Longtime off-site IBA contributor Niconarg sent this information in to me:
Hey Pasto,
I will try to explain why I don't think it, to me, looks like the Shahada on Obama's ring.
I've created this file where I have broken down the first part of the Shahada (in Arabic) into its Arabic letters. (Check out the file titled ExplainArabic in the attachment.)
Now before you start trying to read it, just a word of caution, read it from right to left. Arabic like Hebrew, is read from right to left.
There are three parts to the file.
1) I have taken La ilaha ilAllah and written it down as individual letters. There are four words in total which I have marked. And at the bottom, I have written the English equivalents of those letters. Keep in mind that Arabic words are not really written down with separate letters. I have only done this so you can see what different letters come together to create the first part of the Shahada. The little "A" on the L's that you see just denotes that in Arabic there is no Aleph there, its just that mark to denote how you would pronounce that L. This is turning into an Arabic lesson so I'll stop but if you need anything clarified, do ask me.
2) This is how Arabic is written. Individual letters come together, assume new shapes when joined with other letters, and create a word or a sentence. The script that I have used here is the most popular way of writing the Shahada (check out the file: lailaha1, I have bounded the first part of Shahada in a yellow box). However, its also written in some different forms (I have attached a different way of writing the first part of the Shahada in lailaha2). Again you will see the four words that I have marked.
3) This is what the design on the ring looks like to me. Words numbered 1 and 2 would be at the top, and 4 would be at the bottom on the ring. Like I said, it is "plausible" but being that Arabic to a lot of people (even Arabs) is just a bunch of squiggly lines that you can write in different ways as long as it resembles the letter you are trying to write (that is why I attached two examples of how the Shahada is written), it is very easy to SEE Arabic in different forms. I can, if I really wanted to, stretch my imagination and say, "Yup, this is the first part of the Shahada". But the fact is that the letters that make up the word "ILA" are missing. That is why in my numbering, I have skipped the 3rd word simply because I can't find it there. I can, of course, explain that away by saying that either the designer didn't know what the hell he or she was doing or there just wasn't enough room or I could be creative like the folks at WND and say that the 3rd and the 4th words have been masterfully combined in the design. But again, I have to want to see it.
This "analysis", if you can call it that, can be thrown right out the window if clearer pictures appear that show a different story. But the image quality as it is does not show me Shahada, they just show me the proof that there exist, in this world of ours, really terrible designers on rings and that I should maybe stay away from Chicago if I am thinking of buying my wife a new ring.
Jokes aside though, it is again plausible that it is Arabic script. But that wouldn't prove that Obama is a Muslim, would it? It would prove that he is fond of Arabic and maybe Arabs (we already know that) and we also know that he likes to bend over backwards for Islam.
Lastly, I have added the fourth image. Background story to it is that when I was growing up in Saudi Arabia, there were rumors about Coca Cola that if you looked at the Coca Cola symbol in the mirror or inside the glass bottle (where it would appear inverted), you could read "La Mohammed La Mecca" which in English means "No Mohammed, no Mecca". I have attached the image so you can see it that actually it seems plausible. But is it true? Sadly, no. Its just, again, Arabs stretching their imagination where they shouldn't and creating another conspiracy theory (kind of like their PayEachPennySaveIsrael aka PEPSI conspiracy theory).
Is what WND doing with Obama's ring much different? I believe its not. However, one thing that goes in favor of WND is that the images they are using of Obama's ring are not very clear. I could give them the benefit of the doubt but as I see it, and being a skeptic, I don't think it writes out the Shahada at all. Again, this is not my final word on it, I would just wait for clearer pictures before I could say anything for sure.
Forgot to add this:
I don't know if I have already said so, but Arabic speaking/writing folks could see it as the Shahada but they would have to stretch their imagination (like explain away the missing 3rd word or explain why the first word looks more like an Egyptian symbol than Arabic). Depending on who you talk to, a Muslim who has time on their hands would be so happy that Obama is wearing that ring...and a Christian/non Muslim would be worried. All you have to do is show them HOW it makes sense that this is the Shahada. Or just ask, "Does this look like the Shahada to you?" And then let them work their magic.
You can do a similar test with the Coca Cola image and have fun with it too. Do it with a Muslim though.
HERE ARE THE IMAGES:
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