Rabat – US President Donald Trump extended his greetings to US Muslims for the holy month of Ramadan.
The White House conveyed Trump’s “warmest greetings” on Monday, noting that Trump said his administration “recommits to upholding religious liberty that is such an integral part of the American way of life.”
“Above all, we renew our resolve to building a future of peace and to recognizing the dignity imprinted on every human soul,” Trump said, offering his best wishes for Ramadan.
Ramadan started on Saturday last week in the US, as well as in other countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and more.
According to statistics from Pew Research, the community of Muslim Americans is diverse and is a growing population that is estimated at 3.45 million people of all ages.
The number includes 2.15 million adults.
“The U.S. Muslim community is made up heavily of immigrants and the children of immigrants from around the world. On average, Muslim Americans are considerably younger than the overall U.S. population,” the statistics website said in 2017.
Despite their significant contribution to the country’s key industries, Muslims continue to face a series of challenges– including Islamophobia.
Read also: US Muslims to Begin Ramadan 2025 on March 1
In 2023, the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a report listing a series of anti-Islam incidents that targeted individuals and mosques.
The Islamophobic acts include the removal of two men from a flight in 2020 for communicating in Arabic.
Islamophobic acts in places of worship include one that took place in Iowa, when security cameras at a community center recorded a woman using snow to draw crosses on the Muslim facility. She also used an unidentified substance to write insults directed towards Islam and Muslims.
Muslim students in the US also face other discrimination issues, as Islamophobia manifests itself in bullying.
One of the cases that the council cited was in Delaware, where a teacher made a student feel uncomfortable for wearing the hijab for the first time during the holy month of Ramadan.
The Middle School student told local TV WPVI that a teacher told her she was too “skinny” to fast, and that if she fasted more he would not see her in class. The victim reported that the other kids were laughing.
