Contemporary Authors

• Letters to a Young Muslim Picador (New York, NY), 2017

1. Letters to a young Muslim LCCN 2016039168 Type of material Book Personal name Ghobash, Omar Saif, 1971- author. Main title Letters to a young Muslim / Omar Saif Ghobash. Published/Produced New York : Picador, 2017. Description xvi, 244 pages ; 19 cm ISBN 9781250119841 (hardback) CALL NUMBER BP161.3 .G563 2017 CABIN BRANCH Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms - STORED OFFSITE

• NPR - http://www.npr.org/2017/01/04/508191609/a-diplomat-reflects-on-moderate-islam-in-letters-to-a-young-muslim

  A Diplomat Reflects On Moderate Islam In 'Letters To A Young Muslim'

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  January 4, 20171:58 PM ET
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  Letters to a Young Muslim
  by Omar Saif Ghobash

  Hardcover, 243 pages purchase

  Omar Saif Ghobash was 6 when an assassin killed his father, who was a diplomat from the United Arab Emirates. His new book is a collection of letters to his sons, urging them to reject extremism.

  TERRY GROSS, HOST:

  This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. My guest wants to remind his sons and other young Muslims of the duty to think, question and engage constructively with the world, and to understand that we live in a world full of difference and diversity. Omar Saif Ghobash has written a new book in the form of letters to his two sons about embracing moderate Islam and rejecting extremist Islamist expressions of hatred and calls to violence. The book is called "Letters To A Young Muslim."

  Ghobash was exposed to political violence when he was 6. His father, the United Arab Emirates First Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, was assassinated, but he wasn't the assassin's intended target. We'll hear what happened a little later. Ghobash followed in his father's footsteps and became a diplomat. He's the UAE's ambassador to Russia. We'll talk about that, too.

  Omar Saif Ghobash, welcome to FRESH AIR. So your sons are growing up in an educated, prosperous, internationally-oriented family, yet you're still worried about their exposure to radical Islam. And you're worried about their vulnerability to radical Islam. And you express your concern in your book that your sons have been exposed to certain radicalizing influences...

  OMAR SAIF GHOBASH: Sure.

  GROSS: ...And you fear that they might be vulnerable. So do you feel like they've been exposed to radical videos or to teachers who want to radicalize them or friends who have become radicalized?

  GHOBASH: Well, it's funny - all of those, to be honest. My sons have seen - particularly my older son has seen videos of people being beheaded because they're freely available. I've asked him why he's done it. And he said, look, you know, we all do, everybody sees these videos including his friends at school in England so people who are not even Muslim.

  So, you know, the fact that, you know, you can be exposed to this and then it can be put into an Islamic context in a positive manner, it's quite scary. Both of my sons have come back from school complaining about what they'd been taught in religion class or in Arabic lessons. And, again, this is not part of the curriculum, but it is part of the unfortunate impulse of the - a certain mentality.

  GROSS: Can you can you be specific about a couple of things they complained about being taught, and where what was the school in which this happened? Was it in the UAE or someplace else?

  GHOBASH: No, I mean, schools in the UAE, but, I mean, you know, this applies right across the Arab world, I mean, the questions of anti-Semitism certainly. And this is potentially a conflation between, you know, sort of a position on the Jewish faith and a position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And I'm not going to take a position on it, but I think that, you know, you need to be very careful about what you say on these issues. And you can suddenly have a political position, but you shouldn't convert that into some kind of general statement against all people of Jewish faith.

  So, I mean, you know, this is a very, very important marker I think for where we're going forward. But then also, you know, the question of nonbelievers in Islam. I mean, you know, this is a very basic kind of category that is propagated today, even though my personal belief is that it should not apply anymore. It's not really relevant, the idea of the insider or the outsider to the faith, friend or foe arguments.

  GROSS: What is the insider and outsider reference that you're making?

  GHOBASH: Well, who is a Muslim and who isn't? And according to certain traditions, there is a difference in the treatment. Certain traditions would actually tell you, well, you know, the Muslim must not dress like a non-Muslim. So if a non-Muslim decides to wear a certain kind of clothing, well, you shouldn't. You should avoid that kind of clothing.

  You might have picked up some of the rhetoric coming out of sermons in Turkey in the run up to this terrible tragedy that took place on New Year's Eve where, you know, nightclubs and a celebration of New Year's was a kind of representation of a foreign religion and that therefore this would - could be looked down upon. That kind of rhetoric of the - what non-Muslims do should be avoided by Muslims is something that I think is very, very destructive. And it's also very distracting because, you know, non-Muslims may be engaged in really fantastic things, really useful things. Does that mean we must avoid those things ourselves? No.

  GROSS: You point out that a lot of radical Islam is a way of erasing doubt. Things are clear cut, they're black and white. Here's how you - what you do. Here's how you do it. Here's when you do it. Here's who's on your team. Here's who you attack. And you say that Islam really has to find a way of dealing with doubt and of helping young people deal with doubt because it's - there's a lot of young people who fall under the spell of radical Islam.

  So what are some of your thoughts about that, about how Islam can speak to the kind of doubts that we all deal with when trying to make our way through the world, but that particularly young people have to deal with when they're trying to find out who they are and who they're becoming and what their future will be?

  GHOBASH: Yeah, doubt, it's a very interesting idea. In the Arabic language and theological kind of discussions and debates that I've witnessed, when doubt is expressed - when the word doubt is used, it generally translates immediately in people's minds to atheists. And there's no kind of middle ground there. There's no discussion as to what you mean by doubt. You're immediately accused of promoting atheism.

  When I think of doubt, I think of the simple existential questions that kids face all over the world and even adults, too. But there is this huge weight of public kind of authority that insists that if any doubts as expressed, if questions are posed, then there is a risk that the entire edifice will come down. And so it makes me think sometimes, well, why are we supporting this very brittle intellectual structure of Islam when actually intellectually we could go out, take these doubts on, take all of the questions and really sort of re-express our Islam in a way that is much more robust and ready to deal with, you know, ancient and modern philosophical questions.

  GROSS: Is part of the problem you face as an intellectual and, you know, as a diplomat who travels around the world, who speaks four or five languages, that some religions become - or some forms of religion become anti-intellectual? And you could argue that the more literal and fundamentalist some religions become, the more - the less tolerant they become of the kinds of questions and nuance that intellectuals tend to ask.

  GHOBASH: The kinds of questions that I ask myself today were the questions that I asked myself when I was 12. And, you know, since I wrote the book I've been spending a bit of time with teenagers and people in the early 20s. And, you know, to be honest, even people of my generation who are saying to me, well, you know, thank you for raising these questions, these are questions that we still haven't really faced ourselves. And when it comes to teenagers today in the Arab world, the ones I've met with over the last few weeks, it's remarkable.

  Kids have questions whether it's about dress, identity and very importantly sexuality that are simply not even addressed in a friendly way. I mean, you know, you can differ with all of these - with all the positions that the - these kids want to take, but you can differ with them in a way that is psychologically healthy. Or you can simply destroy their personalities immediately in the name of, you know, ethics and morality. And so I think we are at a kind of a crossroads in the Arab world. It's a crossroads of decades. We are in a situation where we need to be asking questions and yet we keep running away from those questions.

  GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Omar Saif Ghobash and he is the ambassador from the United Arab Emirates to Russia. Now he's the author of the new book "Letters To A Young Muslim." It's a series of letters addressed to his sons about moderate Islam and why it's important to be moderate and to not be radicalized. We're going to take a short break and then we'll talk some more. This is FRESH AIR.

  (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

  GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And if you're just joining us, my guest is Omar Saif Ghobash. He's the author of the new book "Letters To A Young Muslim." It's a series of letters addressed to his two sons about the importance of practicing moderate Islam. And he's also - since 2009, he's been the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, ambassador to Russia. You're a second-generation diplomat. Your father was the minister of state - minister of state for foreign affairs from the UAE.

  GHOBASH: Yes.

  GROSS: And he was assassinated when you were 6 and he was in his mid-40s, but he was not the assassin's intended target. Can you explain what happened?

  GHOBASH: Yes. Yes, I can. My father had been appointed minister of state for foreign affairs, I think it was in 1974. And 1977 comes around. The then foreign minister of Syria had visited the Emirates and was in Abu Dhabi. And so my father was the person who was meant to go with the then foreign minister of Syria to the airport. They walked into the airport and shots rang out or shots were heard. And my father was the only one to be struck. He had, I think - he suffered two shots, one to the shoulder and I believe one to the - one at the aorta leading into his heart.

  GROSS: So this was a political assassination. It was the Syrian diplomat who was the intended target. Why - it was a Palestinian, a 19-year-old who pulled the trigger. What was the point? What was the statement he was trying to make? Do you know?

  GHOBASH: Again, I can only kind of guess. He was a 19-year-old, as I believe I mention in the book. He was a 19-year-old. And he had been - he'd been born in a refugee camp, as far as I understand. He was a Palestinian. And he had instructions to kill the Syrian foreign minister. The Syrian foreign minister was the foreign minister of the current Syrian president's father, Hafez al-Assad. And, you know, they had taken some very brutal action against Palestinian refugees in Syria. And this was - according to some accounts, this was meant in revenge for that action.

  My initial emotions when I began to realize that, you know, my father had been killed by somebody was hatred, anger, the desire for revenge. I - you know, I understand that the man had been executed. He'd been tried and executed after my father's death. I always imagined, well, you know, maybe he wasn't executed. Maybe he's still alive today. Let me try and find him and I will take, you know, vengeance.

  But as time went by, I thought to myself, you know, I know - I have a much better understanding of the Arab world today in the 21st century. And I imagine what it could have been like in the 1960s and the 1970s when this young man was growing up. And I - increasingly, I don't feel that he was to blame in a direct sense. I really think that he was a victim himself of circumstances.

  And, you know, I think people will be surprised and some people will be upset at this, but I - I almost see my father and this - and his killer on - in a similar way in that they were both victims of a certain set of circumstances in the Arab world, a set of circumstances that I don't believe that we have really challenged or thought about clearly - the continual flow of refugees, the continual kind of political strife that we're suffering, a continual economic misery of a major part of the Arab population. This can only create more violence. It can only create more anger and frustration. And, you know, it - that's what I really think about today. I don't hold any - I mean, you know, I can't forgive the man on my father's behalf, but I can - I can say that I have a very different understanding of that day now.

  GROSS: So you cannot blame your father's assassination on the other, on the West, on an apostate...

  GHOBASH: Yes.

  GROSS: ...You know, someone from outside the Muslim world or outside the Arab world. He was a 19-year-old Palestinian who grew up in a refugee camp. So how did that affect your feelings about people who do want to blame all the troubles in the world, all the troubles in their lives on the other, on the outsider, on the West, on the apostate, on the non-Muslim?

  GHOBASH: Yeah, very good question. And actually, that's probably one of the central kind of features of my life. I've always looked for where our responsibility lies. And, you know, we're often, within the Arab world, within certain kind of - within a certain kind of rhetoric, we're always blaming, as you say, the West, now Russia as well.

  And, you know, who knows? Maybe one day we'll be blaming China. But the reality is that when Arab kills Arab, there is nobody involved. There is nobody forcing somebody to pull a trigger. These are purely Arab-Muslim interactions.

  GROSS: So you grew up a bit of an outsider yourself. Your father is from the UAE, but he did some work in Russia. I forget what the years were. Go ahead.

  GHOBASH: It's very interesting. He got a scholarship to study in the Soviet Union and studied in the Soviet Union for four years. And as a result, I have a Russian mother now.

  GROSS: Right.

  GHOBASH: A wonderful woman.

  GROSS: Yes, so your mother's Russian.

  GHOBASH: (Laughter).

  GROSS: And she moved with your father to the UAE when he was done with his studies.

  GHOBASH: Yes.

  GROSS: So she spoke Russian and your father spoke Arabic. And you grew up speaking a little bit of Russian, but you also grew up speaking Arabic and English. Correct me if I'm wrong in any of this.

  GHOBASH: Actually, we spoke more Russian than Arabic. We spoke very little Arabic.

  GROSS: Oh, OK. OK.

  GHOBASH: Yeah. You know, after my father died, our household became kind of an outpost of some kind of Dostoyevskian (ph) life.

  GROSS: (Laughter) You've been the UAE's ambassador to Russia since 2009. Russia, under Vladimir Putin, has become more authoritarian. Russia annexed Crimea. Russia has been supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has been active or complicit in the attacks that Assad has done on the Syrian people. Russia, it seems, has been more focused on attacking militias seen as anti-Assad in Syria rather than directly attacking ISIS. What role have you taken in supporting or objecting to what Putin has been doing?

  GHOBASH: Very - very (laughter), very interesting question.

  GROSS: You might challenge some of what was said in the lead-up to the question...

  GHOBASH: (Laughter).

  GROSS: ...So let me hand it over to you for a comment.

  GHOBASH: Yeah, well, the UAE is a small country. It's - even if we threw our weight around, it's not necessarily weight enough to - or heavy enough to actually influence directly the events on the ground. And international crises like the Syrian crisis, diplomats and political figures in the region and I think political figures at the international level are all trying to develop an understanding as events develop. And so at one point, you know, it looks like the main players are the militias on the ground and the Syrian army. And then all of a sudden you think, well, maybe the Turks actually have much more influence than initially seemed to be the case. And then it turns out that the Saudis and the Qataris also have something happening and going on. Then you think, well, maybe this is actually - it has nothing to do with the players on the ground and they are all puppets or proxies in a war of influence between the United States and Russia. And, you know, it's very, very difficult to pin these things down.

  For me, to be honest, I think the Syrian question will be a question that I will look at for the rest of my life as an example to really mine in how we communicate and how we treat the massacre of civilians. And it's, you know, it's not something that I have conclusions on other than to say that I have been horrified from the beginning, and I continue to be horrified. But it's enlightening to understand how different parts of the international community operate. Sometimes those who seem to be the moral agents are capable of incredible brutality, and sometimes the monsters are actually pragmatic and ready to resolve a question. So it's - these things are really - if you think that they're not clear cut from the public media, I would say that even behind the scenes it's incredibly opaque.

  GROSS: So you represent the UAE in Russia. You are not a diplomat to the U.S., yet I'm sure the election of Donald Trump is going to have an impact on your work and on a good deal of the world. Is it a game changer for you?

