Ghiyath Nakshbendi, a Kogod School of Business professor, attended the Iftaar dinner presented by the State Department this past Monday, which celebrated the end of daily fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who hosted the dinner and delivered the opening remarks, invited Nakshbendi to the event. Many important members of the international community, including Pakistani Ambassador Husain Huqqani and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Henrietta Ford, also attended the event at the State Department's headquarters building, Nakshbendi said.
Many members of Congress, journalists, academic and religious leaders also attended the annual event, according to the State Department's Web site.
Nakshbendi regularly speaks at the Foreign Service Institute, according to Nakshbendi's profile on AU's Web site. In February, he spoke at the Moroccan embassy on financial topics connected to the Middle East and North Africa by invitation of the State Department, according to the State Department Web site.
He said he was grateful to be invited to the event for the second year in a row, he said.
"There were many people I had not seen the year before, and I was honored to be invited back," Nakshbendi said. "There were only around 100 people in attendance and to speak with them about the different aspects of Islam and values was very interesting."
Rice's speech focused on these values of liberty and freedom.
"To be American is to adopt our country's creed that all men and women are created equal, that as equals we enjoy certain universal and inalienable rights, and that among these are the right to live without oppression, to worship without persecution, and to think and speak and assemble without retribution," she said in a prepared text of her speech.
Nakshbendi said religious diversity contributes to the American spirit.
"The many faiths and traditions to which Americans belong enrich our nation and reflect what is best about America," he said. "The dinner reflects the testimony of diversity of the nation. The night documented respect and honor for all types of religion, not just Islam."
Guests dined on traditional Iftaar foods, including dates, and discussed the meaning of Ramadan and its place in Muslim life, Nakshbendi said.
"Having people of different backgrounds [at the dinner] made the discussion interesting," he said. "The dinner shows that the nation is trying to be more receptive of all minorities, and all religions. Diversity is what makes our country great, all aspects of it: religious, politically, everything. It's what makes us good Americans."
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