TIME’s Elizabeth Dias chimes in with this post:
With Ramadan’s new crescent moon poised to rise, President Obama extended Muslims his warmest wishes for a holy month of renewal–and his intent to renew America’s relationship with Muslims around the world. His media-savvy YouTube message indicates that real renewal requires listening both to foreign policy concerns and to common faith commitments.
To this end, he begins an inauguration and Cairo refrain with a brief lesson on Muslim fasting and prayer:
“These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings. For instance, fasting is a concept shared by many faiths – including my own Christian faith – as a way to bring people closer to God, and to those among us who cannot take their next meal for granted. And the support that Muslims provide to others recalls our responsibility to advance opportunity and prosperity for people everywhere. For all of us must remember that the world we want to build – and the changes that we want to make – must begin in our own hearts, and our own communities.”
The White House website has translations of the message in Arabic, Bengali, Dari, English, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu.
