Eid Mubarak

No pictures to be found of Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, but the Thomas Jefferson Foundation offers these alternative Barbary States officials, in a 19th-century engraving.

Eid Mubarak from President Donald Trump, who has decided to celebrate by not holding the traditional White House iftar celebration, for the first time since 1996. I don't think this necessarily means he's anti-Muslim in particular. After all, he refused to attend the White House Passover seder, a tradition since 2009, though it did take place. His Jewish daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren didn't go either, but apparently had their own private feast.

As Dinesh D'Souza pointed out, moreover,

He doesn't celebrate Divali, Parsi New Year or Confucius' birthday either https://t.co/4KXEq4Bdpj

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) June 25, 2017

So perhaps he is hostile to religion in general. He doesn't go to church much either (twice since the inauguration) and he doesn't look hella comfortable when he's there (see below).

A curious thing about the Ramadan iftar, though, is about the first White House iftar, in 1805, when President Jefferson had a dinner during Ramadan for Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, envoy of the Beylik of Tunis, and scheduled it for sunset instead of the normal 3:30 so that the ambassador would be able to eat. The State Department had a posting about this, according to the Houston Chronicle—

A state department website posted about the first White House iftar, held by President Thomas Jefferson in 1805

and Wikipedia, but it seems to have been scrubbed, and yesterday the President's friends at Breitbart put up an angry denial that any such thing ever happened—it's FAKE NEWS!

Update: Ramadan

The leaders of the American Muslim Community Centers, from Longwood, Florida, have also released a statement.

“The American Muslim Community Centers is saddened and shocked by the senseless killings in downtown Orlando, and we pray for the victims and their family members,” says chairman Atif Fareed.

Mr Fareed adds, “Ramadan is a month of deep reflection and prayer. Senseless violence has no place in our religion or in our society. We strongly condemn this heinous act of violence against humanity.”

The center then cited the Quran, chapter five verse 32.

“…if any one killed a person, it would be as if he killed the whole of mankind; and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole of mankind…”

LGBT groups around the US are also rallying, many with Muslim Americans.

We stand with our fellow Muslim students who are unjustly being scapegoated & vilified. We will not be used to fuel more hate.

— UTK Pride Center (@UTKPrideCenter) June 12, 2016

(The Guardian)

Ramadan karim!

"Bajraklidzamija" by Missty011 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

I was moved by this NPR story on Ramadan preparations in Belgrade, of all places, where the congregation of the Bajrakli Mosque (built 1575, and last survivor of the 273 mosques of Ottoman Belgrade), where local Muslims are toiling to make sure refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere can break their fasts tonight—at the price, in some cases, of doing without themselves. Who knew there were still Muslims living in Belgrade after the horrors of the 1990s?