President Obama visits an American mosque, Nevada Muslims Applaud

US President Barack Obama visited an American mosque today and declared that attacks on Islam were an attack on all religions, in an effort to counter rhetoric from Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates that has alienated Muslims.

Inserting himself into a debate that has ricocheted in the presidential campaign, Obama told parishioners at a mosque outside Baltimore that he’d heard from young Muslims anxious they’ll be rounded up and kicked out of the country.

At the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Obama said recent terror attacks blamed on Islamic extremism in Paris and San Bernardino have led to a spike in “people conflating the horrific acts of terrorism with the beliefs of an entire faith”.

“Thank you for serving your community”, Obama said.

Pushing back at critics who say he should talk about “Islamic terrorists”, he said that, “We shouldn’t play into terrorist propaganda”.

However, four-in-ten want the next president to speak bluntly about Islamic extremists even if the statements are critical of Islam as a whole, the survey said, adding that blunt talk is preferred by 65 per cent of Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican party.

“Islam has always been part of America”, he said, detailing the beginnings of the religion among African slaves brought to America. “You’re right where you belong”.

Obama reminded the audience that political opponents of Thomas Jefferson accused him of being a Muslim. He spoke about issues of discrimination that the Muslim American population has faced since the USA was attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001 and said that there were two words that the community doesn’t hear often enough: “Thank you”.

One of the participants, Ibtihaj Muhammad, has qualified for a spot on the US Olympic Team for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.

“America and Islam are not exclusive”, he said, and share “common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings”. “I’m in good company”, he joked.

Amid intensifying Islamophobia in the United States, the time indeed was ripe. “Perhaps this will start a trend”.

“We must not give them legitimacy”, Obama said.

Rumors about Obama being a crypto-Muslim – he identifies as Christian – have persisted since his first presidential run in 2008, McCaw noted.

Mr Trump, the Republican front-runner, called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the USA after authorities described a California couple who killed 14 people last December as radicalized Muslims inspired by so-called Islamic State militants.