President Barack Obama will set out on a tour to Saudi Arabia and Egypt on Wednesday. According to political sources President Obama will make a speech at the Cairo University aiming at strengthening the US ties to the Muslim word.

It is hoped that the president would spell out the US policy toward Islam and Muslims with a sincere wish to bridge the widening gap between the Muslim world and the American people particularly exacerbated by his predecessor at the White House. Nonetheless, no body can foretell with certitude the features of Obama's vision about his relations with the Muslim world.

On the eve of his journey with this mission I would like to tell him that all Muslim nations without exception have extremely been pained by the foreign policy of the previous US administration toward the Muslim world.

It is needless to say that the president should not take decisions that would not serve the interests of his country.

I would not make impossible demands such as the president should turn against Israel to protect the interests of the Arabs.

I only demand that the new president should repair some of the damages done to the Muslim world by the previous administration including the disintegration of Somalia, efforts to divide Sudan and the occupation of Iraq and indiscriminate killing of its population and destruction of its resources besides sowing seeds of dissention amidst its various ethnic and religious groups. The US should also take a stand toward Iran that would keep down tensions in the Gulf region and it should not refuse to settle the issues peacefully.

It has also been a US practice to mount pressure on the Muslim and Arab countries, which are friendly to the US, to adopt policies that serve American and Israeli interests but creating a lot of embarrassment to the governments in the Muslim countries.

These and other issues pertaining to the Middle East should get special priority. The president should make a special study why the situation in the Arab region is worsening.

The issues are, apparently, tough but could be solved only if US abandons its practice of adopting double standards in its approach to issues in the Middle East. The US practice has, undoubtedly, engendered a lot of hatred not only in the Muslim and Arab world but also in the whole world.

I sincerely hope that President Obama realizes these facts.