President Barack Obama hosted an iftar at the White House Tuesday night, celebrating the end of Ramadan.  Among the guests were Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Navy Chaplain (Lt. Cmdr.) Abuhena Saifulislam, the second Islamic Chaplain in the US Navy, and Elsheba Khan, whose 20-year-old son, Army Spc. Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, was killed in Iraq on 6 August 2007.

Chaplain Saif, a Bangladeshi immigrant, was one of two Chaplains who went to France for a diversity conference, as previously noted.  He also led prayer at President Bush’s iftar in 2007.

Specialist Khan is now buried in Arlington,

where a Muslim crescent marks his grave, just as crosses and stars mark the graves of fallen Christian and Jewish heroes, Obama noted…

“Tonight, we celebrate a great religion, and its commitment to justice and progress. We honor the contributions of America’s Muslims, and the positive example that so many of them set through their own lives,” Obama said.

Also noted at the Religion Clause.