In the wake of 9/11, the world was waiting for someone powerful to say that ‘our enemy is not Islam’ according to Professor Abdullah Saeed. He says this moment finally arrived when President Barack Obama made a landmark speech to the Muslim world.

“All of the issues Obama talked about in his address were closely connected to the interests of both America and the Muslim World. Obama presented the view that there is no clash of civilisations, that there is no clash between Islam and the West,” he says.

Professor Saeed says that what Obama presented to the world in his address is a view that we need to walk away from a view that Islam equals extremism.

“There are Muslims who do awful things in the word in the name of Islam, but that should not be the total story. Just as America can’t be reduced to a few voices, neither can the Muslim world,” he says.

Professor Saeed says Obama’s speech was a message of hope and optimism that should aid in creating a new partnership between America and the Muslim world.

“Of course a speech has its limitations, but this is a speech by the most powerful person in the world, and by addressing the Muslim world he is making a significant, timely and relevant step.”

“A lot will be happening in the next few months to make this work. It will require a lot of effort on part of the Muslim world and the Americans to take this gesture of good will to the next level - it will take time.”