Pres. Obama’s wedding ring

Here is something very interesting from WND:

NEW YORK – As a student at Harvard Law School, then-bachelor Barack Obama’s practice of wearing a gold band on his wedding-ring finger puzzled his colleagues.

Now, newly published photographs of Obama from the 1980s show that the ring Obama wore on his wedding-ring finger as an unmarried student is the same ring Michelle Robinson put on his finger at the couple’s wedding ceremony in 1992.

Moreover, according to Arabic-language and Islamic experts, the ring Obama has been wearing for more than 30 years is adorned with the first part of the Islamic declaration of faith, the Shahada: “There is no God except Allah.”

The Shahada is the first of the Five Pillars of Islam, expressing the two fundamental beliefs that make a person a Muslim: There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is Allah’s prophet.

Sincere recitation of the Shahada is the sole requirement for becoming a Muslim, as it expresses a person’s rejection of all other gods

Egyptian-born Islamic scholar Mark A. Gabriel, Ph.D., examined photographs of Obama’s ring at WND’s request and concluded that the first half of the Shahada is inscribed on it.

“There can be no doubt that someone wearing the inscription ‘There is no god except Allah’ has a very close connection to Islamic beliefs, the Islamic religion and Islamic society to which this statement is so strongly attached,” Gabriel told WND.

[…]

Read the rest there.  There are many interesting photos.

Intriguing!

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57 Comments

  1. iPadre says:

    I wonder what other goodies we will learn when Obama is out of the White House.

  2. Southern Baron says:

    I’m not sure how far I am willing to go with the “Obama is a secret Muslim” discussion, but as someone preparing for marriage, I find it troubling that he was wearing a ring as a single man and then when he got married, that became his wedding ring. Does this represent the general tendency in the past few decades to make relationships about the self, rather than the couple? If a woman puts a ring on her husband’s finger that he was wearing anyway, it does not represent any new bond; it simply affirms his individual identity without recognizing the transformation that marriage brings.

  3. tealady24 says:

    Intriguing?

    Malevolent.

  4. rcg says:

    Occam’s Comment: He probably did thsi because he thought it was cool. Exactly the same level of thought he has put into everything else he has ever done. He is too vain to be dangerous; he’s just hazardous.

  5. I can’t say I find Obama’s actions while in office to be supportive of the idea that he’s a secret Muslim. Doesn’t Islam oppose same-sex unions?

    And I also can’t detect a clear resemblance between the squiggles on his ring and the Arabic letters they’re said to be. The colored lines that are said to be Arabic letters omit parts of the design of the ring; e.g.: the bottom pattern has three rounded tops, but the blue and pink lines tracing out Arabic letters ignore the middle rounded top.

    Finally, if Obama is a clandestine Muslim, why would he always wear a ring that would instantly identify him as one?

    Seems to me to be a blown-out-of-proportion obsession over a dear ring.

  6. Sissy says:

    “Doesn’t Islam oppose same-sex unions?”

    That might be true, but apparently there are different rules regarding homosexual acts outside of a relationship.

  7. Deacon Nathan Allen says:

    Thank you, Jeffrey Pinyan and rcg. This is a non-story. 1) The President says he is a Christian: are the nutters going to ask for his certified baptismal certificate now too? 2) As Jeffrey Pinyan rightly points out, he certainly hasn’t governed as a Muslim. Indeed, his drone strikes have killed an awful lot of innocent Muslims in Pakistan, as well as American-citizen Muslims in Yemen. 3) It’s perfectly natural for someone to have a sentimental attachment to one’s boyhood home, and be attracted to a piece of jewelry that reminds one of that home. 4) Islamic art, and especially art based on Arabic caligraphy, can be beautiful. 5) If the ring only has the first part of the shahada on it, it hardly expresses an anti-Christian sentiment: “There is no god but God” sounds an awful lot like “Credo in unum Deum”. It’s not as if the ring lights up with “Ash nazg durbatuluk…” when tossed in a fire!

  8. MarylandBill says:

    I think we should be careful about drawing any conclusions from this. Allah is not simply what Muslims call God, it is the general term used by Arabic speakers and speakers of languages derived from Arabic (like the people of Malta who are mostly Catholics). While we tend to translate the Shahada while leaving Allah intact, I suspect an equally valid translation of the first phrase would be “There is no God but God”; not exactly a statement that Christians would object to.

