What is Next After President Obama’s Speech to the Muslim World?
By Dr. M. Zaher Sahloul
By all accounts, president Obama’s speech to the “Muslim World” in Cairo, Egypt on June 4th was a historic one. It was the first time an American President delivered a speech to the Muslim world from a major Arab Muslim capital. The president covered a broad range of topics and touched on crucial issues affecting the 
American/Muslim relations, from the issue of Palestine and the Middle East peace process, to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, democratic reforms in Islamic countries, and more importantly, the issue of development, education and women’s rights.
The last speech from an American president to an Arab Muslim audience was President Clinton’s speech to the Jordanian Parliament in 1994 in which he focused almost exclusively on the Arab-Israeli conflict. For the past 8 years, American policy makers in general and the previous American president in particular, foolishly ignored a major constituency of a global world.
One out of five citizens of the world is Muslim. Muslim countries are vital allies to us in combating poverty, strengthening global financial institutions, and yes, fighting terrorism which claimed more “Muslim” lives than American lives in the past few decades. Islamic countries are located in vital areas rich in natural resources like gas and oil which are crucial to our global and local economy. Many of the major global trade passages, vital to our trade and commerce with the rest of the world, are located in Islamic countries. So the question to ask is not why president Obama is directing his speech to the Muslim world, but rather, why on earth it took this long for an American president to address the “Muslim world?”
If the purpose of his speech is to jumpstart the elusive but simple mission of winning the hearts and minds of the Muslim and Arab general public, many think that it indeed accomplished this beginning. Muslim minds and hearts, like other minds and hearts, respond to words that reflect sincerity, truthfulness, justice, equality, humility and liberty. Muslim minds and hearts also would like to feel that they are entitled, like other citizens of the world, to the “pursuit of happiness.”
President Obama spoke to diverse cultures. He connected well with the average Muslim as well as intellectual Muslims. He was respectful of Islamic traditions and values, and his words not only reflected a general understanding of Christian and Jewish values, but also a deep understanding of the core values of Islam. He used words that are familiar to Muslims and quoted the Holy Qur’an more than four times calling Muslims to action. He also reminded the world of the contributions of Muslim Americans as well as the rich Islamic history and contributions to world civilizations.
Great speeches are visionary, deficient in details but rich in substance. They set the tone of discourse; they question traditional paradigms; they encourage reflections and debate and they paint a brighter picture of the future, a future that is attainable.
Great words and historic speeches are judged, not only by the content and vision, but also by the actions that follow. Speeches, no matter how powerful or poetic, are merely hollow words unless they are translated into reality. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech would have been buried in history if the dream was never translated into reality.
What comes next is more important than the speech itself. It is incumbent upon all of us, especially Muslim Americans, to build upon the debate this speech has started, and work collectively with our faith and civic partners to reach a better future for American/Muslim relations and for a hopeful and promising future for our youth and for us all.