President Donald Trump on Wednesday hosted an Iftar dinner to honor the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, declaring it “a great month”, Politico reported. However, in a sign of the lingering tension between Trump and the U.S. Islamic community, the guest list appeared skewed toward foreign diplomats, not American Muslims.
Meanwhile, activists held a counter-event, titled “NOT Trump’s Iftar”, in a park across from the White House. According to some, the President’s policies had so alienated U.S. Muslims that few would have accepted an invitation to break their daily Ramadan fast with him.
Around 50 people were at the White House dinner, including Vice President Mike Pence, several Cabinet secretaries, and ambassadors from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
“In gathering together this evening we honor a sacred tradition of one of the world’s great religions,” Trump said, adding that Ramadan is a celebration of a “timeless message of peace, clarity and love. There is great love.”
Muslims around the world observe Ramadan, a month that involves prayer, reflection and fasting from sunrise to sunset. Once the sun has set, Muslims break their daily fast with a meal known as an Iftar, often surrounded by friends and family.
U.S. presidents from both political parties have regularly hosted special Iftar dinners in a tradition that dates to the Bill Clinton administration. Prominent American Muslims as well as diplomats from Muslim-majority countries have been invited in the past, Politico notes.
In his first year in the office, Trump abandoned the Iftar tradition. The decision wasn’t entirely a surprise given his frequently hostile comments about Islam, a centuries-old religion with 1.6 billion adherents around the world, Politico adds.
While in office, Trump has imposed a travel ban targeting people from a handful of countries, most of them with majority-Muslim populations. Some of his aides, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, have links to groups that many Muslims consider Islamophobic.
At the same time, Trump has cultivated friendly ties with the leaders of several prominent Muslim-majority countries, including Gulf Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, which he views as key to U.S. national security priorities, including containing Iran.
During his speech on Wednesday night, Trump spoke fondly of how his first presidential visit to a country overseas was to Saudi Arabia, where he addressed a gathering of dozens of leaders of Muslim-majority countries. He called his visit “one of the great two days of my life.”
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