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This evening, the President will stay a White House tradition of hosting an Iftar celebrating Ramadan in the State Dining Room. This is the 2nd Iftar hosted by the President. The Iftar is the meal that breaks the day of fasting, when Muslim families and communities eat together after sunset, Below is the speech of President Obama’s at the White House Iftar dinner on Ramadan.
Good evening. Welcome to the White House. To you, to Muslim Americans everywhere our country, and to a more than one billion Muslims in the world, I provide my best wishes on this Holy Month. Ramadan Kareem. I would like to welcome members of the diplomatic corps; members of my administration; and Members of Congress, including Rush Holt, John Conyers, and Andre Carson, who is one of two Muslim American Members of Congress, along in on Keith Ellison.
Here at the White House, we have a tradition of hosting iftars too goes going back several years, only as we host Christmas parties, seders, and Diwali celebrations. These happenings celebrate the role of belief in the lives of the American people. They remind us of the basic truth that we are all children of God, and we all appeal to strength and a sense of purpose from our beliefs.
These events are also an affirmation of who we are as Americans. Our Founders knew to the proper way to honor the place of belief in the lifestyles of our peoples was to protect their freedom to practice religion. In the.
Virginia Act for Establishing Religion Freedom, Thomas Jefferson wrote that “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, the opinions in matters of religion.” The First Amendment of our Constitution established the freedom of religion as the law of the land. And overly right has carried on upheld ever since.
Indeed, over the course of our history, religion has flourished with in our borders precisely because Americans have had the right to worship as they pick – including the right to be certain in no religion at all. And it is a testament to the wisdom of our Founders that America remains deeply religious – a nation where the ability of peoples of many faiths to coexist peacefully and with mutual deliberation for one a different stands in contrast to the religious conflict that persists almost around the globe.
That is not to say that religion is without controversy. Recently, attention has been heard focused on the construction of mosques in many communities – particularly in New York. Now, we must all appreciate and sympathy the sensitivities surrounding the development of lower Manhattan. The 9/11 were a deeply traumatic event for our country. The pain and dealing with felt by those who lost loved once is unimaginable. So I can appreciate the emotions such this issue engenders. Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground.
But let me be clear: as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same ideally to practice this religion as anybody else in now country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom have to be unshakeable. The vital that people of all faiths are welcome in now country, and will not be treated differently by such a government, is necessary to who we are. The writ of our Founders should endure.
We should never forget those who we lost so tragically on 9/11, and we have to regularly honor persons who own led our response to overly attack – from the fire men who charged up smoke-filled staircases, to our troops who are serving in Afghanistan today. And let us presistently remember who we are competing against, and what we are fighting for. Our enemies respect no freedom of religion. Al Qaeda’s cause is not Islam, it is a gross distortion of Islam. These are not religious leaders – these kinds of are terrorists who murder innocent men, women and children. In fact, al Qaeda has killed Muslims then people of any other religion, and that list of victims includes innocent Muslims who got killed on 9/11.
That is who we are fighting against. And the reson that we will win this war is not simply the strength of our arms, it is the strength of our values. The democracy that current we uphold. The freedoms who we cherish. The laws that we apply without regard to race or religion; wealth or status. Our capacity to provide evidence not easily tolerance, but respect to those who are different to us – a way of life that stands in stark contrast to the nihilism of those who attacked us on the September morning, and who continue on to plot against us today.
In my inaugural address, I claimed that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a world of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by any language and culture, drawn of every end of this Earth. That diversity can bring difficult debates. Indeed, outside of eras have seen controversies around the making of synagogues or Catholic churches. But time and again, the American peoples have demonstrated that we can work with these kinds of issues, stay real to our core values, and emerge more stronger for it. So it should be – and is planning to be – today.
Tonight, we are reminded that Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for happy diversity. And Ramadan is a reminder that Islam has always been portion of America. The mainly Muslim ambassador to the United States, from Tunisia, was hosted by President Jefferson, who arranged a sunset dinner for his guest because it was Ramadan making it the first known iftar at the White House, other than 200 years ago.
Like so different other immigrants, generations of Muslims came here to forge this future. They became farmers and merchants, worked in mills and factories, and helped lay the railroads. They helped build America. They founded the Islamic center in New York City in the 1890s. They built America’s first mosque on the prairie of North Dakota. And possibly the oldest surviving mosque in America still in use today is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Today, our world is strengthened by millions of Muslim Americans. They excel in most any walk of life. Muslim American communities including mosques in all 50 states also work on the behalf of their neighbors. Muslim Americans cover our towns as police, firefighters and chiefly responders. Muslim American clerics experience spoken out against terror and extremism, reaffirming the current Islam teaches so one must save human life, not take it. And Muslim Americans served in honor in our military. At upcoming week’s iftar at the Pentagon, tribute could be paid to 3 soldiers who gave their lifestyles in Iraq and now rest among the heroes of Arlington National Cemetery.
These Muslim Americans died for the security which we depend upon, and the freedoms who we cherish. They are part of an unbroken line of Americans the current stretches back to our Founding; Americans of all faiths who own served and sacrificed to extend the promise of America to new generations, and to ensure so how is exceptional about America is safe and sound our commitment to stay true to our core values, and our ability to perfect our union.
For in the end, we remain “one nation, under God, indivisible.” And we can one and only achieve “liberty and justice for all” if we live by that one principle at the heart of any religion, including Islam that we do unto others as we could own them do unto us.
Below is a list of select of the normal attendees at tonight’s White House dinner celebrating Ramadan:
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
The Honorable Andre Carson, United States Representative (Indiana 7th)
The Honorable John Conyers, United States Representative (Michigan 14th)
The Honorable Rush Holt, United States Representative (New Jersey 12th)
COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Ms. Saleha Abedin
Mr. Ahmed Ahmed
Dr. Akbar Ahmed, American University
Mrs. Anila Ali, Council of Pakistan American Affairs
Mr. Bill Aossey, Midamar Corporation
Mrs. Fatema Bayat
Mr. Salam Al Marayati, Muslim Public Affairs Council
Rev. Chloe Breyer, Interfaith Center of New York
Mr. Hasan Chandoo, Oppenheimer & Co.
Ms. Sarah Darwish
Dr. Mahmoud Eboo, Aga Khan Council of the United States
Mr. Walter Edwards, Harlem Business Council
Mrs. Sana Fadel
Mr. Imad Hussain
Mr. Hassan Jaber, Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services
Mr. Muhammad U. Khan
Ms. Saaliha Khan
Imam Mohamed Hag Magid, All Dulles Area Muslim Society
Mrs. Shahnaz Masumi
Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Islamic Society of North America
Mr. Farooq Mitha
Ms. Dalia Mogahed, Director, Gallup Center for Muslim Studies
Mr. Mohamedraza Moledina
Mrs. Shabnum Moledina
Mrs. Laila Muhammad
Ms. Naheed Qureshi, Muslim Advocates
Mrs. Ranae Quraishi, Muslim Public Service Network
Ms. Intisar Rabb, Boston College
Dr. Jane Ramsey, Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
Ms. Nadia Roumani, American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute
Mrs. Sally Steenland, Center for American Progress
Ms. Sadaf Syed
Mr. Mustafa Tameez
Mr. Ibrahim Vajzovic, United Bosnian Association
Mrs. Sara Najjar Wilson, Arab American anti-Discrimination Committee
ADMINISTRATION MEMBERS
The Honorable Dan Poneman, Deputy Secretary of Energy
The Honorable Ron Sims, Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Ms. Huma Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff, Department of State
Mr. Mustafa Javed Ali, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Mr. Arif Alikhan, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development, Department of Homeland Security
Mr. Mazen Basrawi, Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Department of Justice
Technical Sergeant Sabrina Marie Bullock-Labaran, U.S. Air Force
Sergeant Major Agha Jalil Durrani, U.S. Army
Ms. Rehana Hakeem, Department of State
Chaplain Abdullah Hulwe, U.S. Army
Mr. Rashad Hussain, U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference
Mr. Adnan Kifayat, Department of Treasury
Ms. Sehreen Noor Ali, Department of State
Ms. Farah Pandith, Special Representative to Muslim Communities, Department of State
Ms. Hannah Rosenthal, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, Department of State
Mr. Irfan Saeed, Department of Homeland Security
Lt. Commander Abuhena Saifulislam, U.S. Marine Corps
Mr. Osman Shinaishin, National Science Foundation
Mr. Kareem Shora, Department of Homeland Security
Mr. Shaarik Zafar, National Counter Terrorism Center
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