  GHOBASH: Well, is it a game changer? Well, I suppose it is. We've had eight years of a Democratic administration under Obama. And President Obama has had a very specific kind of approach to our part of the world, very cerebral, very intellectual, sometimes some would say kind of not practical. And I think, you know, in the region - in the Middle East at least and in Russia - we have a kind of an earthier approach to these problems. I think maybe because we're just closer to the problem, maybe because the resolution of these issues have much greater consequences for us. It's not just an academic exercise, it's people, you know, who are who are suffering or who are rebelling against imagined grievances right around us in the entire area.

  Russia is also very much a party to the region. I think this is something that my friends at Google told me that 80 percent, I think, of ISIS propaganda is in Arabic, so that concerns the Arab world. The next 12 percent of ISIS propaganda is in Russian. And so when the Russians say that they have an issue with ISIS, they - I can tell you from my eight years in Russia that they genuinely have a problem with ISIS, and they have a problem with radical Islam. And if you think up to 18 percent of Russia is of Muslim origin, then you'll understand that whatever Russia does in the Middle East will have repercussions. And whatever happens in the Middle East will have repercussions directly, you know, from southern Russia all the way up to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

  So I think that's something that has always been discounted in the Western press and in Western minds, that Russia is some kind of player - robotic player in the Middle East and for whom there will be no consequences irrespective of action. That's not true. There are some - there are major consequences. And from my perspective, the Russians are playing a very important balancing act between their internal Muslim population and their actions in the region.

  GROSS: My guest is Omar Saif Ghobash, author of the new book "Letters To A Young Muslim." He's the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Russia. After a short break, I'll ask him about what Donald Trump has said about Muslims. And we'll listen back to an interview with Huston Smith, a religion scholar who traveled the globe studying the world's great religions. He did a five-part PBS series with Bill Moyers. Smith died Friday. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR.

  (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

  GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross back with Omar Saif Ghobash, the author of the new book "Letters To A Young Muslim." It embraces moderate Islam and rejects the hatred and calls to violence of extremist Islamists. Ghobash is the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Russia.

  So let me ask you about Donald Trump. He's made some very inflammatory statements about Muslims. He has suggested that there should be a Muslim registry and that all Muslims in the United States would need to register. He has suggested a ban on Muslims coming into the United States. He said during the campaign that he watched thousands and thousands of Muslims cheer in Jersey City, N.J. when the World Trade Center collapsed on 9/11. There's a large Arab population in Jersey City, he said. No evidence was ever found that thousands and thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheered.

  So do you have concerns about what it will mean for the Muslim world to have Donald Trump being president of the United States?

  GHOBASH: I - well, firstly, I think that, you know, we all know that pre-election campaigning is a time where provocative statements are made. And so, you know, we, I think, in the Arab world - and certainly what I've seen amongst my Russian friends in Moscow is that you need to be very careful not to take what is said in the pre-election campaign as kind of the - a guide to what's going to happen during the presidency.

  I think many of us look at President-elect Trump and we think that he is certainly a showman. He's certainly an entrepreneur. He certainly has a lot of courage and guts, to be honest. And nobody can deny that, actually, the entire establishment - the entire political establishment, whether Republican or Democrat - was not in favor of him. And yet, he as a single almost force of nature took the presidency. So this is a commentary also on American politics and the democratic system. So in that sense, you know, American democracy throws up all kinds of interesting characters and interesting challenges for the rest of the world. Our only, I suppose, complaint in the Arab world would be that, you know, we don't have a say in who becomes the U.S. president, and yet we then suffer or benefit from, you know, the actions of that particular president.

  Now, I think, also, if I may, the idea of the register, that's very interesting. But I - as far as I understand, there was a register already in place, and it's only just been disbanded by President Obama, I think, that had been set up under George Bush Jr. So I understand that there was a register already in place. And so this shouldn't be a complete surprise. On the other hand, I do think where a president has immense influence is in setting the tone. And I would be hopeful that the tone could be more conducive to integrating the Arab-American Muslim community. Not just Arab-American, but, you know, there are other Muslims of other ethnicities.

  GROSS: I think a lot of Muslims in the U.S. are terrified. And I'm - I'll be honest, I'm kind of surprised that you're dismissing what Donald Trump has said about Muslims as pre - you know, as campaign provocations...

  GHOBASH: Yeah.

  GROSS: ...That all politicians engage in. I mean, he's famous for provocative statements all the time. And I think - I'm not sure there's any reason to expect that provocative statements will no longer be made by Donald Trump. But...

  GHOBASH: Yes.

  GROSS: ...But beyond that, what - how - why are you so comfortable dismissing or playing down the statements he's made about a Muslim registry and about seeing thousands and thousands of Muslims cheer after 9/11, which never - never happened in New Jersey, about a possible ban on Muslims entering the United States? I mean, I think that's having a really chilling effect on a lot of Muslims in the U.S.

  GHOBASH: Well, I think here, also - you know, I'm not dismissing this entirely, but I do think that I want to see and we all want to see what Trump will do as president. I do know - and I've - you know, I've got friends who are Muslims who are Americans who are expressing various degrees of fear and a lack of comfort. But, you know, if I look at the history of American society, there have been other communities who have also been targeted or persecuted or marginalized throughout the decades. And I think, actually, this is a great time for the Muslim community.

  And again, I'm not an American, so I - so people may get upset that I'm pontificating on this. But I would say that this is a great time to actually ally yourselves with the other communities and minorities in the U.S. who are in the same fight. And, you know, when democracy has been promoted across the Arab world, we've always been given this understanding. But, you know, the United States Constitution is really a remarkable document. The founding fathers had this kind of wisdom that a demagogue could never come to power. And if a demagogue did happen to come to power, well, the power was sort of distributed in such ways that there was no way in which, you know, a demagoguery could be permitted.

  And so all of a sudden when a man like Trump comes to take the presidency, there's this tremendous amount of doubt within American society. Well - so, I mean, that makes me wonder - am I now standing with the Constitution more than the typical American commentator? So I'm not dismissing his statements. I'm not dismissing them. But I'm saying that I believe as an outsider that the institutions, the laws, the potential of the United States allows for these kinds of fears to be accommodated.

  But I think that, you know, the poor Mexicans were denounced right at the start. And I think that they're a great group of people to sort of ally - ally with immediately. And the history of anti-Semitism as well, going back to the '50s and earlier, and the potential kind of rise of anti-Semitism today is another great opportunity to ally with our Jewish friends. So I - what I say as a Muslim is that yes, absolutely, you know, it is a worrying time. But at the same time, you know, this is a wonderful country where you have all of these possibilities.

  GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Omar Saif Ghobash. He's the author of a new book called "Letters To A Young Muslim." It's a group of letters he wrote addressed to his sons about the importance of moderate Islam. He's also the UAE ambassador to Russia, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Russia. We're going to take a short break here and then we'll be right back. This is FRESH AIR.

  (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

  GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And if you're just joining us, my guest is Omar Saif Ghobash. He's the author of the new book "Letters To A Young Muslim." It's a series of letters addressed to his sons about the importance of moderate Islam. And Ghobash is also the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Russia.

  In dealing with the American democracy, the U.S. intelligence agencies have said that the Russians are behind hacking the Democratic National Committee's emails and Hillary Clinton's campaign manager John Podesta's emails and that their intentions are either to just, like, mess with the democratic system, or some of the intelligence agencies say their intention was directly to elect Donald Trump. So how is that resonating in your diplomatic circles within Russia where you're working?

