Clinton asks for Muslims' prayers to help peace process
Regional-USA, Religion, 1/11/2000

US President Bill Clinton asked American Muslims on Monday to pray for the success of peace talks between Israel and Syria and the Palestinians.

He spoke at a gathering of invited American Muslim leaders at the White House compound at an event marking Eid Al Fitr at the end of Ramadan.

He referred to the Shepherdstown Israel-Syria talks at which he spent many hours, returning to Washington in the early hours of Monday. "I must say it was, I thought, especially fitting that we celebrated the Eid at the end of the first round of talks between the Syrians and Israelis."

Clinton said, "The holy month of Ramadan was not only a sacred duty but a powerful teaching and in many ways a gift of Islam to the entire rest of the world, reminding not simply Muslims but all people of our shared obligation to aid those who live with poverty and suffering."

"It reminds us that we must work together to build a more humane world."

It was, he said, "particularly moving that the Imam read the passage from the Koran that said that Allah created nations and tribes that we might know each other, not that we should despise each other."

He said passages in Hebrew and Christian scripture made a similar point.

"It has been a great blessing for me," he said, "in being involved in these talks these last few days, to see the impact of the month of Ramadan and the Eid on the believers in the Syrian delegation who were here."

"It was quite a moving thing and I hope that your prayers will stay with them. Let me say also that there is much that the world can learn from Islam. It is now practiced by one of every four people on earth."

"Americans are learning more (about it) in our schools and universities."

He recalled that his our daughter (Chelsea) took a course on Islamic history in high school and read large portions of the Koran and came home at night and educated her parents about it and later asked us questions about it."

He said there were now six million Muslims in America, with 1,200 Mosques and Islamic centers. Moslem Americans "are a cornerstone of our American community."

"They enrich our political and cultural life. They provide leadership in every field of human endeavor, from business to medicine, to scholarship."

Clinton noted, "There are still too many Americans who know too little about Islam. Too often, stereotypes fill the vacuum (that) ignorance creates. That kind of bigotry is wrong, has no place in American society."

"There is no place for intolerance against people of any faith. If America wishes to be a force for peace and reconciliation across religious and ethnic divides from the Middle East to Northern Ireland, to the Balkans, to Africa, to Asia, if that is what we wish, if we wish to do good around the world we must first be good here at home on these issues."

Turning to the West Virginia peace talks, the President said, "I ask especially for your prayers for the current mission of peace in the Middle East."

Previous Stories:
  Muslim student allowed to mention God in US classroom   (1/6/2000)
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  Muslim religious scholar in Georgetown university   (9/2/1999)

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