President Obama told an audience gathered at the White House Thursday to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Muslim holy month Ramadan, that Americans of all faiths have to fight the ideology promoted by terrorists such as the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
“We need to be clear about what we stand for” as a nation, Obama said. “All Americans have to reject hatred” and discrimination. “We have to rededicate ourselves” to the country’s founding principles so all feel welcome, he said.
Obama said he understands the anxiety within the country’s Muslim community.
“Now of course we can’t deny that we are in challenging times right now,” he said. “This is a difficult time for Muslim-Americans” who worry about terrorism like everyone else, he said.
“On top of that, you fear that your entire community will be blamed for the violent acts of a few who do not represent your faith,” he said.
The spike in attacks on Muslims and Islamic centers “should not be happening in the United States of America,” he said before the holiday reception began.
Such violence feeds what he said was the Islamic State’s goal of pitting the U.S. and West are at “war” with Islam. He said “that’s not smart national security,” before chastising the terrorists for using Ramadan as a time to launch large-scale attacks on fellow Muslims.
“Let’s be clear, Muslim-Americans are as patriotic, as integrated, as American as any other members of the American family,” Obama said. “And whether your family has been here for generations or are a new arrival, you are an essential part of the fabric of our country.”
Obama said Muslims have contributed to American society since colonial times.
“Muslims have always been a part of America,” he said, noting that many African slaves brought to the 13 original colonies were Muslim.
Thomas Jefferson himself said that freedom of religion was written into the Constitution “for the Jew and Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan,'” Obama said.
The full quote from the nation’s third president went on to include “the Hindoo [sic], and Infidel of every denomination.”