  GHOBASH: Well, you know, I was - I expected, as many people who are outside of Russia expected, for Russians to be overjoyed that, you know, somebody like Trump - rather that Trump had been elected. Well, actually I found that there was a tremendous amount of caution. You know, the Russians look at the U.S. presidency also as one of the institutions of the U.S. government in the state. And so they, I think, maybe discount the influence of any one particular individual, even if that individual is the president. And so they see a set of very, very solid and deeply rooted interests that govern the way that the U.S. deals with the rest of the world. So, you know, my Russian friends are cautious. I wouldn't even say optimistic, to be honest. They're neither optimistic nor pessimistic. They're waiting for the inauguration and they're waiting for, you know, the practical consequences of the election of Donald Trump.

  GROSS: I don't know if you can answer this, but do your Russian friends think that Russia interfered with our election?

  GHOBASH: (Laughter) Some do, some don't and some say even if they did that it would be - it should be seen in the same kind of way as what they regarded as U.S. interference in Russia's election - from supporting various NGOs, supporting, you know, corruption campaigners and so on. It's interesting, but most of the people I've spoken to who are within, you know, sort of positions of power in Russia don't really focus on the source of the hacking. They really focus on the content that was hacked. And they think that actually the attention should be there.

  GROSS: Oh, that's what Republicans are saying, too. But if you just hack one side of the election and only release negative emails, that's definitely influencing the election. There was this, like, negative emails being released, like, every day for a while toward the end of the election and nothing comparable happening from Republicans. I'm not recommending that Republicans should have been hacked, but it was certainly a one-sided hack. And that likely had some effect on the election. Not necessarily the determining factor, but, you know, perhaps it was.

  GHOBASH: You know, again, I wouldn't be able to say. I don't know. Yeah, it's a difficult one.

  GROSS: OK.

  GHOBASH: I don't want to be seen to - if you don't mind, I don't want to be seen to be trying to defend a so-called Russian position. I don't know if they did hack. I know they have good hackers. I know a lot of different countries have good hackers. But, you know, I - for me, it's difficult to think that they would actually do that because of the consequences, the potential consequences.

  GROSS: I'm thinking it's maybe a difficult time to be an ambassador to Russia.

  GHOBASH: (Laughter) Yeah.

  GROSS: That was a yes (laughter)?

  GHOBASH: I think it's an interesting time.

  GROSS: OK. An interesting time to be an ambassador to Russia. Can I ask you just one more thing?

  GHOBASH: Yeah, sure.

  GROSS: Do you ever feel in jeopardy for speaking out against radical Islam? Does that make you a target? Are you seen as an apostate?

  GHOBASH: It's interesting. I'm beyond worrying about that. I think that - this goes back to my - again, I'm so attached to my father's life in a certain way. But when I reached the age that he died at, I felt that, you know, I had an extra lease on life and that I should use this to make certain things clear. I also believe that, you know, what I've said in my book and the way I speak out can be misinterpreted if you - if that's what somebody wants. And it can be used against me, certainly. And I expect certain people to do that.

  But at the same time, I am hoping to reach out to a bunch of young people who are idealistic, who have energy and who hopefully will be able to see that there is at least a certain kind of framework that they can either sort of use to think about or to build on or to completely scrap and build in a different manner.

  I think that, for me, is more important than any fear of radical Islam taking - radical Islamists taking action against me. For me, it's I suppose a cost benefit analysis. I think the world will be better off. I think Muslims will be better off. I think young people will have a better chance if they look at the world through a slightly different lens. And I hope to have provided at least some way towards doing that.

  GROSS: Omar Saif Ghobash, thank you so much.

  GHOBASH: Thank you.

  GROSS: Omar Saif Ghobash is the author of the new book, "Letters to a Young Muslim." He's the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Russia. After we take a short break, we'll listen back to an excerpt of my interview with religion scholar Huston Smith. He died Friday. He traveled the globe studying the world's great religions. He incorporated practices from different religions into his own spiritual life. This is FRESH AIR.

• Omar Saif Ghobash Home Page - https://omarghobash.com/

  ABOUT OMAR
  About Omar Saif Ghobash
  His Excellency Omar Saif Ghobash was appointed Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the Russian Federation in 2008. He began his career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a diplomat at the UAE Mission to the United Nations. Prior to his appointment in Moscow, Ghobash founded The Third Line, Dubai’s first international contemporary art gallery showcasing artists from the Middle East. He is a founding trustee of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, which runs with the support of the Booker Prize Foundation in London.
  Photo by Sigrid Estrada
  Ghobash also sponsors the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation in memory of his father, Saif Ghobash, who was the UAE’s first Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Ghobash serves on acquisition committee of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the advisory body of The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London, and the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi. Born in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah in 1971, Ghobash is of Arab and Russian descent. He studied law at Balliol College, Oxford University and mathematics at the University of London.

• Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/15/omar-saif-ghobash-interview-letters-to-a-young-muslim-interview

  Omar Saif Ghobash: ‘These rock star clerics on Twitter need to reach out’
  With Letters to a Young Muslim, written with his own sons in mind, the UAE ambassador to Russia suggests a new way to view Islam
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  Interview by Tim Adams
  Sunday 15 January 2017 04.30 EST Last modified on Tuesday 2 May 2017 13.29 EDT

  Omar Saif Ghobash is the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Russia. He studied law at Oxford University. In 1977, when he was six, his father, Saif Ghobash, the UAE’s first foreign minister, was shot dead at Abu Dhabi international airport by a young terrorist whose target was a Syrian minister with whom Ghobash was travelling. In his father’s memory Omar has established a prize for Arabic literary translation, and is a sponsor of the Arab Booker prize. He is on the advisory body of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King’s College London. His book Letters to a Young Muslim, published this month, confronts the broader education of children in Islam, and proposes a more open and free-thinking model. He wrote the book with his own sons, Saif, aged 16, and Abdullah, 12, in mind.

  What do your boys make of the book?
  My younger son is enjoying it. My older son, for whom the book was really written and to whom it is directed in my mind – well, I like his reaction. He has read a couple of chapters, but at the moment he is not reading it. I am fine with that. I really don’t want to burden him with my own projections. He is free to read it whenever he wants, but I don’t want to pressure him if he is not ready for it just now.

  It opens with your observation that many voices are competing for the attention of young Muslim men, and that some are much more strident than your own. There is an urgency about moderation…
  Yes, I’ve been asking these questions of myself for many years. Part of the reason that I have not been able to come up with answers is because of a kind of self-censorship. But I felt some things had to be said. Recently I found out a friend of mine who had a brilliant western education, as I did, has really been unable to bridge the gap between that and his Islamic upbringing. Basically he has decided to shut his eyes and ears and just do what he is supposed to do as a Muslim. He has given up any personal responsibility. That sort of story really worries me.

  We need to tell young Muslims they can raise the flag of Islam without running about in the desert in flip-flops with a gun
  Was there a moment when those worries formed?
  11 September 2001 was a turning point for me personally. I was deeply upset by it. I had lived in New York from 1993 to 1995 and I had a strong attachment to the city. Some of the things I heard at the time in the Arab world – that it was payback time for Americans – I just rejected completely. I mean even if a crime has been committed against you I don’t believe you should ever respond with a crime in return. I wanted moral clarity around that. I felt for the first time that the rhetoric and the fantasies of the hardline clerics had turned into a reality. I had never expected that would happen. You always looked at these people as unhinged, and marginal, and then all of a sudden they seemed to have got the upper hand.

