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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Hugh Fitzgerald: No Room at the Inn for an Iftar Dinner

Jun 26, 2017 5:53 am By Hugh Fitzgerald

The Washington Post has reported — drop a ready tear — that there will be no Iftar Dinner this year in the White House:

For the first time in nearly two decades, Ramadan has come and gone without the White House recognizing it with an iftar or Eid celebration, as had taken place each year under the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.

And the article by Amy Wang attempts to suggest that the “tradition” of the Iftar Dinner goes all the way back to Thomas Jefferson who, as is well known, was asked by a visiting Muslim envoy of the Bey of Tunis, one Sidi Soliman Mellimelli,  to postpone the dinner to which Jefferson had invited him, along with others, until after sundown, which Jefferson, as a matter of courtesy, did.

The Post continues:

Jefferson’s decision to change the time of the meal to accommodate Mellimelli’s [the envoy from the Bey of Tunis] observance of Ramadan has been seized on by both sides in the 21st-century debate over Islam more than 200 years later. Historians have cited the meal as the first time an iftar took place in the White House — and it has been referenced in recent White House celebrations of Ramadan as an embodiment of the Founding Father’s respect for religious freedom. Meanwhile, critics on the far right have taken issue with the characterization of Jefferson’s Dec. 9, 1805, dinner as an iftar.

Notice how in the Post article it is “historians” (disinterested, authoritative, not to be doubted) who cite that 1805 meal as the first Iftar dinner in the White House,  while those who deny that the meal was an “Iftar dinner” are described as being on the “far right,” apparently for no other reason than that very denial.

What actually happened is clear for those without an insensate need to make Islam, as Barack Obama has repeatedly  claimed it was, “always part of America’s story.” And you can be as left-wing as all get out, and still recognize that Jefferson was not putting on an Iftar dinner. A little history will help:  Mellimelli came to Washington as the envoy of the Bey of Tunis. The Americans had blockaded the port of Tunis, in order to force the Bey to halt his attacks on American shipping. Mellimelli was sent to make an agreement that would end the blockade. Invited by Jefferson to a dinner at the White House set for 3:30 (dinners were earlier in those pre-Edison days of our existence), he requested that it be held after sundown, in accordance with his Muslim practice, and Jefferson, a courteous man, obliged him. There is no hint that the dinner had changed in any way; no one then called it, or thought of it, as an “Iftar dinner.” Mellimelli himself did not describe it as an “Iftar dinner.” There is no record of it being anything other than the exact same dinner, the same menu, with wine (no removal of alcohol as would be necessary were it a real Iftar dinner), the only change being that of the three-hour delay until sunset. Nothing Jefferson said or did at the time, or in his later writings,  indicates that he thought of that delayed dinner as an “Iftar dinner”; nor did he think he was in any way honoring Islam.

In fact, Jefferson had a very dim view of Islam, which came out of his experience in dealing with the Barbary Pirates, that is, the North African Muslims (in Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli), who attacked Christian shipping and seized ships and Christian sailors, and then demanded ransom. The sums were not trivial; the American Republic found itself spending 20% of its national budget on such payments. These continued until Jefferson became President, stopped the practice of paying such tribute, and instead made war on the Barbary Pirates. And that worked.

In 1786, years before he became president, Jefferson, along with John Adams, met with the Tripolitanian envoy Sidi Haji Abdrahaman in London.  Perhaps by then Jefferson had read the Qur’an he had purchased in 1765 out of curiosity (no one knows how much of that Qur’an Jefferson  may have read, or when, though some Muslim apologists have baselessly claimed he must have bought his Qur’an out of sympathetic interest in Islam.) If he did read it,  it would have helped him to understand the motivations of the North African Muslims. Certainly by the time he became President in 1801, he was determined not to negotiate with the Barbary Pirates, but to implacably oppose with force these Muslims whom, he knew from his encounter with Abdrahaman in London, were permanently hostile to all non-Muslims.

In London, Jefferson and Adams had queried the Tripolitanian ambassador “concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury” for the Americans had done nothing to deserve being attacked, and the ambassador replied, as Jefferson reported:

“It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise.”

