rich heritage, its blended ancient tradition with modernity, its membership in NATO, and its Muslim majority.

Turkey's rich heritage goes back many centuries when it rose in 1299 as the Ottoman empire that assumed the leadership of the Islamic world until World War I. It was able to rule over three continents during much of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: its' territory expanded to Southeastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and North Africa. Ottoman leadership was called in the Arabic curricula that I studied back home,the "High Door," reflecting an authoritarian environment. As the empire started to weaken, it started to lose territories. On the eve of its downfall in 1923the empire became "Europe's Sick Man."

Modern Turkey rose when Kemal Ataturk established the republic of Turkey in 1923, but it wasn't until after World War II that Turkey enjoyed a multiparty democratic government. In 1952 Turkey joined NATO, and in the 1980's it applied for acceptance in the European Union, an ongoing debate. In 2005, Turkey and Spain initiated the "alliance of civilizations," a forum that looks into the roots of polarization between societies and cultures. American members of this alliance include Professor John Esposito and Rabbi Arthur Schneier.

Hence, when Saudi King Abdullah initiated an interfaith conference last year, he chose Spain for its historical significance as a lighthouse of Islamic history and religious toleration. Arabs have traditionally been famous for the wealth of literature they produced. Many of their poems and prose lament over the ruins of past civilizations and dear losses. I feel this weeping crave coming to me as I think back of the past of our Muslim civilization; its rise and fall. It seems to me that both King Abdullah and President Obama are aware of the significance of the two cities they had chosen and who knows, maybe a beacon of hope is glittering somewhere in the hazy horizon of our present.

So President Obama sees an ally in Turkey and has great hopes to turn it into a great opportunity to mend differences with the Muslim world and bring back America its popularity in the Muslim streets. But you may ask: what? America was ever popular in Muslim lands? Yes. Muslims and Arabs look up to what America stands for. They love the freedom, rights, civility, and order that makes up America. But they dislike wars and bombs dropped by American F-16s on the heads of innocent Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even though Muslims are no longer united under the leadership of the Ottoman empire, they still hold brotherly bonds amongst them. They sort of have their own "NATO" rules: an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. That is why they dislike American politics, but not the American people by any means.

Back to my passion for history, I am glad to see world leaders like the Saudi king and our president going back to history and aspiring for some insights. I need to polish my memory in this regard, but for now, President Obama is confident about his visit to Turkey. He hopes it will shape the strategies to "bridge the divide between the Muslim world" and the West. To this I say Amen..

Dusting off our Differences

How do we mend our differences? How can we ensure that we coexist despite our ideological, cultural, social and religious differences? How do we practice tolerance when our hearts and minds feel the gap between cultures?

I would start by finding common grounds first: there is a lot more in common between Muslims and non Muslims than we realize. First, God created us all and sustains us all. We all believe in God and pray to Him. We are united by humanity. Citizenship also unites us. We all live in America, and no, not all Muslims hate America and want to destroy it. Only the fanatics, who are a minute minority but unfortunately get all media attention, do. Muslims are overwhelmingly peaceful and loving. Those who choose America as their homeland want to raise their offspring in a coexistent atmosphere.

But then, you might wonder, we are still different. Of course we are, because God created us different in color, race, culture, abilities, skills, languages... In the Quran, Allah (Arabic translation for God; even Arab Christians call him Allah) says: "...If Allah had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues..." (5:48) So different we are, but divided we should not be.

Once we establish common grounds, resolving our differences starts with the purification of our hearts. A heart is a wonderful gift that transcends through the human character. But when filled with hatred and bigotry, that also transcends into our behavior and attitudes. Therefore, we need to aspire to cleanse our hearts from all negative feelings. Call it anger management, call it finding peace and healing, or call it neurological programing as long as you get the picture. Even Muslims are required to cleanse their hearts as Prophet Mohammad (peace upon him) preached us: "Do not have enmity against each other." (Bukhari)

Then we need to understand that if the other has a different ideology he is not necessarily an enemy. Muslims in America suffer from this attitude as America looks at them as enemies of the state simply because they worship differently. If I wear head covering and abstain from consuming alcohol, then I no longer can fit with the American lifestyle. In other words, I can't be American; I am different. Says who? What happened to freedom of speech, religion, and expression?

Finally, you might purify your heart and decide to tolerate the other, but the other actually won't tolerate you. In that case, you keep your smile on your face and find them plenty of excuses for being rude. That bearded man who just came into the store without saying hi might be deaf or might be simply having a bad day. Muslims are allowed to have mood swings, right? I believe this is a universally accepted situation. And by the way, I am also addressing Muslims too: please don't start thinking this clerk is a bigot just because he did not salute you. He might have just been dumped by his wife.


"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." (President Barack Hussein Obama: Inaugural address, January 21, 2009)