“Clarity,” really? Not “charity”? The White House website says “clarity,” so that’s that.

Anyway, a jihad group explained Ramadan this way back in 2012: “The month of Ramadan is a month of holy war and death for Allah. It is a month for fighting the enemies of Allah and God’s messenger, the Jews and their American facilitators.”

So which is it? Is Ramadan a time of “peace, clarity, and love,” as Trump said last night, or is it a “month of holy war and death for Allah”?

Islam’s core texts make it clear that the latter statement is closer to the truth. During Ramadan, Muslims are exhorted to renew and deepen their devotion to Allah. Hence it is a time when they’re supposed to grow more generous and kind toward their fellow Muslims. However, the Qur’an says: “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are severe against disbelievers, and merciful among themselves” (48:29). If the Ramadan imperative is to become more devout, the Muslim who applies himself diligently to the Ramadan observance will simultaneously become more both merciful to his fellow Muslims and more severe against the unbelievers.

Throughout the history of Islam, we can see jihad being waged with extra ferocity during Ramadan. In my new book The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS, I recount the harrowing story of the centuries-long and excruciatingly devastating Islamic jihad against India. During Ramadan in 1504, the Delhi sultan Sikandar Lodi, in the words of the contemporary Muslim historian Niamatullah, “raised the standard of war for the reduction of the fort of Mandrail; but the garrison capitulating, and delivering up the citadel, the Sultan ordered the temples and idols to be demolished, and mosques to be constructed.” Then he “moved out on a plundering expedition into the surrounding country, where he butchered many people, took many prisoners, and devoted to utter destruction all the groves and habitations; and after gratifying and honouring himself by this exhibition of holy zeal he returned to his capital Bayana.”

Yes, plundering, butchering, and destroying temples was, as far as Niamatullah was concerned, an “exhibition of holy zeal.” Murdering infidels doesn’t contradict the spirit of Ramadan; it embodies it. Trump’s statement is a dispiriting reiteration of the fantasies that prevailed in Washington during the three administrations (at least) that preceded his.

“‘Ramadan Mubarak’ — Donald Trump Welcomes Muslims to the White House for Iftar Dinner,” by Charlie Spiering, Breitbart, June 6, 2018: