Muhammed Ahmed Chaudhry, CEO of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, and a volunteer with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, joined Obama on his visit to the Baltimore mosque.
Source/Credit: India West
By Sunita Sohrabji | February 4, 2016
President Barack Obama made his first presidential visit to a U.S. mosque Feb. 3, joining Muslim Americans from around the nation at the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Maryland, to deliver a message promoting religious tolerance and unity.
Speaking to a packed house at the suburban church, Obama noted that violence against the Muslim American and Sikh American communities has surged in the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks last November – in which extremists affiliated with the Islamic State killed 183 people – and the San Bernardino shootings in December, when a Muslim American couple killed 14 people at a rehabilitation center for handicapped people.
“I know that in Muslim communities across our country, this is a time of concern and, frankly, a time of some fear. Like all Americans, you’re worried about the threat of terrorism,” said the president, who removed his shoes before entering the mosque, in deference to Islamic custom. “But on top of that, as Muslim Americans, you also have another concern – that your entire community so often is targeted or blamed for the violent acts of the very few,” he said.
“I’ve had people write to me and say, ‘I feel like I’m a second-class citizen.’ I’ve had mothers write and say, ‘my heart cries every night,’ thinking about how her daughter might be treated at school. A girl from Ohio, 13 years old, told me, ‘I’m scared.’ A girl from Texas signed her letter ‘a confused 14-year-old trying to find her place in the world,’” said Obama.
“These are children just like mine. And the notion that they would be filled with doubt and questioning their places in this great country of ours at a time when they’ve got enough to worry about — it’s hard being a teenager already — that’s not who we are.”
“We’re one American family. And when any part of our family starts to feel separate or second-class or targeted, it tears at the very fabric of our nation,” said the president, thanking Muslim Americans for serving the U.S.
Obama stated that hate crimes must be reported and punished. He encouraged the community to speak out against hateful rhetoric and violence against any faith, and to reject religious extremism.
The president rejected the notion that America is ‘at war with Islam’, stating: “We can’t be at war with any other religion, because the world’s religions are a part of the very fabric of the United States, our national character. And we can’t suggest that Islam itself is at the root of the problem. That betrays our values. It alienates Muslim Americans.”
Obama said law enforcement should not use engagement with the Muslim American community as a tool for surveillance. He noted, however, that several government agencies are specifically targeting Muslim youth.
“We’re going to have to be partners in this process. There will be times where the relationship is clumsy or mishandled. But I want you to know that from the president to the FBI director, to everybody in law enforcement, my directive and their understanding is that this is something we have to do together. And if we don’t do it well, then we’re actually not making ourselves safer; we’re making ourselves less safe,” he said.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Feb. 2: "It’s certainly true that we've seen an alarming willingness on the part of some Republicans to try to marginalize law-abiding, patriotic Muslim Americans.”
"I think it's just offensive to a lot of Americans who recognize that those kinds of cynical political tactics run directly contrary to the values that we hold dear in this country. And I think the president is looking forward to the opportunity to make that point,” Earnest told reporters, as reported by PTI.
Muhammed Ahmed Chaudhry, CEO of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, and a volunteer with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, joined Obama on his visit to the Baltimore mosque. Chaudhry told India-West in an interview after the visit that he had been invited to the White House for dinner with the president last year and had encouraged him to visit a mosque.
Chaudhry said it was heartwarming to see the president remove his shoes before entering the mosque. “It showed respect and true leadership,” he said. The visit to the mosque was a great symbolic way for the president to highlight the Muslim American community’s positive contributions to the U.S.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community – one of the largest Muslim American organizations in the U.S. – has launched the “True Islam” initiative, to combat misunderstanding of the Muslim religion, particularly among Muslim youth.
“We want to reach out to Muslims and non-Muslims to provide a counter-ideology to radical extremism,” he said. Members of Congress have endorsed the campaign, said Chaudhry, adding that more than 2,100 faith leaders have also joined the campaign.
“Lack of education leads to intolerance and ignorance,” Chaudhry told India-West, urging everyone to read the Koran and visit a mosque. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump – who has urged the ban of all Muslims entering the country and called for extra surveillance of Muslim Americans – would be welcome at a mosque, stated Chaudhry.
Trump chided Obama for the mosque visit. "He can go to lots of places. I don't know, maybe he feels comfortable there," Trump told Fox News.
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio also lashed out against Obama’s mosque visit, criticizing the president for “pitting people against each other.”
“He’s basically saying that America is discriminating against Muslims,” said Rubio during a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, acknowledging that there was discrimination, but radical Islam is a bigger threat.
"The president's first visit to an American mosque is a significant step in the right direction and will hopefully encourage our nation's political and religious leaders to join him in pushing back against rising Islamophobia," said Council on American Islamic Relations Maryland outreach manager Zainab Chaudry, who was invited to the president’s visit to the mosque.
"We welcome President Obama's historic visit and applaud his remarks both rejecting anti-Muslim rhetoric and reminding our fellow Americans about Islam's long history in our nation and about constitutional protections guaranteeing religious freedom," said CAIR national executive director Nihad Awad.
Read original post here: President Obama Visits Baltimore Mosque; Decries Hate Speech
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