Obama Hosts Traditional Iftar Dinner at White House in Light of Ramadan
WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) — President Barack Obama marked the beginning of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan by saying Americans stand united against religious, racial and ethnic prejudices.
On Monday evening, Obama hosted Muslim Americans and diplomats from widely Islamic countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh for a traditional Iftar dinner, which follows daily fasting from dawn to sunset, in an effort to reach out to the roughly 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. The president said the holiday dinner is a reminder of the freedoms “that bind us together as Americans, including the freedom of religion — that inviolable right to practice our faiths freely.”
Citing the shooting in Charleston, S.C. last week and murder of three Muslim Americans in Chapel Hill, N.C., earlier this year, he said Americans “insist that nobody should be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, who they love, how they worship.”
“We stand united against these hateful acts,” he added.
The dinner, which included some 150 guests, continues a tradition started by PresidentBill Clinton and continued by President George W. Bush. He recognized several guests, including Samantha Elauf, who fought and won a Supreme Court battle to defend her right to wear a hijab, or a headscarf. She was refused a job at an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Oklahoma in 2008.
The month-long holiday began June 17.