    I will grant it does suggest a connection with Islam, but he does have Islamic ancestors, so perhaps that is the connection. Or maybe a momento from his time in Indonesia.

    Frankly, I don’t believe that he is a Muslim. He strikes me as far too much of a secularist for that.

  9. MWindsor says:

    I wonder what other goodies we will learn when Obama is out of the White House.

    I wonder, iPadre, what makes you think we will ever get Obama out of the White House…

  10. mamajen says:

    I very highly doubt that Obama is actually religious at all. That said, he most definitely embraces Islam in a political way like so many other liberals do, and it would not surprise me if this ring does indeed have a secret message. I wonder if it belonged to a relative, or if he purchased it himself?

  11. mysticalrose says:

    “I very highly doubt that Obama is actually religious at all.”

    Why? Because he is a shameless liberal who supports gay marriage and abortion? So do most mainline Protestants, and those nuns on the bus. I certainly reject their version of religion, but that doesn’t make them non-religious.

    Concerning the ring: YIKES. One ring to rule them all . . .

  12. Sissy says:

    I think Obama is very religious, indeed. I think he worships himself with great fervor!

  13. mysticalrose says:

    @Sissy: Touche!

  14. mamajen says:

    @mysticalrose

    More to do with his extreme narcissism. Where is there room for God?

    Also, I do not believe that people who associate themselves with a religion or hang out at church once a week are necessarily religious at all. There are many other reasons they may choose to affiliate themselves with certain groups.

  15. LisaP. says:

    reg, I’m with you. I remember seeing a girl walking around the mall obliviously chewing on the rosary she was wearing around her neck when “Madonna” was appropriating religious symbols.

    President Obama reminds me very, very much of my college days, and of the mindset I’ve seen of the folks that can’t seem to shake that shallowness and lack of knowing what you don’t know. You sincerely believe you’re the smartest man in the room when you can’t understand the smarter people — they make no sense to you, so they must be talking nonsense, that sort of thing. I don’t know Mr. Obama so but his “cult” strikes me as of this flavor.

  16. wmeyer says:

    LisaP, your comment reminds me that my mother always insisted the one thing essential to learn from college was a sense of what (and how much) you do not know. And the second was a basic understanding of how to find the answers, when needed. I think our president may have failed to acquire either of those.

  17. Sissy says:

    “You sincerely believe you’re the smartest man in the room when you can’t understand the smarter people — they make no sense to you, so they must be talking nonsense, that sort of thing. I don’t know Mr. Obama so but his “cult” strikes me as of this flavor.”

    Dunning-Kruger Effect; Obama is the poster child.

  18. chantgirl says:

    Perhaps it was his father’s? While he has been rather hostile towards Israel, and even slipped up in an interview about his “Muslim faith”, I too doubt whether he really is an adherent of any faith. If he is a muslim, he would appear to be a cafeteria muslim as many of his policies run afoul of traditional Islam. Personally, I think that he worships power.

  19. AnnAsher says:

    Affirming of suspicions long held.

  20. LisaP. says:

    Sissy, never heard of that, something I didn’t know, very appropriate, thanks!

  21. Non practicing Muslim…as if I didn’t need anymore proof

  22. eulogos says:

    He did go to a Madrassah in Indonesia. It seems likely that he has some feeling for Islam, which doesn’t make him a Muslim. There must have been many ways he could have acquired this ring that would lead him to be attached to it, which don’t necessarily make him a Muslim. As for why this was used as his wedding ring, I’d say that was between him and Michele.

    There is plenty we DO know about Obama to make us worry, after all, without this.
    Susan Peterson

  23. Dan says:

    If you look at it the right way you can also trace the letters “WDTPRS.”

    Meaningless.

  24. SKAY says:

    In the WND article they included this part of an article describing the Obama wedding

    “Kantor wrote:

    Just before the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. pronounced Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson man and wife on the evening of Oct. 3, 1992, he held their wedding rings – signifying their new, enduring bonds – before the guests at Trinity United Church of Christ. Michelle’s was traditional, but Barack’s was an intricate gold design from Indonesia, where he had lived as a boy.

