He decried the surge of threats and intimidation of American Muslim communities following the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. previous year.
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The Pew Research Center said its survey of 2,000 people, conducted January 7-14, found that many Americans think a substantial segment of the U.S. Muslim population bears anti-American sentiments.
“And by the way, the notion that America’s at war with Islam ignores the fact that the world’s religions are a part of who we are”.
Obama’s visit to a Baltimore mosque Wednesday was his first visit to a mosque during his presidency, and he took the time to chide the “inexcusable” anti-Islamic rhetoric that’s boiled up recently.
Obama suggested non-Muslim Americans to pay visit to mosques as they are “where families come to worship and express their love for God and for each other”.
“We have to understand that an attack on one faith is an attack on all of our faiths”, Obama said. He also stood at the podium without his shoes throughout his speech.
President Barack Obama is due to visit a mosque in the United States for the first time since taking on the role. Obama’s jab appeared to be directed towards Donald Trump, but he did not name any names during the speech.
Honored at the ceremony were Army Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, who stated that “We are all Jews here” when a Nazi commander asked the Jews to identify themselves at the German camp where Edmonds was a prisoner.
“An attack on one faith is an attack on all our faiths”, Obama said, per an NBC News report.
He lauded Muslim-Americans who were sports heroes, entrepreneurs and the architect behind the skyscrapers of Chicago.
On top of terrorism, he said “as Muslim Americans, you also have another concern”. “And I’m going to repeat this and show them that it’s not me saying it anymore, the president of the country saying it”. “They’re not defending Islam”, Obama said.
The children led the audience, with some men in prayer caps and most women in headscarves, in the Pledge of Allegiance. “It’s an especially important gesture given the divisive climate we have witnessed in this election year”, Rabiah Ahmed of the Islamic Society of Baltimore told PTI. Do you agree with his assessment that the Quran and Muslims are not promoting violence but rather a small minority of extremists?
Obama called for “global pressure” to end the fights between Muslim sects that produces so much bloodshed.
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The figure marks the highest since the U.S.-Muslim advocacy group began in 2009 to track anti-Muslim attacks. In today’s address, Obama noted questions have been raised since he first ran for the White House as to whether he is Muslim.