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  Your response was to involve yourself in arts and education projects…
  I thought, what can I as an individual do? I didn’t have any contacts in government really, or the ear of any powerful person. So I went another way. I opened an art gallery, which is continuing to grow, and there were the literary initiatives. I was thinking increasingly about the role of the individual in change, which we have been told in the Arab world is insignificant.

  You felt the important thing was to open up spaces for the individual imagination, individual responsibility?
  We are often told by clerics: don’t concern yourself with questioning, it is not your role to think, it is your role to follow the instruction of the Imam. That might have been useful 1,000 years ago, when the clerics had the most knowledge but in today’s world knowledge is everywhere. To live an ethical life, you would do well at least to examine psychology, economics, social theory, philosophy. That’s not to dismiss the learning of the clerics, but to fill in some of the gaps…

  How do clerics respond to that idea?
  I have spoken to a number. When you think critically and out loud about Islam, many people think you are trying to demolish something, that you are trying to deprive people of their relationship with Allah. That is the opposite of what I am doing.

  How possible is doubt within Islam, though? From the outside it seems less possible than in other faiths

  It’s interesting. I have googled the world “doubt” in Arabic and I have come across some debates in which clerics short-circuit the argument. They imply any kind of doubt means you are an atheist, and they won’t debate that at all. But that is something that is being imposed – [whereas] there has always been debate within Islam.

  But all over the world people seem to be turning away from complexity and nuance. It sounds like a losing battle in Islam in particular at the moment…
  On the contrary, I think it is a winning one, but not enough people are making it. It does require some courage to do it, but it can be done.

  Omar Saif Ghobash, right, with Singapore ambassador to Russia Simon Tensing de Cruz (centre) and then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow, 2009.
  Omar Saif Ghobash, right, with Singapore ambassador to Russia Simon Tensing de Cruz (centre) and then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow, 2009. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
  Part of your book is about grappling to understand the circumstances of your own childhood and the tragedy of your father’s murder. Was it useful to try to make some sense of it?
  It was. I had written an earlier text which had got the publisher’s interest in which I was trying to be more theoretical about these issues. My editor said, now think about how you would tell this story to a 15-year-old. I rewrote the whole thing in two months and it was an immense pleasure. In a direct way I felt I was transferring some knowledge I had taken from my absent father to my son. And when I finished it, I found I had a huge burst of energy, so I spent the summer climbing mountains in France, with a very clear head.

  One thing you describe is the sheer scale of change in the Emirates through the four generations of your family, from this desert community to a kind of global meeting place. Part of what is happening now seems to be about trying to come to terms with the speed of that change…
  The book has a context. I am an Emirati, a government employee. People in my position tend to be careful of what they say. But I felt comfortable to put these ideas out there, because I think they are ideas that the UAE understands even if it doesn’t always express them. One of the problems with the generation in their teens and 20s now is that they are told the past of the country was very religious. In fact, if you speak to older Emiratis, they say: “What is going on? We were a much friendlier bunch when we were in the desert.”

  I was struck by your account of going to England and to Oxford, where the freedom to study, or more importantly not to study, was an enormous shock to your system. One of the consequences of that initially was to send you off to Mecca on pilgrimage…
  It was a shock. My mother said my father always wanted his children to go to Oxford, Cambridge or Harvard, and from the age of eight I thought I should start at the top of that list. I worked very hard, very regimented, to get in, and then you know I had one hour of compulsory teaching a week, and I was on my own. I was terrible at it. At Mecca I was safe in a totally black and white world again. It is such a physical and sensual religion, Islam. The incense and perfumes, the soft carpets under your feet, it is very comforting. I often try to explain that to people. But I did go back [to Oxford].

  It lets you avoid the need to take full responsibility?
  One of the things I try to think about is: can we have too much of religion? There is a passage in the Koran where a man tells the Prophet, “I prayed all night” and he is told off for that. When we do the five prayers a day there are compulsory elements and additional prayers. I would pray with friends and do the obligatory pieces and then leave the mosque and they would say: “What about the other prayers?” I would say: “They are not obligatory.” They would say: “The prophet did those prayers.” And I would say: “Yes, but he specifically said they were not obligatory.”

  Has that pressure to be ever more pious become more intense?
  I’m not sure. You sometimes see it in the adult world now. And I thought these were schoolyard questions.

  Has atheism never tempted you? Why not reject the whole system?
  For me personally it would be an even greater burden to rethink all of these processes of how to approach life. I take for granted the existence of God, and that I am Muslim. But the key thing is I don’t think it should end there. For me it is about how you approach the teaching, what you arrive with. You know if you’re a psychopath who likes chopping people up, you are going to find what you want in the Qur’an. But can that possibly be the point of religion? Those are the questions you need to come with.

  It seems a good moment to be publishing this book in the US. Have you felt a hardening of attitudes to your faith when you have travelled in recent years?
  To be honest I haven’t felt that. Maybe people are just being polite. Also I have a very earthy sense of humour, which helps. I am in the States talking about the book. Otherwise I divide my time between Russia and the Emirates.

  Omar Saif Ghobash.
  ‘The book wasn’t written to offend anybody’: Omar Saif Ghobash. Photograph: Mike McGregor for the Observer
  Your mother is Russian. Her influence presumably gave you a built-in wider perspective

  She had enormous influence on me, yes. Whenever I asked her advice on things, she would say: “You should do what you think is right.” But that idea troubled me. How could I know what was right? From an Islamic perspective, that is the debate that needs to be revived. Are our human qualities innate and Islam has perfected them, as I would say? Or is it the case that we have no values until we read the words of the prophet, which is the dominant paradigm today.

  Why did you help to set up the Arab Booker prize?
  My mother brought me up on the classics of Russian literature. It seemed to me there was no equivalent in Arabic literature, which traditionally prized only poetry. The poetry is wonderful but it is less tangible than a novel. I wanted to see more linear thinking in prose. So that was one of the motivations for setting up the prize. To begin with, all the titles were about misery and death and prison. But things have changed a bit since then and some of the Arab poets have even switched to writing novels.

  Following the money?
  Following the glory.

  Novels can seem threatening to fundamentalisms in that they give you an alternative reality…
  They can. When we think about all the issues in the Arab world it seems to me that novels might help pinpoint exactly where we are. The power of fiction can be to express things that we feel but don’t know how to express.

  Have you experienced criticism for promoting such ideas in your own book?
  No. It wasn’t written to offend anybody. Maybe my career as a diplomat has led me to this approach. To be honest I expected for there to be censors, but actually when I told my bosses in the UAE that I was writing a book about Islam, they were just very supportive.

  In your day job in Moscow you are on the front line of what is happening diplomatically with regard to Syria. How hopeful are you that the

  situation can improve?
  There is a basic moral question: is it better to let the Syrian civil war extend for 10 years? Or is it better to use decisive force to try to end the war now? I feel that the west thinks that as long as we are fighting on the right side, that justifies hundreds of thousands more deaths. There is a more pragmatic approach from Russia which is to staunch the flow of blood in order to prevent the spread of radicalisation. But there are no simple answers.