And later, Jefferson reported to Secretary of State John Jay and to Congress at greater length, with a nearly identical quote from the ambassador:

“The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

These reports do not sound as if they came from someone who thought well of Islam. The more dealings Jefferson had with the representatives of the Barbary states, and the more he learned from them directly of the tenets of the faith, the more he began to understand the aggressive nature of Islam, the centrality of Jihad, the inculcation of permanent hostility toward non-Muslims, and the heavenly reward for Jihadis slain in battle.

The Iftar dinner “tradition” begins not with Jefferson in 1805, and that three-hour delay in a meal that was otherwise unchanged, but with our latter-day interfaith outreach presidents — Clinton, Bush, Obama — each of whom, in his own way, has managed to ignore or misinterpret the texts and teachings of Islam.

That “tradition” of Iftar dinners in the White House is less than 20 years old, as compared with the other “tradition,” ten times as long, that is, the 200 years of Iftar-less presidencies. That short-lived “tradition”  has been ended, for now, by an administration that, for all of its self-inflicted wounds and woes in other areas, continues to exhibit a better sense of what Islam, foreign and domestic, is all about, than its predecessors, and has no desire to obliquely honor it.

The interfaith outreach farce that the Iftar Dinner at the White house embodies, honoring Islam — while, all over the world, every day brings fresh news of Muslim atrocities against non-Muslims, more than 30,000 such attacks since 9/11/2001 alone, not to mention attacks as well  against other Muslims deemed either of the wrong sect, or insufficient in the fervor of their faith — now comes to an end, if only for four years. That is certainly what Jefferson (and John Adams, and that most profound presidential student of Islam, John Quincy Adams), if not The Washington Post, would have wanted.

And since John Quincy Adams has been mentioned, why doesn’t The Washington Post take it upon itself to share with its readers what that most scholarly of our presidents wrote about Islam. It does not date. And it might prove most instructive.

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Filed Under: claiming victim status, Donald Trump, Featured, Ramadan Tagged With: Sidi Soliman Melimelli, Thomas Jefferson, Washington Post


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Comments

  1. Kiel says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 6:12 am

    Iftar Dinner or whatever they call it doesn’t belong in the White House. Only “religious” celebration to be officially held could be lighting the Christmas tree.

    • Terry says

      Jun 26, 2017 at 3:50 pm

      There have been Chanukah menorah lightings at the White House for years- usually good photo ops for the Pres.

      Even Obama, an anti semite held them.

    • Paul Casale Sr says

      Jun 27, 2017 at 7:41 am

      Thank you !!! MAGA

    • Carolyne says

      Jun 27, 2017 at 11:04 am

      I wonder if the PO still ell postage stamps honoring Iftar. I was shocked the first time I saw them several years ago. Iftar has no place in our culture or in our Post Office.

  2. Jaladhi says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 6:17 am

    The liberals in this country or for that matter in any other country can and will spin even a simple fact to distort it in their favor. Jefferson had courtesy to delay the dinner for a guest to the time when he can come to it and now the stupid liberals spin as a tradition. Next they will call Jefferson as aMuslim since he had a copy of Quran. It’s Bushes mistake to hold iftahar dinner right after 9/11 call Islam as a religion of peace and the description stuck – since US President called it so. Yeah, yeah, ..we see examples of the peace Islam is offering world wide everyday. Murder mayhem, rape, theft, threats, intimidation, FGM, misogyny,.pedophilia, child marriage, etc, etc, .. thy name is Islam!!

    • commonsense says

      Jun 26, 2017 at 12:48 pm

      Recently, I looked over the facebook page of a local mosque. There were three noteworthy posts:
      One post was arguably an affirmation that sex slavery remains acceptable, as the imam discussed modesty between husband and wife, but quoted the koranic passage that exempted “those who (the husband’s) right hand possesses” – i.e. female sex slaves – from such modesty requirements. The second post was a video originally posted on You Tube entitled “The Change of Qiblah,” which narrated by none other than Anwar al-Awlaki, an al-Quaeda jihadi who was killed in 2011 by a U.S. drone strike. In addition to expressing hostility to Jews (which would be inevitable given the subject matter of the video), there was an exhortation by Awlaki at the end of the video which essentially urged believers to embrace the violent commands of the Koran, as this is what Allah expects of them. The third post was a graphic summarizing nine things that Allah loves; the eighth of these was a statement that Allah loves Mujihadoon, e.g. holy warriors. Sufficiently alarmed, I notified the local police, and spoke to a representative from the department. After a brief consultation with others, he returned to me and told me there was nothing that could be done, as there was not literal, explicit call to fight or kill anyone.

