I read recently that Donald Trump has been the first President since Jefferson to have not held an Iftar dinner. Assuming relations between Christians and Muslims had not been on the best of terms in the days of Jefferson and (more broadly) the original Founding Fathers, what was the reason to hold to any significance such an oft-thought of foreign holiday? Taking into account the Barbery Wars, the assumption that America at the time was deeply Anglo Saxon and Protestant in terms of the civilian population... why honor the holiday? Was there ever any reciprocation in the Islamic world to this, such as an Emir or Sultan celebrating Christmas dinner on an official level?
Thomas Jefferson’s Iftar dinner was held mainly for the convenience of the Tunisian ambassador, Sidi Suleyman Mellimelli. Mellimelli had arrived with a large entourage in the United States in November of 1805 after the conclusion of the first Barbary War. His goal was to negotiate the release of several Tunisian ships that had been seized trying to run the American naval blockade of Tripoli.
Mellimelli apparently explained a bit about Islam and Ramadan to his hosts. On one occasion he postponed getting coffee with the Secretary of the Navy until after sunset. Mellimelli was originally supposed to dine with Jefferson on December 6th at 3:30pm but the president postponed the meal until sunset for his guest. Holding the dinner after sunset was a diplomatic gesture but also reflects Jefferson’s own interest in Islam. Jefferson had purchased a copy of George Sale’s translation of the Quran in 1765 and he had negotiated with Muslim nations before, so he seems to have had a more developed understanding of Islam than many of his contemporaries in Europe or the United States.
Because the dinner hour was changed mostly to accommodate the needs of the Tunisian ambassador there wasn’t any reciprocity on the part of Muslim nations in celebrating Christian or American holidays. Moving the dinner hour was probably was diplomatically useful however, and may be one small part of why the ambassador apparently enjoyed his time in the United States. A larger factor in his enjoyment though had to do with the fact that when he left he had to charter another ship to take back all the gifts he received.
As far as I’m aware Jefferson’s Iftar was the only presidential commemoration of Ramadan until 1990 when George H.W. Bush put out an official statement about Eid. In 1996 Hillary Clinton hosted an Iftar dinner and began a tradition of the White House hosting such occasions that continued into the George W. Bush and Obama presidencies.
Source: Denise A. Spellberg. Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founder (New York: Vintage, 2013)