    There was no mention in the article that Obama already had been wearing the ring for more than a decade.”

    Obama did bow to the Saudi king.

  25. Pingback: Pres. Obama’s wedding ring | Fr. Z’s Blog – What Does The Prayer Really Say? | Servus Fidelis: the faithful servant

  26. Salvatore_Giuseppe says:

    @chantgirl

    that was my thought as well, the fact that he was wearing this ring well before it became his wedding ring, and that it is a traditional style ring from where he spent some of his childhood, leads me to believe it is more likely to simply have some sort of sentimental, rather than religious, meaning to him. As pointed out, the phrase certainly doesn’t offend any Christian sensibilities, so there would be no contradiction in continuing to wear it, despite professing a christian faith.

    On the other hand, the ring barely looks like the squiggles they traced over it, and the squiggles barely look like the arabic text they assert it to be, so I would be more surprised to find out that it actually said what they are claiming than anything else.

  27. albizzi says:

    Doesn’t Islam oppose same-sex unions?
    @Jeffrey Pinyan:
    Islam oppose same sex unions BETWEEN muslims, but hey don’t care about the non muslim homosexuals. On the contrary they recommend the murder and rape of the non muslims, including their wives and daughters (said Imam Abdul Makin in an East London mosque) .
    So they raped (more exactly sodomized) the US ambassador in Benghazi because not only the non muslims MUST be killed, but they MUST be humiliated beforehand.
    That Imam says that the reason is because the non muslims are guilty of not believing in Allah and his prophet. While, on the contrary the muslims are innocent because they believe.
    The top muslim lawyer in Great Britain, Anjem Choudary says: “As a Muslim, I must support my Muslim brothers and sisters. I must have hatred to everything that is not Muslim.”

  28. I think it’s a language he made up himself and it reads, “there is no God but Obama and, and…oh who am I kidding, I’m the prophet too!”

  29. I am not an apologist for Barack Hussein Obama. Under the terms of Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution, he is not eligible to be President, as he is not a “NATURAL born citizen” (which is to say that one of this parents was not a U S citizen at the time of his birth). This is not to be confused with “native born,” just so you know. The above interpretation was upheld by the U S Supreme Court, in a case in the late 19th century, the name of which escapes me at present.

    Now that full disclosure is out of the way …

    Obama was raised by his stepfather in Indonesia for a time, during which he was raised as a Muslim. His placating remarks at one time or another notwithstanding, that is the extent of his being a Muslim.

    Otherwise, he is, under Islamic law, an apostate, having opening professed to Christianity (and implicitly refuting his submission to Islam), whatever any other Christians may think of it.

    I think it’s interesting to point out that very little is made of this outside of Evangelical Christian circles. I don’t hear or read of a lot of Catholics making much of this. Meanwhile, he wears a reminder of his past. However disjointed and dysfunctional his upbringing — his Hawaiian or Kansas or Kenyan or Indonesian roots can be selected, one over the other, as the occasion permits — he has one thing in common with 99 percent of the people reading this; he has a past, a heritage.

    He’s learned to live with it. Such as it is.

  30. And yes, he is an incurable narcissist.

  31. jenne says:

    A cursory google search is implying that moslem men do not wear gold, nor do they wear engagement bands or wedding rings.

  32. HeatherPA says:

    I have always firmly believed Obama was an atheist, like his father (who dabbled in Islam, but was never a serious Muslim, and who reverted back to atheism after a few years), his mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, and his maternal family.
    If anything, this ring was and is worn to “up his cred” with the Muslims, in my opinion. He cares nothing for any God of any faith, evidenced by his actions.

  33. Biedrik says:

    Looking at that ring, it doesn’t even really look like the Arabic the article claims that it is. Besides, his behavior shows him to be about as Muslim as Fr. Z.

