Breaking with tradition, the White House under President Donald Trump did not host an iftar dinner, the meal Muslims eat to break their daily fast during Ramadan.
The dinner, which has been often attended by prominent members of the U.S. Muslim community, began in 1996 during former President Bill Clinton’s White House tenure and continued through the subsequent Bush and Obama administrations.
Trump and first lady Melania simply issued a brief statement Saturday that offered “warm greetings” to Muslims celebrating Eid al-Fitr, which marks the close of Ramadan, Islam’s holy month of fasting.
On behalf of the American people, Melania and I send our warm greetings to Muslims as they celebrate Eidal-Fitr.
Muslims in the United States joined those around the world during the holy month of Ramadan to focus on acts of faith and charity. Now, as they commemorate Eid with family and friends, they carry on the tradition of helping neighbors and breaking bread with people from all walks of life.
During this holiday, we are reminded of the importance of mercy, compassion, and goodwill. With Muslims around the world, the United States renews our commitment to honor these values.
Eid Mubarak.
Trump’s decision to skip hosting the dinner comes after he released a controversial statement meant to mark the beginning of Ramadan. Many members of the Muslim community condemned the message, which largely focused on terrorism.
“This year, the holiday begins as the world mourns the innocent victims of barbaric terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and Egypt, acts of depravity that are directly contrary to the spirit of Ramadan,” read a White House statement issued in May. “Such acts only steel our resolve to defeat the terrorists and their perverted ideology.”
Trump’s remarks starkly contrast with those by then-President Barack Obama during Ramadan last year. In June 2016, Obama and then-first lady Michelle announced plans to host an Eid celebration in the White House and praised American Muslims for their contributions to the U.S.
“Muslim Americans have been part of our American family since its founding,” the Obamas wrote in a statement roughly five times longer than Trump’s Ramadan message. “We look forward to welcoming Americans from around the country to celebrate the holiday.”
U.S. secretaries of state have also traditionally hosted Iftar dinners since 1999 ― but not this year. Trump’s top diplomat, Rex Tillerson, declined an invitation this year from the State Department’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs to host an Eid al-Fitr celebration, according to CNN.
With its break from precedent, the Trump administration shunned an opportunity to reach out to the U.S. Muslim community whose leaders have said they have been ostracized by the president’s rhetoric and his policies, including his proposed travel ban.
Imam Talib Shareef, president of the Nation’s Mosque in Washington, D.C., called Trump’s decision “disappointing.”
Referring to one of Trump’s main pastimes, he added: “You get the chance to go golfing and all this other kind of stuff. How come you don’t have time for a population of your society that needs some assistance?”
The White House message on Eid al-Fitr just hours after Trump was spotted visiting the golf club he owns in Virginia.
This story has been updated with the report of Trump’s visit to his Virginia golf club.
A Muslim man reads the Koran while waiting for the Iftar (breaking fast) meal during the last week of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Agoes Rudianto
People gather for Iftar (breaking fast), organised by Adaleh Foundation, amidst damaged buildings during the holy month of Ramadan in the rebel held besieged Douma neighbourhood of Damascus, Syria, June 18, 2017. Picture taken June 18, 2017. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
A girl holds her stuffed toys as she sits with her father as they listen to sermon with others before Friday prayers at a mosque during a Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Karachi, Pakistan June 16, 2017. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
A woman prays at the shrine of Sufi Saint Khawaja Naqshband during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Srinagar, June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Ismail
A volunteer carries food to tables set up by a charity as people wait to eat their Iftar (breaking of fast) meal during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Benghazi, Libya June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori
Muslim men wait for the Iftar (breaking fast) meal during the last week of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Agoes Rudianto
Muslims eat their Iftar (breaking of fast) meal during the holy month of Ramadan inside the shrine of Muslim Sufi Saint Nizamuddin Auliya in New Delhi, India June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Egyptian born Muslim Americans Ahmed Sayedahmed and wife Sahar Sayedahmed grill meat and make preparations for a college graduation celebration and Iftar feast for their daughter during Ramadan in Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S. June 2, 2017. Picture taken June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
A boy performs ablution before Friday prayers at a mosque during a Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Karachi, Pakistan June 16, 2017. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro
A Muslim woman rests while waiting for the Iftar (breaking fast) meal during the last week of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Agoes Rudianto
A man reads the Koran inside his shop selling second-hand automobile parts during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Mumbai, India, June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade
Moroccan girls read the Koran in a madrasa, or religious school, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in a village in Tinghir, Morocco June 11, 2017. Picture taken June 11, 2017. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal
A Muslim woman protects herself from the sun as she prays during the Friday prayers for Ramadan, on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City June 16, 2017 . REUTERS/Ammar Awad
An Algerian Muslim reads the Koran in a mosque in Boufarik, Algeria, on 04/06/2017. The tenth day of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan of the year Hijri From 1438. (Photo by Billal Bensalem/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A man prays after breaking his fast on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan on May 27, 2017 at a mosque in Abidjan. The world's nearly 1.5 billion Muslims on May 27 began Ramadan, the holy month of dawn-to-dusk fasting and prayers. It is sacred to Muslims because tradition says the Koran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed during that month. / AFP PHOTO / Sia KAMBOU (Photo credit should read SIA KAMBOU/AFP/Getty Images)
A woman shops for head scarves at Tanah Abang Textile Market ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan, in Jakarta, Indonesia June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Agoes Rudianto
A Muslim woman prays during the Friday prayers for Ramadan, on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City June 16, 2017.REUTERS/Ammar Awad
A man prays on the third Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan outside a mosque in Chennai, India June 16, 2017. REUTERS/P. Ravikumar
A Muslim man prays at Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan at a mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka June 16, 2017. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte
Dina Sayedahmed, a 22 year old Egyptian American Muslim with a major in journalism and political science from Rutgers University, cuts a cake with her parents as they celebrate her graduation and hold a Iftar feast at their family home during Ramadan in Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S. June 2, 2017. Picture taken June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
A displaced Iraqi family from Mosul eat a simple meal for their Iftar, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at a refugee camp al-Khazir in the outskirts of Erbil, Iraq June 10, 2017. Picture taken June 10, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
A muezzin makes his call to prayer inside the shrine of Sufi Saint Mir Syed Ali Hamadani during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Srinagar June 21, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Ismail
Morocco's King Mohammed VI (CR), his wife Princess Lalla Salma (background L), France's President Emmanuel Macron (CL) and his wife Brigitte Trogneux (background R), attend an Iftar meal, the evening meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset, at the King Palace in Rabat, Morocco, June 14, 2017. Picture taken June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Abdeljalil Bounhar/Pool
A girl prays during the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan at Ibn Tulun Mosque in old Cairo, Egypt June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
Security guards eat Iftar (breaking fast) meals at a railway platform during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Kolkata, India June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA MAY 26: Muslims perform the first 'Tarawih' prayer on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan at Anwar Mosque in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on May 26, 2017. (Photo by Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Dina Sayedahmed, an Egyptian American Muslim with a major in journalism and political science from Rutgers University, is embraced as she poses for a selfie in her family's backyard in preparation for her graduation celebration and Iftar feast during Ramadan in Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S. June 2, 2017. Picture taken June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson addresses interfaith attendees at an Iftar feast during Ramadan hosted at the Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan, New York, U.S., June 15, 2017. Image taken on June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
Halima Mahuoud, a Togolese Ghanaian American Muslim, smiles as she photographs her Egyptian American Muslim friend cutting cake at her graduation celebration and Iftar feast during Ramadan in Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S. June 2, 2017. Picture taken June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
A Muslim woman prays during the Friday prayers for Ramadan, on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City June 16, 2017 . REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Kashmiri Muslim women cry and pray upon seeing a relic, believed to be a hair from the beard of Prophet Mohammad, displayed to devotees on the death anniversary of Hazrat Ali, son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad, at Hazratbal shrine during the holy month of Ramadan in Srinagar June 17, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Ismail
Bosnian Muslim women speak during Iftar (breaking fast) during the holy month of Ramadan in Maglaj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Kashmiri Muslim women offer morning prayers on the death anniversary of Hazrat Ali, son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad, at Hazratbal shrine during the holy month of Ramadan in Srinagar June 17, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Ismail
Muslim boys pray in a mosque during Ramadan in Yangon, Myanmar June 7, 2017. Picture taken June 7, 2017. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
Displaced people prepare food for breaking fast during Ramadan in Abo Shouq camp at Al Fashir in North Darfur, Sudan, June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah.
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