"I like his positivity — the way he addressed the pros of Islam instead of the cons was a great and very logical way to start off. The way Islam is portrayed in the media right now is very one-sided and President Obama managed to acknowledge the distinction between extremism and Islam. Ever since 9/11 Islam has been portrayed in a very negative light, as the religion of terrorism, and no one had managed to change or at least begin to work on changing that view, until today."

Ingy Hassieb, student, Eygpt, The Lede Blog , New York Times

"If words are the primary tool of turning the page on history, then the President’s speech hit all the right notes. It recognized the contributions of Islam and Muslims to the world and to the United States, It recognized the problems engendered from forcing democracy down the throats of unwilling publics in Iraq. It reiterated his Administration’s commitment to end torture in Guantanamo, to come to the aid of refugees in Pakistan and most importantly for his Arab audience; find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Altmuslim.com blog

"Above all, he gave a spiritually ecumenical address - concluding with the truth that we all worship the same God because there is only one God. On this all the Abrahamic faiths agree. We need to listen to this God if we are to obey God's commandment to love one another and seek healing for the world. At many other times in history, this sentiment might seem sappy or air-headed or unrealistic. Not now. This spiritual appeal is the heart of coldblooded realism in this frighteningly dangerous world. Either we learn to respect one another or we shall perish."

The Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan's Blog

"His naivety can be dangerous. You can have your speechwriters, find every good thing a Muslim has every done. But more modern history is that the Muslim world is at war with the Western world," she said, referring to the speech's myriad references to historical contributions by Muslims."

Aliza Herbst, 56, West Bank Settler:

"I like what he talked about ... but during his speech, he pretended as if he had the magic key when he talked about unemployment in the world and some other problems.But he didn’t apologize for the many mistakes American troops made in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was not that necessary to mention the 6 millions Jews victims [in the Holocaust] … but he didn’t mention the Palestinian victims."

Ahmed Mustafa, 23, college student, Baghdad.

"The fact that he talks about tolerance, and cited verses from the Koran and the Bible, makes me feel he is aware how people think. I admired very much the suggestion that Jews, Christians and Muslims should live together in peace."

Michael Fayek, 27, Christian, graduate of Cairo's Ain Shams University.