By Daniel Pipes

Ali ibn Abi-Talib, the seventh-century figure central to Shi’ite Islam, is said to have predicted when the world will end, columnist Amir Taheri points out. A “tall black man” commanding “the strongest army on earth” will take power “in the west.” He will carry “a clear sign” from the third imam, Hussein. Ali says of the tall
black man: “Shi’ites should have no doubt that he is with us.”

Barack Hussein in Arabic means “the blessing of Hussein.” In Persian, Obama translates as “He [is] with us.” Thus does the name of the presumptive American president-elect, when combined with his physical attributes and geography, suggest that the End of Times is nigh - precisely what Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been predicting.

Back down on earth, the Muslim reaction to Obama’s victory is more mixed than one might expect.

American Islamists are delighted; an umbrella group, the
American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Election, opined that, with Obama’s election, “Our nation has… risen to new majestic heights.” Siraj Wahhaj, Al-Hajj Talib Abdur Rashid, the Council on
American Islamic Relations, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Islamic Society of North America, the Islamic Circle of North America, and the Muslim Alliance in North America responded with similar exuberance.

Hamas, and Islamist movements in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, India, Indonesia and the Philippines delighted in Obama’s election. Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch generalizes that jihadists and Islamic supremacists worldwide showed “unalloyed joy.” The New York Times finds public reaction in the Middle East mostly “euphoric.” John Esposito of Georgetown University emphasizes the Muslim world’s welcome to Obama as an “internationalist president.”

But plenty of other Muslims have other views. Writing in Canada’s Edmonton Sun, Salim Mansur found John McCain the “more worthy candidate.” Yusif al-Qaradawi, the Al-Jazeera sheikh, endorsed McCain for opposite reasons: “This is because I prefer the obvious enemy who does not hypocritically [conceal] his hostility toward you… to the enemy who wears a mask [of friendliness].” Al-Qaradawi also argued that twice as many Iraqis died during Bill Clinton’s two administrations than during George W. Bush’s.

FOR TACTICAL reasons, the influential Sunni sheikh Yusif al-Qaradawi wanted John McCain to win.

Iran’s hardliners also favored a McCain victory (according to Iran’s former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi) “because they benefit more from enmity with the US, which allows them to rally the Islamic world behind their policies and at the same time suppress dissent at home.” The Taliban took note of Obama’s election promise to increase US troops in Afghanistan, warning that, should he fulfill this plan, “jihad and resistance will be continued.”

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