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President Obama honors Muslims with White House Iftar

We’re all one family: US President Barack Obama honors distinguished guests and wishes them a Ramadhan Karim

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Thu, June 25, 2015

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President Obama honors Muslims with White House Iftar We’re all one family: US President Barack Obama honors distinguished guests and wishes them a Ramadhan Karim. (Courtesy of White House) (Courtesy of White House)

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span class="inline inline-center">We'€™re all one family: US President Barack Obama honors distinguished guests and wishes them a Ramadhan Karim. (Courtesy of White House)

US President Barack Obama on Monday hosted his seventh annual Iftar dinner at the White House, noting to Muslims in the US and around the world that: "Whatever our faith, we're all one family.'€

In addition to inviting diplomatic corps members and elected officials, he also honored young leaders and women who are advancing human rights in the US and around the world.

The President also spoke of the inherent freedoms in America that bind the country'€™s people together, including the freedom of religion.

'€œOur annual White House Iftar recognizes the sacredness of Ramadhan to more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world. It'€™s also a reminder of the freedoms that bind us together as Americans, including the freedom of religion -- that inviolable right to practice our faiths freely,'€ said President Obama during the Iftar, in a release made available to The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He further said: '€œOur obligations to care for one another extend beyond our immediate communities, beyond our borders.'€

'€œWe keep in our prayers those who are suffering around the world, including those marking Ramadhan in areas of conflict and deprivation and hunger: [...] The people of Iraq and Syria as they push back on the barbarity of ISIL; the people of Yemen and Libya, who are seeking an end to ongoing violence and instability; the Rohingya in Myanmar, including migrants at sea, whose human rights must be upheld,'€ said Obama.

The President noted that the challenges all Americans faced daily as a people demanded the same qualities that observers summon every day during Ramadhan, namely sacrifice, discipline and patience.

'€œTogether, we will overcome conflict and injustice -- not just with words, but with deeds. As the Quran teaches, let us answer with peace,'€ he said. (ebf)(+++)

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