As most people in the world know, this past Tuesday Americans have made an historic choice. They have elected an African-American to be their leader. African-Americans, who were once considered “property” to be sold and bought, now have one of their sons as the President-elect of the United States. The television pundits and political analysts have spoken a million words about the meaning of the elections, and we, too, very much appreciate the implications of America’s collective choice.

Less than 18 months ago, most people, if not all, thought that it would be impossible for Obama to win. He is African-American. His middle name is Hussein. His first name, Barack, is a Swahili word borrowed from Arabic, the language of the Islam’s scripture and the language of those who were ignobly placed in the “Axis of Terror.” And his surviving grandmother prayed for Obama’s success in a Kenyan mosque. Still, Americans voted for Obama over John McCain.

Not very long ago, African Americans were forbidden to drink from “Whites Only” water fountains in America’s south. Now an African-American family will live in The White House. The conditions of a nation can change in swift fashion, faster than what we anticipate. So without violence or coup, the world has seen a transition of leadership in ways once considered impossible. Though racism in our country is not dead, it was hit hard in recent days. Many during the long campaign tried to capitalize on the lingering culture of racism to demonize “Islam” and “Muslims” in order to win votes, but Americans rejected that strategy in good measure. They saw past the absurdity of such an attempt and reclaimed timeless values of human worth. This is good for America, excellent in fact.

It’s understandable how many analysts view this presidential election as “unprecedented,” particularly in terms of American history. But what we also like about Obama’s victory and its meaning is actually quite old. In fact, it’s older than America and democracy. From the very beginning, revealed religion has stressed the equality of human beings. The Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) and all prophets and messengers before him spoke about justice and fairness almost as much as they spoke about the oneness of God. To uphold the rights of humanity, especially the weak and vulnerable, is among the most godly of deeds. Human worth is not a matter decided by skin color, tribe, or other circumstances of birth. For these reasons and more, Obama’s victory has resonated widely not only in America, but across the world. People are celebrating, but we’d like to think that this celebration is about the universal satisfaction of seeing the blight of racism defeated and the desperate attempts to demonize others as rejected out of hand.

“Hope” is closely associated with “faith,” while “despair” is a close cousin of “disbelief.” The calls for hope that we have heard in the last year made good campaign slogans, but they also appealed to the natural human inclination to embrace hope and its liberating effects.

We feel optimistic about what these recent changes mean for the future. Of course, we don’t know what tomorrow will hold. We don’t know what real change will occur. We remain hopeful and confident, however, that better days are ahead, as God so wills. We hope that civil rights will be restored and respected again. We hope that the policies of the past that worked to divide people will be replaced by those that seek to bring our world closer in harmony and peace. We hope that our role in global affairs will be evenhanded and earnest. We hope also that the notions of clashing civilizations will be equally defeated.

We human beings are, and always have been, united in the unchanging reality that we all are creatures of a great and merciful God, and we all share this same planet and breathe from the same atmosphere. We are naturally brethren. Let this truth guide our decisions.