The evidence seems to point to the fact that Obama, in his childhood, was what Daniel Pipes called "an irregularly practicing Muslim who rarely or occasionally prayed with his step-father in a mosque." (Pipes documents his claim extensively here).
Let's begin with that undeniable logical precept and reason foreward from there:
(1) It is not necessary that Obama actually believed in Islam or practiced it with any degree of frequency or fervor to qualify him as having once been a Muslim. (I'm not holding this against him personally. He was a child following the example of his father and the bulk of his countrymen at the time).
(2) Under Koranic tradition, the question of apostasy (punishable by death if it occurs in adulthood) is concerned almost solely with when the apostasy took place -- which, in Obama's case, was clearly in adulthood, when he was accepted into the Trinity Church.
(3) His conversion to Christianity therefore constitutes apostasy in Islamic law, for which he can reasonably be subject to death penalty.
(4) Islamic courts have routinely subject foreigners over whom they have no jurisdiction to the death penalty (Salman Rushdie or Ayaan Hirsi Ali, for instance).
This is all very intriguing considering one of Obama's claims to the Presidency is that he would improve American relations with the Islamic world.
I freely concede my understanding of Koranic tradition may be flawed on any of these points (namely what constitutes a Muslim for purposes of counting as an apostate from Islam). Please correct me where needed.
Let's begin with that undeniable logical precept and reason foreward from there:
(1) It is not necessary that Obama actually believed in Islam or practiced it with any degree of frequency or fervor to qualify him as having once been a Muslim. (I'm not holding this against him personally. He was a child following the example of his father and the bulk of his countrymen at the time).
(2) Under Koranic tradition, the question of apostasy (punishable by death if it occurs in adulthood) is concerned almost solely with when the apostasy took place -- which, in Obama's case, was clearly in adulthood, when he was accepted into the Trinity Church.
(3) His conversion to Christianity therefore constitutes apostasy in Islamic law, for which he can reasonably be subject to death penalty.
(4) Islamic courts have routinely subject foreigners over whom they have no jurisdiction to the death penalty (Salman Rushdie or Ayaan Hirsi Ali, for instance).
This is all very intriguing considering one of Obama's claims to the Presidency is that he would improve American relations with the Islamic world.
I freely concede my understanding of Koranic tradition may be flawed on any of these points (namely what constitutes a Muslim for purposes of counting as an apostate from Islam). Please correct me where needed.
