WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- A U.S. Islamic advocacy group urged President Barack Obama to offer specific policy recommendations for the Muslim world during his visit to Cairo next week.
In an open letter to Obama and Muslim leaders, Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, offered "an American Muslim perspective" about what government, leaders and individuals can do to improve the prospect for international peace.
Obama should focus on what he can do to "help repair relations with the Muslim world that have suffered such damage in recent years," Awad wrote. "Your statements since the inauguration have raised the level of hope for real change in our nation's foreign and domestic policies."
"It is imperative that your positive statements now be backed up with concrete policy initiatives that will help move us all toward a more peaceful and prosperous future," he said in the letter, reprinted in a CAIR news release.
Awad also called on governments in the Muslim world to "encourage full political participation in systems of government that abide by the separation of powers and are held in check by independent judiciaries," as well as respect the results of free and fair elections.
True peace will happen only when people of all faiths "cast off the prejudices and preconceptions" and engage in commonalities, Awad said.