  In the wider fight against Islamic State, do you believe that fundamentalism can sustain itself, or will it inevitably fail?
  I believe it can sustain itself. IS is a manifestation of a mentality which is quite widespread. And my worry is that some of the more traditional Islamic thinkers are only a couple of moves away from IS-type work. That is scary. You cannot call for jihad on Tuesday and deny it on Thursday.

  When it comes to young men, the subject of your book, we have endless debates about how to prevent radicalisation – and governments can clearly do some things – but doesn’t this debate really need to be happening in the mosques?
  Yes, clerics will say the correct things, that Islam is the religion of peace, that they condemn the violence. But I fear that doesn’t have much of an impact on young boys. It’s too static. The radicals they hear are all action and dynamism. We need to be telling our young Muslims that there are many more positive ways to raise the flag of Islam in the world than running round in the desert in flip-flops with a machine gun.

  How would that rival message sound?
  I know people who are trying things. But you need to go to the heart of traditional Islam really. There are these rock star clerics with 17 million followers on Twitter. I have the sense that some of them love the adulation, without using the responsibility that goes with it. These are the people who need to reach out and say not only that this is wrong, but also that there is a better way.

  • Letters to a Young Muslim by Omar Saif Ghobash is published by Picador (£16.99). To order a copy for £14.44 go to bookshop.theguardian.com. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99

A father opens up the Islamic world
Teresa Donnellan and Joseph A. O'Hare
America. 216.3 (Feb. 6, 2017): p47.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 America Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.
http://americamagazine.org/
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Full Text:
Contributing his moderate but compelling voice to Islamic discourse, Omar Saif Ghobash, ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Russia, has written a series of essays to his two teenage sons, Saif and Abdullah. Written with the loving--at times repetitive--patience of a concerned father, Letters to a Young Muslim covers a wide range of topics, from the history of Islam and of Ghobash's family to the challenges facing devout Muslims today.

Religious extremism prompted Ghobash to write these letters. "My overwhelming desire," he writes, "was to open up areas of thought, language, and imagination in order to show myself and my fellow Muslims that our world has so much more to offer us than the limited fantasies of deeply unhappy people."

Ghobash shares several personal stories--including memories of his father's assassination, a month spent at summer school memorizing the Quran and experiences growing up as a mixed-race Muslim in the United Arab Emirates--to describe how his current opinions on politics, religion, education and prejudice have formed.

He touches on themes universally important for teenagers, like the importance of a sense of a belonging and the necessity of taking responsibility for one's identity. Ghobash urges his sons to respect the independence of their mind: "If what someone tells you sounds convincing, ask more questions." And he does not shy away from describing the complex, and at times problematic, relationship between Islam and the West.

Ghobash's views on religious extremism make for provocative reading. He censures the ulema, or religious scholars, responsible for espousing extremist teachings while also criticizing those whose only response to religiously motivated violence is to say, "Islam is a religion of peace."

Although unflinching about the work that needs to be done to establish the religion Islam is meant to be, the collection maintains an optimistic tone, repeating that the next generation of Muslims can make a difference: "You are correct in thinking that if someone is going to change the world for the better, then it is you."

Teresa Donnellan, Joseph A. O'Hare Fellow.

Letters to a Young Muslim

A Memoir of Spiritual Disobedience

By Omar Sail Ghobash Picador. 256p, $22

Letters to a Young Muslim
Omar Saif Ghobash
California Bookwatch.
(Apr. 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
Letters to a Young Muslim
Omar Saif Ghobash
Picador USA
175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1800, New York, NY 10010
9781250119641, $22.00, www.picadorusa.com
Letters to a Young Muslim comes from the ambassador of the Untied Arab Emirates to Russia, and gathers of series of
personal letters he wrote to his older son which covers the basics of being Muslim in an international arena. Modern
young Muslims have much potential for affecting the world, both good and bad, and these thoughtful letters present
reasoned arguments directed to Muslims of all ages on how Muslims can unite and remain true to Islam while carving a
positive position for themselves in the world. By encouraging his sons to face these issues - and the prejudice which
often accompanies them - Ghobash creates a powerful discussion that reaches beyond his family and holds meaning for
anyone interested in Muslim peoples, young people, and their future place in the world.
The Writing/Publishing Shelf
Ghobash, Omar Saif
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Ghobash, Omar Saif. "Letters to a Young Muslim." California Bookwatch, Apr. 2017. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA491329199&it=r&asid=2b513b41821cfc0c23400d75ea325912.
Accessed 12 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491329199
8/12/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Letters to a young Muslim
Chris Fitch
Geographical.
89.4 (Apr. 2017): p65.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Circle Publishing Ltd.
http://www.geographical.co.uk/
Full Text:
LETTERS TO A YOUNG MUSLIM
by Omar Saif Ghobash;
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Picador; [pounds sterling]14.99 (hardback)
As Ghobash points out, his eldest son is only two decades years younger than him, and yet is growing up in a radically
different world than he did, thanks to the intense, turbo-powered globalisation through which modern technology and
extreme wealth has poured into the UAE, his home country. With the pivotal and multifaceted role which the very
concept of Islam has taken in modern geopolitics, he explores how compatible traditional Islamic culture is with the
21st century, especially with Western society just a mouse click away.
He invites us to eavesdrop on a series of mini-lectures to his son, covering such subjects as peace, wealth, and
terrorism. This simplistic approach, with short, punchy, easily digestible chapters, makes it easy to follow, regardless of
your knowledge of Islam. Obviously, he condemns Islamophobia, yet he supports the contemporary argument that
Muslims need to better comprehend and deal with the language of violence which has become intertwined with their
religion.
Clearly, there are differences between the West and much of the Islamic world, even if these differences have been
vastly exaggerated by loud voices in the media. Ghobash is keen to ask exactly how irreconcilable socio-cultural values
such as democracy and sexual freedom truly are with Islam; his view being that such issues are often rejected through
their mere association with the West, while the core logic behind such values is actually far more agreeable. No doubt
others would differ, but he never pretends to provide anything except his own opinions. Via the polar extremes of
Sufism and Wahhabism, and everything in-between, Ghobash illustrates neatly the difficulties facing Muslim parents
trying to guide their offspring through a globalised, multi-cultural world.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Fitch, Chris. "Letters to a young Muslim." Geographical, Apr. 2017, p. 65. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA492898822&it=r&asid=e6f02680d844bcaa4a9be4c9843979a0.
Accessed 12 Aug. 2017.
8/12/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Gale Document Number: GALE|A492898822
8/12/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Ghobash, Omar Saif: LETTERS TO A YOUNG
MUSLIM
Kirkus Reviews.
(Nov. 15, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Ghobash, Omar Saif LETTERS TO A YOUNG MUSLIM Picador (Adult Nonfiction) $22.00 1, 3 ISBN: 978-1-250-
11984-1
An appeal to critical thought and broad values for young Muslims.Ghobash, ambassador of the United Arab Emirates
to Russia, presents a series of open letters crafted for his young sons as they grow up Muslim in the modern world. The
author has a unique background: his mother is Russian, and his father was Arab. Moreover, his father was assassinated
when a supporter of the Palestinian cause mistook him for another man who was a political target. The author was a
young boy at the time of his father's death, and he has spent a lifetime reflecting on what senseless violence did to him
and his family. He has written these letters to his own sons--born in 2000 and 2004--in order to provide them with
written accounts of his own values and thoughts on Islam. Throughout, he asks them to consider varying points of
view, do their own research, and make up their own minds. Ghobash seems most intent on convincing his sons to think
for themselves rather than to allow clerics, scholars, and activists to influence their thinking. The author states
unequivocally "Islam is a religion of peace," and then spends an entire chapter discussing what that statement really
means, given the reality of violence in the world. He urges his sons to "see the world through the prism of
responsibility," as he himself does, doing what is right and caring for the needs of others. "We need to take
responsibility for the Islam of peace," he concludes. Ghobash takes largely liberal views on many issues, such as the
role of women in society. He seems interestingly reticent on proclaiming strong views about the leadership and
direction of Islam or passing anything but the most general judgment upon extremists. Laced with Western pluralism
and liberalism, the author tries to push back the rigid moralism of Islam as he has often known it. Certainly heartfelt,
the book is also reserved and largely unemotional.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Ghobash, Omar Saif: LETTERS TO A YOUNG MUSLIM." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2016. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA469865720&it=r&asid=99d34962eca9ff2ac7483638e77a7d13.
Accessed 12 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A469865720
8/12/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Ghobash, Omar Saif. Letters to a Young Muslim
John Jaeger
Library Journal.
141.19 (Nov. 15, 2016): p94.
COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution
permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Ghobash, Omar Saif. Letters to a Young Muslim. Picador. Jan. 2017.272p. ISBN 9781250119841. $22; ebk. ISBN
9781250119834. REL
How does a father pass on to his two sons the essential elements of moderate Islam? Ghobash (ambassador of the
United Arab Emirates to Russia) does so through a number of letters addressing particular subjects relating to the faith.
The author is concerned that his sons understand that genuine Islam is a religion of peace and openness; one that
engages with people from different political, religious, and cultural backgrounds. He stresses that radical Islam, with its
hatred of the West and its embrace of violence, does not represent the true character of Islamic teachings and practice.
To readers who are outside observers of these messages delivered through letters, Ghobash provides a perspective on
the religion that has not received much attention in American media in the last couple of decades. He also gives a
vision of a possible future where moderate Islam is dominant and is a positive force in the world. VERDICT A useful
work for anyone who has an interest in Islam as well as college students writing on the religion in general or its social
and political elements.--John Jaeger, Dallas Baptist Univ. Lib.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Jaeger, John. "Ghobash, Omar Saif. Letters to a Young Muslim." Library Journal, 15 Nov. 2016, p. 94. General
OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA470367216&it=r&asid=457dcd4067bb83bc4f09f055494ac90b.
Accessed 12 Aug. 2017.
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8/12/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Letters to a Young Muslim
Publishers Weekly.
263.46 (Nov. 14, 2016): p51.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Letters to a Young Muslim
Omar Saif Ghobash. Picador, $22 (272p) ISBN 978-1-250-11984-1
This deeply personal book of letters written from Ghobash to his two sons reveals what it is like to be a Muslim parent
amidst the increasing ideological polarization of the "global war on terror." Speaking from his own history of pain,
loss, and trepidation, Ghobash, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to Russia, attempts to guide his children through
the philosophical currents, impassioned conversations, and global context of terror, neo-imperialism, and the crisis of
authority in the Islamic world. He advises his sons (and, by extension, other Muslim youth) to make decisions on how
to harmonize their lives as faithful, peaceful Muslims in a tech-rich, pluralistic, and thoroughly modern world. Ghobash
offers his compassionate and cultivated advice on the basics of Islamic history, the sheer diversity of its practice, and
what to do when one faces Islamophobia or encounters violent radicalism in fellow Muslims. Above all, he instructs his
children to take responsibility as individual Muslims and not to follow others on a path toward dichotomous thinking
and violent reactions. He urges them to pursue a middle path that is simultaneously true, to Islam and yet effectively
and energetically engaged in the modern world. This is a fantastic book for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Letters to a Young Muslim." Publishers Weekly, 14 Nov. 2016, p. 51. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA473459049&it=r&asid=f7567ed50603038f82b5a1096061dc40.
Accessed 12 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A473459049

