Washington (TDI): Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, attended the Ramadan Iftar dinner hosted by President Donald Trump at the White House, on Thursday.
The annual Iftar dinner at the White House hosts select people from America’s Muslim community and also envoys of the Muslim majority countries in the US, each year.
This year’s gathering at the White House was not exactly large, as Israel’s war on Gaza continues to hurt the sentiments of Muslims in all parts of the world.
Speaking to the attendees of the Iftar, President Donald Trump thanked the Muslim community for their generous votes in November, last year.
President Trump Participates in the White House Iftar Dinner https://t.co/vc87gZR2p3
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 28, 2025
“As we honor the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, let me begin by saying to our Muslim friends, we have many tonight, and I think we have many all over the world based on the results in Michigan, other places, but I just want to say hello to all of the people that supported us so strongly, Ramdan Mubarak,” he said.
America’s Muslims were drawn in large numbers to vote for Trump because they were disappointed in Biden’s support of Israel in its brutal offensive on Palestinians. Historically, though, Muslims in America have mostly supported the Democrats.
President Trump, acknowledging the discontent among Muslims, said, “We’re keeping our promises to the Muslim community. My administration is engaged in relentless diplomacy to forging lasting peace in the Middle East, building on the historic Abraham Accords, which everybody said would be impossible, and now we’re going to start filling them out.”
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Statistics from 2020 suggest that American-Muslims constitute 4.5 million of America’s total population. Each successive President hosts an annual Iftar reception at the White House during Muslims’ Holy month – Ramadan.
Interestingly, last year the White House had to drop the event because most of the invitees declined the invitation amid the Gaza war.
Nuzhat Rana is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
