最近举行的白宫开斋晚宴上的总统餐桌布置。

6月 22日，欧巴马总统邀请穆斯林人士到白宫出席开斋晚宴，而此举前面有着一位美国建国之父的足迹。

在1805年12月9日莱麦丹斋月期间，美国第三任总统托马斯·杰斐逊（Thomas Jefferson）设宴招待突尼斯特使西迪·索利曼·梅利梅利（Sidi Soliman Mellimelli）。为尊重梅利梅利的信仰，杰斐逊将用餐时间从通常的下午3点半改到“恰在日落时分”。

1765年，杰斐逊购买了英译版的《古兰经》，收入到他的个人藏书。杰斐逊的个人图书馆在1815年奠立了现代国会图书馆（Library of Congress）的基础。

在克林顿（Clinton）政府期间，举办开斋晚宴成为白宫每年的传统。自那时以来，历任总统一直保持着这个传统，并借此表彰穆斯林对公民社会所作的贡献。

欧巴马总统在2015年的庆祝活动上说：“我们一年一度的白宫开斋晚宴体现了莱麦丹对全球15亿多穆斯林具有的神圣意义。”“我们的开斋晚宴还让我们谨记将我们作为美国人联系在一起的自由纽带，其中包括宗教自由——自由地信奉我们的信仰的不可侵犯的权利。”

When President Obama welcomed Muslims to the White House June 22 for iftar, he was following in the footsteps of one of the United States’ Founding Fathers.

Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president, hosted Tunisian envoy Sidi Soliman Mellimelli during Ramadan on December 9, 1805. In deference to Mellimelli’s beliefs, Jefferson changed the meal time from the usual hour of 3:30 p.m. to “precisely at sunset.”

In 1765, Jefferson purchased an English translation of the Quran for his personal library, a collection that became, in 1815, the basis of the modern Library of Congress.

The Clinton administration made annual iftar dinners a regular White House tradition. Since then, presidents have continued to host iftars where they honor the contributions of Muslims to civil society.

“Our annual White House Iftar recognizes the sacredness of Ramadan to more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world,” Obama said at the 2015 celebration. “Our Iftar is also a reminder of the freedoms that bind us together as Americans, including the freedom of religion — that inviolable right to practice our faiths freely.”