  34. Desertfalcon says:

    I’m confused as to why this is an issue. The president’s father and step-father were both at least nominally Muslim. I assume the ring is either his mother’s or some other member of his extended family. In either case I’m not sure what is noteworthy about it. Mr. Obama was raised in Congregational and Protestant schools, has attended Congregational churches where he was baptized, states openly he is a Christian and still occasionally worships as one. I’m not defending him and will be voting for Mr. Romney but I’m just fascinated by this odd phenomenon of people who think he is a secret Muslim or some such, whilst he is busy launching drone missile attack after attack, against Muslim terrorists at a rate that far outdoes what Mr. Bush did while C-in-C.

  35. Amerikaner says:

    Sorry, I think the WND article is grasping at straws… er… squiggles.

  36. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    The context seems to be earlier WND attention to the fact of the ring worn where a married man might normally wear a wedding ring, long before Mr. Obama was known to be married.

    For what it’s worth (little enough?) the lower of the two bands looks like a stylized snake to me…

    Somewhat tangentially to underline the familiar, presumably most self-describing Muslim victims of (deadly) violence are victims of other self-describing Muslims, very often because the aggressors consider the victims as not real, true, faithful, etc. Muslims.

    Worth noting, too, is Barry Rubin’s post about political opportunism among ideologically and theologically diverse Muslims:

    http://pjmedia.com/barryrubin/2012/10/04/why-they-love-usama-hate-obama-and-how-obama-uses-the-same-tactic-at-home/

  37. PostCatholic says:

    Tinfoil Miter and Lappets awarded to this conspiracy thread, along with the tinfoil zucchetto and tinfoil pallium.

  38. SKAY says:

    http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/obama-thinks-rule-of-islamic-law-good-thing/

    More about Obama – his past and the ring.

    We do know that Rev. Wright -Obama’s pastor in Chicago – preached Black Liberation Theology.
    It is a unique view of Christianity. [Unique.]

  39. DisturbedMary says:

    Obama is a pathological puzzle. A confusion. Who is he? What formed him? What does he believe? What makes him tick. The more he is before us, the deeper our wondering. 67 million people saw him up close at the debate. That was our God’s doing.

  40. Aegidius says:

    “One Ring to rule them all,
    One Ring to find them,
    One Ring to bring them all,
    And in the darkness bind them.”

    I can’t read the dark language very well, but I guess it’s what the inscription says. The One Ring has found its way to the white city, er, House. God give this man never uses his Precious.

  41. Alexis says:

    Obama attended a church for years – if you recall, when he began his bid for the presidency the first time, his relationship with his Christian pastor was an issue. So how exactly he is a Muslim, I don’t know. He had a Muslim father with whom he is clearly enamored – even writing a book about him. That’s enough of an explanation for me. Questioning the sincerity of someone’s Christian faith, however much we may disagree with him, strikes me as, at best, very ungentlemanly and quite unbecoming of a priest, or anyone else.

    MWindsor wonders, “iPadre, what makes you think we will ever get Obama out of the White House…”

    MWindsor (and Father Z, since you have implied this a number of times as well): Are you aware of the Twenty-Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? Are you aware that Constitutional amendments can only be repealed with the consent of two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-fourths of the States? The idea that, even if Obama wanted to, he could succeed in repealing with Constitutional requirement is patently absurd.

    Why don’t we just work with the facts, eh? The facts are troubling enough. There is no need for embellishment and fantastical hyperbole.

    Alexis

  42. Sissy says:

    Alexis said: “Obama attended a church for years – if you recall, when he began his bid for the presidency the first time, his relationship with his Christian pastor was an issue. So how exactly he is a Muslim, I don’t know.”

    To answer that, you would need to know something about the particular “church” he attended for over 20 years. Their own literature asserted that they are “Islam friendly”. The membership includes a good many Muslims who are not converts to Christianity. One might well wonder exactly what sort of “church” that is. You would have to know something about “Black Liberation Theology” to understand what is going on there. Here’s a hint: it has nothing to do with Christianity.

  43. wmeyer says:

    Alexis: If O gets a second term, there is an excellent chance that he also gets Democrat majorities in both houses. Should that happen, then I posit there is also an excellent chance the 22nd Amendment will be repealed. The repeal has been attempted several times, and Harry Reid is one who has taken that on. Then there is the extensive use O has made of executive orders, using them, in several cases to nullify Congress.

