Wednesday, August 10, 2011

President Obama Celebrates Ramadan at White House

"You can forget about that self-accountability crap"
Washington DC, Aug 10, 2011. President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, is hosting an Iftar dinner tonight to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Ramadan is an Islamic religious observance that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, when the Qur’an was revealed. It is considered the most venerated and blessed month of the Islamic year. 

Prayers, sawm (fasting), charity, and self-accountability are especially stressed at this time; religious observances associated with Ramadan are kept throughout the month. 

During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. They do not even drink water during this time. Iftar refers to the evening meal for breaking the daily fast. Iftar during Ramadan is often done as a community, with Muslims gathering to break their fast together. Iftar is done right after Maghrib (sunset) time.  

The Iftar is the dinner that breaks the holiday's daily fast. The dinner became an annual White House tradition under President Bill Clinton and was continued by President George W. Bush. Iftar meals are often held at mosques, and Islamic communities, to which Muslim families are invited. Iftars are also commonly held at Muslim households.

typical Iftar feast
President Obama hosts a White House Iftar dinner each year, and invites all of the local Moslem leaders and his closest political cronies to join in the feast.  

The food served usually consisted of  traditional Islamic cuisine: hubor over timnin (chicken over rice), lamb kabab, tika (grilled lamb), and hummus.

Since 1996, the United States Department of State holds an annual iftar dinner for community leaders from US society and faith groups as well as foreign policy officials.

Earlier in the day, the president has separate meetings scheduled with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to discuss ways of blaming former President Bush for the failure of the Obama economic policies.

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