Donnellan, Teresa, and Joseph A. O'Hare. "A father opens up the Islamic world." America, 6 Feb. 2017, p. 47. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA481161032&it=r&asid=473df30203c05bea9b6410bc8f4a820d. Accessed 12 Aug. 2017. Ghobash, Omar Saif. "Letters to a Young Muslim." California Bookwatch, Apr. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA491329199&it=r. Accessed 12 Aug. 2017. Fitch, Chris. "Letters to a young Muslim." Geographical, Apr. 2017, p. 65. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA492898822&it=r. Accessed 12 Aug. 2017. "Ghobash, Omar Saif: LETTERS TO A YOUNG MUSLIM." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA469865720&it=r. Accessed 12 Aug. 2017. Jaeger, John. "Ghobash, Omar Saif. Letters to a Young Muslim." Library Journal, 15 Nov. 2016, p. 94. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA470367216&it=r. Accessed 12 Aug. 2017. "Letters to a Young Muslim." Publishers Weekly, 14 Nov. 2016, p. 51. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA473459049&it=r. Accessed 12 Aug. 2017.

• Slate
  http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2017/01/letters_to_a_young_muslim_by_omar_saif_ghobash_reviewed.html
  Word count: 1713

  Letters to a Young Muslim
  206
  62
  113
  I grew up as a devout Muslim, and these essays about the dangers of radicalism hit very close to home.

  By Aymann Ismail
  Omar Saif Ghobash
  Omar Saif Ghobash
  Presidential Press and Information Office

  I started reading Omar Saif Ghobash’s Letters to a Young Muslim when I was in Los Angeles with my wife over the holiday break. We decorated a small plastic tree and exchanged wrapped gifts. It was the first time either of us had ever done the Christmas thing. We are newlyweds, so we were excited about trying something new together. Neither of us felt less Muslim while hanging ornaments and opening presents, but I was haunted by the thought of it breaking my mother’s heart. She never allowed her children to say the words “merry Christmas” around her.

  This all sounds minor, and it is, but it ties into the way I feel whenever news breaks of a terrorist assault on a church in the name of Islam. I understand how alien and unfriendly Christianity can feel to young Muslims. When an entire generation of Muslims is getting inundated with anti-Muslim imagery while being taught only rules and not given the tools to actually study and interpret the Quran, it leaves many young Muslims vulnerable to terrorist groups with evil political goals. This is an uncomfortable truth mostly deflected within Muslim communities. It’s easy to say that monsters don’t and shouldn’t represent us, but what are Muslims doing to protect their children from radicalism?

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  Letters to a Young Muslim tackles this question over the course of a series of essays framed as letters from Ghobash, a diplomat from the United Arab Emirates, to his young son. Early on in his book, Ghobash opens up about his dawning realization that he wasn’t the only one guiding his son’s spiritual education; his son’s Arabic and religious studies teachers were influencing him, too. Ghobash watched his son’s behavior change as he became more interested in a strict interpretation of Islam. It scared Ghobash so much that it inspired this series of letters—his attempt to steer his son’s understanding of what can make a Muslim vulnerable in today’s political climate. These letters are also a crash course in Islamic history and modern Middle Eastern politics. Ghobash vividly unpacks the effects that the intense negative media imagery associated with Islam can have on a young Muslim. His son, he writes, had become focused on trying to identify who the “good” Muslims were, and he began distancing himself from anyone he deemed to be not religious enough.