  44. Salvatore_Giuseppe says:

    wmeyer, a majority, maybe but never would they be able to capture 2/3 of both houses, or 3/4 of the states. There are not 38 states that would agree to that legislation for the purposes of keeping Obama in power. The fact that Reid’s, as well as everyone else’s, attempt to repeal it didn’t even make it out of committee should tell you how unpopular the idea is .

  45. Sissy says:

    Salvatore_Giuseppe: He wouldn’t need to revoke the 22nd Amendment. He can just declare martial law. See ex parte Milligan. The president doesn’t need a Congressional declaration to do so if he, on his own, decides civil authority can’t operate due to “rebellion or invasion”. Of course, that assumes the military would obey him, which I find highly doubtful.

  46. Alexis says:

    Rational people can look for themselves at the latest ensuing comments and decide for themselves whether repealing the Twenty-Second Amendment or Obama declaring martial law (LOL!) has a snowflake’s chance in Hell of occurring.

  47. wmeyer says:

    He wouldn’t need to revoke the 22nd Amendment. He can just declare martial law. See ex parte Milligan.

    That’s the truly frightening aspect.

    Of course, that assumes the military would obey him, which I find highly doubtful.

    Is there any precedent for the military refusing to obey the sitting president?

    Alexis, many things have already been done which would, a few short years ago, have seemed exceedingly unlikely.

  48. Sissy says:

    Alexis, I stated that a declaration of martial law was “highly doubtful”. Is that what you imply is “irrational”? I was merely pointing out that the Constitutional allows for such an event, as in fact, it does. I did not suggest it was probable; quite the contrary. There is no call for insults.

  49. wmeyer says:

    Sissy, on the other hand, it may be instructive to read the history of the James Cross kidnapping in Quebec. As the article states, martial law was not actually in force, but the distinction was rather a fine one, for those in PQ. Curfews were imposed, and the rights of citizens drastically curtailed. Reminds me of the Rahm Emmanuel quote about not letting a crisis go to waste.

  50. Southern Catholic says:

    Yes Obama attended church, he attended a church that preached hate and “God damn America…” This church is neither Christian nor Muslim that he attended for 20 years. I would be willing to bet that Obama doesn’t believe in anything but only makes photo opps.

  51. Sissy says:

    wmeyer, there is no doubt that history, even American history, is replete with examples of political figures abusing power and doing what their supporters claimed would never be done. There will always be those who prefer to laugh and sneer in order to reassure themselves that “it can’t happen here”.

  52. wmeyer says:

    There will always be those who prefer to laugh and sneer in order to reassure themselves that “it can’t happen here”.

    The attitude which makes it possible.

  53. Sissy says:

    Southern Catholic said: “This church is neither Christian nor Muslim”

    Exactly right. Here is a link to Obama’s only detailed explanation of his own religious views:
    http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/11/obamas-interview-with-cathleen.html
    This is the famous interview in which he explains that “sin” is “failing to live up to my own values”. Riiiigghhtt.

    wmeyer: yes, that arrogant, condescending tone usually comes from an enabler.

  54. BLB Oregon says:

    Religious affiliation is not my main concern with President Obama. I think he’s a Protestant with a Muslim father and Muslim relatives, but I’d trade away the White House Christmas tree if we got a Muslim president elected who would end abortion and health care mandates that violate the conscience. Provided it wasn’t a Muslim who can’t tolerate the free practice of other religions and open evangelization, I’d certainly take a president like that over a President Biden or a President Pelosi, ten times out of ten.

  55. LisaP. says:

    I wonder if the folks here scoffing that a squiggle is just a squiggle are familiar with Arabic art and calligraphy? Because the folks who wrote the article certainly know a good deal about it.

    If the ring ornament is not Arabic, what exactly is it? There is no other pattern, why would a ring just throw out random lines? Particularly random lines that would match so closely with this Arabic?

    I mean, it’s not like they took the lines and by a stretch came up with “the dog barks into a fig tree at noon” and interpreted that to mean something sinister. “There is no God but God” is pretty much the most common Islam-related statement in the world, and the squiggles fit throughout, and they are on a ring that belongs to someone raised by a Muslim. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

    Now, what it means that he wears it is anyone’s guess, or maybe unknowable. But it’s quite a stretch to think the gold just happened to fall into that pattern somehow.

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