      • b.a. freeman says

        Jun 26, 2017 at 3:44 pm

        well, strictly speaking, the police representative *was* at least partly correct; the post didn’t single out a specific individual. telling muslims to kill *everybody* in jihad isn’t a specific threat. OTOH, he was wrong about it not being an explicit call to violence; the police in your town obviously know nothing about islam.

        the area for action is the legislature, which could pass some laws, or perhaps a constitutional amendment. islam should be declared a criminal conspiracy and outlawed. of course, i don’t expect our leftist rulers and their tools to actually do any such thing. leftist leaders are allowed to have 24/7 armed guards, but the rest of us have to defend ourselves.

        i’m defending myself; given half a chance, i’ll dispatch any jihadis coming my way with malevolence in their hearts.

  3. Paul N Silas says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 6:17 am

    Trump should have invited them over for some Barbequed pork ribs, maybe some pork and beans on the side, and a baked potato covered with sour cream and bacon bits?

    Works for me

    • balam says

      Jun 26, 2017 at 7:00 am

      You have made my mouth to water .What a treat for IFTAR.

    • Paul N Silas says

      Jun 26, 2017 at 7:09 am

      Silly me, I forgot the beverages, cold beer or Jack and Coke.

      • Rezali Mehil says

        Jun 26, 2017 at 9:26 am

        You fat pig….

        More Later …

        Rezali

        • Jack Dawkins says

          Jun 26, 2017 at 10:06 am

          scumbag muzlim

        • b.a. freeman says

          Jun 26, 2017 at 3:47 pm

          rezali, i am awed by the logic of your reply. who can contest such an eloquent argument?

    • La La says

      Jun 26, 2017 at 9:24 am

      LMOL, well said. Thanks

  4. JayFromIndia says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 6:19 am

    You are doing a great job by clearly bringing the historical facts to the public domain. Respect!

    • Shmooviyet says

      Jun 26, 2017 at 11:14 am

      Agreed!!
      The discontinuing of this dumb WH ‘tradition’ (temporary as it may be) is a breath of nice, fresh non-PC air.
      And an article by Hugh Fitzgerald on the subject further sweetens that breath!

  5. Georg says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 7:48 am

    YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! An oasis of sanity.

  6. Blurb1000 says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 7:49 am

    God bless all the Donalds in the world. Even The McDonalds.
    Regards from Bangkok. The capitol of crispy fried pork. And Ducks…

  7. old white guy says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 7:51 am

    Clinton, Bush2 and Obama had dinners, no one else.

    • Leon says

      Jun 26, 2017 at 1:10 pm

      Yes, that’s it. Three snivelling presidents so how can it be called “tradition”?

  8. Kilfincelt says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 8:44 am

    John Q. Adams is considered our most brilliant President and he really understood Islam. I love the quote from John Q. that Robert used in, I believe, “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam.” If I am incorrect, please correct me. In any case, everyone, especially our political elite, should read about the Barberry Wars and learn what John Q. and de Tocqueville had to say on the subject of Islam.

  9. John A. Marre says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 8:55 am

    Good. Trump did the right thing. There is no reason to celebrate a religious day that is about the murder of thousands of innocents.

    • La La says

      Jun 26, 2017 at 9:27 am

      Yes thank God for President Trump!

  10. notmoron says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 9:59 am

    Trump is driving the Leftists crazy.

    They cannot hold on him

    Big respect for the President

  11. Benedict says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 11:14 am

    John Quincy Adams’s keen understanding of Islam:

    In the seventh century of the Christian era, a wandering Arab of the lineage of Hagar, the Egyptian, combining the powers of transcendent genius, with the preternatural energy of a fanatic, and the fraudulent spirit of an impostor, proclaimed himself as a messenger from Heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth. Adopting from the sublime conception of the Mosaic law, the doctrine of one omnipotent God; he connected indissolubly with it, the audacious falsehood, that he was himself his prophet and apostle. Adopting from the new Revelation of Jesus, the faith and hope of immortal life, and of future retribution, he humbled it to the dust, by adapting all the rewards and sanctions of his religion to the gratification of the sexual passion. He poisoned the sources of human felicity at the fountain, by degrading the condition of the female sex, and the allowance of polygamy; and he declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind. THE ESSENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE WAS VIOLENCE AND LUST: TO EXALT THE BRUTAL OVER THE SPIRITUAL PART OF HUMAN NATURE.

