Trump wishes Muslims a ‘joyful Ramadan’ while urging rejection of violence by Islamist extremists
Trump last year called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States

US President Donald Trump wished Muslims “a joyful Ramadan,” on Friday, urging them to use the holy month to reject violence by Islamist extremists.
“On behalf of the American people, I would like to wish all Muslims a joyful Ramadan,” said Trump, who is winding up a first overseas trip as president that included a stop in Saudi Arabia.
“This year, the holiday begins as the world mourns the innocent victims of barbaric terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and Egypt, acts of depravity that are directly contrary to the spirit of Ramadan,” said the US leader, who campaigned last year on a pledge to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
“Such acts only steel our resolve to defeat the terrorists and their perverted ideology,” he said in his message to the world’s estimated 1.6 billion Muslims.

Trump said that when he met dozens of leaders of Muslim countries in the Saudi capital Riyadh, he had vowed to stand with them to counter “terrorism and the ideology that fuels it.”
