ABU DHABI — President Trump shed his shoes Monday to take in the splendor of the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates — a rare visit by a sitting American chief executive to an overseas Muslim house of worship.
“It’s so beautiful,” Trump, clad in stocking feet as a mark of respect, told reporters inside the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
“This is an incredible culture.”
Trump, 78, was joined at the ornate white marble edifice by Abu Dhabi’s crown prince Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan, who recently signed a deal with Disney to develop a theme park on nearby Yas Island.
The president, who began the third leg of his three-nation Middle East trip Thursday, said proudly that his visit marked the “first time they’ve closed the mosque for the day.”
“It’s in honor of the United States. Better than in honor of me,” he said. “Let’s give it to the country. That’s a great tribute.”
“I’m very proud of my friends,” said Trump, who has used his jam-packed schedule to focus on fostering business ties between American corporations and oil and gas-rich Arab leaders.
Only a handful of presidents have visited mosques — and even fewer have done so beyond American shores.
Bill Clinton toured Senegal’s Grand Mosque in 1998, while Joe Biden visited the same Abu Dhabi mosque while serving as Barack Obama’s vice president in 2016.
Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first president to visit a mosque in 1957 when he spoke at the opening ceremony of the Islamic Center of Washington, fewer than two miles from the White House.
John F. Kennedy spoke at Pittsburgh’s Syria Mosque during his successful 1960 presidential campaign; George W. Bush delivered an address at the Islamic Center of Washington six days after the 9/11 attacks in 2001; and Obama visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore in 2016.
During Trump’s first White House run in 2015, Trump floated a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” during the height of global ISIS-inspired terrorism, before refining the idea in his first term to restrict travel from a group of failed states.
Last year, Trump garnered critical swing-state support from Muslim leaders, particularly in Michigan, who were outraged by Biden’s failure to end the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In March, the president hosted a White House Iftar dinner during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Trump has been lavishly welcomed on the first extended foreign trip of his second term by the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE — with each dispatching honor guards of fighter jets to escort Air Force One and packing carefully planned welcomes with over-the-top tributes to the American president.
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