There is no way for Obama to put this "rumor" down because according to Islam, he is Muslim by birth, and if not Muslim now, then he is an apostate. Either way, it is unsettling and he still has not come clear on the subject.

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5544

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5354

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5286

It seems that the anti-Obama crowd has mostly given up on the 'secret Muslim' thing and it now left with the 'apostate' argument. I find it interesting that Freedomfighter cites on Daniel Pipes, a known critic of Islam. I would be much more persuaded if Freedomfighter or Pipes could find some modern reference from a Muslim source.

Using scripture or ancient references would be like saying I know a Christian person hates his parents because Jesus said "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple." There are probably thousands of other examples.

We can't use our interpretations of someone else's ancient document to say how those people feel today. I did some research from Muslim sites that I know of and found the following:

The Council on American Islamic Relations says:

This claim has never been expressed on any Arab television station or newspaper. In fact, Obama has received overwhelmingly favorable coverage by Arab media including Saudi television stations known for their conservative politics.

[Edward N.] Luttwak does not cite a single Muslim scholar. Even if he wanted to, there is no Muslim scholar who has accused Obama of apostasy.
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Juan Cole says:

So here is what the academic literature has to say about Islamic law on this issue (Rudolph Peters and Gert J. J. De Vries
Die Welt des Islams, New Series, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4 (1976 - 1977), pp. 1-25 ):

"Not only the act of apostasy is subject to certain conditions in order to be legally valid, but also with regard to the perpetrator (murtadd) specific qualifications have been laid down. He can perform a legally effective act of riddah [apostasy] only out of free will (ikhtiyar) at an adult age (bulugh), being compos mentis (`aqil [of sound mind]), and, as emphasized by the Malikite school, after his unambiguous and explicit adoption of Islam." [- p. 3][P. 2, n. 3: "It is equally stated that this Islam needs to be evident in both qawl [speech] and `amal [deed]; a person who embraced the faith by merely pronouncing the shahadah [profession of faith] would not be considered qulified to perform a legally valid act of apostasy-- Cf. Mawwaq in the margin of Hattab, Mawahib al-Jalil, VI, pp. 279-80]"

Barack Obama never accepted or practiced Islam as an adult (which would be age 15 in Islamic law) and therefore according to classical Islamic jurisprudence cannot be an apostate. Peters and DeVries are Arabists and are among the foremost scholars on Islamic law, unlike Luttwak, who does not have the slightest idea what he is talking about.
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Many of the people who espouse these untruths about Obama consider themselves Jews and Christians. I would like to take this opportunity to remind them of one their own ancient text:

Exodus 20:16 "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."
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I hope our country can learn to put away our fears and prejudices so we can listen to one another rather than spreading disinformation that maligns a candidate, millions of Americans and a billion people on this planet.

CynAmun

References:
http://www.cair.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleID=24808&&name=n&&currPag...
http://www.juancole.com/2008/05/is-obama-apostate-or-bush-reply-to.html

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http://www.isjohnmccainamuslim.com/

Well, you shot yourself in the foot by quoting CAIR. They will NEVER say anything bad about Obama. I guest you think if someone's father is Catholic, their son must be Jewish. Still Obama has not come clear on this. As for CAIR...take a look...........

http://www.anti-cair-net.org/

www.hillaryshould.com