Muslims Do Not Share our Values from Planck's Constant

In his speech in Cairo, Presidente Obama said, "I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear."

I applaud him in his efforts. I would like him in fact to disabuse me of my negative notions of Islam, in particular, that Islam encourages the abuse of human rights. I know that I am wrong; I know that my mind is filled with inaccurate, untruthful negative stereotypes of Islam. For example, I can't shake the feeling that Islam is still engaged in 7th century practices such as slavery, forced conversions, and vaginal mutilation.

Perhaps Presidente Obama can teach me how to properly read the following news article (with a tip of the turban Hat Tip to Faith Freedom International) to avoid falling into racist, bigoted, hateful, stereotypical thinking:

Crosswalk Blog, Sudan: Aid Groups Frees 232 Christian Slaves
A Christian humanitarian organization has issued a report on the liberation of 232 Sudanese earlier this month.

...

The news release says: "The enslavement of these Black non-Muslim Sudanese took place during jihad raids undertaken by Arab militias backed by Sudan’s Islamist government during the late North-South civil war (1983-2005).

"Interviews with all 232 slaves conducted by CSI representatives reveal a clear pattern of physical and psychological abuse. The liberated slaves reported having been subjected to beatings, death threats, rape,
female genital mutilation, forced conversion to Islam, racial and religious insults and work without pay. Some slaves reported witnessing the execution of fellow captives."

In a letter to President Barack Obama, Dr. John Eibner, CEO of CSI-USA, recalled the crucial roles played by Ambassador Susan Rice, while Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, in initiating government policy to eradicate Sudanese slavery during the Clinton administration, and by President Bush’s first Special Envoy for Sudan, Sen. John Danforth in placing the issue of slavery at the heart of the Sudan peace process.

Dr. Eibner furthermore urged President Obama to "revive America’s commitment to act energetically for the eradication of slavery in Sudan" by supporting the reintroduction of legislation sponsored by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Diane Watson (D-CA) for the establishment of the United States Commission to Monitor Slavery and its Eradication in Sudan (Eradication of Slavery in Sudan Act of 2007. H.R.3844).

According to CSI, "Slavery persists in Sudan, despite the signing in January 2005 of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the Islamist Government of Sudan (GOS) and the secular, Southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLM). The Agreement failed to include a mechanism for overseeing the liberation of slaves and their safe repatriation."

CSI states: "An estimated 35,000 Black Africans from the Dinka tribe remain enslaved today, according to a member of the Government of Sudan’s Committee for the Eradication of the Abduction of Women and Children (CEAWC), James Aguir. (Skye Wheeler, Reuters, 'Misseriya and Dinka Grapple with History of Child Abduction,' Aweil, November 14, 2008.)."

Most of these Dinka slaves are held by masters in Darfur and neighboring Kordofan, CSI said.

CSI further says that reports from the UN Secretary General’s International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur (January 2005) and from the Darfur Consortium (December 2008) also confirm the use of slavery as a weapon of war against Black Africans in Darfur.

Since Presidente Obama received notice that Muslims were holding slaves, raping and abusing them, forcing them to convert, etc. perhaps he can explain to me, as if to a child, what really is happening here with Muslims, who he told us, "share common principles - principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings."

Tell me, El Señor Presidente, how should I read this story so that I don't jump to negative conclusions, so I don't misconstrue, so that I don't misunderstand.

Caption for photo: Many of the rally's participants were amazed to learn that slavery was legal in Saudi Arabia until 1962. Within a decade of America's Civil War, the Ottomans had banned slavery and dhimmitude throughout the Empire. Just as in the U.S. it was the South, i.e. Arabia, which rose up and fought a civil war against Istanbul, in the same way that the American south went to war against Abraham Lincoln's government. Tragically, in the Ottoman civil war, the southern slavers (ARABS) won. The Ottoman Empire dropped its demands for emancipation in Arabia. Yes, the slave masters won the right to hold slaves, and that right was only abolished in Saudi Arabia in 1962. Sudan's Arab colonizers have never given up their right to hold and traffic in slaves.