    The precept of the koran is, perpetual war against all who deny, that Mahomet is the prophet of God. The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of tribute; the victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive promise of peace; and the faithful follower of the prophet, may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to propagate the Moslem creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike, by fraud, or by force (Blunt, 29:274).

    • Jaladhi says

      Jun 26, 2017 at 2:00 pm

      John Quincy Adams would be sent to jail if he were to write his thoughts and take it to Canada! What is going on in Canada is unbelievable!

  12. Tom S. says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 11:29 am

    Robert, you are WINNING! I couldn’t be more happy and proud of what you’ve accomplished through Jihad Watch:

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/25/dhs-john-kelly-defunds-disinvites-islamic-groups/

    You and all the heroes of the counter-Jihad deserve a statue on the Mall, and I’m going to see to it when the time comes.

  13. JawsV says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 2:31 pm

    Good Riddance to “iftar!” Thank you President Trump!

  14. Sam says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 6:57 pm

    Thanks Trump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  15. jewdog says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 7:54 pm

    Unmentioned is that Jefferson owned slaves who were probably captured and sold by Muslim slavers in Africa.
    And what Iftar dinner? They probably got take-out Chinese.

  16. Lydia says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 9:26 pm

    Uh! The tears! Tears, tears, tears,….. tears…… of joy!

    From me, not even so much as an…. iftar-thought!

    : D
    Haaaa-ha-ha!

  17. Peter Clemerson says

    Jun 26, 2017 at 11:55 pm

    ” every day brings fresh news of Muslim atrocities against non-Muslims, more than 30,000 such attacks since 9/11/2001 alone”

    Presumably, this figure came from https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/ (current figure 31084 at the time of writing). However, this website records attacks on Muslims as well as attacks on non-Muslims. Indeed, by my reading, most of the attacks take place in Muslim-majority countries with Muslims the victims. When Muslims point out that the majority of the victims of Islamic attacks are Muslims, they are correct, as critics of Islam should be ready to concede.

    I hope Fitzgerald will not mind my mentioning this point. I honour his diligence in pointing out the true nature of Islam.

  18. Vann Boseman says

    Jun 27, 2017 at 7:33 am

    I notice that in the second Jefferson quote Jefferson chose the words “wherever they could be found.” I wonder whether this represents his attempt to accurately quote the ambassador, or if it reflects his own enriched understanding of the ambassador’s statement due to Jefferson’s understanding of the Koran from reading it himself.

  19. Troybeam says

    Jun 27, 2017 at 10:30 am

    Never did like the bowing and kiss ass towards Islam by our government, republican and or democrat. Maybe Trump will have an awaking and do something about Islam in our nation.

  20. JD says

    Jun 27, 2017 at 5:02 pm

    Where were/are all of the Progressives shouting about the separation of church and state?

  21. dumbledoresarmy says

    Jul 1, 2017 at 10:35 am

    All American jihadwatchers who understand just how significant it is that President Trump *refused* to pander to the Mohammedans by holding an ‘Iftar Dinner’, should be tweeting, emailing, and *writing* to the President to express their hearty and profound approval of this refusal to appease the Mohammedan Mob.

    With the written letters, include a printed out copy of Mr Hugh Fitzgerald’s excellent essay, for the benefit of President Trump’s staffers, his secretary, etc. They might be *curious* and read it. It will educate them.

    And you could include a copy of 1/ what Jefferson said about Islam and 2/ what John Quincy Adams said about Islam.

    What Adams said can hardly be bettered. Every word of it is true and correct – it is deadly accurate – and it is so *beautifully* clear and to the point. It sums up Islam in a couple of paragraphs.

    The current President should let John Quincy Adams, the fifth president, be his guide, on the subject of Islam and how to deal with it.

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