A Plea to Obama Speechwriters: Moratorium on 'Muslim World'

Today President Obama is due to fly to Cairo from Saudi Arabia and deliver his much-hyped "speech to the Muslim world." You cannot escape this speech; there has been a well-coordinated media frenzy leading up to this speech, and it has generated enormous expectations. The frenzy has reached such a crescendo to the extent the speech is being advertised as "the most important since his inauguration."

But amid the PR blitz to which we are being subjected, a critical issue of substance has been overlooked: Is there really one homogeneous entity called "Muslim world"? And does it make any sense at all to address the myriad struggles, hopes, dilemmas, and dreams of 1.5 billion people spread out all over the world in a multitude of nations by simply lumping them together and referring to them as the "Muslim world"?

The media's constant use of the term "Muslim world" has reminded me of an excellent argument, which I read several weeks ago, against the meaningless phrase "Muslim world." Parag Khanna, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, published the following gem in the Washington Post:

Obama, like Bush before him, thinks that he can speak to some mythical community known as the "Muslim world." Like many other Western politicians and intellectuals, the president vests the term with too much meaning, and by using it incessantly, he misses the chance to truly win hearts and minds.

Just as there has not been any meaningful "Christian world" since the Holy Roman Empire, there has been no unified "Islamic world" since the Middle Ages. For centuries thereafter, Turks, Persians and Arabs squabbled over ideological hegemony. Sunni versus Shiite is just one of Islam's divides today, reminding the world that the faith has no supreme authority to which all believers adhere. By using the term "Muslim world," we only elevate the likes of Mullah Omar or Osama bin Laden, whose rhetoric turns archaic Islamist fantasies into self-fulfilling prophecies. Speaking to all Muslims is speaking to none of them.

The United States will never pursue consistent policy across the Muslim world's petro-states, monarchies and failed states, nor do we need to do so. In Turkey, we should speak of how to help the country join the European Union. In Pakistan, focus on integrating tribal areas into the constitutional structure. In Egypt, speak of job creation and a legitimate transfer of power from Hosni Mubarak. Such efforts are taken through traditional foreign policy -- between nations, not cultures.

Eight years of talking of the "Muslim world" have only heightened mutual suspicions. After shelving the "war on terror," Obama should dump its alleged target audience from his lexicon as well.

Will Obama's speechwriters heed this great piece of advice? I doubt it. But all of us - journalists, bloggers, commentators, and all who take pen to paper (or keyboard to screen) - can contribute to this important discussion by pledging to refrain from stereotypical and damaging generalizations. Let's begin the path to being specific, definite and concrete - which is a prerequisite for any meaningful change - with a moratorium on "Muslim world."

Post-speech Update: President Obama must be reading this blog! How else to explain his decision to heed the above-mentioned suggestion, and, contrary to his previous speeches, completely omit from his Cairo speech the phrase "Muslim world"!
As I suggested, the President used more precise and concrete terms, and refrained from the meaningless generalization "Muslim world." Instead, he used the following phrases:
Muslim communities in my country
Muslim-majority countries
partnership between America and Islam
Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype
Islam is a part of America
the Palestinian people - Muslims and Christians
American Muslims
Muslim citizens
Organization of the Islamic Conference
The Holy Koran...the Talmud...the Holy Bible

Kudos to our President for using language wisely and articulating his ideas and thoughts in a precise manner that teaches us all to be aware of subtleties and cherish our differences.

Vive la différence!