  For me, reading this hit close to home. During my own Islamic upbringing in the United States, my mother was determined to raise her four children as proper Muslims outside of Egypt, where she was born. We were enrolled in one of those strict private Muslim schools in Jersey City, New Jersey: the kind with separate entrances for boys and girls. “When two people of opposite genders are alone, they are joined by devil” was more a mandate for us than poetic spiritual guidance. That’s just one of the many rules that distinguished us Muslims from everyone else. So when I later enrolled in a public school only a week after 9/11, I kept away from girls entirely.

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  I imposed the same rules on myself not because I was super religious, but because that’s what I thought being a practicing Muslim was about. I was lazy about praying the five daily prayers, but I felt that eating pork would violate my entire identity. At first I was cautious around my new non-Muslim classmates, but that changed almost immediately. I was the first Muslim any of them had ever met and their friendliness and acceptance challenged my perception of non-Muslims writ large. Watching the news taught me that Americans hated Muslims; why did these students think my religion was cool? They sometimes had silly questions like whether or not I lived in a pyramid or what exactly were women hiding underneath their hijabs, but I made better friends there than I ever had in Islamic school.

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  In his book, Ghobash is pushing for personal accountability. In his letters, he repeats a theme that is reassuring, if opposite to my experience of the way Islam is taught: There is no one correct interpretation and there never will be, so it’s OK to be uncertain about your beliefs. He presents Islam as an open-ended journey that can lead you down any path of your making. In one of the letters, he tells his son: “Saif, I want you to be aware of the well-constructed path to a closed worldview that will, if followed, lead a person to a dangerous place. It can lead a well-meaning and sincere child to a place of close-minded anger and aggression.” He goes on to say what took me a very long time to learn: “Every young Muslim should demand his or her right to discover the world for himself or herself, using the tools of self-knowledge and self-mastery.” Ghobash also writes that it’s much easier to reject ideals you don’t agree with than it is to work to understand the other side. Whether or not terrorists practice Islam the way we believe it should be practiced, they read the same books we read and are using propaganda to reach out to our children.

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  Part of what makes these topics so difficult for Muslims to contemplate is that we are constantly defending our religion in the West. With politicians digging for dirt on the global Muslim population in order to justify their own bigotry, there are arguably many issues for Muslims to consider before we are critical of our own communities. I know many Muslims who have been victims of targeted hate and violence. How can we risk fueling the very hate we feel we need to defend ourselves against?

  Ghobash recommends against carrying the weight of guilt for atrocities committed by others in the name of God, and instead tries to push for understanding of how bad people continue to use our God for evil. He writes: “It is too easy to say that [terrorists] have nothing to do with us. They speak in Allah’s name. And they do so convincingly. Even if their reading seems warped and out-of-date, it is a reading. It is a reading that has traction, that has popularity. We must react in some way. We must take action.” And his book is an invaluable start to a crucial conversation the global Muslim community needs to have about the violent fringes within our faith—precisely because Ghobash’s personal relationship with his son generally takes precedence over universal exhortations.

  The book doesn’t really try to make arguments. Ghobash encourages a search for nuance in a world consumed with a polarizing, partisan us-versus-them mentality. This is not another exhausting cri de coeur about why Muslims deserve sympathy. It’s something more personal and intimate than that: a collection of letters from a father trying to empower his son to challenge an aggressive Islamist movement while simultaneously navigating oversimplified narratives surrounding his religion.

  Most chapters start with a heartwarming and sincere habeebie, or darling in English. He repeatedly refers to these letters as a “spiritual guide” for his son after he’s gone. I’m not a father, so while reading this I projected my own parents into the role of Ghobash addressing his son. It made me reflect on the many challenges that come with raising Muslim children in the West. How did my parents protect us from hate until we were old enough to understand it? How in the world did two Egyptian immigrants pull off raising four Muslim children in America? I’d never felt more grateful.

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  Great article. I'd be really interested to read more from this author. I grew up Catholic in an area of the country dominated by Southern Baptists. More...

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  This book is a heartwarming plea from a man hoping to inspire an entire generation of Muslims to reclaim our faith from those who use it to destroy the world and consume hearts with hate. But I wish so much that anyone who self-identifies as anti-Islam would read these letters, too. It’s an incredible guide for anyone hoping to understand the nuanced relationship between extremists and the other 99.9 percent of peaceful Muslims around the world. Ghobash patiently unpacks the kinds of questions Muslims tend to avoid asking to avoid appearing disloyal to their communities or questioning God’s authority. It wasn’t until adulthood that I myself became comfortable asking tough questions about, for instance, Islam’s relationship to homosexuality, apostasy, and abortion. Many Muslims believe the Quran to be a timeless text that can be interpreted to apply to any moment in history. This book is a plea for Muslims to return to the interpretive drawing board, to try and re-understand their religion in the modern world.

  My life has changed so much since my high school years, the dawn of my intellectual relationship with Islam, that it feels strange to look back on that time now. I have a diverse group of friends that include Muslims and non-Muslims. My wife and I have nightly debates that challenge the fundamentals of our faith. God plays a much larger role in my life, while my identity has shifted away from being singularly Islamic. But I know one thing: I wish I’d been able to read essays like these earlier on. It took me years to understand the ideas Ghobash lays out so sensitively and clearly. His beautiful book is part peaceful manifesto, part love letter to his son. I felt like he was speaking to me, too.

  --

  Letters to a Young Muslim by Omar Saif Ghobash, Picador.

• Spirituality & Practice
  http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/view/28303/letters-to-a-young-muslim
  Word count: 356

  Letters to a Young Muslim
  By Omar Saif Ghobash
  An inspiring and spirited series of letters in which a father passes on his vision and hopes for Muslims.
  Book Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
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  There are 1.7 billion Muslims in the world today and at this crisis point in history, the traditional ones are being vastly over-shadowed by fundamentalist extremists with a violent agenda. Faithful Muslims who regularly pray and worship in mosques are being squeezed from the other side as well. In the United States and elsewhere they are the victims of Islamophobia ("the unjustified targeting and demonization of Muslims for primarily political reasons").

  This inspiring and spirited book is by Omar Saif Ghobash, the ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Russia. It consists of sophisticated, caring, and worldly wise letters to his son. He convincingly presents a concise overview of Islamic history, the volatile realm of Middle Eastern politics, and the challenges facing Muslim believers in a disorderly and combative world of diversity.

  Ghobash salutes responsibility and hopes that this virtue can bloom in the hearts and minds of the young:

  "I want my sons' generation of Muslims to realize that they have the right to think and decide what is right and what is wrong, what is Islamic and what is peripheral to the faith. It is their burden to bear whatever decision they make."

  Ghobash has good things to say about Islam as a great and rich tradition and as a religion of peace. He speaks with devotion of Muhammad, the Qur'an, and the warmth of prayer and recitation. And equally important, he asserts: "We need to find a theological and social space and place for the following ideas: doubt, question, inquiry, and curiosity."

  Ghobash believes that Islam has within it the vigor and creativity to embrace these ideas as it shares its ample wisdom with the world.

  READ AN EXCERPT ON PEACE
  Picador, 1/17
  ISBN: 9781250119841
  $22.00 Hardcover
  Purchase from Powell's Books

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