KABUL: (MEP) United States President Barack Obama visited a mosque in Baltimore on Wednesday and assured Muslims that “inexcusable political rhetoric” against them had no place in America.
“Attack on one faith is an attack on all faiths,” he declared. “We cannot be bystanders to bigotry.”
Mr. Obama said to the congregation that the mosque, like many in this country, was “an all American story”.
To those Americans who have never visited a mosque, he said: “Think of your own churches and synagogues, where people come to worship, to express their love for God and to each other.”
Barack Obama held a session of meeting with the Muslim leaders during the visit and criticized the media and Hollywood, which he said portrayed Muslims in a narrow way.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that Muslims are important section of American community which played key role to make United States a great country, he added.
In 2009, a freshly elected Obama traveled to Cairo to call for a “new beginning” with the Muslim world.
Much of Obama’s foreign policy agenda has focused on improving ties with Muslim nations, from making a nuclear deal with Iran to ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the effort has been stymied by continued confrontation with jihadist groups and military strikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
Obama restated his case that organizations like the Islamic State group pervert Islam and do not represent the vast majority of Muslims.
The president offered “two words that Muslim-Americans don’t hear often enough, and that is ‘thank you’.”
