In the much-vaunted delivery to Muslim delegates in Cairo last week, President Obama’s speechwriters scored a small but significant point. They did this by making the conscious decision to have Obama avoid using the term “Muslim world”, wisely replaced instead by other terms like “Muslim majority countries” or “Muslim communities”.
To me this is just good style, an attention to detail and a healthy sign that the US administration is cognisant that the useage of “Muslim world” is a shoe-horning into one easy-to-pack term the totality of 1.5 billion people all speaking dozens of languages and dialects from every possible racial background and political stripe and stratified into untold numbers of of spiritual sects and sub-sects. If Obama’s address to Muslims, which has global repurcussions, can make a respectful nod to their localised diversity, it can only be a good thing.
Mehdi Hasan, a senior political editor at the New Statesman, does not agree.