"You and I believe in free will and all that good Western cultural stuff, they do not."

Bullshit. That's a facile assumption on your part, pdq, and one that I know is in gross error. I'll tell you why. I have known many Muslims in the last 40 years of my life, and I never met one yet that did not believe in free will. They believe in it just as much as you or I do. They thirst for democracy too...real democracy, I mean.

But...like other people they tend to do the Polly-Parrot thing. They repeat things they have heard other people say all their lives, and they don't actually know why. This is true of people in all cultures, not just Muslims. There are silly things that they all take for granted, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with their lack of belief in free will.

Every human being believes implicitly in his own free will and longs to express it. It's basic to human nature. When people don't express their free will it's because they are afraid. Afraid of what others will think! Or say! Or do.

You have asked a sucker question of some Islamic people you know, a set-up question crafted to illicit a Polly-Parrot response, and they have given you the Polly-Parrot answer that they take for granted. That proves nothing about whether or not Barack Obama is a Muslim, it just proves that people find it hard to think outside their accustomed cultural box.

This is also true of Americans who are not Muslims. You have your cultural mythology too, and it's equally out of touch with the actual reality and the genuine workings of an uninhibited free will.