Stop-Obama

Here is what Obama’s Hawaiian sister Maya Soetoro-Ng has to say about their family:

“My whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim” [Kantor]

By My family Maya is referring to the one in which she and her half-brother Barry Soetoro were the daughter and step-son of Ann Dunham and her second husband, Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo, of whom Obama once remarked as a small boy:

“My father is my idol” [LA Times]

As Obama’s idol, Lolo Soetoro offered his step-son and daughter access to Indonesia’s Islamic heritage, leading to Maya’s later recollection that her childhood was a Muslim one. Obama, seems to have forgotten this, and is now busy denying it. So let’s take a look at the Obama-Soetoro Muslim family, Maya is referring to.

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Lolo was Maya’s biological father and Obama’s step-father, and as with Obama’s biological father, Lolo Soetoro was born a Muslim, which, according to the traditions of all Muslim countries worldwide, made his children Muslims (the issue is more technical, as the Islamic tradition claims all children are born Muslim and made un-Muslim by non-Muslim parents, but Islamic countries are religiously communal).

Lolo’s biological daughter, Maya, was thus born Muslim, and raised Muslim. His step-son Barry, was also raised as a Muslim, not least because he had been born of a Muslim father.
Obama’s biological father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was born into a prominent Luo tribe the son of a tribal chief who converted to Islam. Obama Sr. practiced blatant Islamic polygamy, and enjoyed full Islamic burial rights, which suggests that even at his best he was far from the atheist Obama Jr. now likes to portray him. As I’ve already pointed out (last quote in post), being Muslim is not qualified by practice nor quality of observance, but entirely on patrilineal descent and affirmation. Obama Jr. can only make his claim about his father legitimate, if he ignores the reality of his Muslim status, and occasional affirmation of Islam.

Obama Sr. had a total of four wives, always two at a time, with whom he had the following children: first and continuous wife Kezia: Abongo (Roy) Obama, Auma Obama, Abo Obama, Bernard Obama. With third wife (while married to Kezia) Ruth: Mark and David Obama. With fourth unknown wife (again married to Kezia): George Obama. Malik Obama, unidentified mother. Obama Sr. second wife (while married to Kezia) was Ann Dunham with whom he had Obama Jr. There is still some speculation as to documentary evidence of Obama Sr. divorce from Ann Dunham, because proof of marriage has yet to surface.
Of these siblings, Islam as a religion has been been identified for the following: Sarah Obama ; step-mother Kezia; Abongo (Roy) Obama; Auma Obama; Abo Obama; Malik Obama. The religion for the rest remains unidentified. Of all his living relatives from both sides of his family, Obama is closest to his paternal grandmother Sarah, to his step-mother Kezia, and very close to Roy, and Auma.

When Barack’s sister Maya speaks of growing up in a Muslim family, she is not referring to Barack’s Kenyan Islamic heritage, but to that of her biological father, Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo , whose relatives in Indonesia, i.e. Obama’s Indonesian step-cousins, step-uncles, step-aunts, and step-grandparents, are all Muslims. Still, when Lolo married Ann Dunham, it helped that Obama Jr. had been sired by a Muslim, as it made taking Obama into the mosque, or Muslim prayer, easier on Lolo’s conscience.

Both Obama and his sister, were born to Muslim fathers, making them Muslims by birth. As long as both were being raised by Lolo Soetoro, both were being raised as Muslims. The degree of practice did not matter.

Once both moved to Hawaii, there is no more evidence of any Islamic schooling, but the reality of Muslim half-brothers and half-sister, and grandmothers and grandfathers meant that Islam would forever remain part of their family. How much varies, and is poorly studied.

Both Maya and Obama were born to Ann Dunham, who was agnostic, and her family of Methodist stock. Judging from Obama’s books, he is not in touch with this part of his family, preferring relationships with Muslims Auma, Roy, Kezia, and grandmother Sarah. Maya, like Obama, does not identify as Muslim, but her relationship to her paternal Muslim Indonesian relatives is unknown.

While the details of Obama’s relationship to the Islam of his relatives remains to be analyzed, a general sentiment is revealed by this odd quote from his autobiography:

The person who made me proudest of all, was Roy. Actually, now we call him Abongo, his Luo name, for two years ago he decided to reassert his African heritage. He converted to Islam, and has sworn off pork and tobacco and alcohol. [examiner]

Why proudest of all? Because of Islam or asserting of heritage? The “convert” to Islam doesn’t make sense. Abongo had been raised a Muslim, as the Dialy Mail states:

Roy (Abongo) studied at a madrasah in Nairobi before moving to the States where he is an accountant. [Mail]

Obama is being disingenous about the “conversion,” misleading readers about the role of Islam in his family (as he deliberately misleads on its role in his upringing). What Obama is no doubt (I don’t doubt this) referring to, is Roy’s decision to adhere more strictly to the Koran, by laying off pork and alcohol, and not “converting” in any literal sense. Obama Sr. had a nasty problem with alcohol , and it did not diminish his Muslim status, just made him non-observant.

But Islam does figure in Obama’s “pride” for Roy. as Obama’s life long fascination with Malcolm X elaborates:

“Malcolm X’s autobiography seemed to offer something different. His repeated acts of self-creation spoke to me; the blunt poetry of his words, his unadorned insistence on respect, promised a new and uncompromising order, martial in its discipline, forged through sheer force of will. [examiner]

To which he adds:

Malcolm’s discovery toward the end of his life, that some whites might live beside him as brothers in Islam, seemed to offer some hope of eventual reconciliation. [examiner]

Hope for eventual reconciliation? Hope to whom? Does this explain why Obama has a hard time distancing himself from Malcolm’s torch bearer, Louis Farrakhan?

***

So much for Obama’s Muslim family ties, especially that part of his family, which he favors.

Before I go on to Obama’s Muslim schooling, I end with another quote from his sister Maya:

Mom didn’t really emphasize the Koran, but we read little parts of it. We did listen to morning prayers in Indonesia. [Kantor]

Morning prayers (farj) all begin as follows:

Allaabu Akbar (four times - “Allah is Most Great”).
Ash’hadu an laa ilaaha illallaah (twice - “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah”).
Ash’hadu anna Muhammadar-rasulullaah (twice - “I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”).
Haya ‘alas-salaah (twice - “Come to prayer”).
Ilaya ‘alal falaah (twice - “Come to the good;’).
Allaaku Akbar (twice - “Allah is Most Great”). [source, additional info]

it is a summary of this, the affirmation of attributes:

How’s that for never been a Muslim, Mr. Obama? Maybe your anarchist mother didn’t teach you much about Islam, but since you studied it, you should recall that the Koran places the burden of teaching Islam on fathers, not mothers.

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