On 3 February 2016, Barack Obama, then president, visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore in the state of Maryland, his first visit to a mosque in the United States as president.
Speaking to members of the Muslim community there, he said Islam had long been part of America’s history, and that an attack on one faith is an attack on all faiths.
The visit came at a time of growing concern about hostility, discrimination and suspicion towards Muslims in the United States. After the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, the country’s Muslims faced a wave of hostile rhetoric and harassment. Proposals such as barring Muslims from entering the United States were also being discussed in that year’s presidential campaign.
Addressing Muslim leaders at the mosque and members of the local community, Obama noted that many Americans had never been inside a mosque. He told them that if they thought of their own church, synagogue or place of worship, a mosque would feel familiar: here too people worship God, teach their children and work for the good of their community.
He said Islam had always been part of America’s story. Many of the slaves brought from Africa from the colonial era onwards were Muslims, and many of them held on to their faith despite great hardship.
Obama also spoke of the founders’ idea of religious freedom. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had their own copies of the Quran, he said, and the guarantee of religious freedom in the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights applies to people of all faiths.
“An attack on one faith is an attack on all faiths”
At one point in the speech, Obama said that if Americans are serious about religious freedom, the Christian majority must also understand that an attack on one faith is an attack on all faiths. When any religious group is targeted, everyone else has a responsibility to speak up.
He said Americans must reject targeting people because of their religion and using prejudice and hatred for political ends, and urged everyone to speak out against hate speech and violence aimed at Muslims in the United States.
In Obama’s words, Muslim Americans are the country’s neighbours, teachers, doctors, scientists, entrepreneurs and athletes, contributing to every part of American society. They should not be seen only as a community that comes up in the news after a terrorist attack.
He said Muslims had no reason to doubt their place in American society. They are part of this country, and it is possible to keep a Muslim identity and be an active citizen of a democratic and pluralist society.
A call for religious tolerance
In his speech Obama also spoke about the safety and freedom of Christians, Jews and people of other faiths. In his view, religious freedom does not only protect the right to practise a faith; it also protects the state from religious hatred being used as a tool to win political power.
He said that when hatred or violence is directed at any religious community, others should not stand by in silence. Everyone must stand together against discrimination and bigotry.
Obama’s visit as president is regarded as a significant moment in US history. According to the White House archives, it was his first visit to an American mosque while in office. His speech put particular weight on religious freedom, pluralism, and the civil rights and contributions of Muslim Americans.
Sources: White House archives, White House video archive, White House Historical Association, The Washington Post and NPR
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report