Obama, Muslims, and A New Way Forward

January 27, 2009

Washington is still basking in the euphoria of the inaugural week. It's one of those times engraved on memories, young and old: "Where were you when Barack Obama was sworn in?" There are millions of stories, Facebook photos, emails of congratulations from every corner of the world.

My favorite, from Bishop Gunnar Stalsett in Oslo, reads "a sigh of relief in unison and, more importantly, a universal popular expression of joy at the momentous change of leadership on the world scene. Let us pray and work for his success!" We, the People, have earned that relief, joy, and hope. But nagging in my mind are troubling scenes from Morocco only days earlier. There, in one of the Muslim world's moderate countries, proud of its tolerance and culture of learning and art, debates are raging. Just last week, students poured out of lycees all over the country, angrily denouncing the violence in Gaza. Demonstrators burned American flags. And intellectuals, deeply committed to peace and tolerance, furrowed their brows at the mounting social tensions and the hopelessness they sense among young people. Abel Damoussi, who produces "positive rap" in Morocco, forcefully urged a brainstorming group seeking diplomatic strategies on the way forward to focus on young people, in terms they understand, and to listen to their hopes and fears. The phrase "winning hearts and minds" comes close to a cliché but that is what will make the difference. Western diplomats have large gaps in their knowledge and understanding of Islam and its customs, which they acknowledge, but are not doing much to remedy. And diplomacy today goes well beyond the formal negotiating table, involving universities, media and culture, high and low. As for winning hearts, that's equally important and it starts with the term that Barack Obama used in addressing the Muslim world: respect: "To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect." Respect starts with listening, but it needs to move on to real understanding and appreciation of how the world looks from another place. The contrasting images of joyous Americans embarking on a new age and Moroccans enraged by images of dead babies in Gaza underscore what we know full well: the road ahead is chock full of challenges. But Obama's pithy promise to the Muslim world shows the way we need to go.

About the Author

Katherine Marshall

Katherine Marshall, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, leads the center’s work on religion and global development. She is also a professor of the practice of development, conflict, and religion in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, teaching diverse courses on the ethics of development work and mentoring students at many levels. She helped to create and now serves as the executive director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue, an NGO that works to enhance bridges between different sectors and institutions. In September 2022, she was appointed as a member of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Marshall has five decades of experience on a variety of development issues in Africa, Latin America, East Asia, and the Middle East, particularly those facing the world’s poorest countries. She was a World Bank officer from 1971 to 2006, and she led the World Bank’s faith and ethics initiative between 2000 and 2006. Marshall is a member of the Working Group on Child Rights and Family Values and the Working Group on Displaced Persons and Hospitality to the Stranger, both part of the Culture of Encounter Project.