President Trump visits the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque with Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Might 15, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP
cover caption
toggle caption
Brendan Smialowski/AFP
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump visited a mosque on Thursday — his first publicly recognized go to to a Muslim home of worship throughout his time in workplace.
His go to to the United Arab Emirates’ Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was only one cease on a bigger diplomatic tour by the Center East, the primary main overseas journey of his second time period.
Trump eliminated his footwear throughout his go to, as is customary in mosques, and was escorted by Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi.
“Is not this lovely? It’s so lovely,” Trump mentioned. “That is an unbelievable tradition.”
The landmark mosque is understood for its white marble domes and Italian-marbled flooring with coloured flower inlays. It’s a standard cultural vacation spot for vacationers, politicians and celebrity visitors to Abu Dhabi.
Yousif al-Obaidli, the director basic of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, accompanies President Trump on a tour of the mosque in Abu Dhabi on Might 15, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP
cover caption
toggle caption
Brendan Smialowski/AFP
Trump and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the UAE’s ruler who greeted Trump upon his arrival within the nation, have shut ties, partially constructed on the UAE’s decision to normalize relations with Israel in a landmark deal throughout Trump’s first time period in workplace.
His go to to the UAE is the third cease on his Center East tour that started with two days of lavish ceremonies in his honor in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In every nation, Trump was given a ceremonial welcome with Arabian horses and honor guards.
Trump has intensive household business interests in all three nations, the place Trump-branded towers and golf programs are being developed. A UAE fund additionally used the Trump household’s cryptocurrency enterprise referred to as World Liberty Monetary to shut a $2 billion funding in crypto trade Binance.
President Trump excursions the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and mosque officers Dr. Yousef Al-Obaidi and Ameena Alhammadi, on Might 15, 2025.
Win McNamee/Getty Photographs Europe
cover caption
toggle caption
Win McNamee/Getty Photographs Europe
Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, each visited the mosque in 2020, throughout Trump’s first time period whereas they have been each working as administration officers.
Joe Biden went to the mosque on a 2016 journey, when he was vice chairman.
Trump shouldn’t be recognized to have visited any mosques in the US as president. It is attainable he has been to a mosque in his non-public life, although NPR was unable to verify that.
Whereas it’s normal for U.S. presidents to go to church buildings, only some have made official visits to mosques, based on the White House Historical Association. President Dwight Eisenhower opened a Washington, D.C. mosque in 1957, and former President George W. Bush spoke on the identical mosque in 2001 after the 9/11 assaults. In 2016, former President Barack Obama visited a mosque close to Baltimore.
Trump, working for workplace in 2016, recommended with out proof that hateful ideas come out of mosques and repeatedly recommended they be positioned beneath surveillance. And when he took workplace, Trump made good on a promise to ban travel from some Muslim-majority countries.
However he has since moderated his tone. Within the November election, Arab and Muslim voters helped deliver the key swing state of Michigan to Trump — partially by casting ballots for third-party candidates. A lot of them expressed disappointment with the Biden-Harris administration’s unwavering help for Israel’s conflict in Gaza, regardless of tens of 1000’s of civilian causalities.
“The Muslim group was there for us in November. And whereas I am president, I will likely be there for you,” Trump mentioned in March at a White Home iftar throughout Ramadan.
