Abu Lincoln
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Scary, bearded candidate with Semitic name |
Juan Cole penned a great post about how despite the GOP’s kindergarten strategy of sneering at Obama’s middle name (how’s that for substantive?), Republican nominee John McCain himself adopted a daughter of Muslim descent:
Since Hussein is a very common name in Bangladesh, it is entirely possible that [Bridget McCain’s] birth father or grandfather was named Hussein. McCain certainly has Muslim relatives via adoption in his family…
… Bridget is upset that George W. Bush doesn’t like her “because she is black”… the McCains really should let Bridget know that she is Asian, not “black”… [Link via Sullivan]
By Cole’s count, a third of American presidents had Semitic names, including Ab-raham (abu raham, father of multitudes) Lincoln, Bin Yamin Franklin, Yochanan Adams, Tau’am Jefferson, Yaqub Madison and Zachariah Taylor. Pop star Rihanna’s name means ‘aromatic’ in Arabic. WWII hero Gen. Omar Bradley got his first name as a corruption of Umar.
Obama’s first name, usually spelled Barak, is also used by Israelis including former PM Ehud Barak. His middle name, Hussein:
… from the Semitic word, hasan, meaning “good” or “handsome.” Husayn is the diminutive, affectionate form… in honor of his grandfather, Hussein, a secular resident of Nairobi. Americans may think of Saddam Hussein when they hear the name, but that is like thinking of Stalin when you hear the name Joseph. [Link]
Saddam Hussein was a trusted U.S. ally for many years; Cole notes that Jordan’s King Hussein is one today. Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini should be left off his list, though. He’s welcome at Starbucks, but Kite is a blight upon literature 
Some of the English words adapted from Arabic and Farsi: admiral, adobe, albatross, almanac, alfalfa, amalgam, caliber, checkmate (shah mat), cotton, crimson, gauze, gerbil (Richard Gere thanks you), giraffe, jasmine, lilac, lute (al oud), magazine, monsoon (mausam), mummy, racket, sequin, tariff and zenith.
If we couldn’t have any ‘alcohol, candy, coffee, saffron, lemon, lime, apricot, orange (naranj)’ or ’soda’ while kicking back on the ’sofa,’ life would be poorer indeed.
on Thursday, February 28th, 2008, 12:20 pm in Barack Obama, John McCain, Politics › 
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Good list! I would also mention that Abe Lincoln’s beard (being minus the mustache) is classical observant Muslim style.
But I thought Abraham was ‘Ib-rahim’ in Arabic - ‘of the Benevolent One’.
I read Kite Runner after numberous recommendations by friends, I am no literary expert but I thought the writing was amateurish for my taste and I didn’t get what the fuss was about.
Chachaji- per the ORIGINAL Hebrew, it’s av (father) ram (high/elevated). The Arab inflection came much later.
The article was mostly good (except for that bit about the “semitic word”…nice, there’s no “Semitic” language) in that it pointed out the obvious- what Americans need on a daily basis. But he failed to address that Americans have been since the 80s conditioned to shun anything remotely Islamic, embracing all things cliche-Jewish (anglicized OT biblical names, yiddish, support for zionism, throwing the shoach in the face of anyone who criticizes Israel, Adam Sandler, etc.), and refusing to acknowledge that Arabs are in fact Semites along with Jews. Let’s not even get into how Arabs, Persians, Azeris, Pashtuns, Punjabs, Sindhs, Kurds, Hazaras, ETC., ETC., are viewed as a single ethnicity, either…
and let’s not forget george ‘waqas’ bush